I'm having a love/hate relationship with this sweater (The Fog Sweater by Tiennie). I love the yarn, I love the pattern, I love the way the fabric feels. What I hate is k1,p1 rib. Endless swaths of k1,p1 rib. It's going to make a beautiful sweater, but I'm having a really hard time with it. I've taken a break from knitting for a few weeks, since my fingers and hands were unhappy with the ribbing. I really need to start up again; I've told Brian his sweater would be ready before Christmas. Unfortunately, this is all I've knitted so far: I'm about 1/3 of the way up to where I need to be before I start shaping for the armholes. If I'm going to get this done before winter, I really need to start working on it.  I really shouldn't be complaining... I was looking for an "easy sweater" for my first sweater, and this is definitely it. Drop shoulders, basic shaping, nothing but ribbing. My only worry is if I got my gauge correct, as I'm using a different yarn than Tiennie did for this sweater. My swatch looked ok, so my fingers are crossed. Oh. Word of advice: Don't use black yarn on anything that requires you to actually see your stitches. I've lost count of the times I've had to fix my errors because I was watching TV and knitting... it's really easy to lose your place with black yarn and k1,p1 ribbing.

Progress has been made on Brian's sweater. I finally found a pattern I liked, that would work with the yarn I had. The sweater is called "The Fog Sweater", based on a sweater the designer saw in the movie "The Fog". It's a simple drop-sleeve sweater with a LOT of ribbing; the body of the sweater is all 1x1 rib. It's not too bad now that I've done about an inch of it, but I can see that it will probably drive me crazy before I'm finished. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="470" caption="The Fog Sweater by Tiennie"] [/caption] So far, I've done all the bottom ribbing and about an inch or so into the main body of the sweater. I haven't been able to do it as fast as I like, because all that ribbing hurts my hands. So, maybe I'll have it done by Christmas. I'm using KnitPicks "Wool of the Andes" worsted in Coal (which is about as black as you can get yarn). If I could buy the yarn again, I would choose a lighter color, because knitting black yarn in anything but bright sunlight is a pain in the butt. Oh well, live and learn, I suppose. I really like how it's coming out, though. It's a nice fabric, not too heavy, and not too scratchy. He'll probably be able to wear it without a shirt underneath if he wants to. We shall see. [caption id="attachment_480" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="The Fog Sweater bottom ribbing"] [/caption] It'll be fun, right?

Yes, I've actually been knitting lately! I've made a couple of hats.. one for William, and one for Brian. Will promptly lost his after having it for less than a month. I've told him if he wants me to knit him another, he's going to have to buy the yarn himself, and it's NOT allowed to be acrylic. Knitting that hat with acrylic really hurt my hands a lot. I think I can possibly convince him to buy a skein of some nice baby alpaca or some ultra soft cotton or something. Baby alpaca would be awesome, but I think I would covet it for myself and not let him have it once I was finished. Speaking of coveting... I have finally started a project with some of the yummy Malabrigo that I have been saving for a few years. I really liked the hat pattern (Woolly Wormhead's Ribbed Beanie), so I made one for myself out of the Dark Earth Malabrigo worsted from my stash. I finished it last night. The first picture is almost exactly the color of the yarn. The second picture came out much lighter because of the flash. It is a wonderfully warm hat, and it fits beautifully. I made this with two strands of worsted held together so I could approximate a bulky yarn. I think it worked out well. I changed the patterne from a 6x2 rib to a 5x3 rib, and I changed the crown shaping so it would be "rounder" instead of decreasing so quickly. Details on my project page, if you have a Ravelry account. I basically added a "plain" round, knit in pattern, in between decreases. Now that I'm done with that, I have two half-balls of yarn left over to play with. I started a new project this morning with the leftovers; the Single Cable Scarf from One Skein by Leigh Radford. I took a picture this morning when it was really short: I've done about 8 more inches on it since then, though. I shall have to take another picture later. On the down side of life, Will has a cold with a nasty cough... and of course I'm in the process of getting it. I suppose I can use it as a good excuse to stay in bed and knit. Thanks, public schools, for being such wonderful source of entertainment for my immune system.

I've finished the bobbles, and have moved on to the pattern.  This is a very simple pattern... a 12 row repeat, basically k3, p3 all the way around, shifting over one stitch every two rows.  It makes a nice spiral "ribbing". [caption id="attachment_276" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Aibhlinn"] [/caption] I'm liking the yarn.  It's a slightly uneven texture... not a thick/thin, but there is definitely some variation in thickness.  Looking forward to seeing how well it drapes once I get a few more rows done. I took this picture on the bed rail of the F250.  It's all full of weeds and branches and stuff that need to get dumped.  I love the color contrast with the yarn - it makes it look all rustic and fall-like.  I need to take a better picture when the sun is up, though.  The sun went down just a few minutes before I got out there to get this shot.

Warning!  Actual knitting content! It's been over a year since I've knitted. I've picked up the needles a few times, but first it was life getting in the way, and more recently, pain. The pain is not gone, but it's under enough control that I actually feel like picking up some knitting and making something.  Let me tell you, that's a pretty damn good feeling. I've been hunting for the perfect project, and it's taken me longer than I thought.  So many obstacles.  First obstacle - my entire stash smells of mothballs.  When we were moving, I found one of Brian's sweaters at the bottom of the closet, absolutely shredded.  I was terrified of putting my stash in storage and having it get eaten by moths.  So, silly me, I bought mothballs and dropped several in each plastic tub full of yarn.  Mistake.  They stink up the yarn horribly, and I've been searching for the best way to get rid of the odor.  General consensus is to hang the yarn up out in the fresh air and sunshine for a few hours.  I'm happy to report that this works beautifully!  I took the two skeins of yarn that I picked for my project outside this morning, and now (about 5 hours later) there is not a trace of the mothball smell.  Isn't this yarn lovely? [caption id="attachment_271" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Cat Mountain Fiber Arts handspun yarn in Olive Brown"] [/caption] Delicious! I bought this yarn a few years ago at the Pagosa Springs fiber festival, and have been looking for the perfect pattern.  I was wandering around Ravelry looking at all kinds of patterns, when Knitty's Aibhlinn jumped out at me. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="396" caption="Knitty Magazine's Aibhlinn"] [/caption] I am in love.