Not much

I have a bunch of chores to do today. Things have been piling up since I had that cold and I finally feel like I have the energy to catch up. It only took a week longer than I thought.  That is actually an excuse.  I was not able to knit much while I had the cold and this past week I had to catch up on my knitting. I just get odd if I can't knit. 

I did get my Mrs. Hunter's pattern sweater to where I could start the body of it.  I only have a few rows done and I want to put it on a cord today so I can check body measurements. The sleeves are just right but  I want to check the body because.  Yes.  Just because.  I am chicken.  I want it to fit just right.

That is it for me today.  No photos unless I do them later.  No wise thought because the brain is empty.  Just me and chores and knitting.  

You know what?  That is really a pretty great thing.  

Waiting on Books

I saved hard this past year so I could treat myself for Christmas and for my birthday.  I thought that I would concentrate on books.  I have been reading a lot lately and extra books seemed like a great idea.  My desire for a yarn treat tickled at the back of my mind, as ever, but was something I could manage.  

The post office strike around Christmas really helped hold that desire back.  The longer the strike went on, the more concerned I was about small businesses.  More than any other sector small business who rely on the mail for product delivery suffered.  Small enterprises in small towns outside of major centers, where alternate shipping is not always available, really were bearing the brunt of the strike.  Like my favourite yarn dyers.  I decided that books could wait.  Small business couldn't.  

I was going to order one sweaters worth of yarn from Midknit Cravings.  One sweater quantity would help them and be such a treat for me.  I may already have a lot of really great yarn but that doesn't mean I am not delighted with  the idea of new yarn.

I have loved their tonals for a long time but other than Kelp Forest I have not ordered any.  And I really love Kelp Forest.  I also love their deep After Dark and Shiraz colours but what I want to make, what I need in my wardrobe are staples.  Simple colours with a relaxed casual vibe. I want sweaters that will be go everywhere sweaters, do everything sweaters. The deep colours are not quite what I am looking for at the moment.

I landed on Steam Trunk.  

It's a soft olive green grey brown that simply defies photography. In life it it gloriously grungy and exactly right. Do check out the knitted sample on their website.  It is absolutely everything I was hoping for.

 And then I had a bit of trouble. I never leave their site without dreaming about the  wonderful speckles and variegated colours.  I dreamed.  I wished. I love Fruit Stand and Homegrown and Love Letter. I covet Rusty Gears.   I already have a sweaters worth of London Fog. When I ordered the London Fog last year the colour that was very strong runner up was Storm Chaser 

and a sweater quantity of it fell into my cart.  And I left it there when I checked out.  I am so happy that I did. I love these casual laid back looking colours. They are both exactly what I was looking for.  

I will have to wait on books.  I am good with that and the library is not that far away.

Quite Perfect

One of the things I do before gong to bed at night is to put away all the knitting. Except last night. This morning, I rose to lovely things in sight.  

My newest pair of Broken Seed Stitch socks which are so much fun to knit and

my Monkey Socks which are also a lot of fun to knit.  Both of these patterns are like a recharge to my sock knitting soul.  They work up quickly because there is always something to do on them and the pattern repeats are easy and predictable.  Sock knitting for when plain just won't do. I  had put a few rows on the Monkey socks at the end of the day and  wanted to see where I was on the Broken Seed Stitch pair.

Truth.  I often think about knitting a sweater in the broken seed stitch pattern.  I think about it but have never had a yarn choice pop into my head to help make it reality. YET.

This morning my task was to do as I spoke of yesterday.  It was time to put the Mrs. Hunter's Sweater on waste yarn and do some measuring.

Oh my.  I fell in love with it all over again. I spent a very long time looking and touching and opening out the lace to approximate the way it will look when it is blocked.  It just looks so right.  I am keeping on with this.  I was nuts to think a Staffin in this yarn might be better.  Staffin will have its time and its own yarn. This is quite perfect as is.  

The ratios of both body and the sleeves are doing what they need to do for a good fitting sweater.  It is going to be a bit longer from shoulder to underarm than I hoped for but I can speed up the raglan increasing if I must.  I am going to do a bit of math to see if I need to bother.  

The really pleasing part is the neckline.  It is larger than I originally wanted but in many ways it is quite perfect.  I want to do a folded over collar where the two front edges overlap and this little bit wider neckline is going to make that look really good.

I haven't checked over the shoulder lace placement but I might not worry about that.  The lace looks so nice that I may just keep the lace going all the way down the sleeves.  

I am going to work on this sweater today.  I have made good progress on the Hacho sweater and am treating myself by knitting on this lovely rustic Briggs and Little Regal.  I love soft drapey yarns, but I also love to work in rustic yarns like Lopi and CWM and Brigg's and Little Sport or Regal.

It's all knitting.  It's all good.