WIP Wednesday

I swatched a lot yesterday, and finally decided to just knit the sweater (Vinelle, link here) on size 6's, even though my gauge was still only "close." That's right. I knit so much looser when knitting flat that I had to go down 2 needle sizes to "almost" get the right gauge. I could have gone down to a size 5, I think, but I didn't on principle.

Needless to say, after knitting for hours I may as well recycle the same pictures from yesterday because I have the exact same amount of knitting done for today.

Well that's not true; now I have two swatches.

I did get a little further on the lace repeat, though.

I am exactly 5 rows further than yesterday.

So that's the progress on the sweater. As I'm knitting with this yarn, I'm realizing that it looks terrible on my skin tone, so I think -depending on how it turns out- I might give it to my niece who is both smaller than I am and darker. If it fits me properly at the end, I might just over dye it. Which would be a shame because it really is a beautiful color.

At any rate, it's not all I'm working on today. I think I'm going to devote a lot of today to making this:

This is from a book I found in a thrift store. The book is from the 70's and this was in the "beginner knitting projects" section, which I find kind of funny because there is quite a bit of shaping and sewing involved.

I paid 75 cents for this book, and it's pretty awesome. If only for the differences between how books were written then and how they are now. I love reading old knitting books.
Anyways, I'm knitting "Pussy Cat" out of Lion Brand Wool-Ease and it's going to be a Christmas present for some lucky little kid in my family. (Or unlucky, depending on my sewing job.)

I really hope I can finish it today. I mean, if I knit Susan B. Anderson's little fairy in one day then I can certainly knit a garter stitch cat in one day. Right?
I have quite a pile of Christmas gifts laying around the house and am realizing I shouldn't have cast on a new sweater for myself right now...
I'm kind of scared that half the people I knit for won't even appreciate it. Does anyone else feel that way? This is the year where I find out who is knit-worthy, so it's kind of worrisome to me.

Anyways, that's it for today. Wish me luck on finishing the Kitty. The last thing I need is another half-finished project sitting around the house!

Check out more WIPS at the Tami's Amis blog