This is my dream knitting project. If I can pull this off…. I’m trying to think of colors. I like the camel/black combo, but I keep thinking blue/black. I’ve had this book for a couple of years now, and I keep gravitating back to it.

10/4/13: The yarn was ordered on Tuesday 10/1/13 and will be delivered on Wednesday 10/9/13. I won’t start on it until all my current projects are done (2 more pairs of Options slippers, and 2 crocodile stitch scarves, and maybe 1 man’s pullover sweater.) I can’t believe my boyfriend bought me the yarn, but I guess when I obsess over something, it can be quite unnerving. I’m so excited.

I thought I was going to do the 2 color combination, but I got a third color, because I know I’m going to do the 3 colors. Dark and vibrant colors, nothing drab. I’m also tired of knitting with cheap yarns, so I splurged and bought the Willow Yarns Daily DK. I think I’m going to redo the Bethanny Sweater in this DK yarn also. I hope it knits up good. Stay tuned.

10/7/13: I’m in obsession mode now. Last night, I read through all of the directions. Man, were they ever confusing. Eventually, they made sense, but I’m still going to just start (on Wednesday… I’m so excited). I’m already familiar with mitered knitting, as I made a “domino” scarf for my niece (Vivian Hoxbro technique). I’m wondering how my color combination is going to turn out. I want the dark blue (Night Sky) to be the dominant dark color. We’ll see. I’m so excited.

10/8/13: I’m like a kid on Xmas. The yarn is to be delivered tomorrow. I’m so excited. I was working on my friend’s crocodile stitch crochet scarf, but I KNOW I’m going to start as soon as the yarn is delivered. I’ve been reading over all the other project notes for this sweater. I’m so excited. I’m probably going to do some modifications on the color… I want the underside of the sleeve to be blue and not green (A not B). I hope I over ordered the yarn… which I always do. The next time I type, I’ll have my yarn.

10/9/13: The yarn’s here! It’s so beautiful. I have another project that I’m using this same yarn (in black) for first, just to test it out. It’s so soft and smooth. I’m actually scared to get started on the coat. I’m such a procrastinator.

4:53pm (ET): Starting my gauge miter… here we go!
6:06pm: gauge is fine.

9:30pm: Finished miter 1. Pic 1 shows the A/blue as a blue, but in person, the B/green stripe makes the blue look purple. No matter, so far, so good. I’ve never knit/purled a miter before, so that’s new, but easy. I did not do the cable cast on because it seemed too flimsy and it’s hard for me. I did the regular long tail cast on. I carried my A/B yarns up the right side of the miter; I think I was supposed to do that, because the last line in section 1 says “do not cut yarns”. I’ll start miter 2 tomorrow.

10/10/13: Pic 2 shows miter 2 done. It looks a little long to me, and the instructions say to work 1A ridge and 1B ridge… B in garter until 6 ridges. Does that mean to include the 1st B ridge, or in addition to the 1st B ridge? I’m not going to let it bother me. I’ve already frogged miter B twice…. not doing it again. Until tomorrow.

10/10-10/19: worked on The Diamond Eyelet Wrap Sweater and a pair of Options Slippers.

10/20/13: continuing the miter production. Starting on miter #3.

11/1/13: Pic #6 finished miter 11. I can say so far that I don’t like picking up the stitches because it seems to take 2-3 times to get it right. Other than that, so far so good. I’m a little disappointed about my color choices. The Night Sky color is more purple against the Praying Mantis green color. I wanted a true navy blue. I think I may want to do a 2 color version, like black/brown, or maybe do it in a #4 worsted wool. We’ll see.

11/13/13: Pic #7 shows 26 miters finished. I’m starting on miter # 26 probably on Friday 11/14. So far so good. The instructions, especially in the right hand side bar are quite easy to follow. I wish the Night Sky color was a true navy, but it sure looks purple. Oh well…. live and learn. I hope I don’t have to block this sucker.

12/30/13: I finished the body of the sweater tonight. I did a 3-needle bind off for the shoulders, so I can hang it up and admire it/be motivated to finish the sleeves.
I tried it on, and the fit is great. I’m so happy.

I put it down from 11/24-12/24 for Thanksgiving travelling and Christmas knitting, but I picked it back up on 12/26. I’m nervous that I don’t have enough yarn to finish them, but time will tell. I AM NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO WEAVING IN ALL THOSE “TAILS”. I’m really proud of myself. This was the “holy grail” of knitting for me.

1/10/14: 1:30 am: Almost finished with weaving in those darn ends. So tedious. Finished both sleeves, and now I only have 3 miters in the shoulder area to weave in. Tomorrow, I’ll attempt to sew the sleeves and set them in. I really want to make the black/camel version, but I’m burned out on weaving in ends.

5:24pm: FINISHED! Whew… I wasn’t up all night. I started back around 1 pm this afternoon. I sewed the first sleeve on inside out, so I had to undo it, cutting into the sweater under the arm. I sewed around the cut to secure the yarns, and then sewed the arm on. I HATE setting in sleeves. Everything matched up though. The sleeves are a bit long, but I do like longer sleeves. I need to have my fiancé take a picture of me with the sweater on.

All in all, I know I’m going to make this over in another color. Very easy, once you let go of trying to understand the pattern. You just have to jump in and let the sweater fall into place.

1/26/14: UPDATE: After wearing the jacket for about 2 weeks, I decided that the sleeves are too big. I took the sleeve seam apart, and pulled back the “blue” stockinette section. Then I single-crocheted the seam closed to the top of the elbow, and I’m knitting, in green, a diamond piece to match the opening of the underarm. Then I’m going to crochet-sew that into place. (see last picture).