Great Expectations

Remember that new found motivation to flip my WIPs? Well that extends to Arietta as well. And I really thought I had it going on. That I would get to the neck decreases today and fly through the rest of the front. Moving steadily towards that second sleeve and then finally the bands. But alas. Just as I was finishing up the second pattern repeat I realized that indeed, 3 is the magic number. Hopefully by next week we'll be moving on to that elusive second sleeve. For now, some progress shots.

Here's where I'm holding:

The big pictures (sans sleeve 1)

I'm pleased to say that despite the long hiatus, my gauge seems to be holding up. See where the two fronts meet with the back peeking through? Looks like everything is lining up nicely.

Here's a close up of the stitch pattern. The stitches look a little inconsistent because of the slipped stitches but I think it will even out nicely once blocked.

Here's a super close up of the slipped stitches. If you are wondering the difference between stranded and mosaic, here it is. Unlike stranded, where the unused colors are floated across the back (and the work is usually done in the round,) in mosaic each 2 rows (knit and purl) is knit with only one color, the second color being slipped up from the previous row. If you look closely you can see the brown stitches in the green row are twice the height.

And here is a shot of the private side of the work.

It's a good thing I am motivated to get this finished. I've been invited to join a sweater KAL and I am tempted! Oh, and I still have to cast on for my sister's Big B-day Present.