Pattern: Juliet, by Zephyrstyle

Yarn: Brown Sheep cotton fleece in Terracotta Canyon doubled, around 3.5 skeins

Size: XS

Needles: US 10.5

Notes: I may be the only person on the planet who celebrated the return of the empire waistline this year.  Don’t get me wrong – there is lots of fashion badness out there.  No one can convince me that skinny jeans needed to come back – I’ve already done my time stuffing my legs into jeans so tight that they need zippers at the ankles.   This sweater isn’t really an empire waist, being more of a short swingy jacket, but it’s close enough for me.  I love this style, and I love this sweater!  It knit up in around three days, and I didn’t have to make any mods.  I even used the size needles called for in the pattern, and that sort of thing never happens to me.  I think my favorite part is the buttons – the asymmetrical look works here, and crocheting the loops was fun.

I tried out a new method of attaching buttons here.  Putting buttons onto knitted fabric so they don’t gape can be difficult.  I’ve used ribbon as reinforcement, but I didn’t enjoy the process.  I read somewhere the idea of using a backing button – that is, using a cheap button on the back to hold the button in place – and it worked out so well!  Plus it looks much neater than my old method, so yay for that!

Knitpicks has new wooden tips for their interchangeables.  I ordered one size, as well as a few of their new dpns, to try out.  I don’t really love the colors, although they aren’t quite as bright as the photos, but they do seem nice.  I started a sock on the size 0 dpns, and so far they are nice – sharp and not too grabby.

The dpns are not as colorful as the options tips either.

I also got a start in on the Central Park Hoodie.

I started out using the size needles I got gauge with, but it was coming out seriously wide.  So I went down a size, and now it’s working out.  I have read the comments about the sleeves being small, but I have really skinny arms… plus I’m unlikely to layer anything with sleeves under my hoodie.   The yarn is still nice to work with for a tweed – and this picture is actually accurate on the color!