Laid Off and Laid Back

Thanks to everyone who left such encouraging messages regarding my surprise unemployment. As you can imagine, I've had a bit of extra time on my hands. So I followed your advice and filled my days with knitting. Say hello to Klaralund, a very casual sweater with a funky, earthy, laid back kinda vibe.

This is a wonderful pattern. Simple, really. Two squares for the front and back and a pair of easy-peasy sleeves. The finished sweater fits great. I enjoyed the knitting so much I'm thinking of making another, maybe in a solid.

I used about 11 skeins of Noro Silk Garden #213 on size 8 needles. If I weren't so fussy about keeping the continuity of the stripes, I could have used less. As for the Noro, I loved the feel of the yarn, but wasn't wild about the colorway. Sometimes, the true colors just aren't apparent in the unknit skeins. This picture is very dark. In better lighting you'd be able to see that the colors are very, very bright. My 5 year old nephew saw it on the needles and said, "Ooohhh Auntie, are you making a rainbow sweater?" When I first put it on, I was afraid I looked like this, but Jeff assures me it is very stylish. He especially likes the flared sleeves, which unfortunately are not visible in this bad photo. When the sunshine returns, I will take another in better lighting.

In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in blogland.