Anise and Challenge

After a three day weekend and much time indoors, I have completed this much of my Anise jacket...
I started this sweater from yarn that I had in my stash, knowing full well that I didn't have enough to finish it, and decided that because my current coat now is in dire need of replacing, I am putting this knit into the necessity pile instead of the want to make pile. Of course, I WANT to knit everything that I make, but my coat now has so many holes that last weekend I lost my cell phone in the lining somewhere around the right sleeve cuff. It took a good amount of fenagling (is that a real word?) to get it out again, so I'm going to knit my own.

Staying true to the challenge though, I have made some thrifty decisions about how to finish off the coat. Before I realized that the pattern requires four press snaps to close and six accessory buttons that don't do anything, I worked my happy way through the double moss stitch section without any changes or button holes. That means I am going to have to make some secret buttons on the inside in order to help close this beast. I have several smaller buttons, but I didn't know if I would have enough for six large accessory buttons. My creativity lead me to a knitted button, or a button that was slightly bigger than most I have that will be covered by a piece of knitting. I want red buttons and since I have some red sock yarn already in my stash and 6 biggish buttons, I'm ready to go!

Also, a knitting blog wouldn't be any good if it were only about success stories. A few days ago, I decided that the Short n Sweet cardigan would have to go to the frog pond because it is just too darn big in the shoulder. The yarn is super stretchy so I think I can get away with down sizing. I'm also going to go up a hook size so that the fabric won't be as dense. This will have to be picked back up when I have finished my jacket though because it is going to get warmer and negate the need for a wool coat. I'm off to sew up the seams!