Completed baby socks, and fitting a plus-size woman's sweater.

Sewn and blocked, and gave to a mutual friend who works near me and lives near the baby's mom.  Can't wait to hear if she likes them!

Meanwhile, I have only two rows and a bind-off to complete on my hand-knitted  "Left-wheel" sweater Pattern.  See the link for a photo of the original design by Berroco Design Team.  I've been working on it as much as possible since the day after Christmas. 

I couldn't wait to try it on, so here us a sneak peek.  Notice the circular needle still in the right front band!  Photo credit: my wonderful husband.

My intention is to make this same sweater (with a few minor fitting changes) in the same yarn, with a different colorway.  Notice how slim the model in the photo is, she is not built like me at all!  The design sizes up, but doesn't really accommodate my roundness.

 This sweater took 8 balls of Plymouth Encore Chunky Colorspun, which does not seem to be widely available any more.  I've purchased a few more balls on eBay to make sure I have enough to complete the project.  The back took exactly two balls,  each side front took exactly one ball, the sleeves each took just barely over a ball.  Really, less than a yard of the new ball was needed to complete the sleeves, and less than a yard was left on each of the front sides. The bands took another two complete balls. I am holding what is left of the skein, and I still have two rows to knit and to complete the bind-off.

For this version, I added a few rows of short-row shaping to the center of the  upper back to accommodate my round back. I knitted two-thirds of the way across the row, wrapped the next stitch, then knitted back, wrapping and reversing again when I reached the first third, then knitting across the rest of the row.  I did this maneuver twice, then a shorter one closer to the neck edge. This will also keep my neck from getting cold.  On the right front I added a short-row "godet" from the bottom to the point of the bust, to give me a little more room in the hip.  Otherwise I knit as directed for the largest size in the pattern.  Using the specified needle size, this yarn knitted up to the exact stitch and row gauge called for in the pattern.

For my revised machine-knit version, I want to make the entire garment just a few stitches larger around, especially the sleeves.  Instead of color-blocking the entire piece, I will mix up the various colors within the pieces.  I will add an inch to the length.  I also plan to keep the short-row revisions already included, and I will add some short rows on the upper left front to avoid the visual distraction of the stripes running uphill over my chest, and allow for a better fit.  Instead of knitting the bands separately, I am currently deciding on beginning with a hem.  Maybe by the time I finish, I won't really be knitting "Left Wheel" any more!  I haven't knitted the gauge swatch yet on the machine, so it will be interesting to see if I can hit the gauge exactly on the machine.