Knit-Along Fever

I am writing this post on my new laptop. I bought it when I was in Austin over the holidays. My brother picked it out for me. I used to harbor delusions of knowledge of computers and the like, and while I do probably know more than a lot of people, I don't really know all that much. So it was a relief to ask my brother to help me pick one out.

"What do you want?" he asked me.

"Yours," I replied. "But newer and better."

And that's what I got. It's taking some getting used to, especially the keyboard, but I'm starting to get comfortable with it. My building offers free wireless and I just got hooked up with that so there's no stopping me now. I imagine I will be spending more time than I should be playing with it. It should make upgrading to the new Blogger an even more thrilling adventure I'm sure..

So what does all of that have to do with that little bit of sweater bottom up there? Nothing. I just wanted to mention my new computer. That little bit of sweater bottom is my new knit-along project. It's the Nantucket Jacket that's on the cover of the Winter 2006 Interweave Knits:

Mary at the Knitting Workshop and I had both been admiring it and started looking for yarn that would work. It uses a bigger yarn than I thought from looking at it, and I had some discontinued Maggi's Aran in a kind of silver grey (the photo actually comes close to reality for a change) that works perfectly.

I've been waiting for Yam and my friend Mary to start our Knit-along of Whisper out of Rowan Calmer, and in the meantime Shop-owner Mary (as we call her when we need to distinguish between her and our friend Mary) and I get all caught up in our enthusiasm for the Nantucket Jacket, so we decided to start a little Knit-along of our own. We started on New Year's Eve. Mary was there when we got going on it and decided she had to join in as well, so she cast on and got started when she got home.

It's not a terribly complicated pattern, but it is just a touch counter-intuitive. I had to start it over twice, but I'm on a roll now and it is really looking good. Shop-owner Mary is making hers with Wave, and friend Mary started hers in Bouton D'Or's Ceres.
I don't know if you can tell in the close-up, but this yarn has a beautiful sheen, and it's springy and soft. I think it's going to make a beautiful sweater.