There have been a lot of things going on in the last couple of months, and through better and worse I have been dedicating much of my crafting time to the first pattern I've ever attempted, Alyeska by Caitlin Hunter of Boyland Knitworks.  

The best part is that I wasn't even going to do this sweater at first.  I thought it was beautiful but having previously quite an aversion to knitting patterns (note this being my first pattern work, despite you hearing about the Lunar Phase MKAL first) I assumed that I would admire it on Instagram and pursue it no further.

The influence of my magnificent crafting friend and accomplice, Alexis, is the dear soul who drove me to taking the plunge, and by the plunge I mean she had me come along to Starlight Knitting Society where they had kits on sale and a demo version on display for viewing and cat-hand-scrunching pleasure.  While I didn't buy a kit then, I knew that I would have to make Alyeska.

I went home and began to plot.  I gathered some yarn to dye for the orange and white-speckled, and then bought the brown and charcoal yarn to make up the rest.  

To be totally honest with you, in the past when I've read knitting patterns I'd look at about 4 rows of instructions and then promptly get annoyed that it was in shorthand that I didn't understand and would walk away.  I am the same person who will watch Youtubers I like play a game of UNO on xbox for nearly 3 hours and be perfectly content.  I'm not sure why knitting patterns got none of my patience in  the past, but I was effectively a petulant child when it came to not understanding patterns.  That is, until Alyeska came along. 

There's something about how all of these colours started coming together, having one of my dearest friends working on it alongside me, and having this strange obsession of starting this project in Montana (back in the end of February) that created an eagerness to learn and not feel frustrated that I didn't already know how to do everything.  

Plus the colour work made everything feel like it was knitting up so much more quickly.  I love checklists and marking things as complete, so working the chart made it possible to see the very real progress I was making.  I love simple and straight forward designs, but I have a tendency to get bored if I work on them too long because doing the same thing over and over again can make me feel like I'm going nowhere.  

With Alyeska the progress felt more tangible.  Before I knew it I had a super cute crop top that I had to talk myself out of leaving like this, because I am a menace and thought it might be fun to leave it just like the picture below (with a little ribbing at the bottom of course because I'm not a total monster).

But I (sort of) knew that was silly and that I would be happier to see the project fully through.  In no time the body was complete and it was on to the sleeves.  

And yes, I'm glad it's not a crop top.  Sort of. ;)

The sleeves came together quickly, which was good and bad because I got halfway through on both only to find out I needed to make the next size up for my sleeves and had to tear it back to where I started and then try again.  

Silver lining:  I needed bigger sleeves because of my biceps being too big for the x-small sleeves.  Which is definitely something I take a lot of pride in!

I decided for the final detail of the sweater I would stray from the pattern a bit- the cuffs are supposed to be only 1" but I far prefer long cuffs, so I did several inches of cuff.  Otherwise though, I successfully followed the pattern all the way through.

No tantrums, just glowing tears of joy to have seen this remarkable project through.  The sweater that I have now had numerous dreams over and couldn't be more happy to be able to wear.

In fact, a friend who is deeply dear to my heart is now the official godparent of this sweater because let's face it, while the miracle of childbirth is unparalleled and rightly so, this sweater is a treasured piece of my soul brought to life.  If something happens to me, I need to know it will be taken care of and loved by someone who understands what it took to get here.  

Obviously with the posts from the Lunar Phase MKAL I've been working on other patterns now, and have broken free from the odd impatience I had, and I plan to do more of Boyland Knitworks' patterns because clearly Caitlin Hunter is a magnificent genius who works hard to make amazing patterns and I need more of that on my needles and in my closet.

Until next time- stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.