Oops!
6. Whatever you do, don't go and do the same thing two days later.
Sigh...will have to think of something to do with 12 oz of felted Corriedale. Anyone have any suggestions?
After a solid week of fingering-weight, handspun colorwork*, I felt the need to do something waaaay mindless and straightforward.
Enter toe-up, thick yarn socks, in handspun. Fiber is superwash Corriedale, colorway "Tartan" from Spunky Eclectic. US 5/3.75 mm needles. One sock finished in two short evenings of knitting. Gotta love it**.
* I finished on Saturday afternoon, wrapped it up, and gave it to Himself for his birthday. He was very pleased, and totally unsuspecting. Now I have to find the mental fortitude to weave in all the ends.
** I've also finished the center panel (yay!) and started the border on the SYB, picking up umpteen million stitches around the edge and starting to work in garter stitch. I'll keep going until it's big enough or I get tired of the damn thing.
Well, not exactly new, but newly available...
First up: Flip
I knit Dev this skirt umpteen years ago (it now barely fits Boo), but then never got her to wear it and/or stand still long enough for pictures. Finally managed that in the summer of 2009. And then managed to work up a pattern for it last week - nothing like four years from object to pattern!
The pattern is written for any weight yarn - you need to knit a good gauge swatch, but then it's a matter of plugging in some numbers (I used my calculator, so don't feel bad if you do too) and knitting around and around and around until it's long enough. I used self-striping sock yarn, but anything would work well.
Second: The Harpswell Vest
My poor Dad. The man celebrated his 70th birthday last spring, so I wanted to knit him something big. Little did I know how slowly handspun colorwork would go. Plus, it was a little busy for him. So I decided to knit him a textured sweater (blue of course!) of my own design. Then I discovered how big it would have to be (I'm looking at you 24 inch arm length). Ehem. So Dad got a vest for Christmas instead of a sweater for his birthday. In any event, he seems to like it.
Same stitch pattern as the Harpswell Pullover (which went to my brother, who has shorter arms thankfully), same classic fit (2-4 inches of ease), but faster to knit because hey, no sleeves!
You can buy both of these patterns from the Pay Patterns page, which also includes loads of other patterns and more details about sizing and suchlike.
If you'll excuse me, I'm going off to finish my Waterloo...
I don't know if it's because the days are getting longer, or the trees are starting to bud out, or because I'm feeling vindicated in my work and fibery pursuits for the first time in a long time, but this recently discovered song (courtesy of Brenda Dayne at Cast-On) is summing up how I'm feeling almost perfectly.
Or exactly, if you prefer...
The conscious realization of being happy is too rare to ignore.
