Sunday Knitting

My Openwork Rib socks are finished and ready for wearing! They feel great - or as great as wool socks can feel in August.

I wish I had a closeup of the textured pattern, but it is extremely difficult to photograph one's own feet, and it's impossible to get close enough for that level of detail.  This may just be a sign I need to start going to yoga again.

My knitting has really fallen off recently. I realize it's not the most summery activity, but I usually keep it up all year round. This has just been a strange summer in which life has been getting in the way of a lot of things. Stop it, life! I have other things to do than just trying to cope with you.

Anyhow, I feel like things are looking up. My house is slowly (really slowly) recovering from the electrical work that just caused 6 weeks of teeth-gnashing and disarray. I hope to start a new - and possibly more interesting (colorwork!) - pair of socks soon, and get back to my two sweaters. And that shawl. I'm not even sure where I put that....

Sunday Knitting

This knitting update is long overdue. The knitting is slow and steady.

First, lo those many weeks ago, I finished the lower body of the Humboldt Raglan. Then I began a sleeve.

When I looked at the amount of yarn I had used and the amount I had left, I became afraid that I wouldn't have enough to finish the sweater. So I did what anyone would do.

I shoved it in a bag and pulled out my other sweater project. I knit a sleeve.

This one is made by picking up stitches at the armhole and continuing that way so you don't have to sew it on later. The sleeve itself will be seamed though. Last time I made this sweater I knit the sleeves in the round because that's easier but I don't know how I accomplished it. I don't have the right size needles in the correct length for magic loop, but I don't think I have the right double-pointeds either. It's a mystery. But this sweater is too hot to even think about right now.

I also finished my first Openwork Rib Sock and began the second.

This goes pretty quickly on the bus, but when I get to the parts where I need to look at instructions (like for turning the heel) I tend to set it aside for a while rather than just doing it and moving on. Hopefully I won't do that with the second sock because I'd really like to finish them and start another pair.

I haven't touched my shawl. I need to work on that soon.

Sunday Knitting

This is my first update in a while, not because I haven't been knitting but because my knitting has been uninteresting. "I got two more inches done on the body of x sweater - looks just like the previous two inches!" Nobody wants to see that.

Then earlier this week I began a new pair of socks. I had to just throw out two pairs that I refuse to darn again - as much as I liked the socks - so now I feel like I'm behind in socks. I know it's not a competition. But still.

I've had this yarn for quite a while, actually. It was from a member of my knitting group (back when I went to a knitting group) who was cleaning out her stash. I had rather forgotten I had it. I really like Regia yarn and the colorway, now that I've started knitting, looks more appealing than it does on the skein. I like the combination of grays and brick red. Or is it a dark orange? Either way it's pretty and the colors don't pool the way some yarns do. The effect is rather camouflage-like now that I look at it.

I'm using a simple pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, from the 4-stitch repeat section. It's called Openwork Rib and it's simple enough to remember so I can knit on the bus but still has a bit of visual interest. I'm dying to do another pair from Cookie A's Sock Innovation, or even one of the more complicated ones from Sensational Knitted Socks, but I'm stuck on this idea that sock knitting is for the bus and I can't do anything that involves frequently consulting a pattern because I'll get motion sickness.

Of course there's no law against knitting more than one pair of socks at a time so I could easily start another pair to work on at home, but I'm determined to finish a project before starting another new one. It certainly won't be the oft-neglected Fountain Pen Shawl. And I've temporarily put down the Humboldt Raglan after starting a sleeve and being struck with a sudden fear that I won't have enough yarn to finish the sweater. So it will have to be the Cozy V Neck Sweater, which is actually trucking along pretty well. Today I plan to bind off the body. Then it's just the sleeves and the neckline and it will be done.