green.ketzle.net: knitting

i've been reading instead of knitting most nights. i'm on a bit of a YA tear, though not to the exclusion of A, and am at 12 1/2 books for the month so far. i just finished The White Cascade : The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche by Gary Krist and found it fascinating. mountain passes have always freaked me out just a little and now they shall continue to do so even though i am not on a train over 100 years ago.

back to the knitting, i was getting irritated with the sleeve stitches being held on a spare cable, so i decided i would just knit them now. and so i did. and so i am in love with the littleness of them, the poofiness of them, the ending in the darling ruffle. this really is the cutest pattern.

having not had a really small child in a long time, i need to find some measurements about how long this sweater should be. i am thinking at least one more repeat of hearts, maybe two, before the bottom ruffle. i should have yarn left for either booties or a little hat; i'll have to make that judgement a little later i think.

so, all the knitting for others is moving along quite nicely. and i am feeling rather pleased with myself.

i very sadly neglected to take proper pictures of the fourth grade shawls for posterity's sake, but i did remember to take a compare and contrast picture when the first was blocking and the second was a blob. though it looks a little crooked here, i can assure you that the blocking was proper and everything was aligned and the shawls are so very lightweight and airy.

on the other hand, this shawl feels rather more substantial, more shawl like, and comforting. and i really want to keep it. but it was a quick and easy knit and the one thing i have is plenty of yarn, so i shall make myself one before too long, maybe in sock weight, as this was, or maybe in something a little heavier. also? blocking on a spare mattress that is propped agasinst a wall works fairly well. i just rotated it when i needed to reach the next part, and then turned it toward the wall so it could dry with out the cat assisting.

my cousin is having her own sophia this september, though she will be known as zosia, the polish diminutive, so my sophie is somewhat mollified and assured she will still be THE sophie. and to welcome the new sophie, i am knitting a tiny little sweater. i think it will end up being 9-12 months in size but i suppose it all really depends upon the baby, doesn't it? i will send it as soon as the baby is born and so it will be there whenever the child decides to fit into it.

still can't find my package of small gauge needles, but i do have the one set that i used to make jim's socks and the baby booties. so i used them to repair two of the three pairs of socks that need it. that just leaves the set with the giant holes, a project for another day.

i actually knit a few rows on the jungle monkey but those large gauge needles and bulky yarn are murder on my hands lately, especially on the purling rows. so i will attack it in small steps and it will be done by autumn, when it will be cool enough outside to wear it.

in the meantime, my mama asked if i would knit a pair of booties for a family friend who is due this summer. i grabbed one of the sock yarn skeins that was missing a mate -- not enough for a pair of socks for me -- and whipped them out over the past week. so fast! so tiny! so adorable!

i despair of ever finding the right pattern to make this very lovely yarn into a scarf. i think this is the fourth or fifth try and it has already been unravelled and rewound. not that there was much to wind, no need to knit too far when you are sure it isn't right. even i can now see the folly in hoping some miracle will happen halfway through and suddenly everything will come to rights.

so, i shall once again set it aside and will move on to something different, maybe a tiny little sweater for my cousin who will have a daughter in september. i could even use some of the sock yarn stash!

green.girl knitting: commentary