A Long Overdue and Long Winded Update

It's been quite a while since I've put up any knitting related content, so I thought it was time. As you can see from the length of the post, I'm feeling chatty today. Feel free to give this one a miss if you'd like.

The knitting bug has bit me again and I feel like I'm finally back into my old knitting habits. I've been to a few meet-ups lately, nice to see all the girls again after so long, and I'm knitting away at lunch again. My evenings are still dedicated to the moving process, but I try to squeeze in a couple rows at night too. So, what have I been working on you ask? Lots of things (it is still me remember, shiny object girl).

In the actual honest to goodness FO pile there is only one addition since my fabulous Mimi Devine scarf - Ziggy's first hat. The hat is pretty cute, though I'm not totally in love with how I did the decreases. Maybe it will be cuter once it's on his head. I made it from the left over yarn from Marco's sweater, so it's snuggly soft and the colors are just perfect for a summer weight cotton hat. I used the same stripe pattern too, as I just love it.

In the UFO pile sits little Miss Charlotte's sweater. This sweater is finished except for the i-cord edging. I took a whirl at putting it on there once, but I just couldn't quite get it to look right. I'm just not getting what the book is trying to explain I guess. This is rather frustrating to me as I usually 'get' knitting instructions either really quickly or can just figure them out intuitively. I keep meaning to get Spinnity to show me how, but I keep forgetting to bring the sweater with me when I see her. As this sweet little miss is due at the end of October, I've got a little wiggle room on this one, but I'd sure like to get it into the FO pile.

I think I've decided it is time to migrate the Katia sweater into the UFO pile as well. I just haven't touched it in weeks and I'm just not inspired by it right now. There are so many other shiny objects that are really catching my eye that I'm thinking it will have to be moth balled.

I've got 4 projects actively on the needles that I'm regularly cycling through right now. The oldest is the dreaded husband sweater. There was a serious snag with this one as I finally got Grant to try it on and it was about an inch too tight. Not wanting to frog it yet again (I have honestly lost count of the number of times I've frogged this thing) I decided it was time to swatch. Yes folks, I'm the only person I know that swatches 10 inches into a sweater. To be fair, I did a swatch in the beginning, but then I frogged it because I knew I would need the yarn. This time around though I had to sacrife the yarn to keep the swatch.

I knit the flat swatch 'in the round' (knit aross the row, pull yarn across the back and start again at the other side, you're always knitting the stitches, as when knitting in the round, but you can do it on 2 DPNs), measured it very carefully, washed it, blocked it and measured it again. Blissfully there was growth after washing and blocking, which means his sweater will also grow and the day is saved!

I'm also getting excited because I'm now 13 inches into the body (of a needed 17 before I stop for the sleeves) and I've run out of one of my two balls of black yarn and so I've now switched in the varigated (which is alternating on each row with the bit of black that is left for a fade in sort of look). It's color at long last! Little bits to break up the monotony of the black! I'm so happy about this.

I've also got a blanket done in Big Baby on the needles. This too will be packed off to Miss Charlotte. It's very bright and snuggly and is 2/3 of the way complete. Thanks to shiny new joining techniques I've learned there will only be 2 ends to weave in. Yay Russian join!

The Diaketo scarf is plugging along nicely. I did a spit splice when I switched balls, so again, minimal end weaving. Can you tell I'm a bit traumatized after all the end weaving in Marco's sweater? I've been voraciously reading about joins and splices to avoid this pain in the future. The colors on this yarn are just lovely and I'm looking forward to finishing this off.

The last object on my needles is actually the newest, and I can't really discuss it at length. It's going to be a gift, and I'm pretty sure the recipient reads this blog. But I've got to say I've learned a few things in casting this on that I can share.

First, I apparently knit pretty tightly. I had to go up 2 needle sizes to get gauge. You'd think after 2 years I'd know this, but as I never really bother with getting gauge I did not. The reason I've never bothered getting gauge is I've always either subbed yarn and adjusted the pattern to the gauge I got or just created the object out of my head and used the gauge I had to create it. But this time around I didn't want to adjust the pattern (it's filled with very lovely cables), so I had to work at getting gauge instead. On the bright side I went from needing to use my Denise set (as I don't have size 9 needles) to getting to use my precious new Lantern Moon 10.5 circs instead. So much yummier.

Second, I'm not fond of Cascade 220. It comes in lovely colors (and boy do I like the one I'm using) and is a very sturdy wool (which is also good for the end product). However, it's also an itchy wool and actually kind of rubs my fingers when I knit with it. So, much like the hemp for the cocktail monkey bag, I like it for the end result, but I'm not in love with the process of using it.

Well to any of you that actually read this ramble, thank you! Some days you've just got to sit down and take a look at your crafting. I'm thining it might be time to institute a new rule in my knitting life - no more casting on without first binding something else off. We'll see how it goes.

Happy Friday!