…Joining Ginny’s YarnAlong, sharing what I’m knitting and reading…

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My friends, at last I have finished knitting my very first sweater! It’s a pretty big event in my knitting world and it feels like a huge accomplishment. Even with the bloopers I made in it’s creation, I’m proud of it. The pattern is the Shawl Collar Baby Coat (& here on Ravelry.) The pattern is one that I would definitely recommend. Above, Bracken is wearing his new coat and showing me his “silly face.” I got the yarn (Imperial Yarn Columbia in the colorway wheat) on our trip to my favorite yarn shop, Stash. The yarn was on sale and I wanted to knit a sweater for Bracken with it, but I was unsure about the color at first because I thought anything that light could get stained too easily. Darker colors seemed like a better idea to me and I even thought of dyeing the yarn a bit darker, but the color really does suit Bracken and reminds me of a favorite song. I intended to finish it for the fall (it looks like a fall coat to me), but didn’t finish it until the spring. (I did skip one little part in the pattern: notes on Ravelry here.) It took me awhile to do the button loops while I hand sewed them because I had a hard time getting them to look good and re-did them (no one else would probably have this problem, I was just button loop challenged for some reason.) I finished the coat with two WoolyMossRoots Buttons in black walnut wood (like these.) I think the black walnut wood suits this coat perfectly! After seeing the coat on Bracken for awhile, I wished I would have moved the buttons over more so the coat would have fit more snug. But I did a lot of work to make an interior button and loop that is constructed (and hidden) where the front ones connect so it would be quite a bit of work to change the position of the buttons now. He was only wearing a t-shirt underneath in the picture above, but when he has a lot of layers underneath and we use it as a coat, it is nice to have it roomier. As it’s big on him, he’s going to get a lot of use out of it! I’m happy about that because I worried that by the time I finally finished knitting it he would have outgrown it. Yesterday he wore his coat for the first time to our Rainbow Bridge class. I tried to get some pictures of him wearing it during random moments throughout our day: outside the chiropractor’s office (Jeff had an appointment and it helped a lot) and at the smoothie stand, but Bracken wasn’t really into staying still for pictures yesterday (and our camera’s not one for action shots.) But I did get a few.

I started a new book called ‘The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother’ by James McBride. I’m not very far into it, but I’m already hooked. I’m fascinated by the characters and by their life experiences. It’s a really good book so far. 

And now, let’s see some more pictures of that coat, shall we?

This morning I tried to take a few more and, bless his heart, he did stand still for some pictures and he even smiled instead making his usual silly faces…

We immediately took it off after the picture because when the sun came out from behind the clouds it was so warm that he didn’t need it. Every time I complete a project it’s so satisfying. This one was especially so.

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How about you? 

Knitting? Reading?