booth bay FO and a big trip on the horizon

I recently finished a sweater! I've hinted around this project for the last couple of months, but kept the final thing under wraps until I knew it got to its intended recipient. This is the Boothbay cardigan, pattern by the fabulous Hannah Fettig of Knitbot fame. Her latest book, Home and Away, was just released and despite my frugality concerning yarn and patterns lately, I had to have a copy and preordered it pretty much as soon as it was available. I don't regret it, either. Every pattern in there is classic and wearable. Every single one. And, as you can see below, I knitted up one of the designs right away!

Home and Away is a beautiful book. It's worth the price for the photos alone, but there is so much more! Less experienced knitters will appreciate the essays and interviews about swatching, gauge and other knitting basics. Also, one of the more useful qualities of this particular book is that every design includes instructions for seamless and seamed versions so the knitter can choose whatever works best for him or her. For this cardigan, I chose the seamless top-down version.

Hannah didn't include any graphics or color work in the original design. I added the cat motif to the sleeves because all the plain gray was getting a little...meh.

The cat motif, by the way, is from the Temple Cats hat, a pattern I found on Ravelry ages ago and kept in my cart because I liked the stranded design so much. Kittehs!! And they're not overly precious!!

Alas, the cardigan is no longer in my possession. As much as I loved the finished project, it was never intended for me. Last month my dear cousin celebrated her birthday (I won't reveal which one, but she's still under 40!) and her graduation with a PhD all in the same week.

I've made socks for Steph's birthday the last several years in a row, but the whole PhD thing is such a big deal I thought I'd do something a little bigger. She may have gotten a little suspicious when I texted her to ask about her high bust measurement.

I got a little too excited about the graduated filter in the editing software on this one, as you can see. I like the composition of the photo, though, so I'm leaving it.

In other news, I am leaving tomorrow with my family for a trip to Scotland! It's the first time we've traveled internationally since having kids and is of course a super duper really big deal. I'm a little anxious, but mostly excited. I don't know if I'll post here before we get back or not, but be sure to keep an eye on my IG (madtown_mama), where I'm sure to keep you updated!