Romeo, oh Romeo, where for art thou, Romeo?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving (U.S.) full of family, food and knitting. I had a great Thanksgiving day and enjoyed hanging out with family and friends and then was felled by cold from hell that has had me doing couch duty pretty much since Friday. I've even been too sick to knit! Once every couple of years, I get a really bad cold and, since it has been a couple of years since the last one, it hit me this year. On the one had, it hit me when I was already off work so I didn't have to worry about taking any sick days. On the other hand, it hit me over the holidays when I was at my parents and looking forward to hanging out and having a good time with everyone. I'm finally starting to feel human again and have managed to make my way into the office today but I just can't wait to get back to being 100%. At least I had my brother's dog, Buddy, to keep me company on the couch when I was down and out.




In more exciting news, I hit one of my knitting goals and finished Juliet the weekend before Thanksgiving.

The vital statistics for this sweater are as follows:

Cast On: Sunday, October 14, 2007

Cast Off: Saturday, November 17, 2007

Yarn: Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky gray (5 skeins)

Needles: Knitpicks Options 10 1/2 on a 32 inch cord

Project notes: Juliet was a quick and enjoyable knit and was completed in 4-5 sittings. Upon reading a number of the knitter comments on Ravelry, I knit the small size rather than the medium that I usually knit in Zephyr Style patterns. I didn't know whether or not this style of sweater would suit my shape and originally planned to do the longer version. However, I went with the short version upon trying it on for size and am really glad that I did. Being fairly large chested, I think the longer version would have looked like a maternity top and stopped the cropped version at my waistline. I also really enjoyed working with the Berkshire Bulky even though it seemed stiff and itchy when I got it. It really softened up after winding and knit up beautifully. However, I would caution anyone who is thinking of using this yarn for a project to buy at least a skein more than the project calls for because I found a lot of joins and knots in it during winding.

I have cast on for Zephyr Style's Wicked using Cascade 220 Heathers in Ocean Heather. I am about 9 rows from separating the sleeves. (I would be much further along but my recent illness has precluded any knitting progress over the last 4 days.) I am knitting the worsted weight version with short sleeves and will be doing the pocket, which is my favorite part of this pattern. I also swatched for the Elizabeth Bennet Cabled Cardigan from Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel but decided to go with Wicked instead as I was taking it to my parents for the holiday. Buddy (the aforementioned 4-legged member of the family) has no problem with sitting on my lap and not bothering my knitting but I thought it might be tempting fate a bit too much to try it with an angora yarn (or even having the WIP sitting around the house) as he does really like to chase bunny rabbits.

In blogging news, The Comfy Bev selected jsins for a "You Make Me Smile Award." Thank you, Bev! I have greatly enjoyed getting to know Bev through her blog and through the No Sheep for You Secret Swap and am honored that she enjoys checking out the blog. I'd like to pass along the good cheer to the following knitbloggers who inspire me with their knitting, crafting and blogging:

Kristina of Brouhaha Knits

Adrienne of Real Life: Live and Unscripted

Robin of Yarn Crawl

Dawn of A Simplified Life

Happy knitting everyone! I am hoping that I feel up to picking up the sticks again tonight.