Getcher butt in gear

I was knitting at home on Saturday after getting home from work and a visit to Red Purl to get set up for Amy's afghan knit-along [KAL] (more on that later...). I was happily knitting on my Sahara as it was going along nicely. The Manos silk blend knits up very evenly.

I've just had one thick spot in the yarn and it knit into an edge so nothing to worry about... I got the back done as far as the armhole shaping, and then started the front when I thought that if I'm going to start yet another project then I have got to get that hat ready to send to Iraq. And circumstances were lining up so that I didn't have much time to knit at lunch breaks or times when I'm waiting. So the hat was kind of languishing. Saturday evening I decided that was going to end. I had the Sahara to a point that I could knit it away from home, and so concentrated on the hat.

Before church on Sunday morning, I had the hat done; including the finishing since I had the right tools packed with me. (Now that's getting your butt in gear!) This hat has turned out as well as the other ones like this I've done and I hope it gets much good use.

With the hat done, I could work a little on the Sahara again, and got the front also knit down to the armhole shaping. You see, the Sahara is worked from the shoulders down. The back is cast on with the crochet cast on I've discussed before. And then when it's done to the armhole, you pick up the caston edge and work the front down from that point. When the front is at the same point as the back under the arm, then you start knitting them all together.

That's about as far as I am. I have to knit another two inches straight before the waist shaping will begin. At that point I'll try is on; that's one of the advantages to knitting a sweater top down. [More pics to come...] I've adjusted the colour on this picture so it matches pretty closely to the real sweater. The colour is so rich. It's hand-dyed so the colour varies a little which gives the sweater a real depth. Lovely.

Keep the needles clacking,

christina