First up, the May Vesper socks. I'm knitting these out of Pansies at the Phipps which is a 4-stripe Vesper I got from someone's destash. I like the yarn but the colors do mess with me a little bit. All together they're a little out of my color comfort zone.
Whoops, that doesn't look like a sock. Sadly the Jaywalker pattern I was knitting was not working out, I had cast on 84 stitches and I'm knitting on size US 1s (2.25mm) which is typical for me with Vesper. I finally got past the heel flap, it took forever, and went to try it on before picking up for the gussets. It would not go over my heel. I had to rip them out and I rewound the yarn. I think I may just knit plain socks with this yarn this time. We'll see, I haven't cast on again yet.
Next, we should check in on the Color Affection.
I have 7 of 12 two-color stripes done but I just have not felt the pull to knit on this. I take it out and knit a row or maybe two and then put it down again. I am making progress but very slow progress. I don't know why it's not appealing to me right now either, I think it's turning out lovely and I really want the finished shawl, I just don't feel like knitting it.
I'm also knitting a pair of short socks that I don't think I've mentioned.
These are the Pink Chocolate socks designed by Laura Linneman. In her Lala's Knits group we're doing a KAL (it's call the Best kept secret KAL). These are short socks with a great pattern that's open and lacy. They should be going super fast but I'm just not loving working on them. It might be a combination of the yarn and the needles, it could be the rougher feel of the yarn (I'm hoping they will soften up when washed) but I just can't quite put my finger on it. I try to make myself work on them a bit here and there so I can just get them done. They'll be nice socks for the summer, I just need to work on them!
A wicked case of Startitis has been roaming my area for awhile now too. I've been strong and I've resisted for a good long time but I couldn't take it anymore and this week I cast on all kinds of new things. I'm not going to mention all of them because some of them may get frogged before they make it any farther but I will mention a couple of things.
First, I am working out the pattern for the Garter Monster shawl. What better way to work it out than to knit it again?
This time I'm using some handspun Gritty Knits Merino from my Merino of the month club. It's mostly orangey-yellow with hints of purple in it like flowers and it's bright and cheerful and a very easy knit. So far, I'm loving it and it's getting a good deal of my knitting attention. Toward the end of the Garter Monster I was so sick of plain old garter stitch rows but just a couple of weeks after I finished it, I found myself craving that simple knitting again.
I'm also knitting this out of a fingering weight rather than a DK (closer to worsted in my opinion) weight yarn so it will be a smaller more shawlette version.
I also couldn't resist swatching for a sweater.
This is some Arucania Nature wool. It's not super soft but I'm loving the colors and it's very nice to work with. I knit a very large swatch last night for the Monday Morning Cardigan and washed it, this yarn did soften up very nicely with washing. The issue now is that it's too big. I need to go down at least one needle size and I'm debating if I should just cast on with the smaller size or swatch again to be sure. Even though it's a bottom-up sweater so it takes some commitment to actually cast on, guess which way I'm leaning?
This weekend is Memorial Day weekend here in the US so I will have a Handsome Husband home for 3 days (unless he decides to work Saturday morning, he hasn't decided for sure yet) I'm hoping that will lead to more knitting (and maybe even spinning time) but I know it will be more cooking and cleaning up from cooking time. It does usually mean Barbecuing and yummy, summery food though, I can live with that trade off.
1 comment:
Your sweater swatch looks lovely! I'd just knit a smaller size and run through the math quickly (ugh, math) before starting to make sure the proportions work. It will knit up so much faster that way vs. going down a needle size. If you like your drape, go with it!
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