Yarny Sunday

So I think it was last week that I introduced you to Fun With Yarn. Well I had purchased some yarn with my birthday money and started working on a sweater. In fact I was knitting the Basic Pullover in Sally Melville's The Knitting Experience: Book 2: The Purl Stitch. A few weeks ago, I finished everything but the collar (it needs to be assembled before finishing the collar). And then it sat here... waiting to be blocked...have I ever told you how much I despise the finishing process? Well I do, and this would be my first time ever blocking a sweater, as well as my first time knitting a sweater, as well as my first time using yarn that was so darn expensive... Needless to say I have some stress going on about finishing this project because I know that good finishing can be the difference between a beautiful sweater, and one that looks, well handmade (in a bad way)...

So my first objective was to buy a blocking board. I know you can cheaply make one, but honestly, having all the measurements printed on it already made me smile, so I bounced around the blog sphere and found a few references to the Sew E-Z Board. I finally received it on Friday and was very impressed with the workmanship, the size, and how easy it was to carry. In a burst of excitement I traveled down to Joann Fabrics as soon as I could leave my house and bought some T-pins (and a bunch of yarn on sale as well, I claim its for mom, but it may never leave).
Saturday I started blocking. The first photo is an arm before blocking.You can see how the stockinette stitch is all curled up and it barely looks like anything you could fit on your arm.
Next is a picture of the arms- one during blocking and one after. The nice thing about the pattern I was using is that the blocking dimensions are given ad easy to understand, no figuring on gauge needed, which was good for me because 1) I hate to gauge and 2) the math in this project was hard enough and I was given most of the measurements I needed.
And a few more pics of the front and back in progress. I put them outside in the sun so they dried quickly. And now today I need to go to my local yarn shop and look for something I can assemble this with because I don't have enough yarn left to put it together and to finish the collar.. I also don't think this yarn is the best for assembly as it is thick and pulls apart. I'll have to see what my local yarn guru has to offer.

Maybe next week I'll have this assembled...