bleh
Yesterday was the first of the Grim Days of Autumn here in London: grey, cold (about 9/45 degrees), and drizzling. I had one of those mornings where nothing goes right, including getting to work forty minutes later then planned and not having anywhere to lock my bike. In the cold rain. And I had a headache and wanted to put my head down on my desk and go to sleep. Bah.
So I came home early and snuggled the dog, dug out this yarn and wound it up on the ball winder. And I cast on some socks.
Suddenly, the day was much better...
Birthday present
Himself asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I had no hesitation in asking for an installment of the Wildcraft Fiber and Spindle club. Now, to be fair, I ordered it and all the rest, but I probably wouldn't have done so otherwise - I suspect I have enough fiber already.
Yesterday it arrived.
A gorgeous resin spindle with a sunflower, and a cherry shaft, and a big braid of Shetland dyed in the "Last of the Sunflowers" colorway. Bliss.
If anyone is looking for a new crack fiber dealer, I can recommend Karen's stuff. She's got some lovely gorgeous colorways, and her own sheep! So head over and check out her site. You can thank me later.
Whiplash
So on Monday, I was pondering as to what I could dress up as a semi-entertaining little tidbit of wooly ether to share with you. And then my brother came through in the most serious fashion with a load of gorgeous photos of him in his new sweater, and suddenly the Monday blog post was taken care of. Ok, I still had to write it, and finish the final pattern editing and get it uploaded to Ravelry, etc, etc, etc (why does that always take so much longer then I remember?).
Now it's Wednesday, and I feel like I've been running as fast as I can on all things fibery and wooly, and I'm still in the same place. I have serious startitis cravings: some folks on the Hello Yarn group are going on about a steeked-striped-handspun vest-along that I am absolutely salivating to cast on. And I've got two test knits ongoing that I'm anxiously looking to for feedback. In the meantime, there's the soaking-dyeing-cursing over-drying of fiber stuff going on, and regular life things (i.e work, school, laundry, more dishes then are really necessary in any universe). Thankfully, instead of feeling overwhelmed, I'm more or less enjoying it all, although my enthusiasm for discussion of said events is somewhat less then existant. So my apologies to those in the real world if I've been less then forthcoming about it all.
Here is the earthshattering revelation that I was going to share on Monday that is now postponed until Wednesday: I have too many sweaters in progress.
One is a vest, two are handspun, and three (of the four) need to be done by Christmas. Ehem. Thankfully, the two handspun sweaters are lacking four sleeves and a neckband. Two of the four sleeves are pretty straightforward (it's a sweater for the 6 year old), but the other two...the less said about them and their attendant neckband, the better. The vest should be pretty quick, but as of this writing, I'm three 9.5 inches* (out of 18) in on my way to the underarms. Not exactly breaking any land speed records with that puppy. Ehem, take two.
Sadly, the sweater that doesn't have a firm deadline is the one that is working up the fastest, on the biggest needles. I started last week, and in three days, I had a sleeve. It's also a side-to-side construction, which I haven't done before, so that's pretty intriguing. It's the thing that I find myself gravitating towards, and it's the last thing I should be working on! Aaaargh!
Sometimes I can't even believe how knotty my problems are! /sarcasm
*Today was more productive then expected on the knitting front. On the work front however...
Harpswell Pullover
The Harpswell Pullover pattern is now available.
This comfy pullover is designed with a crew neck, set-in sleeves and an easy-to-memorize-yet-still-interesting stitch pattern that should satisfy even the most unadventurous of male recipients. The body is worked in the round to the underarms, then split for the front and back. Sleeves are knit in the round to the sleeve cap and then worked back and forth before being seamed into the body of the sweater.
This pattern ranges in size from 36-60 inches (finished chest measurement) and requires between 1100-2100 yards of worsted weight yarn. More information can be found on the Ravelry pattern page here.
SKILLS REQUIRED
Knitting, purling, increasing and decreasing (both k2tog and ssk), knitting in the round and knitting back and forth, seaming. This pattern is suitable for an advanced beginner.
Harpswell Pullover
$7.00
Many thanks to my test knitters in the Ravelry Free Pattern Testers group, my fabulous model, he-who-must-model-for-me-because-I-knit-him-sweaters-and-he-can't-break-up-with-me (aka my brother), and the lovely JoAnna for her mad photo skills.