There hasn’t been a lot of time for knitting lately, but I have managed the first sleeve for Ellie’s not-so-tiny tea leaves cardigan. The goal was a 3/4 length sleeve with a slight bell shape, and we seem to be pretty much on target. Hopefully I can knit a second sleeve that matches the first!
I finished my Mermaid's Tail shawl (also known as the Storm Cloud Shawlette) today. And I'm in love.
It's loveliness incarnate. A fabulous pattern and an easy, but altogether fun knit because of all of the intentionally dropped stitches that form the elongated garter stitch.
I love its little ruffle and its graceful drape. I think this one is going to be my constant companion!
I am almost done with my Symmetrical Braided Gauntlets. All they need is the thumb on the right hand knit up — you can see the sleeves for the thumb on the strand of white waste yarn — and some end weaving and blocking.
And, I'm almost done with my Mermaid Tail, knit from the Storm Cloud Shawlette pattern. It doesn't look like much on the needles, but I've only got four rows left before I cast off and get to see it unfurled.
It is also ALMOST Teddy's birthday. A birthday that makes me incredibly happy and proud. Tomorrow Teddy turns 19, an almost unimagineable joy for us. He is still as excited about having me bake his birthday cake as he was at 8 or 9. I have almost accepted the fact that he is all grown up.
This is Ollie, wearing Ollie's Ragman Sweater. As you can see, he is pretty pleased about it.
I am too. It's the first time I've set aside some Elliebelly Crayon for myself, and the bulky yarn, Talia Merino, made it a quick knit. It would have been quicker if I hadn't had to stop to dye trim after running out of yarn, but a girl can't be too demanding, right?
This is the most accurate picture I have of the colorway.
And, the buttons are very sweet.
This pattern gets a high recommendation from me — it's simple but not boring and the result is an eminently wearable sweater; a perfect knit for a perfect little boy. This officially concludes my project for the Elliebelly Knit Along!
I always seem to wrap up my knitting for the weekend at some point on Sunday. This week has been a busy one, and I don't have a lot of progress to report. But I do have this:
I wove in what seemed like a million ends (I switched skeins every couple of inches on both the body and the sleeves) and Ollie's Crayon Ragman Cardigan is now happily blocking in the first cool fall day we've seen.
In case you can't tell, it's very colorful.
That's Elliebelly's Crayon colorway, and I'm more than pleased with how it knit up for this sweater.
I'm continuing to make progress on my Storm Cloud Shawlette, which I'm calling Mermaid's Tail, since a good friend said that's exactly what it looks like. It's still an amorphous blob on the emails, but when you gently straighten it out you get some sense of how it will fan out after blocking. I'm looking forward to wearing this one — it's all mine, baby.
I've acknowledged before that I have a bit of an ADHD tendency as a knitter. It's really more of a "so many patterns, so little time" syndrome, and as I do tend to finish most of them sooner or later, I don't worry about it much. So, when I got an email Friday night from Knit Purl with a great looking ribbed scarf knit in Noro yarn, I immediately tossed my stash and started knitting. I couldn't wait. I'm knitting it as a K3P3 rib (with three knit stitches on each outer edge) and because of its simplicity, it is my "car knitting" project-I like to have something on hand for carpool lines and traffic jams.
I already know two things about this scarf: (1) I am deathly allergic to mohair, and this yarn has a small mohair content. It makes me sneeze and make my nose and eyes itch. I nonetheless like this yarn enough that I will finish this scarf despite all of that. (2) Two skeins is not enough yarn to knit this scarf as long as I would like, so I am going to have to start hunting a third skein. If anyone happens to have Noro Silk Garden in colorway 276, Dye lot A, please give me a shout!
I'm down to knitting sleeves on Ellie's Tiny Tea Leaves Cardigan and Ollie's Ragman, but, through whatever quirk of knitting adhd I seem to possess in great supply, I've detoured onto two small projects. I'll get back on the sweaters next week, and finish them in time for the advent of cooler weather.
These cabled gauntlets are a fun, quick knit. Not overly challenging (unless you are totally incapable of reading and then remembering a simple, well-written pattern as I seem to have been on the first one). I love these and the yarn, a lovely blend of Alpaca, Silk, Camel and Cashmere.
This is the start of my Storm Cloud Shawlette. I love the elongated garter stitch, and although I told myself I couldn't start one more project until I finish the sweaters, I succumbed to the allure of this simple, comforting knit and the pretty colors of the Sea Wool that had been at the top of my list of yarns I wanted to knit with. When I stretch it out, as though blocked, the colors look like a cloud of rainbows. It's going to be hard to avoid knitting this one straight through.
This has to be my favorite thing I've ever knitted. It's a Tiny Owl Knits pattern named "Orchids and Fairy Lights." My version is knit in an undyed, aran weight Cashmere yarn and it's a perfection of bobbles and cables. The pattern is brilliant, and although it was at the outer edge of my knitting competency, it was so well written that I was able to hang with it the whole way through.
The end result is a fabulous confection. This is definitely the start of a love affair with Tiny Owl Knits patterns!