Who Could Resist?

Take a good look at that picture and imagine...
The top color is the body of a sweater.
The bottom four colors are a bohus-style yoke.

That's a pretty picture, isn't it? The yoke colors are Cascade Indulgence, a merino-angora blend perfect for a bohus yoke. The body color is Dale of Norway Tiur, a DK wool with just a soupcon of mohair to give it a slight halo effect.

And the best part?

All this yarn was on the 75% off shelf at this weekend's sale at Nana's Knitting Shop.

Here's something else to imagine. Imagine me in that store for the last, oh, two or three years, eyeballing that Indulgence and knowing it's just right for a bohus yoke. Imagine me doing the math in my head and reckoning that this sweater would easily cost over $200, without even trying too hard. Out of my reach for a single garment, especially now, with money being so tight. Imagine petting the yarn over and over again and daydreaming about yoke patterns, poring over the details on the bohus stickning website, and yet still never quite believing I would ever break down and get the yarn.

When I saw that it had been deeply discounted, I knew right away I would be buying it. How could I resist? I made an inspection of the rest of the store to check out the rest of the sale items, but even as I looked, I had that yippee feeling inside over the bohus yarn.

What would have cost $280 cost a few pennies under $70.
Yippee!

Shhh.... Secret!

It feels like spring this week, and we all seem to be suffering from spring startitis. I'm not immune to the seasons!

Super Krissie has been knitting something fabulous lately that requires one skein of crack and one of Ritratto by S. Charles Collezione. The Ritratto has that pretty metallic shine, and crack, as we all know, makes everything look soft and warm and happy.

Put the two together, and you get an almost magical fabric. Hazy clouds of mohair and glints of bright metal. Almost sinfully soft, but sparkly. This is one where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

This is intended as a gift for a dear friend who knows about this blog but probably doesn't read it. I feel safe showing this little bit above, but I probably won't blog much about it on the off chance she might come over here to see what's happening. We don't get to see each other often, but when we do, she always asks to see my knitting. Hers is an honest interest, the same kind that leads me to ask after her cats even though I'm allergic to them. It's not about self. It's about other. She doesn't care about knitting, but she cares about me.

She doesn't have a birthday or any other event coming up, but after decades of friendship, I don't feel I really need a reason to give her something that makes me think of her.

Yeah, I'm a bit leery of gift knitting again after the Infamous Incident Regarding The Crib Afghan. But if anybody can help me recover, it's a friend like her.

St. B-eginning

This is just a smidge more than two chart repeats on St B. So far, so good.

The pattern is far from intuitive, though. I have to consult the charts frequently on every right-side row. I keep thinking there has to be some kind of logic to these charts, some kind of rhythm to the cable crossings that will make itself apparent. So far, not so much. This may be one of those charts that you just have to memorize. Or keep in your lap while knitting.

Things are still pretty busy with work here, though I can definitely feel the tides begin to shift. I'm contending with fewer emails now -- under 200 so far today, definitely more manageable -- and fewer of those emails contain problems that need immediate attention. In other words, it's not January anymore! Woo hoo!

Nothin' But a Plain Pink Pullover

I have this odd affinity for pale pink v-neck sweaters. I've always got at least one in my closet. The one in the picture above will be folded and shelved right next to its near twin, a store-bought model in cotton with a higher rest on the neckline.

I still have a few minor ends to weave, and then I'll set the seams and neckband, but this one is pretty much in the done column. I love the way it fits. It's very loose and cozy through the body and arms, but the shoulders are exactly right and the length is perfect.

The Specs:
Yarn: almost ashamed to admit that it's wool from Joann Fabrics bought on sale for under two bucks a ball. The brand is Sensations Tesoro, and I must say, this is a really, really nice wool. I had expected to knit a vest with it, but was pleased to see that I had enough yarn for a sweater. Just enough. Just barely enough. There might be ten or twelve grams left over out of the 650 I started with.

Pattern: My own, adapted from the Ann Budd "Handy Book of Sweater Patterns." I started with her template, but shortened the arms and tightened the armscyes. The change to the armscyes was crucial for good fit. The body fit is very loose and fluid, oversized and drapey. I always think that when you do that with the body, the arms and shoulders had better fit properly or you'll look like a little kid wearing her mommy's clothes.

That's 650 g into the "yarn out" column of my stash minder, and I can already predict people will get sick of seeing me wear this thing.

A Baby Snicket

This is the result of last week's third grade basketball tournament. I swatched for St. B again, and then cast on the Snicket socks and made it this far. This is 19 rows of p2, k1b ribbing. I have one more round to go before I can start the pattern.

The yarn is Cascade Heritage, and I must say I'm in love with it. OK, yes, I say that about a lot of yarns. But this time, I mean it extra. It's so smooth and fluid, and the stitch definition could not be better. It feels almost silky, except the hand is all wool, not silky at all. If it holds up to wear and washing, this might very well be the perfect sock yarn. Fingers crossed.

Knitting on size 1US, but I can see dropping to a size 0 for a slightly denser fabric. The yarn is about as thick as Lorna's Laces sock yarn -- in fact, it's a near clone of Lorna's Laces, but without the slightly stringy feel. Don't get me wrong. I love Lorna's Laces and think the hand is excellent. But if you can imagine LL with a bit more spring and a little more slickness, you'll have a good idea of how the Heritage knits.

Fulmar Sleeves, Creeping Toward Completion

On September 23, at the end of my self-declared Summer of Sleeves, the Fulmar sleeves measured to about 6.5". I put them away then and didn't touch them again until just after Christmas. In a month of sporadic but somewhat concentrated knitting -- that is, not a lot of time for knitting, but what little I had went to Fulmar -- the sleeves almost doubled in length.

Kind of makes you wonder what I might be able to accomplish here if I actually, you know, tried.

With St. Brigid on the needles now, I doubt I'll be working on Fulmar much in the near future. New toys are so much fun! But knitting the Fulmar sleeves in January reminded me of how much I really love this pattern and yarn. This sweater deserves to be finished, and I have a feeling that will happen sooner rather than later.

It's On!

Aw, wookit the cute widdle baby sweater! When it grows up, it will be St. Brigid!

I had to cast on twice. The first time, I missed a major cable crossing in row 3 -- I believe I was looking at the wrong chart when that happened. The charts for this are a bit confusing at first. Not dreadfully so, but enough that it would be pretty easy to look at the wrong chart that early on, and not realize what was happening. So that's my theory on that one.

Anyway, botched cable crossing on row three, discovered the problem on row four. Ripped and reknit and got to row eight before taking this picture. I hope to get a little knitting time in tonight, too, and have even rented a movie in a most optimistic, non-Monday fashion. (Pineapple Express, in case you're wondering. I'm told it's very silly and funny, which seems like just the right thing for the day.)

I got a gauge and fabric I liked on size 6 needles, by the way, but am wondering if I might not end up ripping and reknitting on 5s. I've heard other people complain that the gauge swatch was no accurate predictor of finished size, and almost all of them gained inches and inches in width. I figure I'll knit through a few more rows, just to let the cable crossings draw the fabric in as tightly as it is likely to, and then measure. But right now, with only 8 rows knit, this thing seems wicked wide.