I have honestly still not been knitting very much. The mad rush of things to do at the beginning of the school year subsided and then my own classes started. I’m taking two online classes in subjects that are a bit of a review for me but the act of taking classes has been a challenge. It’s nice that the classes are online but at the same time it means that I can always be available to check in on the discussions and see if my work has been graded and that gets draining.
Anyway, knitting… this is a knitting blog, right? Right. Here’s where things stand.
My Slinky Ribs (Ravelry project link) hasn’t been touched in ages. I think I did two sets of short rows and one side and need to start the second, judging by the photo. Poor, ignored slinky ribs.
What I’ve mostly been ignoring it for is the first of two cardigans I’m knitting for my nieces for Christmas (Ravelry project link). I bought this yarn because the name of the color, brick, implied a terracotta red that I thought would work for me and instead it’s what I would think of as a dark raspberry pink. Lovely for a 6 and an 8-year-old, but not for me. The pattern is cropped with 3/4-length sleeves but that is not what the picture shows. The pictures shows a full-length sweater with full-length sleeves so that is waht I am attempting to make, without knowing exactly how long my niece’s arms are. I’m basing it off Niels for the older niece even though he’s a little taller. I hope that works out!
Yesterday and today, I knitted like mad. My friend Lisa is getting married on 10/10/10. She has been working on a lovely wedding shawl for the past several months and it’s crunch time. On Sunday at knitting she was lamenting that she wasn’t going to make it as far as she’d like. I repeated my offer to help with some of the knitting and she asked me to knit the other edge. (Both edges are knitin the same direction and one is grafted to the rest of the shawl. It wasn’t a lot of knitting (115 stitches, 26 rows), but it has nupps. I have heard people complain about nupps and always wondered if they were really that bad. The answer is yes. Lisa’s shawl features 7-stitch nupps which require you to purl seven stitches together without dropping anything! I conquered the nupps and delivered the edge to Lisa’s friend Jasmin who has taken on the task of grafting the edge and blocking it all. Go, Jasmin, go! Here’s a taste of my piece of it.
So, even though I haven’t been knitting I have been acquiring yarn. I sort of have an excuse, though, it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and I was given some yarn and yarn-buying gift cards! Here’s what has come in:
Berroco Remix from Kristi, Cookie and Teenuh. I have been wanting to try this yarn and love this color.
I’m considering mostly rewriting the Aidez cardigan to make it with this, even though it’s a totally different gauge. I had originally thought I’d hold the yarn doubled to get the right gauge but I’m short about three balls of yarn if I want to do that, and these are not small balls of yarn! I did knit a swatch and it was lovely but that would eat up a ton of yarn, so rewriting it is!
Next up is Berroco Love It taht I got from WEBS on closeout because the yarn is being discontinued. I am disappointed by that, I really do Love this yarn! I am thinking that this blue will become a sweater for Niels. (Yes, I am aware that i can’t blame that yarn on my birthday. Oops.)
Next up is some Knit Picks yarn that came from a gift card from Jill. I used most of it to get a new ball winder but I threw these two balls of Comfy Bulky in there. I think for a cowl for myself? I know I had a plan but I can’t remember what it was.
Last but not least is the most recent purchase: five hanks of Misti Alpaca Tonos Pima Silk that came from Bobbin’s Nest Studio by way of a gift card from Hannah. I hadn’t initially looked closely at this yarn because it looked like hand-dyed wool but it turned out to be cotton and silk!
It’s more gray and not as blue as it looks in these pictures. I really like it, though. I’m considering the Effortless Cardigan for it. (That’s a Ravelry link, sorry if you can’t see it.) Preeti suggested that pattern and I think it’s a good choice!
Thank you to all my lovely knitting friends who bestowed yarn and yarn buying gift cards on my for my birthday. You all are the best!
the sheep free knitter 