Bending the Rules So Hard They Make a Snapping Noise

I'm ba-aack. Hello! New Hampshire was gorgeous and we had lots of fun even though there were no sheep to be found.

There are a couple of things to respond to from earlier - the Wiki debate, putting your own header into the template - that I promise to get to in the next few days, but first:

I broke my own rule. I broke every rule. I left all my WIPs behind and started a totally new project in New Hampshire, and it's...another sweater for moi. I just completely caved, and I have no excuse, except that I've been envying Laura's SKB for too long, and this deep red microfiber was burning a hole in my closet, dying to be used. I thought about starting the SKB, but it's a bigger project, would distract me longer from the others, plus the yarn I have for it is pink and the whole point is to use the deep red. Also, my numbers just wouldn't work out for SKB in the microfiber I want to use for it. So, in frustration, I tried a couple of swatches and some number-crunching for Sizzle in the deep red yarn, just before leaving for the weekend. To my surprise, I got the numbers to work out just beautifully by knitting the instructions for the large size at 6 sts/in, with a few other small modifications to yield (hopefully) a medium that's a little smaller at the waist than the one called for in the pattern, but otherwise the same. This should be a snug, perfect fit. Even though there was very little knitting time over the weekend (we were busy hiking, and I was afraid of the yarn catching on stray branches!), I'm now just finishing the decreases for the armholes on the back.

Here's the whole back, even though the color is totally off:


(click to make it slightly bigger)

Here's a closeup, with the color still totally off, but in a different way:



And here's another shot, with the color much closer to right (after some manipulation), but still not quite capturing its richness, depth, and shine:



The yarn is 100% microfiber, made in Germany, called "Magic." There's no info on the label about what kind of microfiber it is. I bought it in Russia at an embarrassingly low price.

Deep red is the color for the season, people - can you blame me for temporarily abandoning everything else to play with this color for while?



























And, just for fun:



More soon, though there's some catching up to do in every aspect of my life, so it may not be immediately. And of course I need to catch up on my blog reading, too - you guys have been prolific while I've been gone!