I went through so many project ideas but once I saw the yarn I knew it needed to be White Light.  The reverse stockinette stitch background was begging for some slightly variegated hand dyed yarn.

The pullover starts with a mega-cowl – here it is around 7 inches and another 9 or so to go.  I washed it to confirm how it would block out – I knew the corrugated stitch pattern would stretch out but I needed to see what was comfortable.

And here it is all done and steam blocked.  I think it’s going to squish up when worn but I’m hopeful it will still be good enough to be a drapey, voluminous cowl.

You can see the line up the back where I wrapped and turned.  This allowed me to do the whole cowl without any purling!  I placed it center back so I think it’ll be ok.

I’m head over heels with the gorgeous dyeing of Mellifera yarn.  The variation is subtle and has a gorgeous, grown up depth.  I’m a bit cautious about how the cowl is going to work out until I’m done knitting some of the body and can try it on.   I’ve swatched, measured and calculated but nothing beats actually pulling it over my head to see what it’ll look like.

I better get knitting so I can try this baby on soon.

I’ll catch you on the purl side…

This year’s top contenders for my Christmas vaca knitting are

• Snowflake – lace that’s both pretty and tasteful
• Springfield – all-over lace that’s still understated
• Ellery – I can’t resist a good cowl
• Zippity – gorgeous cowl and weekend-wearing perfection
• Calligraphy – how can you deny that gorgeously huge collar?
• Bello – easy-wearing pullover with a lovely cable
• Charleston Tea – cardigan, hood, cables.  enough said.
• Cassis – lace details and a big collar

I have 1,500 yards of this beautiful Augergine DK from Mellifera Yarns on its way to me.  It should be enough for any of the designs I listed above.

It’s kinda fun when it’s coming from another country – I can’t obsessively check tracking every day to see where it is.  I’m forced to not-so-patiently wait for it to show up on my doorstep.

While I was at it, I enjoyed taking it back and looking at what I faved 5 years ago for Christmas 2009.

Lots of mittens and lots of colorwork.  What a difference 5 years can make.

I’ll catch you on the purl side…

You also know what I don’t like – blankets.  I love the look but dread the knitting.  That’s why I swore off blanket knitting back in 2006 when I finished this beauty for my nephew.

Loved the look, loved the feel but not the actual knitting.

But like many things, time heals and lessens the sting.

I started a Girasole out of 3 skeins of Miss Babs Yowza in the Blarney Stone colorway.  Bouncy, soft and a welcome departure of color for me.

Mom is redoing her living room in shades of gray and soft white so this should go nicely.  And like me she can always cuddle under another layer.

I’m in that honeymoon phase where every row makes me want to knit one more.

And I love the way the decreases work – paired decreases make such a pretty line.

Next up?  The rhythmic knitting of a leaf lace pattern!

I might become a blanket knitter after all.

I’ll catch you on the purl side…

I’m sure I got some eye rolling and scowls with that last sentence. You say “it’s just a hobby”. But here’s the thing. I like to have something to show for my time. And I think most of you do too. Right? How much fun is it to parade around town in that soon-to-be cardigan shrug? And those pullover bustiers are all the rage.

Some times, I want to walk around Rhinebeck with my new sweater. Complete, finished and awesome.

But with 2.5 weeks to go I have a lot left to do. Almost too much.

Here’s my plan…

• this weekend – finish knitting cabled part of body
• Thursday – finish ribbing on bottom
• next Sunday – finish sleeves
• Monday – wash and block

I realized when I put this schedule together that It’s crazy aggressive. If I don’t hit this weekend’s schedule there’s almost no chance of getting Raspberry Tart done in time.

Mega sad face

Hoping and wishing won’t make it so. A plan makes it a possibility.  Unless I change my mind about that pullover bustier.

Going to Rhinebeck? How’re your projects going?  A girl needs some good ol peer pressure.

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

I’m sure you’re getting close to having heard enough about this design – I’m losing steam too.  I got up yesterday morning and decided I couldn’t bear to work on RT.  You know how the rest of this goes right?

Ravelry browsing.  Here’s how it went down.

Ooh I can fave more things for Rhinebeck shopping!  I forgot about Deep End – it’s a great excuse to shop for mini skeins of sock yarn.   I wonder if Miss Babs will bring any her kits of mini skeins – polydactyl or gradient.  Gradients are fun – I wonder what designs use them.  Traliccio is new to me.  Spectral too.

An hour later and a bunch more designs to shop for at Rhinebeck – and not a stitch more knitted.  Thinking about knitting and looking at others’ knitting was sadly doing nothing to help get my sweater done for Rhinebeck.

So I took RT out of the bag and started knitting.  I made a deal with myself – 10 rounds this weekend  And a couple hours later I hit that magic number.

Here’s the back…

and the front…

and a close up of those cables…

Contrary to what it looks like on the mannequin, I’m about halfway through the bust area.  I think I have 2 more full repeats of cables and then the bottom ribbing.  I tried it on again yesterday and it still fits great!

If I finish this one in time this will be the third sweater I’ll have finished for Rhinebeck in 9 years of attending.  There’s something about that festival that motivates me to get things done.

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

an idiosyncratic belief or impression that is firmly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality or rational argument, typically a symptom of mental disorder.

Idiosyncratic belief – check. Rational argument – yep. Mental disorder? Clearly the writers never met a knitter.

Ahem.

We’re just under 5 weeks away from Rhinebeck. 4 more weekends to knit. I’m in my second skein for Raspberry Tart (3.5 skeins to go).

I love top down knitting but this one has me questioning the fit. The deeper neckline means the armhole depth is super shallow. I’ve measured and remeasured but I’m still not sure. This is the fun part where I just have to knit some more so I can try it on to verify.

It’ll kill me if I knit all these cables for nothing.

Speaking of, I did have to fix a cabling mistake last weekend.

Before – you can see the mistake right?

So I laddered down 15 sts for 8 rows and fixed it. I briefly considered working away in blind disregard. It was on the back after all.

But that would have been true insanity. Who can walk around with a miscrossed cable on her back at Rhinebeck?

So now she’s all fixed.

I’m hoping this little transgression is a good sign. I had to do something similar for St. Brigid and I made it just in time (can you say 2 am hood knitting?).

The yarn is perfect for this sweater. Soft, saturated and superwash. And since I bought this at last year’s Rhinebeck I’d love to wear it to the Shelridge booth.

And ok, buy another sweater’s worth.

Totally logical right?  I knew I could count on you knitters.

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

As we all know, my struggle is with follow through.

So far so good though.

I’m done with the ribbing. Miles of 1×1 of ribbing.

And then the short rows with cabling on the WS rows.

Did you hear me?  WITH CABLING ON WRONG SIDE ROWS.

Then we have the adjustments to remove a bit of the cabling on the front. Because we all know I can’t leave well enough alone.

And so far? Total, unabashed love for this pattern.

And what rock have I been under that this is my first introduction to Annamária Ötvös patterns? This is one of the best patterns I’ve used in a very long time. It’s complex and she’s thought it out in great detail. And bonus – it comes in 10 sizes. Given the amount of detail in the pattern that’s a lot of work.

I’m very impressed.

And so of course, I’ve already started looking at more of her patterns. A couple more faves for the future…

Tatu – fun stitch pattern and less than 2 skeins of single ply fingering.  As if I needed any more excuses for single ply fingering.

Gaufres – a removable cowl. Genius.

Prelude – this looks like a simple, versatile, well-fitting pullover in a great gauge.  Hello  single ply fingering.

I know. I’m never satisfied with what I have on the needles.

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

I suspect it has something to do with the weather.  Our weather has been closer to San Francisco than anywhere in the Northeast. It already feels like fall. I find myself dreaming about apple crisp, cranberry bread and Halloween.

So my crazy obsession got me thinking about the garments that I have in progress. I have a few…

Elisbeth – perfect color and I think I’ll get a lot of wear out of it.

3 in 1 – fun color combo and a great casual option that feels a bit “more”

Overlynd – love the color and worsted weight pullover will see a lot of wear

Elfe – I like the colors but I’m going to frog it; I’ve just lost the love.

Hitofude – I treated myself to 3 skeins of Dream in Color Jilly the other day – in the Victoria colorway. I couldn’t resist this pattern any more.

And then a couple I’m thinking about…

Crazy Stripes Tee – using the Elfe yarn and probably at least one other.  I like the pop of a different color in there and doesn’t it look crazy fun to knit?

Downeast – I bought the yarn for this over Christmas last year. I know it’d be a weekend staple for me and at that gauge it’ll go quickly too.

And then I need to remember that rhinebeck is only two months away. Two months people. Wow. So I really should hold off on starting more garments until I get up there because there’s never a shortage of inspiration.

Yeah like that’ll happen.

Are you already focusing on fall knitting?  What are you working on?  Let me live vicariously through you for a bit.

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

I mentioned in my last post that I don’t enjoy working with many yarns at once.  But sometimes pretty sucks you in and dazzles – this is one of those times.  I did lessen the annoyance factor a bit this week though.

I put the edging yarn (that teeny ball) in a yarn bra and attached it to the shawl with a locking stitch marker.  This way it’s always where it needs to be and there’s one less yarn strand to deal with.  It hasn’t eliminated tangles but it’s definitely reduced them – plus I don’t have to deal with that tiny ball falling to the floor and rolling around any more.

That’s not the only shawl on the needles though – I started a Dangling Conversation a few weeks back out of my Fiber Optics gradient kit.  You might remember that I started a shawl with this yarn last year but it wasn’t doing it for me.  I love how it’s working up in this pattern though.

It’s worked on a 3.25 mm needle so it’s a bit airy and drapey.  The beads give it just a bit of weight so it’s not all fluttery but I don’t think it’s going to weight it down.  I’m going to love wearing this one and can’t wait to see what it looks like all blocked and evened out.

And then we have Imagine When.  The color is very me but also very different from my other shawls I’m currently working on.  I have the perfect skirt to wear it with too.  I love when I can think of a whole outfit around a WIP.

 I’m further along that this pic but still on the first wedge.

I’m on vacation this week and want to have at least one FO to show for it.  If I’m focused I could bang out any one of these.

Or I could start 3 more projects…

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

I think it’s a combo of pattern/yarn/color and competitiveness.  As you guys know, I’ve only completed one FO this year.  Ugh – that’s gotta change.  I don’t mind knitting for fun and knitting knowing that something might not work out.  But I actually enjoy wearing my FOs.

By the end of Friday I completed Section A.

See that orange stitch marker?  That’s where I ended last Sunday.  That’s a lot of knitting during the week.

I added the Citrus (orange) yarn on Saturday.

I didn’t realize I’d have 3 balls of yarn going at once though.  I was duped!

 Why yes that *is* a purple Jambox in the background.  Consistency, people.

I’ve definitely slowed down now that I’m juggling all these strands.  I also procrastinated decided to weave in the ends so I wouldn’t be battling them too.  Plus it gave me a short break from the knitting.  Do you ever do that?

Before I started the orange I had in my mind that I’d get that section done by this Friday but now I’m not so sure.  The multiple strands are slowing me down.  And truthfully, I’m finding other things I “need” to do to get away from it.  I even cleaned the kitchen.

Yeah, desperation.

Still, I do love the colors and love how they’re melding together versus looking like two distinct colors – just what I was hoping it would do.  And the variation in the orange!  omg I love it.

I also have a hankering to pick up a sock just to do some quick, mindless knitting so I might break out a WIP as well.  I’m hesitant though because I don’t want to lose steam on Collinear.  As I was knitting I had delusions of getting it done in 3 weeks.  Maybe even 2.  I can dream, right?

I’ll catch you on the purl side…