Nona's Pearls of Wisdom

You might remember my drool-fest from this post, and also my reluctance at purchasing mass quantities of yarn (and yet another sweater pattern) simply to have them tossed, lost and forgotten in the depths of my "yarn stash closet".

You might also remember my lack of will power.

Well I got a little something in the mail yesterday... (notice how the rays of light from heaven shine down on this lovely package.  It must be a sign!)

...and I really don't know how, but the yarn fairies at knit picks just happened to put the exact number of skeins, in exactly the right color of yarn into said box...

...and I just happened to download the (cough, cough) $8 pattern that I was drooling over last week.

Well, since it was just the biggest coincidence, I figured it would be best to get right on to knitting the sucker, since the "yarn stash closet" fairies can be big bullies and I didn't want to give them any chance at harassing me.

So I started (at 2:00 pm yesterday) with only the second gauge swatch I've ever knitted - yes, ever - in my life, and it went well.  (I tend to pick patterns where gauge isn't super critical).

After collecting one little one from school, I got started on the yoke...

and about an hour later...

Below was progress after dinner and a movie with Sam.  It might seem to be coming along slowly, but with increases of 6 sts every other row, it takes longer and longer to knit each row.  I started with just 94 sts, but at this point I have more than 130 sts, and by the time the sleeves are started there will be 218 sts.  Thankfully it is pretty mindless knitting, which is great when adding mindless TV to the mix.  And since the chickpeas were finally in bed, that was the plan.  :)

The color here is actually more accurate than in the photos above.  The yarn is Knit Picks "Swish Worsted" in squirrel heather.

Here's one last photo of the sweater progress before I succumbed to warmth and rest of my bed at 

12:42 am.  I made it through the first skein, and row 41.  Just another 7 rows to go and I can start a sleeve!