Just a walk in the park

Or is that porch?

The weather finally cleared up enough to take a pic of my brand spankin' new FO! And of course, now that the weather has cleared up, it's too hot to wear it. *sigh*

But, at any rate, here is my Central Park Hoodie!

Cable Gal
I was surfing arounds these here Internets one night last month and suddenly got a deep, primal urge to knit this sweater. I've seen it before, but for some reason, that night, it possessed me. Ever get that way? Sure you do. You're a knitter.

Luckily, I was able to procure the Knitscene issue through a lovely knitty swap a couple of days later and yup! I cast on for this little baby the day it landed in my mailbox.

Are you checking out the cables or my ass?

The pattern is well written and easy to follow. But of course, I did make a few mods. Oh, who am I kidding, I made a crapton of mods:

• Naturally, I subbed the yarn and my gauge was slightly tighter at 5sti instead of 4.25sti. To compensate, I knitted the 36" size instead of the 32" size.
  
• I knitted back and fronts in one piece up to the armholes. If you decide to do this, don't forget to subtract the selvedge stitches when you get to the split! I did, and had to tink back the pit bindoffs a couple of times. Other than that, it worked out very well. And it was SUCH a time saver at the end!
• I short rowed the shoulders because as you know, my stepped bindoffs suck ass. I love doing this, it comes out so much nicer!
  
• Sleeves - there were a few here:
• I magic looped them at the same time in the round instead of flat. If you do this, separate and knit the caps one at a time. You'll thank me for this later.
  
• Started them on 6s, but the cuffs were cutting off my circulation. So I ripped and did the entire sleeve on size 8. Much better!
• Shortened the cuffs by an inch, shortened the sleeve by about two.
• Did the first increase in the last row of the cuff ribbing instead of 8 rows later. The sleeves are known to run a bit snug, so this makes for a more comfy fit.
  
• At first, I knitted the cap decreases as written and they were seriously short. Hey, look, turns out my row gauge was off, too! Imagine that. Had to tinker with 'em a couple of times (er, couple meaning four), but upping the final decreases by two rows worked out just right. (This also helps with that whole snugness issue.)
  

Did you notice - I've lost about eight pounds since the Iris post! How? Hair cut. :P

• Made the hood about a inch longer than the pattern called for, even though I'll probably never wear it. But you know, I wanted it to fit better in case of a...uh...hoodie emergency. I also kitchenered it together. It looks a little odd where the two cables meet, but I can live with it. (Some people carry the back center cables up the hood, but I ditched that idea. For some reason, it reminds me of a lizard. Not sure why. And like I said, I'll probably never wear the hood, so it wouldn't have gotten much play anyway.)
• For the button band:
• I knitted it in one. big. P.I.T.A. piece. Soooo not going to do that next time. It was so freaking unwieldy.
  
• Used size 7s instead of size 6s. Because I only have one size 6 circ, but my collection of 7s appears to be breeding at night - and it took five of them to get all the stitches on there.
  
• Picked up a few more stitches than the pattern called for to make sure the bottom edge didn't pull up. It took me about an hour to geek out the placement and calculations. Did I mention I really don't like picking up stitches? And I had to pick up over 300? On five different circs? Yeah, good times.
  
• Knitted one-row buttonholes. My first time doing this technique, and it rocks! (Great vid for this on knittinghelp.com.) I even had the foresight to test out the sizing on a swatch before committing them to the band.
• Did the bind-off two sizes up on size 9s. This is my new favorite method for ensuring a straight yet stretchy edge!
  

Whew, still with me? Gold star for you! It really didn't seem like that many mods while I was knitting it, it just looks like a lot when it's all laid out like this. I want to stress also, that none of these were the fault of the pattern, just my preference for knitting in the round. And my gauge change. And being vertically challenged.

Sometimes a square peg does fit in a round hole!

Can you sleeve me now?
Shhh - here's a secret: I seamed the sleeves before blocking. *gasp!* And to tell you the truth, it wasn't any more difficult than if I'd blocked them before. I know, I know, as a rule, you're supposed to block before seaming. But hey, that's the way I roll.

And look! They came out great! No Frankenstein shoulders! Nice and rounded! Whee! (Note: it helped to do the 2-to-1 ratio when seaming at the corners.)

Vintage woodies rock my world. Wait, that came out wrong...

All buttoned up
Here's a close up of the vintage buttons, which I LOVE. I got them from TLiss on Etsy. She has some seriously cute stuff (including some "Knitted by me" sweater charms, which of course I snapped up!), so go check her out!

Wanna go parking? Wink wink nudge nudge giggle giggle.

Tell me a yarn
I used Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted for this in see-me-from-space Island Blue. I'll have to take this sweater with me next time I go skiing, in case I get caught in an avalanche. It'll be easier for that Saint Bernard to find me.

It bled like a mofo in the soak, but the color didn't appear to fade (clearly). It left behind some dye on the old folded sheet it was blocking on, too. Thank goodness I didn't lay it directly on the mattress, or on my good guest bed sheets!

Hubster may call this the Teal Beast, but I love how bright it is! It's so nice and soft, too. Should be snuggly warm if winter ever freaking gets here!

Wrap it up
I. LOVE. THIS. SWEATER. Great fit, perfect length in both body and sleeves, I can wear it alone or layer it, fab color, super cool buttons, soft yarn, love it love it love it!

Central Park Hoodie
Pattern: Knitscene, Fall 2006
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Island Blue (5 skeins)
Needle: Sizes 6 (bod ribbing), 7 (button band), and 8 (everything else)
Mods: Oh so many, see above!