Work in Progress Wednesday

Crafty bloggers all over the web participate in Work in Progress (WIP) Wednesday.  Every Wednesday, I will be discussing my current project, complete with photos.  I can hear how excited you are.  Let's get started...

The Pattern
On my needles is the very popular Baby Sophisticate cardigan.  This pattern was published in Stockinette in April 2009 and according to Ravelry, has been knit 1695 times.  Whoa!  That's a lot of cardis!  I'm making the 6 to 12 month size for my little one.  Other knitters have noted that the pattern runs a bit small so I took a few hours to read various project notes (again on Ravelry) and have found a few modifications that I intend to use.  I plan to cast on 1 stitch under each underarm when splitting for the body and sleeves and pick up 3 stitches on the underarm when starting the sleeves and then decrease 2 of them on round 5.  Thank you Susan for these suggestions!

But hey!  I haven't gotten to splitting for the body and arms yet.  I've just started this project yo!

The Yarn

I am loving knitting up the Taiyo yarn by Noro that I chose for this project.  I don't generally enjoy knitting cotton, but this stuff is incredibly soft and easy on the hands.  It's aran weight, 

40% Cotton, 30% Silk, 15% Nylon, 15% Wool and 100% luxurious!  The colourway is fabulous. Lots of greens, yellow, teal and purple.

The WIP

As you can see, I haven't gotten very far yet, but I'm very pleased with how quickly this is knitting up.  I'm also happy with the width of each stripe of colour.  At first I wasn't digging the mustard yellow but it has really grown on me.

I don't think I'll get very much (if anything!) done on this cardigan in the next seven days because I have just cast an adorable dress for one of the little people in my life whose birthday is fast approaching.  I'll tell you more about that project next week. 

So, what's everyone else working on?

P.S.  Some of my links are to Ravelry and I'm afraid you need an account to login.  If you are a knitter or crocheter, you must must must sign up.  You won't regret it, promise!

On the Hook

As soon as I discovered I was pregnant, I headed to Ravelry (the online gathering place for knitters and crochets) to hook up with other expecting knitters.  Ravelry has hundreds of active groups, each with a discussion board.  During my pregnancy, I was an active poster in the "We're Expecting?!" group, the "Homebirthing Mama's" group and the "Cloth Diapering Parents" group, but the women I feel most connected to are the ladies in the "Due in February" group.  They have become my friends and support system.  It's hard to believe that I've been communicating with them for almost an entire year now.  There are probably about twenty women who post regularly.  Our babies are all between three and four months old now and these women are my go-to peeps for any and all baby related questions.

One of our members delivered very early and her baby was born still.  Our group is making an collective afghan in memory of her daughter.  I contributed a square in March, but recently learned that we are a few short so I'm finishing up a second square today.  We learned that our friends favorite colour is purple.

Square #1 is the Tricolor Square by Jan Eaton.

Square #2 is just a simple granny square because I want to get it in the mail quickly.