WIP Wednesday: Sweater Progress!

Having finished all my animals I was working on, I had an urge to work on my Miette cardigan again. When I picked it up last weekend, I hadn't even separated for the arm holes yet (I was about an inch above that point). And check out where I am now!

I have the entire body done! I had hoped to bind off last night so that these pictures could be with me wearing it, but I didn't really feel great and just didn't get a chance to bind off. Plus to be honest I'm a little scared to, lol. Normally I would just go up a needle size or two and do a simple bind off.  But this is cotton - which stretches a lot. And the edge is twisted rib. I've been trying to search the internet for what type of bind off would be best, but I just can't figure it out. Any helpful suggestions?

I really love the design of this cardigan. This is my first time with any shaping and I am seriously fascinated by the boob darts, lol. It's pretty crazy that it looks just like a sewn dart would ... but it's knitted. Oh how novel!

This is the twisted rib. At first I was worried after reading so many others out there who made this cardigan say it was really difficult so they just changed to regular rib. I've really been trying to stick to the pattern though, so I just looked up how to ptbl and gave it a go - it was much easier than I thought. Seriously, just give it a try! It's a bit more cumbersome than normal ribbing, but I have to admit I do really like the effect. I'm really excited to bind off and start the sleeves! Woo hoo!

I ended up having to wind 2 more skeins of the Cascade Sierra into balls this week to work on this - which mean I've knitted over 200 yards since Saturday. Crazy! I'm constantly amazed at how much faster I get the longer I knit. I guess it's like with anything and just takes practice. And here's a chance to show you my winding setup. The winder works great, but man do I hate that swift, lol. I got it for a few dollars at a thrift store months ago and all I can say for it is that it works, lol. It's metal and rubber and it seems like it's not quite big enough for every skein I've used it on. I have to wind very slowly and the yarn still constantly falls off so I have to set it back in place before I can continue. Still it's better than hand winding. Maybe I'll bite the bullet and actually buy a decent swift though. My birthday is in June ... hmm ...

I've also been listening to the audio book of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo this week. I have always loved the story and I was obsessed with th emusical while I was in high school, but I'd never read the book. I am really enjoying it :) The story is excellent and the writing is incredibly detailed. I'm learning so much more about the characters that I've always loved, which is wonderful. This is a gigantic book though (the audio book is around 60 hours long!) So I'm sure this one will take me a while - but I know it will feel great to have read it.

So that's what's happening with me this week :) Head over to Tami's Amis' Blog to see what others are working on too!