Over the span of several months, I had a few pockets of free time within which I managed to cast on some new knitwear projects... only to drop them shortly thereafter in favor of my bigger art projects. It's been fun picking these up again this fall, but I've found that I have a mountain of WIPs that I really need to finish before moving on to new projects. November just happens to be "National Knit a Sweater Month", which came to my attention through the at first confusing, but recognizeable hashtag of #NaKniSweMo on Instagram. This knit-along is a fun concept that has been going since 2006 (here's more about it), and since I didn't know about it until Thanksgiving last year I'm ready to jump in this go around. The problem is my aforementioned mountain of WIPs. How can I justify casting on a whole new project when I have so many in progress already? That's just irresponsible (and adds more clutter to the already shrinking amount of open space in my studio). The only solution is to go half in this time and finish a sweater, yes, but finish a sweater that I previously started. Chelsea Morning by Elizabeth Davis is perfect for the job!

I honestly can't remember when I began this project, but I want to say it might have been around Christmas last year. The yarn I'm using is Berroco Folio, which you might remember from the oyster mushrooms that I made through my 52 Forms of Fungi project. Berroco sent that yarn for me to try out on the project, and I really enjoyed the softness and drape (well, what you can tell of drape when making a small knitted mushroom). When I decided to start on Chelsea Morning, Folio (an alpaca, rayon/viscose blend) seemed like the perfect cozy fiber for an oversized sweater.

The color block design with a lower hem in the back is what sold me on this pattern, and the more it takes shape the more I like the minty green and light brown color combo that I went with. I still need to spend a lot of time making small art pieces this month for Deluxe Winter Market over Thanksgiving weekend, but I hope to finish (or at least get close to finishing) this sweater for NaKniSweMo too. Next year, it's an Improvised Top Down Sweater, all the way.

Are you making a sweater for National Knit a Sweater Month? What pattern are you using?