Knitpicks Hue Shift Afghan: Section Three

I barely got any time in to knit the past two weeks, but over the weekend I managed to finish section three:

My gauge is a bit smaller than the rest of the blanket on parts of the third section, but I've adjusted my needle size for the fourth section to prevent that from happening with both sections three and four, so when I go to sew them together the right half won't be significantly smaller than the left. I think section three should easily stretch enough to sew together properly. Hopefully no ripping back and reknitting will be necessary! 

Not Much More Progress

I'm not much further on the sweater. One sleeve complete, the other barely started. I also knit a couple of squares on section two of the Knitpicks hue shift afghan. I didn't get much knitting in over my extended weekend, so I'm disappointed in myself for not using my time off more effectively. I had hoped to finish the sweater!

Progress

Front of sweater complete!

Please excuse the exposed ends that I am saving to weave in at the very end.

My favorite simple lace stitch, currently. I've started the first sleeve!

Entrelac?

I was worried my first attempt at entrelac would not look very nice, plus my budget is a bit tight, so I decided to go with Vanna's Choice yarn since it's cheap and if I didn't do a great job with it, well, at least I didn't waste the "good yarn." 

Looks off, right? I thought so too even at the start of it. I was knitting one direction of blocks much more quickly than the other direction. I clearly kept going anyway.

After two balls of yarn and quite a few hours of work into it, it hit me like a train that I confused SSK with something else that was causing me to decrease twice as quickly on the rows where I should have been using SSK to decrease.

I put out a call to friends, who reassured me it still looked great, and after I stared at it for a while and beat myself up appropriately for such a silly error (I swear I know what SSK means and have used it many times), I decided I actually really like how it looks. It's visually interesting and I think I might even write a pattern for it once it is completed.

I have a bunch of cheap fleece blankets around the house because I'm always cold, and I'm tired of them. I'm trying to replace them with some throws knit with new techniques (like this one) or simple stitches (soon to come).

KnitPicks Hue Shift Afghan: Quadrant One

Back in November, I snatched one of the hue shift afghan kits on clearance from KnitPicks. I usually keep a distance from 100% acrylic yarn, but I'm also not morally opposed to it. The colors drew me in, plus I thought the endless rows of garter stitch would be a relaxing side project, with enough color changes to keep my attention.

I finished the first quadrant about a month ago, but I just got around to taking photos of it in natural light. I'm on Spring Break and don't have class this week, so I'm actually home before dark for a change.

Quadrant Two of the afghan has been started, but is still a ways from being completed.

First Sweater Attempt

This is a big moment for me.

I'm working on my first sweater! The back piece is done, except for the ribbed neck edging that will be picked up at the very end, and I'm working on the front piece now. I underestimated the amount of yarn I would need and will be stopping by my LYS tonight to pick up more.

I'm using this pattern, but I modified it for bulky weight yarn. It's very simple so far. Ask me again about that later when I am sewing the pieces together.

I'm hoping to have it done in the next week or so. The yarn is Berroco Vintage Chunky in Kiwi and Snow Day, a wool/acrylic/nylon blend. My goal was to have a light yet warm spring sweater, and I hope this yarn combined with the open stitch will succeed. It's still hovering in the 30s and 40s where I am so I don't think I'll have a shortage of days to wear this anytime soon.