A Knitting Day

~written 07/29

So, today is an update day at work, so we're in conference all day. I suppose most people dread these days, but I love them, because it means I can sit in the back of the room, listening to these people blabber on about our marketing and sales (about which I could not possibly care less) while I work on my cardigan.

This cardigan is one of my newest projects. I originally intended for it to be for Stephanie's birthday. I was working on my previous cardigan -- an off-white "leftover" cardi. I was using the Soft Sea Wool that I intended to use for a shawl. Unfortunately, I don' see myself making another shawl real soon unless I can make the pattern up. I just don't have the patience for patterns these days. I figure if I'm gonna have to do math on a pattern that someone else created anyway and it's still not gonna be quite what I want, why not make my own.

Anyway, when I was about finished with 'Leftover,' (Top down, raglan cardi, knit in one piece flat, stockinette, garter stitch borders, button band knit in - not on), Stephanie decided that she liked it and that I never finish anything that's for her so I decided to make her one for her birthday. It was Monday and her birthday was the following Wednesday - 9 days away. I thought I would go out and get the same weight wool, but a different color and definitely not Soft Sea Wool again... There was so much junk in that yarn...

Anyway, I went to the yarn store and couldn't find any DK weight that wasn't ridiculously expensive for an entire sweater... Really, I was thinking more of a sock weight but what I ended up with was fingering weight wool. Rowan 4-ply soft in a dusty blue. I love the color and the weight isn't so bad because it's knitting up pretty quickly on my Addi Turbos (yay!), but it's already been a week and i'm only halfway down the torso. Oh, btw, it's another top-down raglan, one piece, knit flat. Mostly stockinette, but there's a little interest (lol reverse stockinette, terribly interesting, I know) above the bust and drop stitch below it. About the knitting flat, I thought I would prefer knitting in the round, but I'm still super afraid of steeking and I REFUSE to learn on a 4-ply. It's just not gonna happen. But now that I've been knitting flat, It's a lot more interesting knitting. I would just die if I had to do the freaking knit stitch exclusively. The knitting is going super fast, so I'm thinking I'll at least be complete with the body by next Monday and the sleeves by the following Monday. (ETA: I finished the body last night, Friday Aug 7 and I LOVE it) That's including some expected break time for another project. What is that project, you ask? I'm knitting a Domo for my cousin because he asked for it. I'm using Patons Classic Wool Merino which might be stupid if he intends to get the damn thing dirty cuz i'm sure he's not gonna remember not to wash it in hot water. Oh well. I knit the body bottom up with the magic cast on so the 3-needle bind-off is at the top. Dumb. I'm thinking about doing it over, but I already stuffed the thing. We'll see how it goes.