Multi-tasking.

Well, I've been keeping busy. After a marathon night of mattress stitching a collar on (aarrrrgh), hubby got his flash new sweater. Sans pockets. Because I just couldn't face any more hand stitching.

Wanna be model.

It fits pretty well, although it grew massively downward during blocking. Thankfully this time that was a blessing, as my long-torsoed honey wanted it good and long. I like to live on the wild side and skip the swatch. Naughty. I'm not 100% satisfied with the button placement, but again, I just couldn't face any more sewing. The buttons themselves are gorgeous, wooden with little maple leaves. I nabbed them at Wool Addiction on a rare child-free excursion to Bowral. 

I've also begun a long-awaited blanket for the big boy. I've been promising the kid a blanket of his own since I finished baby's moderne log cabin (man, I love Mason Dixon Knitting), back in August. Not entirely sure why, as the kid overheats in a sheet and we don't exactly live in the great white north any longer (I'm Canadian, did I mention?), but a promise is a promise, so I dug out the wool I've been stockpiling, bought a supplementary bunch of Heirloom Merino Magic from Bubs 2 Grubs, and cast on for my first square. Except, I was watching a particularly gripping episode of Person of Interest, and I was knitting on the bias. I increased every row until I reached 6" on the legs of the triangle (53 stitches for me), then decreased every row, slipping the first stitch. What I got surprised me. 

Woops.

Increase every SECOND row. Second row. That's what I was aiming for. But hey, it's a "design feature", and I'm just gonna pretend that was my idea all along. I've got a small stack of diamonds now, and I think it might just work.

The baby nearly has another pair of pants: 

They're loosely based on Kanoko  pants, which I made for the bub when she was tiny. I couldn't be darned finding the pattern at the time, so I flew by the seat of my pants. I knitted the waistband by casting on loosely, knitting a few inches of ribbing back and forth, knitting the cast on stitches together with the live (after folding the ribbing down), and joining to work in the round. Leaves a nice tube for a drawstring without the need for more stitching. When I'm done knitting, I like my knits to be DONE. These pants have had an exciting life, as I started them on a solo train journey I took without realising Sydney was about to be hit by the worst rain storm in 30 years. My brother in law was kind enough to rescue me from the station, only to discover the road home was flooded and cars were backed up 5 km. During the hour it took to drive around the mess, I made some excellent progress! I've won the in-law lottery.

Better get dinner on the go.