Knitting Fever

I have been knitting away feverishly in an attempt to finish up some projects so as to allay my guilt about wanting to start new ones. I finally finished the body of the Poetry in Stitches "leaves and vines" cardigan. Here it is saturated with water on my homemade blocking board:

Meanwhile the sleeves are coming along apace!



I couldn't resist trying out the Koolhaas hat, but chose the wrong yarn for it (Karabella Aurora 8). The yarn is much too sproingy for the cable pattern. The pattern actually gave me fits, but I'm determined to make another one with a different yarn and a nicer cable holder.

Given my frustration with the Koolhaas hat, I thought a Zimmerman watch cap would be just the ticket. However, I discovered two things in making these. One, my cast-on style is much too tight. And two, I don't think I decreased correctly as these seem to resemble prophylactics more than hats ...

However, I did love the brioche stitch. I highly recommend it!

Finished Object: Poetry in Stitches Cardigan, p. 54

Well, it's finally done! It was a relatively quick knit (3 months as opposed to 3 years)! I'm generally pleased with how it turned out although there is definitely room for improvement (e.g., I made the sleeves a bit too baggy). I was happy with the yarn I used -- I substituted Rowan cotton glace in maritime for the recommended Hifa yarn. I do worry about it stretching out, but the design of garter stitch from side to side should mitigate against this. Here are various views of my FO:

Socks - The Newest Frontier

I got a little bogged down on the two Poetry in Stitches cardigans, and so decided to make a pair of socks for the first time. I have to admit that I wondered how hard could it be ... Well, I quickly learned that it requires some new skills and the first attempt was immediately unraveled. I then discovered Terri's Socks 101 , and voila!

It took me about 2 1/2 weeks to complete the pair (not including the first false start). It's a great feeling to create something usable in such a short time.

(The husband is gamely modeling his new socks in the photo above.)

Close-up

Here are pictures of the Poetry Cardigan, such as it is so far. The colors did not read well at all in the photos. The yarn is a pretty blue similar to the color used for the camisole version in Poetry in Stitches.

Pictures of Knitting Projects

Okay, I think I've figured out how to post pictures.
Here is the back of the "vines and leaves" cardigan:

Knitting Therapy with Liesl

As a child psychologist I use knitting as my own therapy to work out the tensions (no pun intended) of the day. I am currently working on two Poetry in Stitches sweaters. "Two?" you may ask. It's not that I'm an over-achiever, it's that I got bogged down on the first one (the cardigan in the navy leaf and vine pattern on an olive green background), so I decided the best way to motivate myself would be to start on another pattern. ("Hmmm, perfectly logical," you might say).

In fact, the strategy is working so far. The second project is the Poetry Cardigan in blue. I was so eager to begin I impulsively purchased Rowan cotton glace yarn as a substitute. This forced me to engage in some complicated math (never my strong suit) in order to determine the number of yarn balls needed. I'm hoping my calculations were correct as the dye lot has now sold out.

I will post pictures of each sweater in the current states as soon as I figure out how to do so. (I am a neophyte blogger.)