Friday 6 July 2012

WIP's

Nanook

My Nanook sweater for the Summer Sweater KAL is coming along nicely. I ran into a bit of a snag when I ended up ripping back about 5" of the body because I thought I knew better and wanted to shorten the length of the yoke, but then after trying it on (5" into the body) I found that the underarms were going to be too tight so I ripped it back and added some length to the yoke. This was totally my fault, I shortened the yoke too much and then ended up lengthening it to exactly the dimensions the pattern called for. I'm really looking forward to blocking this sweater because I know that it's going to change the fabric considerably. Right now it's quite bouncy and squishy, which is awesome, but after wet blocking it's going to have the added element of drape, which is what I'm really looking for, especially for the garter stitch fronts. 

9 to 5 socks in Viola yarn

Last week I also cast on for a new sock in a special skein of Viola sock yarn that was gifted to me in a trade with Emily a few years ago. Since Emily has taken a break from dyeing her lovely yarns, this skein may be my only chance to knit with it! Actually, that's a lie, I have one more skein of Viola sock yarn, but still... it's not something I won't be able to buy again. I've had this skein wound into a cake and ready to go for over a year, I had it with me last summer while on vacation but couldn't decide on the right pattern for it. I think it's because it's just a bit finer than my Blue Label yarn, which is what I'm used to, so it never felt quite right. After several false starts throughout the year I finally landed on the 9 to 5 sock pattern by Nicole Hindes and it's looking great!

I've been doing lots of spinning this week to, in honour of the Tour de Fleece. I don't have a real game plan, I'm just trying to make sure that I spin a bit every day. I should have my third completed skein of handspun by the end of the day, 3 skeins in 1 week is a lot for me!