Audrey A-Long

40 Finished Audreys!

I have to start out by saying that I appreciate everyone's patience. You folks all have to be the most understanding guests, since lately I have not been the world's most fabulous hostess when it comes to handing out the party favors in a reasonable time. The holidays have given me a little chance to get caught up, add new people to the knit a long, and get labels sent out to our most recent finishers.

There are now 40 (how impressive!) finishers. And the maps now look like this:

Here's an updated the map for the US:

create your own personalized map of the USA

And finally, here's the whole world of Audrey:

create your own visited country map

A big congratulations to Nancy (Virginia), Kate (Missouri), Elizabeth (Texas), and Heathre (New Zealand) Your labels will get into the mail next week. Here's the overall tally:

Alabama 1
California 5
Colorado 1
Connecticut 2
Florida 1
Illinois 1
Kentucky 1
Maryland 2
Massachusetts 1
Missouri 1
New Jersey 2
New York 1
Ohio 2
Oregon 1
Texas 3
Utah 1
Virginia 2

Canada 2
England 3
Finland 1
France 1
Germany 2
Japan 1
New Zealand 1

Happy Birthday to Me!

I am thrilled to announce the appearance of my completed Audrey, just in time for my 31st birthday! After many, many months of being "shelved" and after a big move from Wisconsin to Nelson, New Zealand in November, my Audrey was completed last night. I haven't had time to wash and block her yet, as I so wanted to wear her for my birthday today (the 27th of December). We are having a cooler summer here in New Zealand so far, so I will be taking great advantage of this extremely comfortable sweater in the next few months. I love her already and know she will look even better after being washed and blocked... I am all smiles!

I made the Medium size in Pool with no alterations to the written instructions for lengths or increases/decreases, and it worked out wonderfully. I did 20 repeats for the neckline and really like how it lays on my shoulders. I have no complaints at all with how it fits, which certainly makes me happy! I have already been proudly walking around town today, and it feels good...

Now I can relax, knowing that the "Audrey 2004" label will be appropriate since I completed it before the end of the year.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Finished in time for Christmas!

My Audrey made her debut today:

Pardon the mock-dramatic pose - it was the best of the photos we took. I'm very pleased with how she turned out. Here are some thoughts/notes on the process:

1. I did 18 pattern repeats on the neckband. It turns out that for the size I knit (the small), the number of rows on the neckband and the stitches at the neck edge were about the same, so seaming the neckband to the body wasn't too hard. I used mattress stitch, catching the bottom knit stitch of the neckband and the top stitches of the ribbed body. I matched 3 pattern repeats to each sleeve, and 6 repeats apiece to the front and back.
2. I didn't block the sweater or the neckband, and I think it worked out fine.
3. I flipped over the sleeves when seaming the sweater together because I liked how the decreases on the sleeve cap looked on the "wrong side" better than on the "right side." (I got this idea from Froggy, incidentally).
4. I made the sleeve inseams an inch longer than the pattern called for, but wish I had knit them even longer. I wish I had made the body longer, too. But overall I'm happy with it. The Calmer is soooo soft and comfortable and even warm! Great to knit with and gorgeous to wear.

Thanks to everyone for a great knit-along.

Neckband blocking?

Howdy everyone! I have seamed my Audrey and am now working on the neckband - I'm probably going to knit around 18 pattern repeats, pin it to the body, and see how it looks before seaming. I can't tell you how grateful I am to read all your entries with info on the neckband - it's going to save me a lot of grief, I can tell! But I've been looking to see if anyone has blocked their neckband, and haven't read anything about it - so I am wondering what y'all did. To block or not to block... the neckband (before attaching it to the body)? Your input would be greatly appreciated.

PS I'm not planning on blocking the body - I tried it on the other day and it looks good as is, I think...