FOs: Labor Day's Labor

I hope you had an excellent holiday weekend. I did - some chores, some study prep with the ol' boyfriend, Coin Star-ing some pocket change.

And a head start on Holiday Knitting!

First, I finished the knitting portion of the Maile Sweater for bf's goddaughter. It looks a little something like this:

Baby Love

This guy took two days to finish up and I'm pretty happy with it! I just need to find some buttons that might cheer up this bruise-colored yarn.

Raglan Detail

Baby Sweater in the wild! (closer to the actual color)

I've never knitted clothing for a baby before, so I kept checking and re-checking the pattern measurements. The sleeves were only supposed to be 4 1/2 inches long - that seemed so tiny, I couldn't get past it! But once I decided to just go with it, it all looked right in the end.

I also finished up a beret that is currently blocking (aka dunked in water and had a plate shoved in it to give it that 'beret' shape), so I haven't photographed it quite yet. It's a lovely green: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Sport weight in Grass. Sport weight is thinner than the bulky yarn the pattern calls for, so I doubled up the yarn on nice big needles which made the fabric much thicker than previous versions I've whipped up. It's really nice to go from a tiiiny lace project to big ol' Done In A Day needles. The only downside to doubling up my yarn is that it made me run out of yarn faster than I should have, but I think the blocking will still make it pretty and wearable. I'm not sure who this is going to quite yet, but it should keep someone pretty warm and stylin'.

This is an early version of the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret pattern that I made last year:

Prototype of Ballad of the Green Beret

So that's two gifts in one weekend! Not too shabby. I cast on the beginnings of a braided cable headwrap and another Make Up Your Mind tank for my little sister at her request - in green, in order to "make my eyes pop". This is a direct quote. No embellishment.

I also studied-by-extension for a teaching certification exam, played some tennis, made some Barefoot Contessa mac & cheese, got to turn off the AC and open the windows while watching a great deal of television. All in all, pretty great.