Excited about the yarn

OK, I swatched the Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed in brown and look at how lovely it looks:


And, a la Yarn Harlot, here it is among the lovely vines for contrast:



What truly makes this better is that hubby likes the yarn! Since I had planned for this to be a sweater for him....Of course, I haven't blocked the swatch and right now I'm not getting gauge but darn it, I swatched. Luckily, the pattern calls for a smaller needle size so I think in the end the yarn will work.

Oh, and did I mention that I did this knitting Continental? If you look reall close, at the beginning (actually the top of the first picture, rather than the bottom) you'll see that the stitches are much tighter--that's where I was holding the yarns and needles for dear life (and even then, I occassionally dropped the needles). I also used the Lily Chin trick of putting in YO's to signify the size of the needle (six, which you can't really see because I haven't blocked it). Off to swatch some more. Luckily this yarn feel lovely so I don't mind.