I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

Marie was observant enough to notice that the WIP in my Sunday post was a Baby Surprise Jacket. And I have a shocking confession . . . In all my years of knitting, this is my first BSJ. To be perfectly honest, the look of the finished sweater never really appealed to me. Mostly, I attribute the disinterest to my intense dislike of garter stitch. But now that I have made one, I realize how wrong I’ve been about this pattern.

I used a skein of very lovely, sport-weight acrylic yarn sent to me by Rachel (who has been churning out FOs and handspun like a madwoman). My original plan was to donate the several skeins she sent me to an organization that teaches children to knit, but at the last minute I decided to hold this one back since there was enough yardage to make a baby sweater for a charity silent auction item. It had been sitting in the stash for a while when the pattern+yarn lightening bolt struck.

I have to say that I like the BSJ knit up in variegated yarn more than solids. Perhaps a busy yarn is just what I need to make me forget that the entire sweater is knit in garter stitch.

If you’ve never knit this pattern I have to warn you that it is both brilliant and addicting. IMHO, it solidifies Elizabeth Zimmermann’s position as the greatest knitter of modern times. Seriously. The cleverness of the pattern is unsurpassed by anything I’ve ever knit in the past or probably will knit in the future.

I did change one little thing. I used centered double decreases on the sleeves instead of the sl1-k2tog-psso decreases EZ recommends.

Although I didn’t love Elizabeth’s method, I think I like mine even less.

Then, while I was knitting the sides–and having a difficult time keeping track of exactly where to work the increases–I had a light bulb moment. What if I knit one stitch in stockinette stitch and increased/decreased on either side of it. That would solve the “problem” of the bulky decreases and also make it incredibly easy to see where to place the increases.

Well, of course, I had to cast on for a second BSJ and test my theory.

Unfortunately, I had to frog this new BSJ right after I took the photo but I think my idea might work. Actually, I bet there’s someone out there who’s already tried this.  Is it you???

As many of you guessed, the mystery weekend project was a lace item knit from handspun. But not my handspun. Nope. I used some yarn Margene spindle spun and gave to me for my birthday last year. Obviously, that’s why it was in the “special” yarn stash.

Before I reveal the item and its destination, I’ll show you how much yarn I had left:

No surprise there, huh. Although I confess I was sweating a bit more than usual this time since . . . well . . . it is handspun after all and not replenishable.

This next photo should give away the pattern:

If that doesn’t look familiar, I’ll help you out. It’s the Shetland Triangle Shawl from Wrap Style.

The design uses an easy lace pattern that produces a great looking shawl. And the handspun was an excellent choice.

Because I love the finished shawl so much, I have decided to donate it to Claudia’s Knitters Against MS Prize Basket.

Go here, make a donation, and the shawl could be yours.

Only a quick post today; just something to whet your curiosity.

On Saturday, Margene, Eliza, Cheryl, and I piled into Cheryl’s car and drove to Twin Falls for the Snake River Fiber Fair. Awesome trip! I’ll have more details later this week.

I bought very little *cough, cough* but I managed to knit quite a bit during the car ride. I knew I need something easily memorized but fun to knit. Friday night, I found an appropriate pattern, rummaged through the stash of “special” yarn, and cast on while I watched Notes on a Scandal (fabulous, BTW).

I cast off Sunday morning and gave the FO a little dip in some Eucalan.

Hmmmmm . . . now what could that be? And why was the yarn in the “special” bin?