Nice Body!

 

I've finished the body of my Beccs Cardigan and I've even got all the ends woven in!  I wove them in as I went for a change, so they aren't all dangling around the inside of the sweater.  The things you see at the underarm area are the stitch holders for the sleeve stitches.  I tried something new for my stitch holders for the underarms - the Leather Cord and Needle Stitch Holder Kit from Cocoknits.  After reading about it in Knitter's Review, I thought I'd give it a try.  As many top down sweaters as I knit, if it could make picking up the sleeve stitches faster it would be worth it (particularly on a sweater like this with a time deadline).

Last night, after taking this picture, I started the sleeves and the leather stitch holders worked great!  Not only did I not "lose" my first and last stitch on the holder like I do when I use waste yarn (they aren't really lost, but they do try to hide and make themselves hard to find if I'm not counting carefully), but I just knit the stitches right off the stitch holder needle onto the 9-inch circular I'm using for the sleeves.  Easy Peasy!  I will no longer be putting sleeve stitches on waste yarn.

Now I have two sleeves to knit and this sweater will be finished!  It could also use a nice blocking.

Have a great weekend!