knitting along

shhhhh.....I know that I already have a million things on the needles, but the Amanda knitalong over at Fringe Association is too tempting to resist. The energy and enthusiasm that Karen has put into this is infectious and I am looking forward to learning so many things from the most excellent panel of experts that are also knitting along. Here are the deets on my Amanda so far:

yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in the dove heather colorway. A terrific workhorse yarn at a budget friendly price point.

swatch: US size 6 & 5. I was initially dreading swatching for this project but this detailed post by Kate Gagnon Osborn really helped to guide me through the process of knitting & measuring a cable swatch. 

cast-on: the easy, fast & reliable long-tail.

size/ease: size 35 medium since I want a little positive ease. 

concerns/trepidations: keeping the knitting energy flowing smoothly...and getting this knitted before the season is over, since the last heavily cabled sweater I made (Aidez) took nearly a year to finish!

body construction: using the same approach as for my Aidez: knitting the body in one piece & the sleeves flat two-at-a-time. Also plan on incorporating faux seams for the body.

button bands: really excited to try out the button band as written. It looks lovely in the project photo so fingers crossed!

other mods: none so far, but who knows? That's half the fun! Here's a close-up of how I am keeping things from going haywire:

color coordinated highlighter tape + talking stitch markers = scary organizational skillz or just plain scary?