My mini is complete

Yarn: Araucania Nature Wool (2 skeins) and Habu Bamboo
Needles: US 9 24", US 8 24", Us 8 16" all Addis
Pattern: Boobholder by Stefanie Japel
Date Started: 7.9.05
Date Finished: 7.31.05

Don't let the dates fool you, I didn't knit that whole time. I think there was a one or two week period that I didn't touch this project, I was either working on a test knit, healing my wounded hand, or just plain tired. I picked it up again this Friday after dinner and was surprised by how far I was into it, actually I went a little far. I knitted the 21 or 22 rounds Stefanie suggested for the body, but that was just too much for me. I had also done the yarn overs from the busty gal mods, but they were just too much and made the sweater pucker. I think because I added a few rounds to get the sleeves to meet, that I inadvertently got the length I needed without knowing it. So I ripped back and got rid of most of the yo rounds, when I found I still had to shorten it. I think I did somewhere between 12 and 15 rounds for the body before the garter ridge. I should have ripped more to get rid of all the yo's I did, I really didn't need any of them. To make the sweater a little tighter I switched to US 8's for the ridge.

Somehow the sleeves were now too big, actually they were huge! I can't believe that my arms got that much smaller from the gym in such a short time. The increase rounds probably had something to do with this (remember I kept my sleeves puffy) so I modded the sleeves to fit. I picked up the sleeves with US 8's and knit in the round. I started decreasing on round 4 and switched to garter stitch on round 9, basically halving the sleeves to keep them nice and tight.

I'll be sewing a button later today, but for now I used a vintage pin I had. I'll have to block the sweater first though to get it to lay flat and maybe tightening it up a little more.

The yarn was great to work with. I love the subtle color variations the Nature Wool has and it's not too scratchy at all. The bamboo helps to soften it up a bit and the color brightens it up. I probably won't be knitting with lace yarn for a while, it got really annoying to keep it from tangling. The only way I would do it is if the two yarns were wound together. I'll definitely knit one of these again, maybe with blue sky cotton and without the puffy sleeves. I'm already using Nature Wool in another project (which I'll show you later) so you know I highly recommend this yarn. The yardage is great, the colors are beautiful, and it's a really nice wool. One of the best things about it is that you can now find it at A.C. Moore making it easily accessible.

Just another little note, didn't I make the yarn look like this one? I need to get a job with a yarn co!