New Year = new project

I was a very good knitter over the past couple weeks.  I finished some projects that had be languishing on needles, in a bag waiting for a final detail, or just plain ignored.  I finished Jason's socks.  I started & finished a watch cap for him to make up for the 'made it too big' hat that I also finished.  I added a crochet edge to Salta's pirate sweater so she stops shaking it off on a walk (unfortunately, I think I should have made it one size smaller so it is still a little loose & good for neighborhood walks only.)

Jason learned how much a sweater costs during my last trip to Webs.  I went primarily to look at the square knitting needle sets & was disappointed to find that all of Santa's elves had already made selections for the holidays.  As a result, we looked at yarn instead...for a sweater that he picked out. He decided on the cabled sweater from Erika Knit's book "Men's Knits". Yes, I'm aware of the sweater curse & all, but we are in the process buying our first house so I think we will be ok.  He picked out a bulky sweater with just enough cables to not make me crazy from boredom (from non-stop stocking stitch) or from trying to concentrate on my counting of rows or stitches.  We found the yarn the pattern specified (Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed) and counted the number of balls needed (11) and discovered the sweater would cost $220!  Needless to say, we made a substitution.

Today is the day I'm casting on using Valley Yarn's Berkshire Bulky in a Heather Gray colorway.  Goal is to have it finished for February.