Saturday, March 13, 2010

Spring Break

I guess I've been enjoying being off work so much that I haven't gotten around to blogging either.  It's been lovely to be at home this past week.  The weather has been remarkably spring-like.  A week ago it was unseasonably warm and sunny, and now we've settled in to rainy cold mornings with crisp sunny afternoons.  It's all good.  The ground is getting a good spring wetting, but by the time we're ready to go outside the skies have cleared.

I have been knitting, but not to excess.  I find my shoulders and arms cramp up on me these days if I knit for too long, so I'm knitting with moderation.  I'm working on some striped socks for a friend, knit from two sock yarns she had bought but hadn't gotten around to knitting.  I've based my pattern on one I saw in the latest KnitPicks catalogue.  The pattern is from this book - it's the one on the cover.  I'm using a tweed yarn and a self-striping one, and I like how it's coming out.  I knit across the heel stitches with waste yarn, then came back and did an afterthought heel (just like a sock toe).  I had to do a bit of fiddling because somehow I accidentally carried a strand of yarn across the middle of the heel (ooops!) that I had to cut and fix, but it has worked out.  I just need to put a toe on the first sock, once it's been tried on for size, then I can start the second one.



I've gotten back to work on the gansey.  I'll just keep plugging away at it.  It takes some concentration, because the rest of the body requires following a chart and working cables, but it is progressing slowly.

Yesterday I started a project I've been wanting to do for some time.  It'll be my car and travel knitting for some time, I think.  It's Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pi Shawl (scroll down), from Knitter's Almanac (scroll down again!), and I'm using Malabrigo lace yarn for it that I bought at Fun Knits.  I'm loving this one - it may become somewhat addictive!



Happy knitting, everyone!

PS: I apologize for the photos of marginal quality, but they'll just have to do for now!