Rip Van Winkle

Never let it be said that we here at Swinging Squares would disappoint you, Reader: ask and ye shall receive. I've actually had precious little knitting time lately. I do have a few in-progress things to offer up to you, however.

First, I have begun working on my third sweater project. Yes, it's true that I have yet to actually complete a sweater. But I think this one's gonna work out. It might not work out for roughly a hundred years, but eventually, I will have this sweater. Or a picture of myself in my head wearing this sweater...while petting a unicorn.

What I have to show you is my sad little swatch, which I didn't even block. I know; I know. It's terrible. I should've blocked it. But I have convinced myself that it's okay if it's a "little off" in size. This is the kind of thing all knitters do at some point and then warn others about. A swatch, for those non-knitting folk out there, is simply a test square of your pattern so you can see what your gauge is (how much space each stitch takes up, more or less). For my swatch, I did the pattern stitch in size 5 needles (the bottom) and size 4 needles (the top), and ultimately got closer to the pattern's specified gauge with the size 4 needles.

The sweater is the Katharine Hepburn Cardigan from Lace Style, and I'm doing it in Louet Gems Opal, color Caribou. The yarn is normally rather expensive, but after weeks of agonizing about a suitable replacement, I found a great sale on it at Purl Soho. Anyway, I'm pretty pumped about this cardigan, but the cables and lace pattern makes it a bit fiddly--it's not hard by any means, but it's time consuming. This sweater is also knit in pieces and then seamed, so we'll see how that goes. I'm working on the right front piece now; no heart yet for the back. Miles to go.

I am making better progress on my plain stockinette travel socks--I've got one of a pair done in Knit Picks Felici, color Pebble. Jenny's Felici socks have worn really well (she is generally less hard on her clothes though, I think...) and have a less wooly hand than some of my hardwearing socks (is "hand" appropriate here? I have no idea). Anyway, I am not so excited about the brownness of this sock. Now, don't get me wrong; Bolty loves brown. I am generally a conservative dresser ("semi-professional," as described by Jenny) and brown is about as wild as I get for a sweater or pants or shoes. But I like my accessories to have more color. I will, however, happily wear these socks when they're done--I've been able to wear handknit socks most days this winter.