I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

The return of Daylight Savings Time can mean only one thing. There’s enough light when I get home to take blog photos!

Progress toward completing my NaKniSweMoDo goal has been sporadic. When I finished the body of my Honeycomb Vest, I set the project aside. I guess I was getting a little sick of the unending cables.

I fully intend to finish it because I love the way it’s working up, but a new sweater project is getting all the love lately . . . Slinky Ribs from the book, Custom Knits.

Yeah, it’s top-down, but it has set-in sleeves that are picked up around the armholes. I’m using Rowan Felted Tweed and I only have 5 balls. So hopefully I won’t have to rip back the sleeve because I run out of yarn. We’ll see.

As for the Felted Tweed, I’m kinda on the fence about it.  I love the colors and it’s nice to knit with but the sweater seems really scratchy. The alpaca fibers look like nasty guard hairs instead of the softer, downier fibers. Am I the only one who thinks this???

Both sweaters temporarily took a back seat to two felted projects. I don’t know why, but I seem to worked felted projects in fits and starts. Both of these are shop samples for my LYS.

Nantasket Basket in Cascade 220

And a Basic Felted Bag with Homestead Heirloom leather handles in Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed.

In addition to the knitting, there have been gifts and acquisitions.

Handmade, glass buttons from a friend:

A wonderful fabric project bag given to me by Margene (don’t forget that Margene’s birthday is Saturday!):

And Cheryl‘s gift of a seed stitcher has already been put to good use, picking up dropped stitches from the Slinky Ribs project:

I’ve showered myself with gifts, too.

A lovely batt from Yarn Pirate:

Some perfectly dyed roving from Lauren’s Etsy shop:

And a kick-ass fountain pen . . .

. . . that matches my infamous boots . . .

I know you want those boots, Shelley.

NaKniSweMoDo #4 is done.  Well, it’s actually #5, but the one I finished before this is still damp so there are no finished photos yet.

Pattern: Liesl by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: One strand of Handmaiden Silk Rumple held with one strand of Handmaiden Angel Hair – yum!! (This yarn was from a scarf kit that included 100g of Rumple and 50g of Angel Hair)

Ravelry: Linky

Mods: I knit the entire sweater in stockinette stitch, eliminating all the purl ridges.  I didn’t put in any buttonholes.  The piece has such a retro feel that I decided to make a faux sweater guard to close it.

Basically, I strung some freshwater pearls and crystal beads on a stretchy cord and then attached it to two buttons, securing the cord end behind the button with crimp beads.

A very satisfying knit and a great use of 48 hours.

The piece is light as a feather but warm and soft.  Sometimes unusual yarns can turn a basic knit into something a bit unique.

Over the years, I’ve come extremely close to running out of yarn on numerous occasions.  To be perfectly honest, most of those incidents were carefully planned.  I use a digital scale to weigh my yarn if I think it’ll be close and I adjust the pattern accordingly.  I’ve blogged about several of these close calls, but I’ve always wondered if you, dear reader, thought the photos were staged.

Tonight, I had witnesses.

This is all that was left of a 300 meter ball of yarn that I used to knit NaKniSweMoDo sweater #5.  [Documented by Laurie with her cell phone.]

I admit, I was a little nervous this time.  I didn’t have my scale with me and that mohair is a PITA to frog.