Too many WIPs

I had a case of startitis recently and now I feel all scizofrenic (if that's a proper word) and like I make no progress at all. I knit knit knit but it is a few rows on one project and a few rows on another and nothing gets finished! Which makes me a bit apathetic. At the same time I want to start a million *new* projects. Must. Stop. Myself.

Whispering Pines has about one fifth of its edging done. This half of the edging is all purls and p2tog tbl. Can you say snail pace? I hope the other half is quicker! It looks nice though.


The yarn (Malabrigo Lace) wants to felt where I keep holding and turning the work. I can't work on this with sweaty hands.

I'm about halfway done with Adamas.


10 repeats are done but the rows are definitely getting longer! I love this shawl though. The Dream In Color Baby is lovely, soft and springy (I hope it blocks well and doesn't spring back though) and the pattern easy but not boring. I am aiming for 16 repeats right now. I want a big shawl, and I think that 2 more repeats plus a heavier yarn than the pattern suggests will do it.

I'm not working much on the Big Grey Shawl but I really like it too.


I got this kit at the annual Båstad Craft Fair this July. It is a lovely one-ply fingering weight from Solkustens Spinnverkstad that goes from medium grey to dark grey and back again. I am a sucker for natural grey wool.

They had many lovely sweaters knit up too. The shawl is very simple, cast on 400 stitches, garter stitch and decrease 4 stitches on every other row. They had a sample knit up, which I foolishly tried on, and I had to get the kit... So Cosy.

The Crazy Pi shawl is resting, I need more leftover sock yarn to continue.

So, socks... I finished the first Sea Sock yesterday. Me like! M says it's too small for him but I think it will block out perfectly. I had just enough of the blue yarn for the cuff I wanted to make but I have leftovers of the main yarn. DK weight, so not for the Pi.

Then there's the Houdini socks.

These are fun! A free Cat Bordhi pattern from the premier issue of the Twist Collective (if you haven't checked out Twist Collective: Go There Now!) First you knit feet, with toes at both ends and no leg opening. Idiot knitting, no though involved, almost. Then you decide where you want the leg, pick up stitches, snip a thread and knit an afterthought leg!

Daughter H wants socks too. She picked out a yarn, a solid green, and I think she'd like something lacy. I was thinking Scroll Lace from More Sensational Knitted Socks.

Pretty, but the pattern repeat is large and with my gauge it fits *me* and that's way too large for a four-year old. So they will be frogged. I have another pattern in mind but maybe I should finish some other socks first. Because I suddenly found that I had started a pair of Spring Forward socks too... The reasoning was (I think) that I had a skein of Socks That Rock, in green, and that's the yarn called for in the pattern, and I haven't tried STR before. I'm just one repeat into the sock but I can already see why poeple get so obsessed with STR... It feels So Nice and it is great to work with. The pooling however... not so great.

I'm trying to ignore it and just let it happen...

but I'm not sure that I can. I may have to adjust my tension a bit to make it spiral instead.

We won't mention the other two or three socks that lurk in my project basket.

I also feel bad for the February Lady Sweater that I started before the summer. I haven't worked on it in ages and soon enough it will be sweater weather here. And I want to knit a Cobblestone for M and one for A, and a Gathered Pullover for me, and then there is Bonnie and Wisteria from Twist Collective and the Feather and Fan Triangle shawl I just bought yarn for (Plötulopi/unspun Icelandic wool) and another couple of shawls, and hats and mittens and I ordered Silk Garden for a striped vest and a striped hat or two and... Not Enough Time. Did I mention that I go back to work in two weeks?

Oh, and here's a picture from our wedding.


And last but not least... BREADCRUMBS :-) ***waves to my Hemlis 4 pal***

Better go knit now don't you think?

Hot and Bothered

It is very hot here, and has been for a week or so. 30 degrees C, blazing sun, little or no wind. I am melting.

Lots of things have happened since my last post.
My sister and her family arrived from Australia bearing gifts and some stuff I ordered and had delivered to their house to save on shipping. 5 balls of this:


Bendigo Mills Rustic 8-ply in Damson. M picked this for a sweater. I want to make Cobblestone. It is a bit thinner than the original yarn so I'll have to rework the pattern a bit, or simply make a larger size. We'll see. There was also 5 balls of Bendigo Mills Colonial 8-ply in Oatmeal for me.


Not sure what kind of sweater I want yet. Maybe a cabled cardigan.
I am starting to run out of stash space. I used to have mainly sock and lace yarn, now I also have four sweater worths of yarn that takes up much more space. I have to reorganise my space a bit. Clear up the mess.

The day after sister arrived M and I got married. Just a small ceremony at the court house with four witnesses and the two older kids. No pics because they are still on dad's camera. We had a party a few days after at the Cottage. Lots of cooking and baking in advance, a hired tent on the lawn, and a great time was had by all. And nice presents :-)
After that we relaxed as hard as we could with six kids in the house and so-so weather. I managed to knit quite a lot though. Whispering Pines has grown quite a lot.


I am halfway through the last small chart before the knitted on edging begins. I'm eager to see it finished. And to see how big it turns out.

There has also been sock knitting. Two finished pairs, no less. Pillars of Fire in Wollmeise from The Loopy Ewe sock club.



Nice yarn (but a little splitty), great colourway and a great pattern that was easy to memorise. A good toe-up heel-flap-and-gusset pattern too.

I also finished a pair of plain socks in a fun selfstriping yarn from sKNITches, Syncopation in Dragontooth.


Maybe not really my colours but they are fun, and I love the base yarn and the dye job. More details on both pairs on Ravelry (apologies to those of you not on Ravelry yet, but I don't have time for great details on both places and Ravelry is a great place and you really should check it out anyway)

I have started two new pairs, but no pics of those yet. I have decided to try to always have a plain pair on the needles and keep it downstairs at the TV, and a more complicated pair upstairs. So now I have started a plain pair for M in Duet sock yarn and a lacy pair for H.

I got a package in the mail! From my Hemlis 4-pal, look!


Great smelling tea (that I will try when the weather cools off!), yummy chocolate, a fun card, and look at the yarn! Three balls of Sarek from Marks & Kattens. A bulky wool yarn I haven't seen before. Maybe mittens? And 500 meters wool/silk lace weight, Elegant from Teetee in a beautiful plum colour. I have to find a pretty lace pattern for this!
Thank you so much for the great package, Ulrica! It made my day.

I finally managed to block the Brambles scarf I made from my own handspun.


I am very happy with it. It is heavy and soft with a great drape. It is also rather short but I can fasten it with one of my new shawl pins.


I found these through the Knitspot fan group on Ravelry, they are from Knitcellaneous.

Process or Product?

Am I a process knitter or a product knitter? I think about it sometimes, but I honestly don't know. I have seen discussions here and there and those people seem to Know that they are one or the other, never in between. No questions or doubts.

I, on the other hand, feel very in between. I *love* the process. Dreaming about things to knit. Choosing pattern and yarn. Knitting, knitting. Admiring the fabric flowing off my needles. The fact that I am creating something from nothing. The colour, the texture of the fabric. Process knitter.

But I would never knit something that I didn't like, didn't want to wear. I *want* that shawl, that sweater, those socks, that's why I knit them. If I didn't want the finished item, why would I finish it? Product knitter.

So I am in between. Both. And for me there is nothing else to be.

I am knit, knit, knitting on Whispering Pines. I finished chart H yesterday and I *love* it. Have I said that before? Well, I do. I don't have any new pictures of it though. As I said, it is getting hard to photograph.

Sheri started a new KAL with a yarn discount, and I fell for it. I mean, Dream In Color Baby, how could I not? I got two lovely skeins of Petal Shower


and two equally lovely skeins of Night Watch.


Night Watch is becoming Adamas.


Here it is after one repeat of the main chart. I have knit two more repeats since then. They are nice and quick compared to the 400+ stitches per row of Whispering Pines...

I feel that I have to ration my Adamas knitting so I don't abandon Whispering Pines. "Knit so and so much on Whispering Pines, then you can knit one repeat on Adamas" I'm not sure how many repeats I will do. I want it to be BIG. The original is 72" (180 cm) across and 36" (90 cm) down with "real" lace weight yarn and 14 pattern repeats. DIC Baby is thicker, halfway to fingering, so mine will definitely be bigger at 14 repeats. I have twice the yardage that the pattern calls for too, so we'll see where I end up. I love how the fabric is coming out, drapey and squishy at the same time. And the colour is to die for! Blues and purples, mmm.

Dream In Color is a bit tricky to buy on the 'net. You never know what colour you will get. They have no dye lots, but I think they should have, because they differ very much from batch to batch. For instance, I got one skein of Gothic Rose for accent on my EPS sweater. A lovely colour, blackish plum. After that KAL you got 20% off Classy so I got four more skeins thinking that I would make a sweater with the first one. No go, they aren't remotely the same colour.

These are brown, with just a hint of plum. In fact, the colour is almost the same as the single skein of Cocoa Kiss I got ages ago.

I think it will work if I stripe it in, or use it for ribbing. I am a bit miffed anyway, because brown is not really my thing and the first Gothic Rose I have is so yummy, I would very much have wanted a sweater in it.

Hemlis 4 package

My moaning yesterday paid off. First I got a reassuring comment from my pal that the package was in the mail, and today it turned up!

Two balls of Sirdar Baby Bamboo, a DK weight 80% bamboo 20% wool yarn. So soft and a pretty lilac colour. A scarf maybe? A set of Knit Picks harmony dpn's. They are beautiful, and match the yarn very well :-) Maybe I should make a hat instead so I can use the needles with the yarn? There is also a pack of knitter's marking pins which will come in handy for sewing up sweaters, and a flowery card.

Thank you so much, my secret friend!

Shawl obsession

I have been totally obsessed with shawls lately. Lace shawls. Working on shawls, planning shawls, dreaming about shawls. I'm working on Whispering Pines mostly.

It is getting too large to photograph, I have just started the pine tree section. I love it! Love the yarn too, Malabrigo Lace in a lovely brownish red. The first ball of yarn is running out, I have two more to go.

Then there is my crazy Pi shawl out of socks yarn leftovers. This one is even more hopeless to photograph, so I didn't bother :-) I worked a fair bit on it over the last weekend (Midsummer), mostly in the car going to and from the Cottage. I'm on my last ball of suitable leftover now, so I guess I have to finish some socks soon! Luckily I have two pairs on the go, Pillars of Fire (latest Loopy Sock Club offering)


in Wollmeise in reds and browns, and a plain pair of self-striping sKNITches. sKnitches will end up in the shawl, the Wollmeise might be too thin. I'm not using my thinnest yarns for this one, so no Regia or Opal or Trekking. Very soothing a nd nearly brainless knitting, this shawl. I am doing k2tog, yo circles every six rounds but that's about it. My only concern is how big I should make it. How much will it grow in blocking? I want a large cosy usable shawl, so 180 cm (70") across maybe? I also don't want to make another increase round... I am already up to 578 stitches per round. The edging will add som to the size of course. I plan a plain garter stitch knit-on edging, maybe 10 stitches wide.

I started the Anniversary Mystery Shawl from Goddess Knits too. Here it is after the first clue (chart B)

This is also a Pi shawl, and each clue have four charts to choose from (at least the two first ones do), so all the shawls turn out differently. I have started the second clue (also chart B), but I am getting second thoughts about it. The concept is great and all that but I think I would rather choose my very own patterns for the Pi. The yarn is Baruffa Cashwool in Lt Lime, BTW. Lovely but maybe better on a slightly smaller needle, I'm using 3.25 mm now.

I am trying very hard to resist buying Icelandic unspun yarn for another Pi. I have found it for sale in a Swedish store for a good price (30 SEK/100 g)

Then Sheri did it again. A KAL I can't resist. You know I knit two sweaters for the Dream In Color sweater KAL? Now Sheri started a Dream In Color Baby KAL. Baby is the DIC lace weight... Yes I have ordered yarn. For two shawls. Two skeins of Night Watch for a big Adamas shawl, and two skeins of Petal Shower, possibly for Queen Anne's Lace. The yarn is in transit... I will knit as much as I can on Whispering Pines before it arrives, because I will want to cast on Adamas as soon as.

I haven't quite abandoned the sweaters though. I started the lovely February Lady Sweater.


The yarn is Malabrigo Worsted (The Loopy Ewe carries it now!). If the colour looks familiar it's because it is. It's the same as in my Whipsering Pines shawl! Except that it seems to be a little lighter.

I finished something too! The Butterfly Jacket from the latest Wool Gathering.

I saw it on the cover and I *had* to start subscribing just to get the pattern. Yes I seem to have some sort of EZ obsession too.

Pattern: Butterfly Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann (Wool Gathering #78)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers 2448 Petrol Blue, about two skeins I think
Needles: 4.5 mm
Size: Small
Verdict: A fun and easy knit. This was my TV knitting while it lasted, the pattern for the short-row turns is easily memorized. I was a bit concerned about the vest being a bit old-ladyish, but I think it is great. Nice to slip on when it is just a little chilly. I did the seamless version, picking up stitches at the neck for the second half and joining at the back. The only seam was the inch or so I seamed at the center back.

And yes, I got a haircut :-)

My Hemlis 4-pal has got her package (and likes it!) I am still waiting for min. Two more post-days in June...

WWKIP and Hemlis 4

I participated in WWKIP day on Saturday. 6 knitters (4 adults and 2 kids) on the lawn outside the main library in town. We had a great time knitting and chatting for two and a half hours before the rain came and chased us away.

And for any Hemlis 4 people out there: I posted my first package today, maybe it is for you! I've had so much fun reading my recipients blog and planning the packages. I had some fitting yarn in my stash, and I have ordered some especially for her. Plus some other fun things! I hope I get *my* package soon, I'm so excited!

Flamingo EPS sweater

I have neglected to blog my finished sweater because I didn't have any nice pictures of it. My plan was to persuade M to take the photos but here has been so hot that I forgot all about woolly sweaters for a while. Today however the weather is cool (and windy and rainy) so I came to think about the sweater again. I had to take the pics myself of course, because M is at work.


Pattern: A concoction of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Percentage System, the Waist Shape Calculator at Knitting Daily, and the yoke sweater pattern in Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns.
Size: A very customized 42" hip, 33.5" waist and 39" bust, total length is about 23". Overall ease is about 1.5".
Yarn: Dream In Color Classy in Flamingo Pie (about 4.5 skeins) and Gothic Rose (a tiny bit)
Needles: 3.5 mm for inside of the hems and 4 mm for the rest Addi Turbo's of various lengths

I started the body with a picot hem and after about 2" I worked 4 sets of short rows to make the back about 1” longer than the front, with a rounded shape. I had 101 sts across the back at this point.

1st set: Knit until 25 sts remain to the side marker, w&t. Purl back until 25 sts remain to the other side marker, w&t.
2nd set: Knit until 15 sts remain to the side marker, w&t. Purl back until 15 sts remain to the other side marker, w&t.
3rd set: Knit until 5 sts remain to the side marker, w&t. Purl back until 5 sts remain to the other side marker, w&t.
4th set: Knit until 5 sts after the side marker, w&t. Purl back until 5 sts after the other side marker, w&t.
Pick up the wraps and knit them together with the wrapped stitch as you get to them.

Here you can see that the back is longer than the front.


The sleeves have picot hems and decreases every 5 rounds up to the elbow, then they are straight.

After I joined the body and sleeves I knit a couple of rounds and then worked three sets of short rows to give a bit more room for the shoulders, like so:
Place markers at sleeve centers.
1st set: Work to shoulder + 12 sts, w&t
2nd set: Work to shoulder + 10 sts, w&t
3rd set: Work to shoulder + 16 sts, w&t

I got the idea for these short rows over at Mim's blog where she explained how she made her beautiful EPS cardigan. I reworked the numbers for my gauge. Mim also helped me (on Ravelry) to understand how to make the short rows at the hem. Thank you so much!

The yoke shaping took some trial and error. At first I followed EZ and Meg Swansen and knit 5" straight before the first decrease round of 25% of the stitches. Second decrease (33%) round was done after 7.5" and after a few more inches I tried the sweater on. Horror! The yoke didn't fit at all, it was loose and baggy and horrible. Apparently I needed to make 4 decrease rounds instead of three, and start them sooner too. I ripped back and did the decreases at 2.25", 4.5", 6.75" and 7.75" instead. This is more like the decreases in The Handy Book Of Sweater Patterns, and Meg Swansen's mods for larger sizes. The important thing here is trying the sweater on and see what works for you.

After the last decrease round I worked short rows again to raise the neck.
1st set: Work to shoulder, w&t
2nd set: Work to shoulder - 5 sts, w&t
3rd set: Work to shoulder - 10 sts, w&t

Then I knit a picot hem at the neck. Oh, and I knit a little zigzag pattern after the second yoke decrease. I just couldn't resist!

Here is the sweater blocking.

I am very happy with this sweater (and that I managed to finish *two* sweaters in the Loopy DIC KAL!) I have always considered adult sweaters to be slow in the making, but these two were really fast. But my previous sweaters have been mostly colour work things in rather small gauges...

My next sweater will be the February Lady Sweater in red Malabrigo worsted that I snagged at the latest Loopy Ewe sneakup! Actually the same red (Sealing Wax) as in my new shawl project, Whispering Pines in Malabrigo Lace. Pattern by Knitspot. She is by far my favourite lace designer.

Here it is after charts A and B. the pattern is rather dense here but it gets more lacy soon. And blocking will help.

I actually ordered blocking wires! I'm so excited! I have a finished scarf to try them on the minute they arrive. Or soon after they arrive anyway. It is aroll of wire to be cut in the lengths I want. Suggestions for good lengths would be much appreciated! Ready-made wires seem to be between 12" and 36" inches. I will check more when my wire gets here.

Oh, and here is the machine that has made me into a die-hard coffee drinker!

It is a Nespresso machine that uses little pre-packed capsules of coffee, one for each cup of espresso (yes, I know, not very environmentally friendly, but great coffee!) There are loads of different varieties of coffee blends to try and it is easy peasy to make just one cup. I always drink mine with lots of milk! Low-lactose milk nowadays, as I have realised that I am lactose intolerant.

Hemlis 4

Here are my answers to the secret pal exchange Hemlis 4. It's a Nordic exchange arranged by StickaMera, so I'm doing this in Swedish only.

1. Vilken sorts garn tycker du mest om? (Ull, akryl, bomull osv.) Är det något material du absolut inte tycker om?

Jag tycker mest om ull som inte sticks :-) och silke. Gillar inte akryl (plast!), och bomull är stumt och bråkigt att sticka med tycker jag. Animaliska fibrer helst alltså, fast lite nylon i strumpgarner är ju bra.

2. Vilka är dina favoritfärger?

Blått, rött, lila. Klara, glada färger, är inte så mycket för pasteller.

3. Är det någon färg du absolut inte tycker om?

Beige, grönt på egen hand (men tillsammans med blått är det jättefint), brunt på egen hand (men också snyggt ihop med blått)

4. Vilken sorts stickor tycker du bäst om/använder du helst? (Trä, metall, plast? Rundstickor, raka, strumpstickor?)

Jag använder rundstickor i metall till det mesta, även strumpor och tröjärmar (magic loop) Älskar mina Addi Turbo och Knit Picks rundstickor och drömmer om ett Options-set. Jag använder strumpstickor nån gång ibland, men aldrig nånsin långa raka.

5. Hur länge har du stickat? Anser du dig vara nybörjare, avancerad eller mittemellan?

Minns inte riktigt när jag lärde mig sticka men det måste vara närmare 30 år sen, jag var rätt liten i alla fall. Är väl tämligen avancerad, hur man nu ska definiera det... klarar av att sticka det mesta, justerar mönster när det behövs och designar lite själv.

6. Dricker du kaffe? Te?

Kaffe med mjölk. Jag och sambon fick en väldigt trevlig Nespresso-maskin i gemensam födelsedagspresent i år. Den används flitigt! Annars dricker jag helst te, svart eller grönt.

7. Är du allergisk mot något?

Laktos har jag just fått reda på :-/ Och nötter, mandel, jordnötter etc. Och starka dofter har jag svårt att klara. Och råa äpplen (fast äppelpaj går bra. Med vaniljsås, tack)

8. Vilken slags musik tycker du om?

Hmm, favoriterna är väl Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys och U2. Lite modernare: Eskobar och Rammstein.

9. Favoritgodis?

Mörk choklad. Fast det är väl ett livsmedel? Saltlakrits är inte dumt det heller.

10. Håller du på med någon annan "skapande hobby", förutom stickning? (Spinna, scrapbooking, virkning osv.)

Jag spinner, nybörjare sen december i fjol. Har en begagnad Louet S10 och en liten slända. Jag har också sytt rätt mycket lapptäcken, fast det har legat nere några år. Sen jag upptäckte strumpstickning ungefär...

11. Vad tycker du är roligast att sticka? Mössor? Sjalar? Tröjor? osv...

Strumpor och spetssjalar

12. Prenumererar du på någon sticktidning?

Interweave Knits

13. Har du något drömprojekt på önskelistan?

Jag har ungefär 100 projekt i min Ravelry-kö... Högt upp ligger en damaskmönstrad tröja i regnbågsfärgad Kauni och nån mysig spetssjal designad av Knitspot

14. Använder du pulsvärmare/handledsvärmare? I så fall, vad är ditt handledsmått?

Jag har inga men jag skulle väl kunna göra det. Mina handleder är 16 cm i omkrets, men händerna är drygt 20 cm runtom tummen så de ska ju gå att dra på också...

15. Tycker du om att sticka pulsvärmare?

Har faktiskt aldrig provat, men det är säkert ett kanonbra sätt använda strumpgarnsrester :-)

16. Stickar du sockor?

Japp

17. Vad har du för fotstorlek? (T.ex. längd, omkrets på tjockaste stället.)

Skostorlek 39-40. Mina fötter är 22,5 cm runtom som mest och 25 cm långa. Jag har höga fotvalv och jag gillar tajta strumpor. Jag brukar göra skaften ca 15 cm långa.

18. När fyller du år?

30 maj. Alldeles nyss, alltså :-)

19. Stickar du med pärlor?

Jag har stickat en sjal med pärlor (Mystery Stole 3) och gillade resultatet, där kunde gott varit ännu fler pärlor! Kan absolut tänka mig fler projekt med pärlor.

20. Vilken slags böcker (ej stickning) läser du helst? (Deckare? Fakta? Romaner?)

Fantasy och science fiction (på engelska om det är orginalspråket) Lord of the Ring och Harry Potter är favoriter. Stephen Brust och Neil Gaiman är andra favoritförfattare. Tyvärr har jag inte så mycket tid att läsa nu för tiden, har jag möjlighet är jag en bokmal!

Finally Francie socks

My first pair of finished socks for, I don't know, quite a while. For a while there I didn't feel like knitting socks at all. No inspiration. I have a number of started socks but none of them really appealed to me.

Besides, I have been knitting two sweaters lately. (Yes, the EPS is done, I just need to force M to take some nice pictures for me)

Then I found Francie. Finally a pattern I really, really liked. And which seemed perfect for the poor beautiful red yarn that had been wound in a cake forever and ever and that I had started (and frogged) three or four patterns with already.

Pattern: Francie by Rebekkah Kerner at Bowerbird Knits
Yarn: All Things Heather kettle dyed superwash merino, colour Maraschino, 1 skein, not too much left overs.
Needles: 2.25 mm KnitPicks circ, magic loop of course :-)
Mods: None, really, except that I did only 2 pattern repeats on the legs. They are 7" long anyway. Good thing too, because I would have run out of yarn otherwise.

I'm not all that excited over the leg pattern, it's just a bit strange.

If I knit these socks again I will probably just do a 2x2 ribbed leg.
The foot, however, I adore.

I have high arches and the fabric hugs them wonderfully. And the sole is so beautiful! I'm toying with the idea of making them upside down. I.e. have this tree structure on the instep. Should be possible. Somehow. Hmm.

Both socks. They are a tiny bit big, even though I just have one single row between the arch shaping and the toe. Maybe my row gauge is very different from the designer's. At first I thought I would have to give them to M, but right now it seems like they fit me fine.


They look very silly off the foot or blocker...

All better now

Fits like a glove, just as I wanted. The sweater will probably grow a little in its first bath, and the puckering from the short rows and the decreases will even out.

I have a good chance of finishing this in May after all. It would be fun to finish *two* sweaters for the DIC KAL :-)

Slap!

Shouldn't have said that the EPS sweater was almost done. Slap! on the head from the knitting godess. I tried it on yesterday evening, almost done with the yoke, and the fit was... strange... to say the least. Bodice nice and fitted just as before. But the yoke hung like a sack, much too large. Sigh. I put the monster away and worked on a sock.

It was obvious that I had too many stitches in the yoke but how should I decrease for a better fit? Suddenly I remembered that there is a 4-decrease variation in The Opinionated Knitter (incidentally, this is the same decreases as for the seamless yoke sweater in The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns) So this morning I ripped, ripped and started doing the decreases this way instead. The first decrease is done at 2.25" instead of after 4.5-5" and this seems to work much better for me.

Knock on wood, and all that.

EZ

I am on some sort of Elizabeth Zimmermann binge. Reading her books (I got The Opinionated Knitter and Knitting Around in the post this week), watching her on DVD (I got the Knitting Workshop DVD too) and knitting her pattern (I'm almost done with an EPS sweater), feeling very inspired and wanting to knit many more of her patterns. To think that I never knew she existed until a few years ago... Amazing how her patterns don't look very dated either, after all these years.

As I was finishing up Twist I felt the urge for another DIC sweater, and I have been wanting to knit an EPS sweater for some time, soooo I got me some DIC Classy in Flamingo Pie, plus a lone skein of Gothic Rose to use as contrasting hems (from The Loopy Ewe of course) These colourways go together really well! I was a bit uncertain of the combination but the Loopy Elves very kindly checked it for me. Gothic Rose is a dark eggplanty colour, and Flamingo Pie is a mild orange with yellow and light eggplant accents. I would love me a sweater of Gothic Rose someday, lovely colour!


You may see that the 'non-pooling' Dream In Color has pooled into a yellow zigzag on the chest (of course not on the back...) I don't think that it is very visible IRL though.

The hems of my sweater have the dark yarn on the inside and picot edge


and the rest of the sweater is plain except for a small zigzag on the yoke, right after the first decrease round.

First I wasn't going to put in any yoke patterns, but the sweater asked for it! I haven't decided what to do about the neck yet, maybe a picot hem just like the other edges, maybe just a plain roll neck. We'll see.

I have read many discussions about how to hold the yarn when knitting with two colours, but I have never seen my way described. So here it is. I hold both yarns parallell in my left hand (I knit left-handed/Continental/picking)


If I am careful to keep them some distance apart it is easy to pick the one I want for my next stitch.


You have to be careful not to pull the yarns to tight though. The floats must not pull the fabric in.
My zigzag has two rounds with 5 stitches of one colour and then one of the other. On those rounds I tried to carry the single stitch yarn in my right hand and throw those stitches. That worked rather well, and the floats came out nice and loose without any fussing.

I also have a new sock! My sock mojo has been missing lately, but when I saw Yarn Harlot's Francie socks I had to get the pattern and cast on. The pattern has been in my Ravelry queue for some time but now I realised that this, at last, was the perfect pattern for the red All Things Heather sock yarn that I wound up ages ago and had started at least three patterns with already. Hedgerow socks, Brother Amos' Brimstone socks and a few others got frogged. Nice patterns, but not for this yarn. Francie on the other hand is perfect!


One sock is done and the other is started.

And this is how happy you are when you get to climb the stairs!