Audrey's Debut

I am done with Audrey, and here is the proof. The finishing, while maddening, also proved to be a series of small victories. Seam up the shoulders -- slip it on over the head. Okay, so far so good. Do the side seams -- it fits! (Why has no one told me before that you can pin it and slip it on to check size? That would have saved me months of angst-ridden waiting.) The stitching seemed to be pretty easy, but I was also very slow as I went along. The neckband was the hardest part, trying to space out the pins and keep even tension. I had to rip out more than once because my seaming stitches were interrupting the lace pattern.

I wrote about my technical modifications in my post to the Audrey-A-Long blog. What I didn't show there, but I will here, is the headache that started it all:

The swatch. Er, the swatches. I had to swatch 3 times to get gauge. Don't ask me what I used for the top and bottom - I've long since lost those notes. (I'm shocked I managed to hold on to the swatches, frankly.) I did get gauge on the middle one on Denise US9s, one size bigger than recommended. Here's another big shout-out to the Denise needles -- what a handy set you are! I loved being able to switch needle sizes with just two turns of the wrist.

Also happy to report that I never lost the pattern with my notes on it, though I did have a close call when I dropped it in O'Hare.

What's next? I think I'll let that question marinate for a bit. I do want to finish up Latifa and Paris Loop, and I owe a friend some mittens. However, there will be no knitting for the next few days. I'm off to NY to celebrate my birthday with some friends, some shopping and baseball's greatest rivalry.

P.S. Thumbs-up to this wonderfully snarky site.

P.P.S. A big THUMBS-DOWN to L.L.Bean: I got your CHRISTMAS CATALOG yesterday. Hello? It's September? Go away. I'm not ordering from you now, and maybe not ever.