I’ve just been working on my Penny sweater this week and the sleeves are going really quickly. The first one is on hold and I’ve got the second one started. AND I even tried something new for the second sleeve: I’m knitting it on two circulars!
I got such terrible laddering with the first sleeve on DPNs that I needed to do something different for the second. I thought about knitting it inside out, since I don’t have issues with laddering with knit stitches, just purling. But I knew my gauge would be different then — I purl more loosely than I knit. I don’t even know what prompted me to try the two circs thing but after some awkwardness, I’ve gotten into the groove and it’s going smoothly. Bonus: NO ladders! I guess it’s worth trying new techniques every once in a while.
I’ve discovered I much prefer knitting sleeves separately rather than when they’re already attached to a big lump of sweater you have to keep adjusting. However, I’ve also discovered that when I purl on DPNs, I get the worst ladders. Here’s hoping that shit blocks out.
It’s all sock yarn, probably no surprise there, though I suppose it could grow up to be something other than socks.
Everything about this is perfect for me: the colors, the striping, the sparkle, the subtle chevrons. These will be easy to finish within a month.
Neither are true rainbows, but they’re the closest I have. The top is a self-striping called Make Me Smile, and the bottom is named Born This Way, which seems appropriate for Pride Month. Which would you knit?
Oh yeah, I got the matching pouch too. Oops.
This is the Orange Jellyfish Dream yarn in my go-to sock recipe: ribbed leg, stockinette foot. I did most of the toe while on a Skype call Saturday night so it might not be exactly correct, but it’s toe-shaped so that’s a plus.
There are so many color changes and stitch changes that it keeps me going to get to the next section, and I’m really pleased with the colors I chose. I’m eager to get a little more green in there, though. Even though this is 20 sections and I’m only on the sixth, I have a feeling this shawl will fly off my needles. Especially since I might need some comfort knitting! The kids have both left today, on the way to Colorado. The girl needed to move out of her old apartment and into her new one, and the boy was desperate to get out of the house, so he joined her to help clean and pack. It’ll be a big change after having her home with us for about six weeks. I’d gotten used to it and we were all having a lot of fun, so I’m a bit blue today. But, c’est la vie, right?
This was a fun little weekend distraction, and I’m looking forward to making a full-size version soon!
I’ll start with the obvious: this is a huge shawl. I used all but 14 grams of my two skeins of Kitty Pride Fibers’ Ocicat Fingering in the color A Bonny Lass. The pattern says you can repeat section eight up to two times to use up more yarn, so I repeated it once. I didn’t want to risk running out of yarn, though I think I could have squeaked through just fine.
After finishing the dining room yesterday morning, I really thought I was done painting for a while. It’s been hard on my back, elbows, wrists, hands — everything, really. But the work and the final products are really good for my mind, so by last night I was pulling pictures off the walls in the living room and starting to dust and spackle. I’m going to take it slow, though. I’ll do bursts of prep in between spurts of knitting today, and take my time. The boy asked me last night what I was going to do when I ran out of rooms to paint, and I had no answer. After the living room, I have a stairwell to paint, and that’s it for painting. I could be done by the end of the week. Then what?
bonnyknits 