Wishing for sweater weather…

Like many folks in the mid-Atlantic and New England, we are experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures. It was in the mid-80s today, with an even hotter RealFeel. In mid-October. Odsbodikins, I say! (This is a new word I learned recently – it was a mild curse word in colonial America. Let’s bring it back.)

I am trying to move the temperature with the power of my knitting. In other words, I’m knitting a sweater. I shared a glimpse of it when it was just beginning, remember?

The pattern, Blank Canvas, is knit from the bottom up. First I knit the body (with waist shaping). Then I knit the sleeves – a conference this weekend helped me finish those up. When I got home, I had to attach the sleeves to the body and start working the yoke in the round. Here they were just before attachment:

Not the world’s best photo, but you get the idea. I am doing the shoulder decreases now. I am cautiously optimistic that I can finish it this weekend, as we have a longish car trip and I don’t have to drive.

I would like to finish this sweater so that I can begin another one. Boy 1 has long outgrown the gray sweater I made him 4 years ago, and he never quite got the hang of wearing the vest I made him last year. I guess he’s just a long-sleeved sweater guy.

Remember the tiny Gramps sweater I made for a colleague’s baby last fall?

It spent some time on top of our living room piano, waiting first for buttons and then for wrapping. This mama noticed that Boy 1 kept going over to look at it and pet it. When I mentioned that the pattern came in sizes from baby to adult, he lit up. We didn’t spend hardly any time looking at other patterns – clearly he wanted a Gramps sweater with a shawl collar. We looked at a bunch of color options in Ravelry, and he decided he wanted a single color sweater. No contrast for the neckband, cuffs, and ribbing. He looked at the Cascade 220 color palette and chose Sapphire Heather:

It’s a little bright, but not too bright. I appreciate knitting with a heathered yarn when I want a solid look – it provides interest. I picked up the skeins I needed when I was at WEBS a couple weeks ago. I also found buttons to match:

Here’s hoping for sweater weather SOON!