Exciting Yarn Purchase!

I recently made a trip to my favorite yarn store in anticipation of starting my first projects from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel.

First, I bought Plymouth Encore Chunky for the Spicy Fitted V-Neck Tee:


And for the Short Sleeved Cardigan with Ribbing I bought the recommended Cascade 128:

I looked forward to Fitted Knits for a very long time, and it does not disappoint.
I especially love this book for a couple of reasons:

1. It is all sweaters. No scarves, socks, cozies, or other filler. Just wonderful yummy sweaters.

2. There are fewer items I dislike in this book than in any other. Pretty much every knitting book has a few things that make me ask "why?!" but this one, not so much.

Ironically, these were two of the patterns that I didn't like at all when I first looked at the book, and they're still not my favorites. I'm baffled by the idea of a garment that is both short-sleeved and made of wool. Presumably, if it's cold enough to wear wool - bulky wool, mind you - isn't it cold enough for long sleeves? I actually tried finding cotton for the Spice V-neck, but bulky cotton is hard to come by and I was looking for a pretty specific color range. Plymouth Encore is around 75% acrylic but it is still pretty warm, so I bought an extra skein in case I decide to lengthen the sleeves. There is also the possibility of wearing a long-sleeve shirt under the sweater. I meant to buy extra yarn for the cardigan as well, but had such a difficult time choosing a color that in the end I forgot all about buying an extra skein.

I've admired Stefanie Japel's patterns for a long time, but most of them have been sweaters that look fantastic on her but would look horrible on me. (I just can't pull off bobbles, Stefanie.) Fitted Knits contains many sweaters that I think would look great on me and other non-model types. It's well worth the purchase price. Granted, I got it for my birthday so it was free, but if anyone out there is thinking of buying it, you have my wholehearted endorsement.

I plan to cast on for one of these projects as soon as I finish my rop-down raglan. I'm almost done!