a sweater, and a stealth knit

I've been working on the Tree Jacket from Zephyr Style as part of the latest SKC knitalong. It's my goal to actually finish it "on time." It's just for me, but I have this silly idea that I'd like to start something with other people and then finish it in time for a deadline. Because you know, I don't have enough deadlines at school. As my old boss always used to say, when he wanted me to do something incredibly unpleasant or boring, "so this'll be a fun project for you..."


Here is my progress so far:





My yarn:





I started out planning to make the small size - the bust measurement for the small is 32-35 inches, and medium is 36-39 inches and my bust is about 36 inches. (Is this too much sharing? Oh, who cares.) I figured the sweater will expand with wear, and I wanted it to keep a good, snug fit and not look sloppy. Well, then I remembered my Rusted Root, also by Zephyr Style, which I never took good finished photos of or posted about, because I finished it RIGHT before I ran off to Yemen. Well, I wore it around when my friend Jennea was visiting right after I got back and some pictures were taken:








The sweater isn't the focal point of the pictures or anything, but you get the idea. (Okay, I'll admit you can hardly see it in that second shot, but I just really like the picture. That's me and Jennea at the bean, for you Chicago folks.)


Rusted Root fits, but it's pretty booby, and that's even after I blocked the CRAP out of it. The sleeves also lost the cute puffiness they have on the Zephyr site. (Look at them here, for instance.) I like the fit better on the Zephyr girl, obviously, but there are some serious physical differences between me and her that will prevent pretty much any sweater from fitting us the same - BOOBS. And regarding the sleeves, in the Zephyr shots that show off the puffiness the model is jutting her arm out.


So, I have decided to knit my Tree Jacket in the size medium and face the possibility that it may be a little loose around my waist. Or I could drink a few more pints of beer each day and fill it out a little more. As you can see from the progress shot above, I'm in the middle of the raglan arm increases and I still have control over the size - the numbers up to this point for small and medium have been the same. I'll just increase more now.




Finally, in an incredibly misguided attempt to procrastinate I've been taking more photos of my stash and putting them on Ravelry. (I'm hungryknitter for any other ravelers out there.) This stash photo project is a terrible, terrible idea for several reasons.
1. I am a student. I have WORK to do.
2. There is basically no natural light in my apartment, ever.
3. The dog really, really, really needs to be VERY CLOSE TO ME at all times. Hence, this serious of photos as I try to capture some Inca Wool:





Inca Wool on its own, but I don't love this picture so I'm going to try a few more times...







But Yoshi is moving in...







Now you can see she's bumped me up against the wall, and you can see that I'm trying to take pictures on top of a pillow case in a dog-hair filled corner of our entryway, next to a pair of shoes, and ancient Old Navy bag full of more yarn, and a bookcase.





Aaaaand at this point she's settled in amidst that one great spot of sunlight and the photo shoot has gone completely down the tubes. Back to the books, I guess...






And lastly, I'm working on some SECRET KNITTING. I won't show any more than this until the recipient has it in her position (I don't think I'm giving anything away by revealing the sex of the person I'm knitting for - when you see the yarn... I don't know any men who would be into this yarn. Not that there aren't men OUT THERE who might be. Just none of the ones I know.)





That's some fluffy stuff!!!