NaKniSweMo – Body

As it turns out, a sweater with miles and miles of brown stockinette is not so good for the blog.

It’s coming along though! I have about 13 inches of the body done.

Before

What is that, a hat?

No, it’s the Dotty Cat Bed pre-felting.

Fiona doesn’t seem impressed so far. I hope she likes it after a trip through the washing machine!

Coming out of hiding

Last night I mentioned that my first trip to Rhinebeck is coming up.  As I was writing that I realized that, indeed, Rhinebeck is only two weeks away!  What should I wear?  It seems that everyone who’s anyone is making a Rhinebeck sweater (as those in the know have for years, of course).

I haven’t started (or finished) any new sweaters recently, so I was thinking hard about what I could whip up in two weeks. Then I remembered this:

It’s my Pinstripe Pullover that I put in storage back in March.

I have about two inches left of the body to do before I start the sleeves. Think I can finish it in time?

Look Ma, both hands!

Huzzah!  I can knit with two colors!

Let me explain.

I finished the knitting on my Knucks, and the plan was to embroider them. But embroider them with what? So I decided to knit a matching hat, because I had plenty of extra yarn, and so the hat could inspire the theme for the embroidery.  I’m a sucker for botanical patterns, so I chose Flora. I was nervous about doing stranded knitting, because my last attempt was a year and a half ago with Blue Light Special. I’d done it before, very slowly, with some Icelandic sweaters in college. But I’ve really been meaning to get better at doing it with one color in each hand so it goes faster. Might as well give it another try!

It’s working! Huzzah! I’m finding it a LOT easier to hold the yarn in my left hand now that I know how to crochet. What stranded project should I try next?

Poor Planning

I’m only about 18 rows from the end of Seraphim, but each row now has approximately eleventy-thousand stitches.  I’ve hit the wall.

Last night, on a whim, I decided to start knucks.  “What a fun, fast project!” I thought. And yeah, the knitting is fun.

I think the weaving in of 20+ ends will be less fun. D’oh!

Too hot for wool

After a wet and cool June and July, it is finally hot here.  Too hot for wool.

I’m just about to start the lace charts on Seraphim, so this is a good time to put it down for a little bit. I’m going on a trip with my mom and my sister, so I need to pack SOMETHING good to knit.

So I finally started Orangina. I’ve been meaning to make this top for years. I think I can finish while it’s still hot out!

Blue Streak

Exams are approaching fast, so I’ve felt very scattered and unsettled lately.  I’m very close to finishing both Serrano and Cathode, and despite my best efforts to finish projects I found the lure of new projects to be irresistible.  I couldn’t help but notice that they share a common color scheme with Cathode. 

While my love of the color green is well-documented in these pages, blue is my real favorite and I really appreciate a good purple.  I’m not sure I’ll wear Cathode much (more on that in the upcoming FO post) but the colors have worked their way into my brain, and I just want to look at blue and purple all day.

That and my anniversary is coming up, so maybe I’m just especially drawn to blue because of the time of year.

I started Ishbel in that wonderful tosh sock I mentioned the other day.  This is perfect project for soothing myself with mindless knitting.  I’ll run out of the stockinette portion soon enough though.

I also started Wisteria in Cascade Sierra. I wasn’t sure what I would do with this yarn, but it’s such a nice Wisteria-like color! I’m also pleased with the definition of the cables so far. This is the perfect project for when I want to focus on something other than law. Soon enough I’ll be done with the cabled yoke, and it will be zombie knitting, so it can take Ishbel’s place in that regard once I get to the lace portion of Ishbel.

I also have some dark blue cotton fine for Orangina, but I haven’t cast on for that yet. I probably won’t be able to help myself though.

The blog may be be rather quiet for the next month or so, but I have the feeling I’ll have plenty to show for it on the other side of all this.

WIP Wednesday – Sweater Edition

First of all, I’m delighted to report that I’m very close to finishing Wicked.

I’ve re-blocked Serrano, and the shoulders are working out much better. Now the only question is what I ought to do for a closure, which is a topic complicated enough to deserve its own post.

Cathode is also coming along nicely.

I’m about 2/3 of the way done with the bottom ribbing, so I can probably finish in a few weeks. I’m trying to finish Cathode before Serrano, because Serrano is lacy and light enough to wear well into spring. I know the bottom part looks preposterously small, but it’s very stretchy. I also think that negative ease is important with something like this, since it has the potential to really swallow me up if it’s too big. I had considered lengthening the sleeves, but I think I’ll stick with the short sleeves. I had also considered doing a smaller collar (which is why I did a provisional cast on at the neck) but I might as well do the big goofy one. It’s never going to be a “normal” sweater, I might as well follow the spirit of the pattern and make it totally nutso!

And now for the bad news. DPP had been relegated to a space bag to wait out the summer.

(There it is, hanging out with Tailored Scallops)

This project had really become a slog, which is heartbreaking considering that it’s my own pattern.  But it was a slog the first time too, and as I’ve discussed, it put me off knitting for a few months.  This project embodies knitting angst for some reason.  Part of it is just the way things have worked out – as of this writing, Foliage is still on the Ravelry Top 20.  I’m a little bummed that after my initial success DPP has been, shall we say, noticeably less popular.  But again, as we’ve discussed, knitting is my HOBBY.  The fact that DPP has become a slog, for any reason, justifies a time-out.

But the good news is, I’m almost done with the body and I like how it’s turning out. Some time this fall I’ll pick it up with renewed energy, and it will be finished in no time.

Finish (or frog) – Everlasting Bagstopper

Why has it taken me over a year to unite this perfect ribbon to this awesomely colorful string bag?

I don’t know. Because I’m super lame? That must be it. Good thing we have the Finish or Frog Knitalong to kick our butts into action.

I finished the knitting on Everlasting Bagstopper several months ago.

I’m embarassed to tell you how long ago I started it, and how long ago I vowed to finish it. Sewing ribbon to knitting, while making sure that it can support like 10 lbs of stuff in the bag, is a pretty daunting challenge. But it fits with my “try something new” theme. And I fricken need to finish this thing.

In other FoF news, I’m very close to the finish line on Exchequered.

With any luck, I should be able to present both of these items to my sister the next time I see her!

Finish (or frog) – Exchequered

I think the Finish or Frog Knitalong is a marvelous idea.  I have far too many projects that I’ve abandoned, and I’d really like to cull through them and get them under control. 

But today, we focus on prevention.  What makes me abandon projects?  How can we identify, and then prevent, UFOism?  In honor of Finish or Frog I’ve decided to focus on (and please-oh-please finish) an “at risk” project.

You remember exchequered.

I’ve come so far that frogging isn’t an option, so the “finish or frog” decision has already been made. But this project has definitely become a slog, unfortunately. I call this project “at risk” because I’ve already missed my deadline – I wanted to give this to my sister in December. If I keep putting it off, it will be too warm for scarves before I know it, and I would probably never get around to finishing it. So my new deadline is February first. I have a week to finish this bad boy.

I tend not to make scarves because it’s so hard to mentally measure your progress. Once a scarf is a few feet long, another couple of inches doesn’t make a noticeable difference. I’ve been departing from the checkerboard pattern a bit in the main body of the scarf, so I can mentally check off my progress by thinking “four magenta blocks from the variation in the pattern, now five, now six.”

I think it’ll go a lot faster once the checkerboard pattern breaks up. I haven’t been following her chart, I’ve been making it up as I go along. Whenever I do that I find the knitting goes faster, because I want to keep going to see how it turns out. We’re at 52 inches now, so finishing in a week is reasonable if I really focus on this project.