getting up to speed

Oh, October, I love you! It has finally turned crisp and very cool here, and I am loving it. It's amazing to me how just a turn in the weather can make me so happy.

I'm knitting away on a few projects, including the never ending Cloud Burst Girl cardigan. Yikes! Seed stitch sleeves! But I'm nearly there (whew), and I'll have a versatile cardigan just in time for cold weather.

I've also cast on the Myst Shawl by Melody of Mandarines, and I'm completely smitten with it at the moment. I'm using my Sojourn Sock in Blueberry Trifle. This was an exclusive color for Little Skein in the Big Wool's Little Stitches Box. I'm really glad I held on to a couple of skeins for myself. It is just the perfect blue, even if I do say so myself:)

And now back to my regularly scheduled program. I've got a small backlog of dyeing to catch up on after my hospital stay. Because we all know the holidays will be here in a flash!

Casting On: Cinnamon Girl Cardigan

I have cast on my newest WIP, and this is one I've been wanting to make for a while now. It's the Cinnamon Girl by JuJu Vail and Susan Cropper of Loop London.

I love the way this cardigan looks. I can foresee getting a lot of wear out of it, kind of like the recently completed Hitofude. Yay for me. But I'm also excited to knit it. There are several things going on and I think it will be an absorbing knit.

I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to do the moss stitch on the upper body, or change it to stockinette. I'm very undecided at the moment, but I better make up my mind, since it's a top-down sweater. You start with the little cable-lace band (which is where I'm at) and go from there.

Plus, these two projects have me doing some mulling over which version to make: The blousier version by Facile Cecile, or this straighter version by Millsington. It appears most people have made the blousier version, although it's hard to tell sometimes, and not many people have noted which version they made in their notes.

Anyway, I'm making mine out of Sojourn Sport in the Cloud Burst colorway. I think the gray will be very versatile, since it goes with everything I own. It's in my newest project bag, which I love, from ZigZagStitches on Etsy.  It's actually a shawl-size bag, but it holds my yarn, pattern and book perfectly.

Hopefully, this will begin a trend of knitting some sweaters that I've had in my queue for some time!

Finished Object: Hitofude Cardigan

I finished my Hitofude Cardigan this week, and I do love it. 

I can foresee this sweater getting a lot of wear, especially around here. If this winter is anything like last winter (I hope not, since we didn't really have one), there will be plenty of mild days where a sweater like this will be the perfect choice.

I especially love the sleeve length. I've learned that except for really, really cold days - I prefer a 3/4 length sleeve to full length sleeves. I'm usually working in the dye kitchen during the week, and if I wear full length sleeves, I constantly have to push them up out of my way. With a 3/4 sleeve, my arms stay warm enough, but I can still plunge my hands in water and mix dyes and whatnot without thinking about it.

And the color is perfect:)

Details:

Hitofude Cardigan - knit as written, no modifications

Yarn: Sojourn Sock in Reverie, 3 skeins

Needles:  US4 (3.5 mm) circular 

Sweater Weather

We got a great chance to try out my newest FOs on a recent trip to Colonial Williamsburg.  I finished my cardigan and Jimmy's vest just in time.  And we fell in love....with sheep!  Oh my gosh, the sheep were so sweet and cute and woolly and... sheepy! 

We enjoyed all the animals they have there...all rare breeds I'm pretty sure.  They had horses, cows, sheep, chickens, and pigs.  I'm sure there were others we missed.

We walked a lot...a LOT.  But then we ate a lot, too. 

Hey, but right now...I just want to be a sheep farmer!

Starting and Finishing

I've finished up a couple of projects, now the weather just needs to cooperate!  I finished my Brise-Soleil Cardigan and I absolutely love it.  I knit this out of Knit Picks Merino Style in Vanilla.  This yarn is so soft and squishy, I can't believe how affordable it is.  I know soft yarns pill, and this one most likely will, but that's okay...it's worth it for the softness!

I've also been doing some hand dyeing and working on the ol' photography and computer skills.  As you can see, I still need work on those parts.  The colors in the picture above are pretty close, but it's a little hazy looking.  I think just finding a good "spot" and the right time of day / lighting is the clincher.  So we'll roam around the yard and the house looking for "it."

Come, cool weather, come.