We are leaving on Wednesday for the annual camping trip in the Big Horn mountains of Wyoming. I have not started organizing the camping gear.
I have, however, gotten all my knitting projects ready.
The big project is to finish the kimono sweater that I started in November 2007. The back is done. Here are the two fronts, being knit more or less simultaneously, each on its own circ.
The red is actually maroon; the grayed lavender is accurate in the photo. The fronts should go fairly quickly (I hope), but the sleeves are enormous. Still, if not now, when? It's a good mindless project and I'd love to be able to wear it come fall. I'd like to finish this child's sweater intended for Afghans for Afghans: It has been in time out since September or so, when I realized I had been so busy counting rows for the sleeve increases that I had passed the spot where I should have begun the striping. You can see that I started it anyway, but it is not right. I need to sit down with a pencil and some graph paper and chart out how the increases and striping work out; then it will be a breeze to finish. I was planning on making this a knit-in-the-round saddle shoulder sweater, a la EZ, but I may just do a seamless yoke. Depends on how ambitious I am when I reach the point to join the sleeves to the body. After I finished the chemo hat for my friend Mary I got an overwhelming case of startitis. Swatched for a clapotis with the laceweight Knit Picks alpaca: A US#4 needle makes a very nice fabric; now to decide exactly what it will be. Some of you pointed out that this is very sticky yarn, but I don't think I will mind dropping the stitches one by one for the clap, if I decide to make that. (I have lots of practice at that from fixing mistakes six or sixteen or twenty-six rows back.) The other option is to buy some more of this yarn and make something bigger, like a dressy sweater. Decisions, decision... Clapotis on the brain inspired this, a long skinny cotton clap on US#10.5 needles: It knits up wonderfully fast. I have two more balls of the Gedifra yarn and am hoping the length comes out right. And then there is this, inspired by a couple other bloggers: Angie told me about Faroese shawl construction and Myra Stahman's book on the subject when I complained last summer about how traditional triangular shawls always slide off. Cindy's Scrap Shawl, a make-it-up-as-you-go design, looked like a lot of fun to knit. So I combined the ideas and cast on with some Cascade 220 that has been marinating (and breeding) in the stash for three or four years. Thank you both! This is a fun project. I don't know if I will actually wear it in public, but I wanted a super-warm shawl to wear at home next winter. This will fill the bill nicely. Of course, there will be some socks OTN, too. I'll finish the Indian Corn socks. Then I need to decide which sock yarn to take along
for the next pair. I had intended that my next socks would be knit from
this: since I need some blue socks. But then this gorgeous stuff arrived in the mail on Saturday: and I am itching to cast on with it. 325 yards of Fleece Artist BFL Socks, 80% superwash blue face Leicester/20% nylon, and totally yummy to the touch. The part that looks fuschia in the photo is actually darkish red; the whole thing is darker than it looks here. I won this from Tammy in her latest contest, wherein she asked her readers to tell her about their favorite books. Thanks, Tammy! That topic is right up my street. Okay, that pretty much wraps up the knitting projects. Now for the camping gear...
