And......done!!

I absolutely adore this sweater. I love, love, love the colour. For some reason, the v-neck went a little bit wonky, but it works. I quite like it.

YAY!!!!!!

I got my yarn from Romni in the mail today!! I'm so excited! I'm totally pulling an allnighter to finish Chiral.

And more!

Samus is coming along nicely. I added a little subtle waist shaping, not too much, since there wasn't much ease to begin with, but a little is better than none.
My sister and my darling niece were up this weekend. Avery wanted to help me knit, but I told her not on this one, so she got some needles and a ball of the wool for the sweater, and poked the needles in and out of it. When she asked me if she was doing it right, I said yes, of course. Her using them as chopsticks to pick up the ball was a little suspect, though.
She's only 2 1/2. I think I'll wait until she's at least 4 before I start to teach her.
In the Shetland Islands, knitting has been taught in school as part of the curriculum for more than 60 years. It has just been taken out as part of budget cuts. How sad. Knitting has been such a vital part of the Shetlands for so long, and the referenced article from the BBC says that many of the new designers got their start in school. Fair Isle is one of the islands, for pete's sake!

See?

I have 2 more repeats of the 32-row pattern and the band is finished. Then I just have to pick up stitches on my lovely addi turbos and knit the body! It's all plain, so hopefully, since it's fairly chunky yarn it will go too fast for me to get bored.
I just have to do the calculations for the waist shaping before I begin. It's not a shaped garment and that just doesn't suit me. I'm too hourglass for that.

Ah, cables!

I love doing cablework! I seem to knit superfast doing cables, because I love watching the patterns form as I work. Same with colourwork. This is why when sweaters get to the point where Belle Epoque is, they just sit for ages in the knitting basket, because plain old back-and-forth stocking stitch just bores me to tears.
I'm also quite delighted with this wool! Patons Classic Wool is probably one of the cheapest 100% wools out there; you can buy it at Michaels for goodness sake, but it's knitting up so nicely and softly! I've only ever used it for mittens before. And the cables are showing up very crisply and clearly. Two thumbs up!
Bonus points if you can catch the inevitable mistake in the cable.

Curses! Foiled again!

Never in my whole life has it taken me 4 hours to get to Toronto. It took more than an hour to get from Vaughan to the 401. Ridiculous.
I left here at 1pm. I figured I'd get to Romni by 3:30 or 4:00 at the latest, plenty of time to browse and pick up my 2 balls of Silkroad Aran.
I got there at 4:58. Literally. When I drove by, the door was open but by the time I'd found a parking spot and run around the corner, they were closed.
So a credit card is thawing out to see if they'll send it up to me. What a drag. I so wanted to have Chiral finished this weekend. All the finished pieces are blocked. The cap on 1 sleeve, the button band and the ruffle are all that is left to do. Dammit!!
So of course, I needed to start another project. I have spent the entire afternoon swatching.
Swatch #1 was for Viola, from the misplaced French Girl Knits. Boo hoo!! I HATE the yarn I bought for it. Too slippery by half. I couldn't even swatch it properly, no matter what type of needle I used. I tried metal, bamboo, and birch. No luck. It's so slippery that I couldn't get an even tension. And I never have trouble with even tension.
Swatch #2 was for the Vine Yoke Cardigan from the wonderful Ysolda. I think the Paton's Classic Wool will work for it, but I have to get a 5.5mm circular to do it. I rarely work with needles that big, and actually had to swatch on dpns! Swatch worked, but I'm just deciding if I want to use that wool for the Vine Yoke or for: Samus. I love this cardi. I printed off the pattern ages ago and have had it in my binder waiting for me. Every time I go through my sweater binder it calls to me. I think perhaps the heathery style of this wool will be better for it. And until I make up my mind, it doesn't really matter, because I need a 5mm circular to do it.
So, I began the Green Autumn, aka Druid Mittens. They look like they'll be challenging enough for me to not get bored, but simple enough that I can put them down to finish Chiral and pick up again without any trouble. Then there is the Druidess Beret designed to match. They'll look cute with my black fall coat, when it's nippy out but not cold enough for a winter coat.
But damn it all, I wanted to finish Chiral!!!!! Freaking Toronto traffic!!! This is why I live in Muskoka.

Yuck.

The problem with using stashed yarn for a project is that, unless you bought a ridiculous amount, you will run out.
And I seem to have chosen one hell of an obscure yarn. There is no store between here & Toronto that carries it. Or in town. Or in North Bay. So off to the city I go tomorrow. Don't get me wrong; I love Romni. It's totally Mecca for Canadian knitters. But I hate Toronto. Too big, too many people, not enough trees, not enough parking spots and it smells.
I'm on the last sleeve for Chiral. Then I need to do the button bands and ruffle. I need 1 ball - so close!
So with the detour to the city, I won't be done until Sunday. I was hoping for tomorrow. I guess I'll survive to knit another day.

Nice.

I love my LYS!
I stopped in today to get a longer pair of 5mm needles and there was a knitting gaggle happening. I noticed one of the women was working on something from French Girl Knits. I mentioned that I had something planned from it, but that I had misplaced the book, so they let me photocopy the pattern!
Not illegal; you're allowed to copy up to 10% of a book for personal use. Besides, I already own the bloody book; I just can't find it!
So as soon as I'm done Chiral (which should be by the weekend) I can start Viola! I'm so excited!
We were joking at the shop that now that I have a copy of the pattern, I'll find my book. You know I will.

Well, there's a question for you!

Why on earth don't I knit with chunky yarn and big needles all the time? I mean, it knits up so fast! I started Chiral on Sunday. As of right now, I'm done the back and about halfway done the left front.
Just think of how many more sweaters I could finish if I used chunky instead of the finer stuff all the time!
I love this colour, too. It just screams 'AUTUMN!!!!!'. Which makes me happy, because, of course, what follows autumn?

WINTER!!!!

I give up

I ripped the place apart and I can't find French Girl Knits anywhere! I have a tiny apartment; this makes no sense at all.
So I changed my mind and I'm making something else! In the latest edition of Interweave Knits there is an awesome section called 'The Architect Knits'. Some very cool shapes and structures. This cardigan has a wonderful curved ruffle up the button band. Fairly chunky wool, too, so it should be a quick knit, which is good, because I tend to get very bored with plain colour knits. I need pattern stitches and colour work to keep me entertained. Belle Epoque is proof of that. Who knows when I'll finally get around to the sleeves.

Dammit!!

Finished the Christmas gift and wanted to begin the Viola sweater for myself, which is on my summer project list and of course

DUM DUM DUM DUMMMMM

The book is nowhere to be found.

Why does this always happen to me?

Oh dear.

The WIP is supposed to be a Christmas gift. But I am loving it ridiculously much and I fear that I may keep it.
The parents are coming up this weekend. It will be finished, so maybe I should send it down, all wrapped up, with them so as not to tempt me.
That's a plan.

Movin' Right Along!

I love that movie. The Muppets just ain't been the same since Jim died.

Grecian Plait wasn't on the summer project list, but this one is. Except that it's a Christmas gift so I can't post pics or details. Suffice it to say that it's beautiful, Canadian designed and inspired by a National Historic Site and the giftee will love it!

Irrefutable Proof

Yep. I'm ADD. Especially about knitting. I was getting tired of Belle Epoque. I have the body done, all that's left is the collar and sleeves. And what do I do? I pick up another WIP*.
Grecian Plait. I've been working on it for quite some time. And I have a couple of good reasons why I put it aside. First, I don't really like the pattern of the variegated yarn. Yeah, I'm that shallow. It's 'Sublime' mohair/wool blend that seems to be discontinued - going to be warm! Secondly, I recognized that there was no possible way that this was ever going to fit Fat Me. So it hibernated for a while.
I had the back, front and about 1/2 a sleeve finished. So yesterday, I finished the sleeve and started on the second. Today I finished the second sleeve and pieced it. I actually quite like it!
Two problems - one easily fixed, the other not so much. I need to sew ribbons or something inside to attach to my bra straps so that they don't show. Can't stand that.
The unfixable problem is that I used it as an experiment for my first short rows. As a result, I have a bubble bust. I've dropped 2 cup sizes in my weight loss. Which I love, but bubble bust is not good. I've analyzed the pics and it doesn't look too obvious. I hope. I will wear it anyway, because I like how it turned out.
I also did some subtle waist shaping, so that it fits my very curvy shape better than a straight garment would.

* Work In Progress