Progress!

Yesterday, my sister sent a picture of my niece wearing the sweater I made for her! So cute and it looks like it fits perfectly. This one was made from one skein of super-wash wool sock yarn. The pattern was very fun and quick to knit, though knit at about 7 stitches per inch.

This week’s knitting has gone fairly well. I finished the Gwendolyn shawl.  However, I was short on yarn, so I used some red to knit the last 3 rows and bind off. It has been blocked and I even wore it on Sunday.

Starting Sunday, I worked on the Basket Case Socks from Toe Up Socks for Everybody. I’ve knitted several pairs of socks from this book, enjoying every pair. I finished the second sock yesterday afternoon.

Having finished the gray socks, I pulled out the fuchsia knee-high socks. These need to have the top ribbing removed, and then re-knitted with few stitches. They are too big and short to stay up and I haven’t any extra yarn. While waiting for my bus yesterday afternoon, I used a needle to pick up the stitches at the top of the leg, just before the ribbing. It took me a little longer than the bus trip home to pull out the sewn bind-off. In the car on the way home from the park and ride, I knit the first row of the ribbing, decreasing stitches by a couple instead of increasing like before. While watching television last evening, I knit about half of the ribbing. Hopefully, they’ll be completed in just a few days.

Next up: ripping and re-knitting the sleeve on the sweater that is too tight, the hood that is nearly done and finally the mittens.

We plan to order the yarn for our I Love Cardigan sweaters on Saturday morning, I have about 10 days before the start of our knit-along. I may even be able to work on some of the projects from the bottom of last week’s post!

Finished and New Goals

In the past week, I’ve finished the mitts, for my sister-in-law and continued working on the brown, lace shawl. The shawl is coming along well and may even be complete by next week.

This past Saturday, while at Starbucks for an afternoon of knitting with a friend, we discussed a new knit-along. We are planning to begin the I Heart Cardigans pattern by Tanis Lavallee around the first Saturday of October.  We talked about the possibility several weeks ago, and were discussing yarn choices last week. I think we have both decided to use Valley Yarns Berkshire. There are many lovely colors, the price is good, and the fiber content is one of my favorites: wool and alpaca.

As I look forward to the next KAL, I am planning to only finish projects until the beginning. I have a little left on a cardigan for one of my nephews, a sleeve that needs to be re-knitted on a cardigan for myself, some kids, fair-isle mittens, a pair of socks for myself, and a pair of knee socks, that just need the ribbing re-knitted as the do not stay up as they are. Two and a half weeks may not be enough to finish all of this, but I’m going to really try. If I astound myself and complete the above list, I do have several others to work on, a shawl, a bag, and a pullover, but doubt I have the time to finish any of these, even if I used the entire time on one of them. Cleaning up my projects list always feels so good to finish.

Gwendolyn Update

During the past week, I’ve been knitting away on my Gwendolyn shawl.  By Saturday afternoon, I had finished about 1/3 of it! I am hoping to finish by the end of the month. I am getting the “hang” of the pattern and am having less difficulty keeping track of where I am in the pattern. I doubt I’ll be able to memorize it like I usually do, due to the somewhat irregular increases.  The designer has done much work to integrate the new stitches into the pattern very well. While the rows are getting longer, I have found that they feel shorter since I don’t have to watch the pattern quite as closely.

Meanwhile, my sister-in-law has commissioned me to knit a pair of fingerless mitts for her sister as a birthday gift. As you can see the first is finished already. I have knit several pairs for her in the past, and am happy to do the same for her sister. She has chosen a lovely shade of muted blue and a mitten pattern that I am converting to fingerless mitts. The yarn is a little heavy for the pattern, so I removed a pattern repeat. I began with an inch of twisted rib followed by starting the chart at the last increase row. This pattern is worked from the fingertips down to the wrist, which I have not done before. They have an afterthought thumb, which I don’t usually like (due to being too snug), but since the hand is still a bit loose, the thumb does not feel too tight. I like the pattern so well, that I will likely knit a pair for me that follow the pattern. 

New Lace Project

This past Saturday, I was sitting and knitting with a friend at Starbucks.  She had found many skeins of Handmaiden Sea Silk at a second hand store for about $4 per ball.  Having these, she and I were looking at patterns on Ravelry. The more I helped her search for the perfect pattern, the more I wanted to cast on with her! I have plenty to work on already, but what does that matter, right? While our favorites differed, I added several free patterns to my library. My favorite was the Gwendolyn shawl.

Having a new niece and nephew born earlier this summer, I have been spending most of my knitting time knitting for them. Each of the babies were given 2 hand knit sweaters at their respective showers. Then, I had some gray yarn left over from a sweater I made for myself and decided that it would make a great winter sweater for my tiny little nephew.  There was still plenty of yarn remaining, so I cast on for a sweater for his older, 5-year-old brother. The sweaters don't match exactly, but will look so cute together.  On Saturday, I finished the larger sweater to a point where there is probably only 1 hour of knitting left to be accomplished.  Saturday evening, as I was preparing to leave for book club, I turned back to my favorite lace pattern of the morning and gathered what I needed to cast on. I finished a little over 1 repeat of the pattern while discussing The Presidents Club. The pattern is more intricate and difficult to memorize than I expected, but I have finished two and a half pattern repeat as of today.