The Hazards of Blogging

One of the Hazards of Blogging is that when you don't blog, friends and family start yelling at you because you haven't posted in a while. So, dear friends and family, here I am with updates about my current projects.

Now, just to refresh, since I haven't been around much, let's say it all together now: Jennifer is not a monogamous knitter. Very good....

Since I seem to be sweater challenged, I decided to start with this beautiful pattern from Wendy Bernard of Knit and Tonic. If you haven't been there before, go check her out. Not only is she hilariously funny, observant and smart, she's a psychotic knitter, too (a little heavy on the knitting OCD if you ask me). A woman who's stash the proportions of which I can only aspire.

Project 1
The Somewhat Cowl
This lovely piece of work calls for Blue Sky Alpaca Silk at $11.95 USD per hank. For a sweater that would fit me I would need 16-17 hanks. Yeah, that would have been about $200.00. I don't like it that much. So, I decided I'd try something else and see if I can't figure it out. Off we went to elann.com (see post below). I chose two colors, Raspberry and Eggplant (ok, Aubergine, whatever).

Minor problem: the gauge of Elann's Baby Alpaca Silk is fingering weight, Blue Sky is sport. I have to double the strands of Elann to get the right gauge in a fabric that isn't transparent. (Can we say: Wow, this sweater is going to be WARM...)

It's a top down raglan and while the setting in this pic isn't all that great, the color is pretty true and the shaping is somewhat visible. The bottom of the U is the back neck, the shoulders are at the right and left and the little wedges near the pointy ends are what will become the VERY DEEP V-neck.

I love the color. It almost perfectly matches the same color in BS Alpaca Silk. Love it! The best part? 40 some balls at $2.50 each is still only half the cost of the BSAS! Love that!

Project 2

The Sock. Inspired by Alyssa's Eye of Partridge Heel from Sensational Knitted Socks and by January One (another of my favorite blogs). I saw J-O knitting this sock and she said she got the pattern out of Folk Knitting in Estonia.

"Well, heck", says I,"I've got that book"!

I picked it up at the IK Hurt Books sale for like $4. Awesome. I went and found the little chart. It's an 8 st repeat, and I figured out how to do it in the round. The join from row to row is a little weird, but who cares. They're beautiful. (Was I talking about Wendy Bernard being knitting OCD? Yeah. Takes one to know one). The photo's a littel blurry but the colors are pretty true. I love the way the green and the berry look together.

I've decided that I will knit down through the heel flap (I've never done the Eye of Partrigde heel) and then start the second sock, otherwise I'll never finish the pair.

Project 3

Um... oh yeah, the Lady Eleanor wrap from Scarf Style.

This is the lovely yarn that Darling Mumsie picked up for me. I don't think it's the color way I asked for but that's okay, I love it now. I had to buy two more hanks because I made it half way and figured out that the wrap wouldn't be as long as I wanted with the 11 hanks I've already got. So, 13 it is. This is up to ball 6 or maybe 7. I'm thinking about doing the Lattice Fringe that's shown in the book. We'll see how that comes out. If it's icky, I might have to do an edging from Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge. What about the cables fringe that's on the cover? Too much? Yeah probably.

So THEN I went to knitting class last night and my lovely, wonderful instructor Josie asked me what we were going to get me to do that would be hard for me since this class is supposed to be about doing something you've never done before and pushing the limits.

Well.... we did say I'm not a monogamous knitter right?

Loads of people in class are doing these beautiful Cabled Sweaters from the Alice Starmore book Fisherman Sweaters. (I own that book, too) And now, I've caught Cabled Sweater envy. I've been looking at the sweater that's on the cover, called Innishman or something (if you've got the book, it's the one with the bobbles).

So, I picked up two balls of Kathmandu DK Tweed in colorway 418. I don't think I'm all that crazy about the color now that I've worked it a little but the yarn is beautiful. It's got little flecks of pink, purple, orange, goldenrod and steel gray in it. I'm thinking of swatching on some of the Black Water Abbey wool that I've got and if I like the texture once it's been washed then I might get some of the Wine color. So yummy.

So here's the dilemma. I have a (ahem) fairly large chest these days. Should I make the sweater size that's an inch larger or 5 inches larger? I know it's supposed to be a bulky sweater that can be worn over a lot of other stuff, but if it's too big, I probably won't wear it then either. Hmmm... I'm wondering if I should even bother since it's a drop shoulder. Hmmm... but it's so pretty.

Stop by Alyssa's Blog and wish her Happy Birthday today!! Have a lovely weekend!