Aran Accent

You know how when you're about to leave town, suddenly there are a thousand little things to do, like organize your receipts and buy granola bars and charge your ipod and decide what to pack to be: 1) compact. 2) warm. 3) appropriately dressed for situations ranging from long bus rides to dinner cruises including shoes (which may be the million dollar question at this point considering the storm we got this weekend.)

Well, at least one thing got done. May I present Aran Accent?

Pattern: Aran Accent from Patons Cables
Yarn: 3 1/2 balls Patons Classic Wool in Deep Olive
Needles: US 5 and 7
Mods: Well, more in the planning stage than the actual garment. I decided after a few inches in the large size to move down to the medium even though I was purposely getting a smaller gauge. This was a crucial (and very good) decision. This sweater is very stretchy due to the nature of the stitch patterns, and though the unblocked sweater was around 36" in the bust, it easily blocked out to 38" and continued to grow as I wore it yesterday. I kind of misread the pattern and ended up knitting the neck edge and sleeve edges in the round. Also, I cast off the neck in rib as the pattern said, but it was very loose and gappy, so I went back and ribbed 5, k2tog, which helped a lot, but if I were to to it again, I would maybe to rib 4, k2tog, since it's not as neat as I would like.

I'm off to Chicago tomorrow for the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. Why, yes, this is a week out of my precious, precious winter break, which is contributing significantly to both my level of packing stress, and my lack of enthusiasm for the whole thing, especially considering the miniscule amount of time to devote to H&M. I am, however looking forward to the bus ride. I have a tiny, perfect baby sweater on the needles (and also on a bit of a deadline since the baby was a surprise. More on that later.) as well as a by-the-seat-of-my-pants creation of my own. Oh, and Meg Cabot's Jinx downloaded onto my ipod.

I hope you all enjoy this last week leading up to Christmas!

P.S. Yes, those are otters on my pants. With all the snow, my pants are constantly soaked from the knees down, so I generally keep a dry pair of pj pants near the door so I can drop trou the second I get in. Dear Santa, I would like a pair of snow boots that will keep my pants dry. Thanks, Meg