In reverse chronological order:
(1) KnitPicks Abundance Afghan in Sand Dune and Sand colorways. I pictured myself being wrapped in the colors of the Cape Cod sea, sky and sand. The pattern calls for US 19 needles. I added those big honkers to my Denise Needle set only to find them very hard to work with. The yarn, Suri Dream, would not slide smoothly from cable to needle and the needles are uncomfortably short to work with. Since this is a KnitPicks pattern and yarn it's too bad that KnitPicks doesn't make US 19 needles. I love KnitPicks needles, but they only go up to size US 17. I had to break down and buy the expensive Addi Turbo US 19 needles. The Addis are great! Smooth as silk and the cable of plastic tubing is a good size for stitches to slide easily to the needles. I experimented with Continental and English knitting. My Continental rows were much too loosey-goosey (a favorite technical term of mine). I frogged the swatch and cast on again.
(2) Side to Side Jacket, a Judy Ditmore class I took at Stitches East 2005 and 2006 and still haven't gotten it going to my satisfaction. In 2005 I attended the class with scrap yarns as instructed, not yarns or colors with which I would really want to knit a jacket. In 2006 I went to class armed with lovely yarns in my at-this-time-in-my-life favorite colors. I veered away from knitting the jacket when I found the perfect Noro Kureyon for the current project.
(3) I saw a scrumptious afghan kit, the Absolutely Fabulous Throw. I had to have one in the French Vanilla colorway. I lucked onto a kit on eBay at a great savings (40%!). I bid. I won. It came. I wound the skeins into balls, bagged and labeled them. I did a few rows of the pattern. I put it away. Why? Because I went into sock machine knitting mode to get Christmas 2005 gifts completed. I never went back to the AbFab Throw. It's been socks, socks, socks, machine knit and hand knit, until the current project.
(4) From my favorite knitting book, Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch, I started Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater. I Googled until I found the exact same yarn Sally used in a colorway that I liked. I even bought a skirt to go with it. I've started it once a year since the book was published. The last time I started it I got the bright idea to knit Continental since it is garter stitch. The trouble was I had started it knitting English. I stopped. I could see a difference. To frog or not to frog. I had half a front made, almost. However, the answer was frog it and forget it for a while. That's what I've been doing, trying to forgetaboutit.
Four UFOs, I will leave it at that. I have others that are socks and they will get done. They're portable and get done in waiting rooms and other knitting-in-public venues. The four UFOs listed are, as of today, scheduled for completion this year. No pressure. We shall see. I plan to stick to a modified version of a knitting friend and mentor's rule and start no more projects until one of the four listed is complete. Ooops, I need to do a little back-pedaling here. There are a few extenuating circumstances which will allow me to start something else before one of the four is completed. I'll explain that when I have to.
Uh-oh! I forgot one. My first jacket kit, the Cocoon Jacket designed by Caroline McInnis of Sweater Kits which has changed over to a wholesale operation and appears not to sell the Cocoon Jacket anymore. Oh nooooo! I've thought of another, a baby's cardigan, also from Sweater Kits. SIX UFOs!!!
The picture below is of the Cocoon Jacket UFO. Can you tell I'm in a color rut?
Bona Fide Knitter
1 comment:
I would have a hard time not starting with the Favorite Summer Sweater. What a good idea to have a skirt picked up for it. It is going to make a smashing ensemble. Is the yarn a linen blend?
Or, since your other projects require small needles, it may be fun to tackle one of your afghans. After all, even if you only manage two rows on size 19 needles, that is a good inch of knitting right there.
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