Another Wednesday

Once again, I find myself home from work on a Wednesday. This time, its PumpkinBoy, feeling too mopey with a cough and low fever to go to school. A mere 3 weeks after my last WIP Wednesday post I am pleased to report, that despite starting and finishing and entire adult sweater, I also met my WIP goals for my long term knits!

• Morning Glory: I finished the last half of the lingering repeat and am 2 rows into the next. Still painfully slow going, but progress. Goal for end of March is one more full pattern repeat.

• Celtic Dreams: Goal was to complete sleeve one by end of February, and I did it with 4 days to spare! New goal is completion (ends, seams and blocking included) by the end of March.
  

Done!

Eight Days from start to finish - I really pushed myself on this one so I could get back to my "real" knitting. I am very pleased to have exorcised the demon! Even more pleased to have a really nice sweater to wear.


All the yarn/needles details are in Ravelry. I really love this pattern. Its quick and simple, and I think it would be a excellent use for handspun - you only need about 150g (really a bit less) of yarn for each colorway of the stripes, and the Kureyon is just a big single, it'd be easy to spin for this.

My primary concern while knitting this was the fact that the body is done in Ella Rae Classic - just a simple plied worsted weight (Cascade 200 clone, I'm told). The pattern called for Lambs Pride, which is a fattish single like the Kureyon, and I think a touch heavier than what I used. So the body fabric drapes very differently than the striped parts, which is ok, but were I to do it again, I'd used the Lambs Pride.

My favorite detail is also the one that gave me the most trouble - the side gussets.

The pattern has no schematic, and I've never done anything like this before, so I kind of had to just figure out how it was all supposed to meet in the underarm. I ended up frogging and shortening the triangular tops of each gusset by about 2-3 inches in order to get them to fit in a way that made sense to me. I hope to get a better look at the shop sample that started me on this path and see what it looks like on that one. I think what I did works just fine, I'm just curious about how it was "supposed" to be done.

A great pattern, but fair warning if you hate seaming - with the raglan and the gussets there are 10 seams! I happen to get a kick out of watching mattress stitch zip right up like lacing a corset, but for the seam-o-phobes, this would not be the project for you.

Knitting Done, Seaming Begun

Goals, Schmoals

About 3 hours after my last post, I drove up to Newburyport for my regular spin night. Spin night now meets in a yarn shop. This is a dangerous thing. I sat with my friends, happily spinning and chatting. About half an hour before the night was over, I looked up over the register and saw a sample sweater. A simple raglan pullover, with striped sleeves, solid body, striped gusset panels at the sides. The stripes were 2 different Kureyon colorways, making one of those magical combinations we've all been seeing in scarves a lot lately.

"What is that sweater?" I asked our hostess.
"Its a shop pattern, its free when you buy the yarn."
"Its really beautiful, could I see it?"
"Sure, I'll get it down for you, do you want to try it on?"

I did. It fit perfectly. I loved it. My friends told me it flattered me. I wanted it. Badly. I held strong in my resolve that I could not possibly start another sweater right now. I asked if I could just buy the sweater (!? - a sign that I was truly bewitched), the answer was no. I need this sweater. Cheryl led me to the wall of Noro trying to tempt me. My will remained strong.

I dreamt of the sweater that night - my poor little obsessed brain. The next morning, I emailed our hostess asking her to put aside the exact yarn for me, I'd be in on Friday to pick it up. Same colors not in stock/discontinued, "why not come in and I can help you choose what colors you'd like?" I did just that. Cast on at noon on Friday, less than 48 hours after seeing the fated sweater. 2 sleeves complete in 48 hours, body begun. I will have this sweater, and soon.

WIP Wednesday, February Installment

My last post was 3 weeks ago - I did a WIP Wednesday post, as I had the day off to care for PumpkinBoy , who is so utterly recuperated and has SO MUCH newfound energy now that he sleeps well, that Dan and I are wondering if the surgery was really in our best interest*. I find myself home mid week again, this time for Dizzle, whose daycare is closed so that the owner can have a brief maternity leave after delivering her 3rd baby.

Here's the roundup:

• Mad Weave Socks - No goal. I exceeded that! I cast on for sock #2 and am about 1 inch into the leg. These will remain goal-less.
• Baby Surprise Jacket - Goal was complete to give to Lisa before baby was born. Goal was technically not met, due to my inability to count stitches. BSJ was frogged and a new sweater, below was begun and completed and gifted a week before baby arrived - hooray for me!
  

(details of this sweater on Ravelry)

• Morning Glory - Goal was to have one full repeat done by end of January. Goal not met. I completed one HALF repeat by then, but not the full. Februrary goal is to finish that repeat and at least get partway into the next.

• Celtic Dreams - Goal was to complete body by end of January. GOAL MET. I have sleeveage going on at a good clip. Getting re-addicted to this knit was most of the reason I missed my mark on Morning Glory, actually. Goal for Feb. will be finish sleeve 1 and get into sleeve 2
  

• NaSpiMoMo - goal was to spin 2x a week, every Thursday night and some other time. I did make every Thurs. but there were a couple times when I missed the 2nd time a week. I still managed to finish 3oz of some gorgeous merino/silk/cashmere from Franquemont Fibers called Sargasso Tweed.
  

Again, details on Ravelry

This is destined to become Chalice Handwarmers for me, very soon. I really liked having a night dedicated to spinning each week, so I plan to keep my Thursday evening date with my wheel.

*for those who are humor-impaired this is meant to be tongue in cheek.