stash, knit, repeat

Well, lookie who has a new sweater for Rhinebeck!

Pattern: Salina, from Rowan Vintage Knits

Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed, something like 7 balls for the 38″ size?

Time Elapsed: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha HAAAAAA….

Notes/Modifications: I added around an inch of short-row shaping in the bust. Oh, and Salina is currently without buttons, because I cannot ever fathom using them and haven’t found the perfect ones yet anyway. Besides, she’s plenty pretty without them.

(Jacob declared this his favorite. But before you get too excited, he says that about everything.)

I really, really enjoyed knitting this sweater–despite the time it took. (Hey, I knit a few other sweaters while it languished! It wasn’t total slackitude around here.) The stockinette was soothing, and as with all of Ms. Hargreaves’ designs, there were enough interesting finishing touches and thoughtful details to keep me interested. The sleeves were one. I noticed that the cuffs were knit separately, and almost just cast on in seed stitch and skipped that step.

I’m glad I didn’t. The cuffs are knit separately and then sewn on so that you can create a little shirt-cuff detail. I love it. This is such a classic, wearable knit, and I’m sure it will be in regular rotation for many years to come. And you can bet I’ll be wearing it at Rhinebeck, if it’s cold enough outside!

See you there?

Wow. I’m pretty embarrassed that a month went by without me even noticing. That’s life sometimes, I guess. To be fair, two of my four projects are gifts, and I was keeping one of them a secret.

Can you tell what it is? My other WIPS: Salina (for me), the February Lady Sweater (for Beth), and a pair of Devon socks from the new Cookie A book (for me). I now remember why I was a strictly monogamous knitter for so long.

I’m just loving the simplicity of Salina–I’ve now finished the back and both of the sleeves, and have a few inches of the front done. The combination of the tweedy yarn and the stockinette/moss stitch makes me squeal. I’m going to really, really enjoy wearing this sweater. So far, the only changes I’ve made are to increase the length of the sweater some, but as I get to the appropriate place I’m going to throw some short rows in there too.

Sadly, I currently feel as angsty as Jacob looks about the FLS. Following the pattern produced some really horrible raglan increases for me (I’m sure my row gauge is off), but I blindly knit on, alternating balls of Classy, for another 8 inches on the body. I finally admitted to myself that it looked awful and started ripping last night–I’m about halfway ripped. Sigh.

The last bit of news, I guess, is that I’m doing more stash restructuring. I’ve got a bunch of lovely, lovely yarns up on my ravelry destash page that just aren’t right for me. If they’re right for you, let me know–I need to make room for the couple of sweaters’ worth of sport-weight gray yarn I picked up at WEBS this past weekend.

(I’m nothing if not predictable in my yarn taste!)

Wow, it’s been ages since I shared anything other than an FO with you. Obviously, the knitting is continuing post-kids! The blogging, not so much. Not because I don’t have time, actually–since I only work part-time I actually spend a fair amount of time here at home with the boys, and they’re both pretty independent kids. But my husband is working from home at the moment, and we only have one computer. As much as I love my phone, a good blogging device it is not.

Still, the time has come to make some resolutions and follow them, so hopefully you’ll be seeing more of me here soon. Spring frenzy has definitely hit this part of New England, so when I cast off another Jacob sweater the other day?

I pretty much had no choice but to cast on 3 projects to replace it.

(February Lady Sweater for my friend Beth, and a couple of pairs of mystery socks.) I’ve wanted to knit the FLS for about an eon now, but it’s completely wrong for my body type. (While I never really LIKE it when dressing for my figure limits my wardrobe, I do appreciate the results–thanks, Trinny and Susannah!) The happy solution arrived when my very good friend and excellent knitwear recipient Beth admired the sweater. A few hanks of Dream in Color Classy later, I was good to go. I’m really enjoying it so far, and especially enjoying the speedy progress of a worsted-weight sweater as compared to my other sweater project:

Salina is pretty much exactly right for my body type, in my favorite color, and a glorious yarn. Unfortunately, such teeny tiny stitches do result in fairly slow going. Still, I have the back and most of one sleeve done now, so I have hope I’ll be able to wear it this spring.

Why two pairs of socks, you ask? Well, one particular part of my stash has really been inspiring me lately.

Happy spring!