The Best Laid Plans

I have my knitting all planned out, I'm totally in love with my Farmer's Market Cardigan, and I'm making great progress on it. I've divided for the front and back and arm holes. It is mainly stockinette with some shaping right now, so it is fantastic tv knitting. I'm totally and completely content with the project.


So, of course, something has to go wrong, something that will stall my progress and wreck havoc with all of my plans. You know, something that looks a lot like this.



A broken knitting needle. Besides the interruption to my knitting, which is never appreciated, I also have the loss of a beautiful needle (it is hard to tell from the photo, but these needles are truly a work of art, in multicolored wood). Needless to say, my Farmer's Market Cardigan has been halted.


While this would seem like the ideal time to make some real progress on the Yggdrasil Throw, I decided that it was probably a good sign that I should get going on the Slip Stitch Baby Blanket, destined for my niece that is due in February. I would like to have it ready to go for Christmas. Plus, if I am being completely honest,  the Yggdrasil, I'm in the middle of a complicated cable section and isn't great tv or distraction knitting. It might be better to save it for this weekend, seeing as husband will be gone for deer hunting. That will be a great opportunity to turn off the tv, turn on the iPod and ignore the world while I focus on the cabled section of the Yggdrasil.

In the meantime, I've started the baby blanket and am already annoyed by the progress. It is a cute pattern, but the slip stitch design seems to take forever to make any progress. I'm also not too sure about the color combination. sometimes I think it is cute, and sometimes I just think it is okay. I do like how the pattern is turning out to be reversible, which is a plus with multicolored blankets. As an added plus, the Shine Worsted yarn is a pleasure to work with and is super soft and squishy. Hopefully I will finish in plenty of time, replace my broken needle and get back to my preplanned knitting.


I'm also making less than ideal progress on my pair of socks a month goal I set for myself in January. I did well through July, but then life got in the way. Since the start of August, I have finished a pair of socks for my oldest niece, and have just started on the leg of a second pair of toe-up socks. The pattern is Nagini, it Turtle Multi Essentials yarn (now known as Stroll sock yarn) from Knit Picks. Stroll is super soft, comes in great colors, gets better with wear, and is quickly becoming my favorite sock yarn. This pair will be pair number 9, completed in the 11th month, and somehow I don't see myself completing 3 more pairs by the end of the year.


Maybe I'll give the sock goal another try next year, or maybe I will try to set a different goal for the next year. I would also like to get some wash clothes made, 12 in a year would be doable. Or, I could start my mini-mitten advent calendar, which would work out to 2 mittens a month. I'll have to think about it some more and see.

Winter Knitting

For me there is something almost romantic about knitting in the fall and winter. It is what knitting was made for, it's what you think about when you think about knitting: cozy sweaters, warm mittens, hats, scarves, blankets, slippers, wool yarns, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love my light airy summertime knit tanks, and my cotton cardigans that help in the transitions between seasons, but fall and winter are the knitting seasons.



Farmer's Market Cardigan, Ignore the bottom part, that's my
version of a provisional cast on.



Thanks to  my stash inventory awhile back, I was aware of the glorious wool yarns I had waiting for me when this season struck. And once again, I have more projects planned than I could ever dream of having time to complete.

My main project on my needles is a perfect winter project: The Farmer's Market Cardigan. It's a hip length, long sleeved cardigan, with some beautiful cabling detail, knit up in a soft, squishy, and gorgeous tweedy rust colored yarn.

My second project on the needles has been neglected for some time now, but I figured this would be a great time to blow the dust off the pattern and start knitting again. The Yggdrasil Throw was originally meant to be a wedding gift for one of my oldest and dearest friends. I started it in plenty of time for the wedding, but the project went into hibernation when she called off the engagement last summer (no reason to work on a big heavy blanket in the summer if I don't have to, right?). It is an intricately cabled afghan with a tree of life motif, surrounded by Celtic style cables. I'm making it in an Orange-brown acrylic yarn, not my first choice for fibers, but it was a gift and needed to be easy care. While acrylic yarn isn't exactly a winter fiber, a big, heavy blanket is perfect to work on during those long, cold, snowy evenings. I have absolutely no idea what to do with the blankets once it is finished, but like any project, it deserves to be completed.

Next on deck, and needing to be started sooner, rather than later, is the Slip-Stitch Baby blanket. This is not really either a winter project or a winter fiber (it's in a cotton/model blend, easy care and so soft) but needs to be completed before the birth of my niece in February.

After that, I have a long, long list of projects ranging from mittens to sweaters in a variety of beautiful, squishy yarns. There can't be many better ways to pass cold winter's evenings than with a warm pile of wool yarn.