First 'non raglan' top down!

....how exciting :-D
After months of reading my copy of Knitting from the Top, I decided to have a go at a jumper with set in sleeves ... I usually shy away from the 'set ins' as the shoulder seams tend to bug me a bit...but according to Barbara Walker this method should produce "a smooth, unbroken band of knitting over each shoulder, which slopes diagonally downward from neck to arm, as a well shaped shoulder should, yet shows no interruption of the fabric anywhere". Well..I tried it! and yes, I gotta say that I'm pretty impressed :-) Thanks Barbara!
I used some of my $5 Wangaratta yarn from Lincraft in a slightly slubby 8 ply, with different coloured flecks in it. I thought this would help disguise any mishaps with my short row shaping, if needed (glad to say that they looked pretty good!)
Next onto the armholes! (I'm doing the body first method from the book, but I'm looking forward to trying the simultaneous set in sleeves next time)...Why is my head is always jumping forward to the next project!!!?

Doubling up!

Considering that I haven't blogged for a few weeks, you'd have thought that I could have come up with something original ... but no! ... all of my knitting has been a complete repeat of my last two projects :-) I loved knitting my first Bad Penny so much, that I started another one! (I just love using this Sean Sheep Armytage wool ... in my stash I still have 9 balls of white/blue and 2 balls of mustard/yellow. This Bad Penny only takes 5 balls, so I should have enough of the white to make a long sleeved jumper, and maybe get a neckwarmer and wristies out of the yellow).

The other 'repeat' knitting was another pair of winter socks ... I tried doing the Afterthought heel on two thirds of the stitches this time (as per EZ's instructions), but thought they looked a bit odd, so I went back to using a half ... they're still better than the last pair though, because this time I didn't forget to pick up a few extra stitches at either side of the heel, to avoid holes (I did 4 on each side) ... think I may be adventurous next time, and try a different heel :-D