I'm Still Here!

I've even been knitting. Finished these red socks for Eli, made progress on my Bridget cardigan and started these socks for Will:

I'm using Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Sport, which is such a pleasure.  Very squooshy and *so* quick to knit.   I'm in love with the colorway (Java).    I broke my no-yarn-buying resolve and ordered it from A Sheep's Tale, which was having a fantastic sale on CTH.  (They still are, but I don't know how many colors are left.)    I really love it, especially after my traumatic experience making the red socks.  The yarn itself -- Lang Jawoll -- was fine, though I think it may be thinner than your average sock yarn -- but my attempts to use the spool of matching reinforcing thread that came with it was a comedy of errors.  I can't bear to recount them all here, but suffice it to say that reinforcing thread, or at least this reinforcing thread, is a TERRIBLE thing to rip out.  Up there with mohair.  I ended up with an enormous snarled mess and having to cut the thread several times.  I also didn't enjoy knitting with the thread and I didn't like how dense it made the fabric.  So I won't do that again!  The socks are nice and cheery, though, and Eli seems to like them.

I finished one front of the Bridget cardigan and have  moved onto the second -- so far so good.  I am such a nimrod, though, that after berating myself for forgetting to write down what needles I used for the ribbing of the first front, I then forgot to write down which needles I used for the ribbing of the second one.   'Cause I wouldn't want the back to match, either, would I.   *sigh*  I think it was 6s, though.  


I apologize for my long absence.  I have been busy, but also thinking a lot about this blog and what/who it's for.  I imagine many people are having the same thoughts since Ravelry came along.  Anyway, I won't bore you with that now.  Plus, my children are demanding a game of LIFE, so I  have to go.

Until next time!  Happy Spring, everyone.  It's coming, I'm sure of  it!

Moving Right Along

Well, after working on every small project I could think of instead, I have finally started the Bridget cardigan. So far so good! I am still amazed by the very fact of cabling (and the fact that I can do it) though I think some of that will wear off by the time I get through two fronts and the back ... there are a lot of cables here. And no charts. Charts would help a lot. I may need to do something about that.

One early success: I was able to drop down four rows to add in a cable I'd left out (one of the little ones on the left -- you can see where it's kind of loose) instead of having to rip back. Baby steps! The Options needle points are killing my fingers with all the pushing through cables; I might switch to my Inox and see if they're pointy enough to do the job.

So that should keep me busy for a while. It's not traveling knitting, though. Nor is this, the semi-abandoned Anniversary Sock:


I tried it on again yesterday. Can anyone else see the skewing I'm talking about in the picture above? The diamonds are not symmetrical ... they pull to the right and kind of slant over into the cable on the right, while there's a neat straight division between them and the cable on the left. Did I do something wrong to cause this? Or is it just part of the design? It bothers me less than it did before. Anyway, I wasn't going to rip back because of that, but because I thought it was too short and the heel fit badly:


I love the eye-of-partridge heel but this one is a strange shape -- very short and wide, not a square at all. If I rip out past the heel will I ever re-knit the rest of the sock? and if I don't, will I ever re-knit the second sock??!! I think I should finish these socks; it's very nice yarn and they're very pretty. And they're for my mother, who so far has only one garter stitch scarf to show for her knitting daughter. I think I will make Kathy help decide when she comes here next week. (!!!!) All my knitting decisions rely heavily on Kathy. :)

And finally, I realized I never posted a picture of my Hannukah yarn. My sister-in-law Nancy gave me The Book of Yarn, which I love, and this beautiful sock yarn:


The colors, especially of the one on the right, are not ones I would have chosen myself, which I like, because I tend to buy the same colors over and over. Eli is already clamoring for socks from the "fire" yarn!

Slow Start

That title could refer to this post, which has been sitting in limbo for some time, but I really mean my Jo Sharp Bridget sweater. I got this far:

(Notice this is not the yarn I bought for this sweater in my last post -- the DAY after I bought that, someone was destashing the EXACT yarn called for in the pattern on Knitter's Review ... and I couldn't resist. It's Silkroad Aran in Beach, which is less white in person than in pictures, but very beautiful. I have gotten as far as swatching. (The pattern calls for using US 8s but I got gauge on 7s, which is the first time I have ever had to go down a needle size, but perhaps I have suddenly become relaxed knitter. And person. HA!)

Anyway I haven't gotten my act together to actually START the sweater yet, and I've been distracted by constantly thinking I'm almost done with my Cozy shawl, and yet not being. And by trying to figure out which scarf pattern to knit for my brother-in-law for Hannukah ... right now it is a tie between A Scarf Askew and the Red Herring Scarf, but I would prefer something reversible. And by obsessing over all the things that are not perfect about my daughter's kindergarten experience, and and and ...


I would also like to start a sock, so that I have something to carry around with me. I went up to look at this Koigu to see if I wanted to sell it, and instead decided I like the colors, they are cheerful and amusing. But I have no idea what it will look like knitted up, and I don't know what pattern to use. These are the criteria:

1) It must not pool! and 2) I don't want something "fancy" like the Monkey Socks. I want something more like a "plain sock" but I think not entirely plain. Maybe just ribbing. Do you have any suggestions? I haven't knitted Koigu socks before, actually, so I don't know how it will behave.

The other thing that is distracting me, in a good way so far, is the Cubs! Apparently there is a Lorna's Laces colorway "Cubby Bear" but I can't find a picture of it to post in honor of the Cubs winning their division and heading to the playoffs. Go Cubs! I think we're due.