Liesl sweater

I finished this sweater back in August according to my Ravelry page.  I have not actually worn it yet and I have mixed feelings about it.  The yarn is Sundara Aran Silky merino which is a 50/50 merino and silk blend.  The yarn itself is beautiful but I found it kind of difficult because it grows so much! It seemed small when I was knitting it but once I washed and blocked it, it was much bigger.  I knew this would happen so I did account for it while knitting.  Additionally I had issues with the sleeve pattern.  This was something that a lot of other knitters noted about this pattern.  It is difficult to get the feather and fan stitch pattern to line up correctly.  The only thing that worked for me was to make several attempts, each time starting the feather and fan pattern in a different spot until it lined up correctly.  In the end I am just not sure that I really like this sweater, I may pull it out today and wear it and see if I change my mind about it. 

I was able to cast on my Dark and Stormy cardi last night but that was literally all that I did, I cast on 80 stitches then I went to bed!  Hopefully I have more time to work on it today.  I didn't take a photo of my single row of stitches so here is a photo of the yarn I am using.  (Miss Babs Yowza Whatta Skein in colorway Fraser)

 I do have a bunch of small projects that I need to be getting done soon, a baby sweater and hat for a friend of mine expecting her second baby next month, a knitted monster for the same friend's 2 year old daughter ( I just had to look at the date of the baby sweater I made for her to remember how old she is!) and a UNI(purple/yellow) striped hat for a friend who is a sophomore there.  Hopefully I can get the yarn for that figured out this weekend, I should have the hat done by the time he comes home for Thanksgiving.  I do have a bit of traveling this weekend so I may cast on the baby sweater to take along, it seems like the most portable knitting since I will probably have to order yarn for the UNI hat.