I think I can, I think I can....

I think I have my Christmas gift knitting all set. Of course various people who will be recipients of same gifts pop in to read my blog from time to time, so I guess I can't say too much about them. Patrick knows what I'm making, as he picked it out. I'm modifying the ribbed cardigan in Last Minute Knitted Gifts to be a 1/4-zip pullover. He picked Plymouth Tweed in charcoal and away I went. I swatched Tuesday night, got gauge and finally cast on Wednesday night.

Let me say here and now that I am not a perfect knitter. I know. It's shocking, huh? So, I got about 5 inches into the thing and I realized the whole front was going to be wonky. You see, the pattern is for a full zip cardigan. There are k2 ribs on either side of the zipper and the body is knit all in a one piece 4x4 rib. So I had merrily cast on my full cadre of stitches and went on my way. I stopped to admire the work and I realized that the zipper placement will just not look right with a K4 on the right and a P4 on the left. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Off to the frog pond with that baby.

Cast back on yesterday morning and I left four stitches off on each side. I don't need a zipper selvedge, and Patrick wants to make sure it is not at all baggy - more athletic cut. So now I have the center front centered on a K4 rib and that will be divided (K2,zipper,K2) at the appropriate time.

Here's progress so far:

It does seem to be going rather quickly - I need 15" until the armhole shaping - I think I'm around 9 inches right now.

I'll post more later tonight - Amy and I are headed to IKEA to check our their Christmas stuff and who knows what else. I'll leave you with two recently finished shop models.