Knit & Sick & Knit & Sick

I’ve pretty much spent the last week in a cloud. You know, the kind of sick where you feel like your head is floating above your body?? That’s the one I had. Bleh. The only good thing about it is I was able to get a good amount of knitting done, since I could barely move off the couch without getting dizzy.

I’m working on the Ruffled Jacked by James Coviello in Vogue Knitting Fall 2007. It’s coming along pretty quickly, even though I’m using a smaller gauge than suggested. I’m used a worsted weight merino/tencel blend, called Colrain, by Valley Yarns. This yarn is a lovely color, called Grape Jelly; a rich burgundy that I can’t seem to photograph for sh%!*&@!# This is the first project where I’ve actually re-worked the math to make my gauge work with the pattern. How liberating!

The other ‘issue’ with this sweater is that the armscye was clearly not well planned out. The armhole on the back measures 9” in my size, and the cap for the sleeve is only 5 ½” – too big of a difference not to fix. Thanks to the help of “Sweater Design in Plain English” (which should be called ‘Sweater Design for Dummies’!, which is me) by Maggie Righetti, I was able to figure out how to plan the decreases. At least I say that now, I am pretty bold considering I haven’t set the sleeves in yet. This one will hopefully be finished soon!

I also completed a hat for a friend out of the herringbone stitch used in the infamous ‘so-called scarf’ pattern. This is the only stitch pattern I have used at least 5-6 times now, in various objects, I love the way it looks. The yarn is ‘Miski’ from The Mirasol Project, 100% baby llama, extremely soft and yes, very warm. I told my friend Lili she would be ready for the blizzard when she wore this one. I believe that llama fibers and alpaca fibers are along the same line (well, they are cousins after all!), about 5x warmer than wool.

This was a funny incident. My friend called me from a LYS downtown in Asheville (Purl's Yarn Emporium). Friend, "Hi, Elizabeth?? I'm at that yarn store you told me about downtown. My friend is off getting a massage, so I came here. I found some yarn I like, actually, my husband found it, it's "baby" llama and he liked it because it's called "BABY". (Mind you, she's pregnant, obviously their FIRST!!) Ummm, and it's pretty thick, umm, I'm not sure what I should get. Me: "Is Lindsey there?" Friend: Asks......"No, Lindsey is not here." Me: "Well, talk to whoever is there, tell there you want to use this as a double-thickness yarn for a hat". Friend: "O.K." So she comes back to me with this super-duper warm thickness of beautiful, baby colored yarn in a lovely mauve and a burgundy. I love it but I'm afraid.....we've hardly had a winter here in N.C., not enough to warrant a blizzard-like hat for freezing temps......Well a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. This is my friend and she wants a pretty hat....so I made it. I just hope she get to wear it =;)

On the horizon/semi-in progress is two baby blankets out of Berroco Comfort. I happen to have a friend, and my husband has a friend, who almost live directly across from each other (and yet they don’t know each other, I think an introduction is in order!) in a more rural part on N.C. who are both expecting children, one boy and one girl. Lucky me! Two babies to knit for!!

I hope all are well and knitting like crazy!!!! I’m listening to Norah Jones and drinking some red wine and hope you are doing the same or equivalent!! Peace & Blessings to you.