Getting back to springtime knitting

I have been obsessing about making this cute little cropped jacket which I keep seeing at Close Knit for many months now. Maybe over a year. Every time I tried it on, it fit me so perfectly that I thought to myself “I really must make this sweater”. Well I finally bought the  pattern booklet recently – Rebecca #32 -  and then looked up the pattern on Ravelry this being my first ever Rebecca pattern.  There were only two projects on Ravelry – only two other Ravelers making this pattern -  and it kind of surprised me until I started on the swatch. Yes folks, swatching is becoming a regular habit for me now and a good thing too. I couldn’t quite figure out the fisherman’s rib stitch as written but I found a lovely tutorial online (written for North American knitters) and now the stitch just flies for me. Ain’t the internet grand?

The yarn I’m using is Lion Wool-ease because I had some leftover from my Obama pillow which I used for the swatch and I liked the resulting fabric so much that I decided to knit the entire jacket with it. Yes, it is a cheap choice of yarn but I still suffer from issues of worthiness and also frugality. I knit a LOT so inexpensive yarns are a godsend. Also, I think this is a rather good choice of yarn for the project.

After several false starts I now have several inches centimeters of the sweater and it’s going strong. The cropped jacket is my current obsession, the roses have been neglected but springtime bandit is complete! I just need to find someone to model the shawl for photos. The weather lately has been spectacular – more like summer than spring. Here’s a sneak peak of  the bandit being blocked.