Hey! It's November!

This is one of the two squirrels who have been feasting on our jack-o-lanterns in the front yard. They are very forward.

Thank goodness we got through Halloween. Both kids are still alive and, although they are living on candy, they are calming down because the anticipation is behind them for now. Until December...

I got a wonderful package in the mail today. Well, they attempted delivery yesterday, but I went off on errands and wasn't home to sign for it. Today I trotted off to the P.O. and retrieved it.

Both of these pics get bigger if you click, for that total yarn pr0n experience.

Feel the Kauni love!




Don't they look happy together? I have plans for these two. I also have a cone that turned out to be camera-shy, of mixed dark blues and purples, very lovely stuff. When I was ordering, I couldn't decide from the online photos if the pale yarn would want to marry the browns or the midnight blues. I think she wants the browns.

Today I finished the front of the long-running WIP, Scott's Tweedy Sweater.

This photo is strange looking because I was standing on a bench and at a weird angle. Front and back are joined at shoulder seams. I must be more than half-way there if there's just the sleeves and finishing to go. Let's see, look for the FO pic in about 2009. This is really an easy-peasy knit. I just need to be in the right space to work on it. It frees my brain to write essays in my head while the hands do their thing.

This Week's Knitting

Fair Isle Cardigan

I've been working on the sleeve cap area of my first sleeve. This is new for me, because I've always done Fair Isle sweaters in the traditional way, with a drop or modified drop sleeve and picking up stitches from the cut steek to work down to the cuff. I think I'll like the result, even though I'm not someone who ever minded the drop-sleeve look.

Here's a detail of how it's working out.

I plan to continue the sleeve cap decreases until the top of the next red band, then cast off straight across the remaining couple inches of stitches.

Scott's Tweedy Pullover
This is one of my longest-standing WIPs. It's been in progress about 2 years. It's not a UFO because I still plan to finish it and I do work on it from time to time.

There's nothing especially difficult or even time-consuming about the pattern. Just a simple slip stitch pattern using 3 fine-gauge yarns and #3 needles. I think it's the purling back that gets to me. I don't mind purling, but my left hand does. I feel like all my knitting progress has been a bit slow lately because my hand is hovering on the edge of mutiny.
Here's a detail of the stitch:


I'm coming to the conclusion that spinning really seem to aggravate the CTS. I hate to think about that. I'll try playing with my posture and holding my fiber differently, but I wonder if my body's telling me I'm not meant to spin.

Road to Recovery

Thanks to all for the well-wishes for my family. Owen ended up only staying home one day. I guess he had flu-lite, too. So far, The Little Emperor is unscathed. I still think I have a low-level sinus thing going on, but nothing too debilitating.

I am only a couple rows away from being done with the body on the Shetland Sweater, aka The Andrew Morrison Honorary Cardigan. My left hand was threatening mutiny the other night when I thought I could push on through. Having stared in the face the prospect of losing knitting for life, I know that I can't ignore those warning signs. As it is, ibuprofen is practically a food group for me.

So, here it is, just a couple rows shy of being ready to cut the steek.


Here's a detail shot of the neckline area. I've made a shallow v-neck, rather than rounded neckline, where the collar will attach, which makes the whole thing look a little strange right now. Like there's shaping for a single mono-boob up high on the chest. Have no fear, after I cut the steek it will all be fine.

So, I was loafing about getting kind of depressed with the weather and feeling like I should do something productive with all those hours when the kids are at school and not really having a focus. I just felt like napping all day every day this past week.
And while puttering in my lair, stumbled on the Yarn from the Barn I bought last spring at Rainbow Fleece Farm. (They don't seem to have a website, or I'd link it.) I still hadn't done anything with that yarn. I got out Mostly Mittens (I just noticed the shocking price on that book when I looked on Amazon for the link! I think I got mine for about $15 on Overstock.com a couple years ago!)and picked a chart. Then dug out the white sport weight vintage yarn to pair with this dark red Yarn From The Barn.

Although this is coming out a bit large, it'll work for a pair of mittens for Mr. SABLE. These mittens are a perfect little antidote-for-what-ails-you kind of project: detailed, visually grabbing, fun. They're the kind of project that impresses non-knitters and those who don't yet do two-color knitting, but in fact, the pattern is very repetitive and not overly difficult. And the gauge is different enough that it gives my hands a break from the AMHC.

Cindy G over at Baxter Knits has been exploring slip stitches with the intent to make a little tutorial on their wonderous uses. Regular readers have seen this before:

It's a detail shot of my long-standing WIP, Scott's Tweedy Sweater. The magic of slip stitches allowed me to finally use a yarn that defied every other use I tried to find for it. The beigey-brown yarn with dark brown and gold flecks came in a big batch of shetland-style yarns I bought around 1990. It would not settle in to any Fair Isle pattern. It looked ugly on its own. I kept thinking I would find a way to use this yarn (see why I have a stash problem???) and finally, I did.

Finally, here's an image from my porch, looking out toward the backyard:

I bet if I put on my boots and went wading out in the snow, I could find some cool shadows and dead plants to photograph. But somehow, I just can't seem to leave the comfort of my couch these days.