the home stretch

mystery sleeve
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc..

I seriously can't believe how long I've been knitting this sweater. This is probably the longest it has taken me to knit anything! No kidding.

I haven't had much to blog about because I've mainly been slaving away at this little baby. I finished one sleeve on Friday night and sewed the buttons on yesterday so I could see what it was going to look like. I didn't want to do both sleeves and then realize that I hated it.

But, look! It's cute! I'm so happy! I knit the sleeve as I did the body to about the elbow and then did one round of decreases, every other stitch. Then I switched to the size 3 needle I was using for the ribbing on the body and knit away in a 3x3 rib. The result is a slightly pufffy cap with a very tight sleeve. Super cute!

I knit the sleeves using two circular needles and I have to say that I kind of liked it. It's the first time I've used this method on a item that wasn't a sock and I think it worked really well. Because of the construction of the garment, it's very unwieldy and didn't want to deal with double pointed needles.

Now I know not everyone goes in for the 2 circular needle deal, but if you are crazy enough (ahem) to have multiple needles laying around, you should go for it. I feel like it made this particular garment a lot more portable.

Now, I just have to finish the second sleeve! Hopefully we will have a photo shoot next weekend.