Thankfully Blocking

Also thankful that this is Day 21 of the NaBloPoMO.  Only 9 more days of daily blogging left.  Wont be doing this again.  And the crowd goes wild :}

Knitting on the Thankful Sweater was completed last night.  I have enough yarn left to graft to two top/sleeve halves together and to seam the body to the top.  That's definitely cutting it too close for my comfort.

Today, I blocked my pieces

I debated grafting the two halves of the top/sleeve together before blocking, but decided against it - mainly because the body is already a big piece to block, and the two halves would be more manageable, well, as halves.

Now, I have a confession to make.  All this time, I have been thinking (and blogging) that this yarn is Knit Picks Capra, a lovely merino, cashmere blend.  However, when none of my spit splices were sticking I got a bit suspicious and went looking for the ball bands.  I wound these balls up in September, and stuck the ball bands in my ball band stash box.  Well, the yarn is actually Knit Picks Swish bulky, a washable merino.  That means it has been treated so that it won't shrink or felt in the wash.  Spit splice fail explained.  Swish is still a nice soft wool. 

My blocked stockinette stitch gauge is larger than the knit up gauge, just as my original gauge swatch suggested.   I had no problem blocking to my planned measurements, except for the ribbing which is intentionally 1 inch shorter to save on a bit of yarn.

If the pieces dry by tomorrow, I might be able to seam it up in time for T-giving.