I start out the weekend with high expectations about all the knitting I’ll be able to accomplish, but never quite manage to do as much as I hoped. Taking care of the kids and doing all the chores that were neglected throughout the week eats up a lot of time! I didn’t make any progress on sewing together Claire’s little cardigan. Giant holes developed where I worked the short rows for the shoulder shaping, so I ripped that out and redid the shoulders. Hopefully, I’ll make some headway on that project tonight at the PurlyGirls get together.
I did knit a little bit on Klaralund:
This sweater is going to go really fast! It’s no wonder since I’m using size 10 needles…those logs make the fabric grow faster than the speed of light. This is just the kind of knitting I’m in the mood for right now: fast, easy and pretty.
At first, I wasn’t sure that I liked the colorway I picked out. (The flash makes the colors appear more washed out than they really are. Unfortunately, the natural light photos I took were even worse as far as color fidelity is concerned–the yarn appeared predominantly blue!) I believe I’m the only one in the Klaralund knit along using 65. It’s much darker than the more popular colors like no. 8 and no. 84. However, now that I’ve got a substantial piece of the back knit up, I’ve decided that I really like it. The black, purple and greens will coordinate nicely with much of my work wardrobe.
I can also appreciate why Noro’s slogan is “the world of nature.” When I look at these colors, the image of granite rocks speckled with moss comes to mind. So very pretty…
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Being impatient, I cast on for Klaralund, but ended up ripping it all out once I got past the garter stitch section. I can’t make up my mind about what size I should knit. Several people suggested that I measure the finished size of a sweater that fits me the way I like it to…unfortunately, I have drawers full of ill-fitting sweaters. I’m waffling between allowing myself two or four inches of ease. How much ease do you typically prefer?
Another reason I may hold off on knitting Klaralund is that I’m not completely happy with the fabric that results from knitting it at the gauge called for by the pattern. I want to find out what the knitting gurus (Wendy, Froggy, et al.) are going to do. If I knit it at a tighter gauge, will it significantly affect the drape?
Finally, is Noro like self-striping sock yarn? Can I note where in the striping sequence I began knitting the back and then knit the front starting from the same location in a new ball of yarn so the stripes match up when I seam the pieces together? Or is the striping not quite as scientifically done? Would attempting to match the stripes be wasted effort?
Audrey Update
Yesssss! I made it past the darts on the front of Audrey. If I have the same kind of luck as I did with the back, I’ll be able to cruise through the rest of the piece…and then I can move onto the sleeves which should go quicker, since they don’t include any darts to fuss over…and then I can move onto the lace neck band, which is what I’m really looking forward to. Okay, so if I’m to be absolutely honest, what I’m really looking forward to is being done with this silly sweater.
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I laid out a number of my current projects on the dining room table, window sill and sideboard, and draped one across Claire’s highchair so I could get a sense of where I was at with all of them. One look left me feeling completely overwhelmed. I turned to my husband and said, “look at all of that knitting. Isn’t it crazy how much there is?”
He glanced over at the display of my projects, shrugged and said, “I’m used to it…now.” That’s my guy. comfortably numb.
One project that has been languishing in the bottom of my knitting bags for weeks and weeks was the ballet wrap top I am making for Claire. The problem is weeks and weeks translate into months. I told Robert that I had plenty of time to finish it for Claire since it was sized for infants up to six months of age. Imagine my surprise when he announced that she had just turned five months old on Saturday. Five months!!! Where did the time go??? I knew then that I better hurry up and finish the silly little cardigan, which shouldn’t be too much of a problem since I only had one sleeve left to knit. I finished that off on Sunday and left it to block. I’ll be able to start sewing it up on Tuesday.
Then there’s Audrey. Some people seem to be blazing through this project, but it’s going at a snail’s pace for me. I have to fess up to making a somewhat major error with the whole project, which has resulted in me feeling less enthusiastic about it: I cast on two too few stitches for the back, somehow added the darts exactly where they needed to go and didn’t realize my mistake until I cast on for the front. Now, the number two doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but it will mean 4 stitches will be missing once I seem the bugger up…which will mean that it will be missing just under an inch of fabric to go around my torso. I hope it doesn’t end up looking too tight/obscene. We shall see. Once I finish the second body piece, I’ll baste them together and try them on. Opinions from the Peanut Gallery will be solicited at that time :soap:
Meanwhile, I decided to swatch for Klaralund. I had to go up to size 10 needles to get gauge. I was surprised at how loosey-goosey the fabric is at 4 stitches to the inch. I would have liked it better at 4.5 stitches to the inch. Still, it’s nice enough that I don’t feel compelled to rework the numbers in the pattern for a different guage. Isn’t the Silk Garden pretty stuff? I love this colorway! I got a real deal for it from Woolneedlework.com…under $7 per skein and they shipped very quickly.
It’s funny that I chose that particular colorway for Klaralund, since I also have some Kureyon in an almost identical pallette. I’m going to use it to knit “Butterfly” from the new Noro book by Jane Ellison. I’m absolutely in love with this sweater. I love the chevron stripes and the wide collar…I want this sweater yesterday!
And just for kicks, here’s Sam reminding you to “stay cool, dude!”
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