I’m now well into the colorwork on Crispin:
The different colors (and the fact that there are only two of them) are definitely working up to give these a look distinct from the original pair. This difference is one of the neat things about patterns–you can tweak the materials by a very small bit and wind up with a very different appearance, even if you are otherwise following exactly the same pattern. Every finished piece is completely one of a kind.
Continuing in the general vein of project duplication, I cast on for a second pair of Crispin mitts the other day:
These ones are for me, a little hand protection on morning bike rides. The yarn is the same as for the first pair (Shetland Spindrift), but this time in just two colors instead of four. The two color version is nice if you don’t want to have quite so many ends to weave in, or if you don’t want to purchase 4+ balls of yarn for a single pair of mitts. These two colors are left over from the Manus gloves I knit my brother last year. I did, right after I cast on, wonder what I was thinking, starting a new project with black 1×1 ribbing so soon after finishing a pair of socks with miles of the stuff. At least in this case it’s only a few inches of ribbing instead of a few feet’s worth.
Yesterday marked the end of all the harder and more fiddly parts of Lena:
I closed the neckline! So now it’s just a straightforward body and sleeves in the round. It’ll probably be too warm for sweaters by the time I finish this piece up (it’s almost too warm for sweaters now), so I’ll be looking forward to getting lots of wear out of it next fall.
My stash reduction goal took a hit on Saturday:
I relieved Chauntel of this lovely navy angora/wool blend. Three cones of it, which should be more than enough for a sweater of some kind (I’m thinking wraparound, with some cables. It’ll be my next project after Lena 2.0).
So, the 2009 yarn tally is now:
Purchased: ~2673 yards
Used: ~1863 yards
I’d better hurry up and finish something so I can add more yarn to the “used” list!
A bit late, but finally done:
I took these to the finishing party on Saturday and (miraculously), finished them. They really are some pretty nice socks, even if they did take ages to finish. I wound up going for broke and knit them long enough to use the entire third skein of yarn, so no leftover yarn sitting around needing to be used up either! Now I just need to wrap them up and take a trip to the post office and I can guiltlessly get on with Lena 2.0:
The title of this post is what I’m thinking I’ll be calling this latest pattern. And the second iteration is coming along nicely:
The initial set-up for this sweater is a little unusual, and even on a second go-round I’m finding it addictive–that thrill of the moment when the little scraps of short-rowed fabric transform into the recognizable beginnings of a garment. I’m working up a set of tutorials on this method of shoulder/sleeve construction, to be released in conjunction with the pattern. So expect to see more of it in the future!
Seriously, I’m getting really close:
My knitting group is holding a finishing party on Saturday so I’m going to bring these along as my project to finish. And then they’ll (finally) go on their way cross-country to my dad.
And on an unrelated note, I missed making a garden post yesterday, but I really meant to show you all these:
First peas from the garden!
The very beginnings of the next pullover, in green for St. Patrick’s:
Most of my weekend knitting time was spent on…you guessed it, socks. However, the endless rounds of 1×1 ribbing on small needles would have been tedious if I hadn’t broken it up with something. Such as:
Winding a skein of yarn into a ball, and:
Making a swatch.
Eventually, it’s going to lead to another pullover from the same pattern as the Habu piece I finished a couple of weeks ago. The yarn is from my stash–Rowanspun DK (in Catkin), a discontinued yarn that I got on ebay a year and a half ago. One thing I’ve noticed about the Rowanspun yarns is that they’re on the thin side for their purported weight. For example, this yarn is “DK” and the suggested gauge is 20-21 sts/4″. However, I this swatch meets the gauge requirements for my pullover (24 sts/4″), and the fabric is not at all thick or stiff–in fact, it’s really quite loose and drapey. At 20 sts/4″ it would be verging on sheer and holey. However, the thinner weight makes it perfect for this pullover, so I’m not complaining!
I have quite a bit of this yarn in my stash (10 skeins), so I’m thinking this go-around may experiment with longer sleeves. Stay tuned!
This week’s entry is the Catalina Fuschia plant I put in last September:
My mother bought this plant for me when she was visiting and we went to the botanical gardens. At the time it had several lovely red flowers, which I’m hoping will come back this summer. No fruit, it’s purely decorative. I was a little worried about this plant, because it didn’t really seem to be thriving over the winter. In fact, it seemed like it might even be dying a slow, tortured death. However, some pretty impressive new growth has recently put in an appearance, so it would appear things are in order after all. In fact, new growth is popping up all over my garden, look what I found on the weedier of the two roses this weekend:
New leaves!
