Hoodie - Progress

DD1's hooded cardigan is coming along rather nicely.

I finished knitting the hood this morning.  Rather than working the back as two separate halves, I did it as one piece and then did a three-needle cast off instead of casting off each half and mattress stitching the seam up the back.  I think it looks neater that way.

This is the tip of the hood, where there are decreases.  At first, I did ssk on the last two stitches of the first half and k2tog straight away on the first two stitches of the second half, but it was a bit gappy in the middle, so I ripped back and did ssk, k2, k2tog, which I think looks neater.

 This is the three-needle cast off seam on the right side.

The inside seam of the hood.

I think this definitely looks neater than sewing the seam and as it's unlikely that the hood will be worn up, this seam will probably be visible when the cardigan's worn.

Finally, a sideways look at the hood.  I'm sure there are better-shaped hood patterns out there, but I hope this will look better once it's attached to the body of the cardigan.

I'm not going to sew the hood to the body as the pattern states.  I left the stitches at the top of the cardigan on some waste yarn, so I'll pick up a few stitches on the right band, knit along the stitches on waste yarn and then pick up a few stitches on the left band.  After that, I'll pick up stitches along the edge of the hood (probably 3 stitches for each 4 rows) and then I'll adjust the hood stitches so I've got the same amount as at the top of the cardigan and then I'll do a three-needle cast off.  That should give a nice firm, but neat-looking edge to the top of the cardigan.  It sounds more complicated than it is!  After that, I'll have yarn ends to sew in, a few stitches to sew together at the underarms and then I'll need to find buttons to sew on.

With regards to my mother-in-law's scarf, I've admitted defeat on what I was trying to do as I still wasn't happy with it and I've decided to maker her a garter stitch Baktus scarf instead.  I think I'll get a better scarf for the amount of yarn I've got.  The Baktus is a great pattern - very easy, but it looks nice.

Progress to date:

It shouldn't take me long to finish this off and get it blocked ready for hubby to take it with him when he visits his father and stepmother a few days after Christmas (DD2 and I will be staying at home with Jess - to cut a long story short, mother-in-law doesn't like dogs and we don't want to put Jess in kennels for just one night).

Apologies for the poor quality of the my photos by the way - I've no idea why I'm taking particularly bad shots at the moment.  I might have to consult the camera manual.  The poor light with this horrible weather doesn't help much either.

Talking of the weather, we're fortunate in that we live halfway up a hill that's part of a tidal river valley, so our house isn't at risk of flooding, but I know that there are many out there who must be worried, so please take care and if you have to drive through areas where the roads are at risk of flooding, be especially careful and test your brakes after you've driven through flooded bits.

I'm hoping the weather will brighten up for a couple of days.  The high winds at the weekend blew off part of the felt on the roof of the chickens' house and I'd like the wood underneath to have the chance of drying out a bit before I nail it back on again.

I'll be back soon, hopefully with the cardigan finished off (well, maybe without buttons - must consult with DD1 about the type she'd like) and I'll also tell you about the next thing that will be on my needles.