October 12, 2010

Only a week. But it’s been a very busy week.
Last week I had 5 projects on the needles. This week I have 6, and lots of progress on lots of fronts.

Liesl has seen the majority of my time this past week. I’ve had lots of “I need to sit and think” moments, and lots of “I need a few minutes to decompress before I…” chunks of time. Those stolen moments, combined with my boycott of yesterday, means that Liesl is currently 9 inches past where you set aside stitches for the sleeves. I’m hoping to have this sweater hit mid-hip-ish, so that means I’m going to work for another 6 inches or so before binding off.
I found out yesterday that I’m going to be at Rhinebeck this coming weekend, for Sunday only. But this means that Liesl has become my Rhinebeck sweater, along with being my first wearable sweater, fingers crossed. (I felted the first sweater I ever knit for myself before getting to wear it. We don’t talk about it very often) So Liesl has been receiving almost all my attention lately.
But only almost, I have worked on other things. (Told you this week was busy).

Bella is past the garter stitch base, and I’m only a row and a half away from being done with the first section of the ruffle. I think I’m going to take this to Rhinebeck as walking around knitting, and hopefully make lots and lots of progress.

That scarf I mentioned in the last post? The one that only needed a few tweaks before casting on? I also needed to buy needles for it.
So I bought the needles, I tweaked the charts, I cast on.
Then I ripped it out, tweaked it some more, and cast on again.
Lather, rinse, repeat a few times.
I’m finally through the first repeat and a bit, and I’m going to rip it out and cast it on once more. I’ll probably do that before this weekend so that I can take it for car knitting on the way to and from Rhinebeck (I’m not driving).
At the moment I’m calling it Gothic Spires, as it’s got some interesting lacy columns and spire action going on in it, but if you’ve got any suggestions I’d love to hear.

Even Icy Fields got another round and a half added to it. While this doesn’t seem like a lot, please keep in mind that as of right now each round is about 1,000 stitches long and takes forever. On the plus side I’m about 12 rounds from the end. Next is some sort of crochet loopy bind off, and I’ll be done.
After I’m done I’ll probably hid the rest of this yarn for the next few years, or maybe just trade it (or give it) away. There’s nothing wrong with the yarn (Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud), I’ve just had it in my life since 2007, and will have knit 2 completed shawls, (and one ripped out shawl) from it. There is also only so much grey lace that one person needs.
Now that I’ve said all that, right after I bind off Icy Fields I’m going to cast on some more grey lace. Just watch.

Walk in the Woods, and Celtic Forest haven’t seen any progress at all. Celtic Forest is still sitting in the closet as of this writing. I need a good block of time to work out the kinks in this pattern, and I just haven’t had the time yet. Maybe this week. Maybe.
There’s no reason I haven’t worked on Walk in the Woods other than I’ve been distracted by my new and shinier projects. But I’m planning on taking this along to Rhinebeck for car knitting as well.

Once I get a few of my current projects off the needles I have two more projects waiting in the wings to be thought out and swatched. The cowl that I mentioned in the last post, and another pair of fingerless mitts.

I’m hoping to have the pattern for Bird of a Feather released soon (tomorrow???). I just need to tweak a few things to make one of the charts easier to follow, but after that it’ll be ready to go.

This has already gotten longer than planned and I feel Liesl calling, so I’m going to go work on her, and hopefully have a new sweater soon. Fingers crossed.