Knitting and Racing and Happy Hands

First thing, there is an extra r in Fridays post.  I laughed and laughed when I read that.  It stays.  That is the way it goes when I try to do it right.

I had a really good knitting weekend. I worked in the mornings and later in the day and in between was the Mexican Grand Pix.  What a race. Carlos Sainz won which made me happy except that it meant Lando Norris did not win.  But what a  stupendous race.  

My hands are doing just fine.  The last few years I had to be really careful with them as I did my fall knitting,  but by taking decent care of them routinely, they are holding their own.  Weird to speak of them as if they were a thing of their own, I suppose. 

The sweater is looking like a sweater.

It is a fairly wide back of the neck but that is okay because I plan on a double layer wide collar that will tuck in behind itself at the front.  

The first row of ribbing is at the bottom so the body is near the end.  Sadly, I am going to break into ball two of my red before the rib is done and I suspect that I will end up using a good portion of ball two for that, the sleeves and collar.  So it goes. It was only a dream to get two sweaters out of this glorious red.  It's okay because I love this sweater so much and I will think up something great to use these yarns for.  

I have to talk about the yarn.  It is Cascade Eco + and Ecological.  It can be knit at a much larger gauge but when you knit it at this gauge, it becomes a great sturdy sister to Cascade 220, one of my favourite yarns. (All yarns are my favourites).  I did this with some green I had and wear it a lot.  It stays crisp and clean looking through all the daily torture I put it through.  At this gauge, pilling is minimal and performance is king.

My mind is starting to meander through things I would like to knit next.  It's always one of the best parts of the journey.

With Morre Care

I ripped back about half of the work I did yesterday.  I started the morning by working on some plain rows and then merrily knitted the bit of colourwork and on the second row of that, I came across this.

This alternating colour work is a very simple thing and I felt comfortable and confident but I did not watch closely enough that the stitches were where they needed to be in relation to the other colourwork rows.  

Harumph.  

I hate when that happens. 

I did not end up doing much knitting yesterday.  I looked on it as a day off for my hands. Hand care is such a good excuse to account for the frustration I felt. So much more sensible than saying to myself that I am mad at my knitting (or myself as the case may be).  

I feel much more with it today and have finished the pull back and restarted knitting much more carefully.   

Progress Across the Board

Yesterday was the definition of success.

I got a good chunk of the red sweater done.  

You can start to really get a feel for how it will look.  Fantastic!  

Socks ?  

Yup.  Toe is done.  

Other sweater?  Yes!

I put in a stitch marker so I could see in this stitch pattern.  I gave it minimal time and made actual progress even though it still looked the same as before I started.

I'm  not sure if I can repeat this progress today.  The red sweater is a very hard task master.  And I love it.

Remember Socks?

Remember socks?  Yes. It is sock season as well as sweater season.  This year I have been paying attention to my sock drawer.  I have finished four pair and am actively working on a couple more. There are others on the go but there are reasons I am not working on them.  I hope to finish two more pairs this year.  It isn't a goal mind you.  Goals always seem to get in my way and end up making me feel like a failure. It is more of a 'would like to' scenario where if I don't, I don't and if I do, hooray. 

The first pair I am working on is a plain pair from the last of my Big Fabel stash.  I wish there were more super washable and machine dryable yarns on the market in this weight of yarn. 

It looks a little long for my feet.  I haven't stated the second sock in case I needed to take off the toe and reknit it.  When I do that, I can't really knit a garter square toe to end a sock so I need to know the fit of this sock before I start the second of the pair.  

I pulled out my favourite, best fitting pair of socks yesterday.   

They are knit in Kroy held double and are the nicest thing I have ever had on my feet.  If they are clean, I wear them.  I held them against the Big Fabel sock.

Pretty much a match.  It will do.

The red Third Coast sweater might not let me go long enough to knit on the Linger sweater or on socks, but if I start with those, they might get some time in too.  

Off to socks.  It's a great way to start the day.

The Dark Side?

Help!  I have been taken over,      

but not by the dark side. I have been taken over by this sweater.  Captivating is right.  I don't feel at all interested in setting it down.  It's siren song is a gentle but firm call.  It calls me to just keep on knitting it.  

My hands were giving me a bit of trouble yesterday.  Not pain. Just that feeling that it was time to stop before pain.  I did cut the day a bit short  It is so difficult to sit there and not knit when everything I am wants to be knitting.   I really do not understand how others can sit and watch TV without dong something with their hands. I know it is my own peculiarity, my personal quirk.  It verges on physical torture not to have running through my hands.  When I was young, turning the pages of a book worked to ease it but these days actual book reading is not possible.  My eye muscles are tired and I simply can't focus well enough to read a physical book.    

So it is.  Sure it could be better. I could knit for 8 hours a day again and do all the things I cannot do.  But right now, in this moment, I am glad for the things I can do.  It is just so wonderful to have so many interesting things to challenge myself with.  I feel so empowered by the things I can make and do with what I do have.  It could be worse  I hope to be able to knit a wee bit longer today.  I will try to space it out better so that my hands still have some knitting in them later in the day.  I have some interesting sewing things coming up and I might get those started today.  Or at the very least, I will get the sewing room back into sewing room order.  

Red and Blue

What a great weekend.  Marcus got to meet Casper and take him home.  

The other side view so you can see how his feet tuck under his body.  You can see one sticking out a bit in the other picture.  Marcus was thrilled and that is all that matters.  We both agreed I need to work just a bit on the nose.

Once that was done I spent a good long while working on the red sweater.  It is a captivating knit.

Stripes.  And just a tiny bit of very simple colourwork. It is actually the perfect knit to practise carrying both yarns in my left hand.  I am getting very good tension dong it though I still find that I have to be careful to knit relaxed.  

You can see what I am dong with the colours.  I have used about half of the red yarn, so both of the secondary colours need to be used for the body.  The important part is to get the pips of colour to line up. Using two cc colours will really change the way this sweater looks but I need to do it so I can reserve enough of the red to do a double layer folded collar on the v neck I have made.   

I really didn't want to put in a zipper but that double layer collar is a great idea for that persistent chill I feel down the back of my neck.  

I had to force myself to put the sweater down during the F1 race.  I manage a sock on race days, but other knitting seems to suffer from tension problems.  It seems I knit tighter when I get really excited. 

After the race,  decided to pull out Linger to work on.  I really could use it in my wardrobe and the only way to get it is to wok on it.  It is a bit hard on my hands but if I do a few rows a day, it will happen. 

My plan for the day is clear.  It is sweater weather.  It is also scarf or wrap weather and hat and mitten weather.  Are you ready?  I am.  Almost. 

One and Almost

Almost.

This is where we are at this morning.  The only part I need to do yet is to make two more feet, do the toe embroidery and attach them to the body.

I did not follow the instructions for the tail.  I wanted a more realistic looking tail that curled more like Casper's did when he slept. Perfection would have been to have the tail curl over his nose but this works better.  I attached it to the body with the long yarn end and can  take it out if Marcus wants the tail loose. 

 I am particularly pleased with the ears.  I did not follow the pattern for them.  I made 5 single crochets, next row, decrease, decrease and then, third row, one decrease to make the point. Much more cat like than the patterns.   

The feet are also an addition to the pattern and are very simple.

A 6 stitch round for 4 rows, a one decrease row and then a round of 5 stitches.  The narrower end will be where the foot attaches to the body.  Then there will be some embroidery to make the toes show up and that will be all.  I am not sewing the ends closed because the toes and attaching it to the body will take care of that for me. 

And in other news...

A cowl.  I wore it with the sweater and it is perfect.  Its a great addition to a sweater to have a matching cowl.  If it gets a bit warm, you can take it off, unlike a turtleneck of other close neck.  And this yarn is so soft.  It's the angora in it.  Nothing is softer than angora.  Which makes me wonder if I still have some angora in my stash.

 Okay.  That is it for the day.  Time to go knit.  And bake.  

I was going to bake cookies for Keith but the dratted guy put this truly awful notification sound on my phone.  Sleeping in late as I did yesterday is not good for me.  I have morning medications that need to be taken on a schedule, and that awful noisy thing was his answer.  So, no raisins in the oatmeal cookies for hm.  Only chocolate chips for me.  Such are the games we play. No grown ups here.

And I  like that. 

Catwork

Where did yesterday go? I woke late and didn't make it to my second coffee till noon.  I hate that kind of day.   

Meanwhile the cat is almost done.  

 

Marcus was here on the weekend, and he likes it but he did say it was awfully big. I am veering from the pattern because he wanted the tail to come right up to Casper's face like the real Casper.  And he repeated that it was really big.  I am not too worried about that because the next cat project is gong to be a wee pocket sized Casper.  I know I have some Palette in the right kind of gold and I have some lustrous mohair that will make a soft fuzzy kitty.  I would like to finish this cat today but we shall see.

I did not work on anything yesterday but for the cowl.  I want this finished because, once again, I am wearing the sweater and the addition of a scrumptious cowl would make it the best thing ever.

The cat and the cowl will be the big push for the day. I really want the cowl and I am looking forward to getting the cat done.  It is time for it to be over.  It has taken much longer than I  thought it would. It is time to get back to the red sweater.   

More WIPs

I might not have felt like casting on a new thing last week, but I sure did feel like it on Monday.  I felt much more like my usual self.  So there are now 16 WIPs in the bin.

I wore my newest sweater on Monday.  It's been getting pretty heavy wear. It fits really nicely and I love...I absolutely adore the yarn combination.

The sweater did not use up all of the Noro Silver Thaw and it did not use up all of the CWM Mulespinner either.  I had  a full skein of the Noro left plus a wee bit of a second and that bugged me.  I felt it was time the yarn was out of my stash.  I can always use the CWM yarn for mittens or toques.  There is just the right amount of it left for that but the Noro was all mine.

I knew I would have the Noro left as I knit the sweater and I seriously debated adding a turtleneck collar but there are times when that would be too much.  I thought about making a simple cowl. One skein of this delicious stuff would make a great cowl.  It is a lovely soft wool, nylon and angora fibre and it is the angora that makes it so perfect.

It all came to a head when I was putting things away to get ready for family coming for dinner on Sunday.   The yarn was still taking space on my sofa and rather than putting it away, I decided to whip up a quick cowl.

I didn't want anything fancy.  I just wanted a good easy to knit something.  I was still feeling as I did late last week (brain foggy) so I wanted it to be really easy knitting.  I wanted it to be a no fuss thing to wear too.  I didn't want t to roll up as plain stockinette would but I wasn't in the mood for garter stitch.

I had been contemplating starting some Broken Seed Stitch Socks and thought seed stitch was the perfect thing. Knitting that in the round using my style of scooping continental knitting is about as effortless as it gets.

And thus, a cowl is born.  I will wear it with the sweater when the back of my neck feels winters chill. 

I have based this one on the Huj Tub  (There should be umlauts over the  letter u, so as it says, Huge Tube) . I will increase as I knit to make a larger dimension so it sits less snug and hugs my upper shoulders just right.  I have the yarn so this felt like a good idea if the goal is to use this up. 

The stories of cats and red knitting will wait for another day.

WIP Works

When it came down to it, I couldn't do the cat yesterday, and I was not in the mood for the red Third Coast either.  

No, I did not cast on for anything new either.  WHO AM I?

I really didn't  feel like casting on something that I wasn't going to finish for a very long time.  I have enough of those.  There are 15 WIPs in the bin already and I really want to finish them.  Besides my bandwidth did not stretch to casting something else on.  I needed a knit with no thinking required. 

The Musselborough hat is perfect.  It's a tube.  I could do that, so that is what I worked on.  

I will probably knit on the red sweater today.  It would be so nice to separate for the body today.  I'm not sure I can do it, but I should be able to have the yoke done by Monday.  

So off to knitting today.  Coffee is to hand, cat things are near, and I am ready to go.  Cat things, you say?  Sure.  It would be nice to get that done too.  

All about the cat

This post is all about the cat.  It is actually looking sort of cat like now except for the nose being too pointy. The pattern shows you how stuffing makes it right.

I do have a couple problems though.   

The chin bit is vey cat like, but seems to be a bit offset making the nose seem as if it goes up at an angle. If you look at the markers you can see what I mean.  The other error I made is that his white nose patch is too big.  Much too big. His whole face is cream here and that was not what Casper looked like.

I do have some big successes too.  

I don't make a lot of toys and I am not into amigurumi or math, so the sculptural abilities of crochet are not currently part of what I know about crochet.  I am starting to get a small whiff of understanding though and am feeling much more comfortable with this cat pattern.  That is a big win.

I am really pleased with my colour plans so cat will look similar to Casper.  He was a caramel coloured tabby with quite a bit of  lighter colour striping.  My two golds are looking pretty good,

with just a shade of difference, very much like Casper.  I have crochet colour changing down pat after this. 

I am particularly pleased with the way I did his neck colouring.  That creamy neck patch looks just as it should.

I think.  I have to check pictures of Casper again to see if his neck was like this or if I am remembering a cat we had when the boys were small.  I do like the way it looks.

There is a very good chance that this version of the cat will be frogged and restarted.  I kept working on it yesterday even though I knew the cream face was too much.  I was so sure it would sort itself out and it really wasn't that big, was it?

We all know how it is.  You know there is a problem but you are sure you can block it out.  We have all been there and it happens with crochet just as much. 

I was planning to do the next step, the stuffing and face embroidery, but now I think I would feel better if I redid it said cat all the things I have learned so far.  

Getting Along

I think I have the problem of the cat resolved.  Maybe.  

 I restarted twice more and it is starting to look like what the designers pictures show. The shape is looking better.  Thankfully, the pattern has lots of pictures. I have decided not to worry about stitch counts but the smartest thing I did was to go my old fashioned way and join the rounds rather than going in a continuous spiral.  

When I was learning to crochet, I started with doilies. My maternal grandmother and my aunt had a whole bunch of Elizabeth Hiddleston doily pattern design books and I learned to crochet from them.  My mom or my aunt told me that you had to turn the piece around after a join and I have always done that.  It seems that many makers and pattern writers do not do this any longer.  It can lead to confusion but since that is my natural state, I have decided not to mind.  It is just better to sort it out in your head and move forward.  Understanding the difference is what matters.   

I knit on my version of the Third Coast sweater  in between cat crocheting.  That is coming along nicely too.

All in all, it was a very good day.  I am looking forward to today being another one.

The Problem With Cats

As good as things are, I feel stalled.  I am petty sure it is the cat.

I pulled back the whole thing this morning and am gong to restart today.   I am going to follow my instinct and am going to try ending rows in my old fashioned way. The continuous crochet spiral does'nt do it for me.   I understand where I have to go and the shape I am aiming for and am going to try getting there following a slightly different path.     Maybe that should read I think I understand.  

This is where my words and number problem crops up and bites me.  I have a lot of difficulty following patterns by line by line, number by number.  It's like a train problem in elementary school math.  The words and numbers all pile up and I get nowhere.  Patterns where I have to stick close to lines of words and numbers without really understanding what the whole goal is, are the hardest things to do.

I shall keep on though.  A cat is only a cat and if I do it often enough, I will get there.  

Not Better Than That

A muddled weekend led to all sots of knitting. And crocheting.

I finished a Kirby.  

He should have white eyes but when I add the white, it looks weird.  I took a second pink out of his mouth too because it made the mouth look oddly puckered, like a fish, not like a Kirby character.

Then I worked on cat one, Casper.  Casper was a golden tabby with a bit of creamy white.

I am not sure I like the gold I am using.  I have another gold yellow colour and might try that for the next go around.  And there will be a next go around.  This is not how the nose of the cat I decided to do should be looking.  My stitch counts are horribly off and there are increases where there should not be increases.  Plus, the way I started it, the cat would be striped and Casper was not striped evenly around.  I need to work on that.  

The cat I decided to do is Marshmallow the Cat.  He is more of a pillow cat and that is much more in line with how Marcus will use the this stuffy.

As consolation for problems with the cat, I allowed myself to cast on for a sweater.  Yes,  picked a sweater!

I decided to start with Third Coast by Renee Kulling from Knitty.  With changes.

I really don't feel like sewing in a zipper. I know there is a lot of this style of sweater in the pattern world right now but I just don't want to do it.  I decided to change that out for a classic deep v neck.  I did debate going with a Henley style neck line.  It would be so easy to do with this pattern but I would rather have the v and save a bit of yarn.  I love the yarn for this, this rich deep cherry red. However did I keep it in the stash for so long?

My plan to conserve the red yarn so I can use it in two sweaters is that I will use the two creams alternating on the bottom rather than separating each cream with the red.  My colours will be red for the yoke, cream for stripe one, oatmeal for stripe two followed by the red and repeat.  That's the plan.  If my red use is still too much, I will add in the natural that is still in the stash as a third layer of cream tones. 

Puzzle setting season s back.  When we did the floors, one of the happy results was that we could move the kitchen table right under the light and we can easily move around it.  It is the perfect size for puzzle setting.  So far this fall we set two puzzles, both of them dark.  They were great puzzles but we are setting on a black puzzle felt and it is just too much dark.  I am looking forward to something a bit lighter.

Lots to do today.  Laundry day has come again. Sigh. But cats and coffee are calling me and there is knitting to be done.  I always feel like saying yippee after this.  It is how I feel.  Might even do a bit of a dance.  Wearing a sweater, knitting another, accompanied by cat crocheting, and coffee.  Life just doesn't get better than that.   

A Bountiful Stash

It's not a cat.

It's a Kirby, the game character, because I was not only asked for cats, I was asked for Kirby.  It is a good way to warm up my crocheting hands. I am using the Cube Kitty Cat design for it.  

It is a good time to sort out the next sweater.

I have a problem.

I planned to use red Eco+ yarn to knit a Bountiful Bohus since the yarn was purchased.  I thought of it when I bought the two Ecological Wool colours.  I wanted that sweater.

And then I started watching the NorwegianKnitter on Youtube. Oline knit the Ingrid sweater from Petite Knits.  It was knit in red yarn and I quite simply fell in love. Those linear sections of texture appeal to me.  

It reminds me of a sweater I crocheted years ago. It was panels of texture patterns that mimicked knit cables.  I got a lot of compliments on it over the years.  Sadly it no longer exists because the yarn was acrylic and it grew and grew and grew as the yarn relaxed in the wash. 

Oline's red Ingrid brought my red wool to mind.  I want that too.

And then there is this.  The Third Coast sweater from the latest issue of Knitty, designed by Renee Kulling.  I feel compelled to knit this sweater.  It is so basic and yet not.  There are stripes and some very simple colourwork that take the whole thing up a notch or three.  

I know from knitting other sweaters in the Eco+ yarn that there will be a good amount of the red left if I knit the Bouniful Bohus.  I have three full skeins of it and one each of the natural tones.  If I used all three yarns carefully, I think I could get two full sweaters from it. I do have some of the lightest cream in their natural range as well, so I am certain I could stretch it out one way or another.

But if I make the Ingrid sweater, I won't have enough for a second sweater.   I need to find another yarn in my stash for one of these three or I need to set my mind to knitting only two of the three sweaters.  Having to choose is hard. I want them all.

I am working on Kirby and cats today.  It is a good time to go through all my stash in my mind and figure out another yarn for one of these great designs.  I am thinking about the yarn I was using for the Anyday sweater too. With that sweater not fitting as I wanted, I need to think about what I will do with it too.  And then there is my beautiful yarn from Midknit Cravings. And somewhere in there is some gorgeous deep teal blue green Cascade 220.   And the beautiful ummm ... well, all the other lovely stuff in my stash.

I am so lucky to have this kind of problem, but I am glad there are Kirbys and cats to make so I can think about it.

A Cat Is a Cat and That Is That.

A cat is a cat and that is that.

Cat patterns, not so much.  There is a huge range of cat patterns out there, from teeny tiny pocket size kitties to great big squishy pillow kitties.  And there there is the problem of  it a kitten or cat? 

I have made a kitty from this pattern.

Mittens the Realistic Cat

and it really is adorable.  I used this pattern earlier this year to make a cat test run and gave it to my two youngest grandsons, Owen and Everett.  It is an adorable pattern. I did find that the the front legs were a bit different than shown, but I know how to fix that.  

I am still waffling though.  If you want to fit cat personality to the cat, then I would have to go with this one. 

The Parlor Cat

Like most cats, these particular cats spend much of their time looking out the windows. I am not fond of the face on this lovely kitty though, but I really do love the body shape.  

I may have to mash patterns and adapt sizes to get the two to match.  The second cat might not be the size I want for the cat in the yarn I have. (Blanket from Bernat)

There is also this adorable cat.

Cube Kitty Cat

He is perfectly sized for my yarn, and a truly quick simple make.  Plus he will be perfectly useful for a Kirby character that Marcus has also asked for.

Who know where I will go or which I will choose?  I only know I have my yarn at hand, crochet hook at the ready and coffee by my side.  

Adventure is out there!

Please note that I have used photos from Ravelry and linked back to the originators.  I am in no way claiming any rights to the designs other than my deep and sincere admiration of the designers work.  

Doubly Lucky

It's  done!! 

I am so happy with it.  With the yarn choice, with the structure, with everything.  I feel so lucky that I learned how to do this.  I can make my own clothes that are completely me.  It's so enormously satisfying.

Except for this.

Ends.  Foolishly, I did not weave then in as I went.  There are always a few end but this sweater has a lot because the stripes were too wide to reasonably carry the yarns up the side.  Each change of yarns has two ends.   Oh well.  That is knitting.  I sure wish I had made the time to do it as I went though.

I will take on good picture of it too.

My brother is visiting and we are talking about all the big things in the world.  We are chatting exhaustively about all the little things in the world.  It is lovely.  I am really 

 lucky in my brother and sisters.  

Real Autumn

There was some really great knitting on Friday.  I finished sleeve 1.

It took a long time because this sleeve had a lot of stitches.  I had to do a fairly rapid series of decreases to get it to the right diameter for the cuff.  Indeed, I did a series of decreases in the ribbing.  But it fits perfectly.

And then I took a day away from it.  

It was a chilly weekend so I made time to work on my socks.  

Sock one is done, but it looks like it is going to be too long.  And yet...  I will try it on later this morning before I start sock 2.

I started work on sleeve 2 Sunday morning.  

I could have knit more but it was time for sleep.  I hope it will be finished today.  If I can get it done, I am going to wear it tomorrow and that is exciting.

I have also been thinking about my lovely Linger sweater.  I'm going to need that before too long. I have some cats to make (remember that from spring?) and as ever more things I want to knit. The days are getting shorter and darker and I need some cozy warm things.

Woweeeeee

The was a lot of knitting yesterday.   I finished the bottom ribbing

and did the neckline before starting sleeve one.   I did the neck first so I could be sure not to run out of the darker grey Mulespinner 2 ply.  It would be so easy to forget about it in the excitement of doing sleeves.  Unfortunately, it will have to be reknit.  I picked up too many stitches at the back neckline and it sticks out weirdly. 

I know this because I did a try on and but for that error, I am so pleased.  The upper yoke fits very well and best of all, I got the back of the neck short rows just right.  Lately, the backs of my sweaters have been sitting differently on me and that leads to my old nemesis, a chill on the back of my neck.  I wanted this sweater to sit up and over my bit of a widows hump. The usual three or four sets of short rows are just not enough so I did short rows almost to the base of the front neckline.  And it is perfect.

I had to stop for the day long before my heart was ready to stop knitting.  I wanted to keep going and finish sleeve one but my hands told me not to be so silly.  Oh well.  

I thought about knitting on a sock.  My brain thinks that is easier on my hands than knitting a sleeve in the round. It is not.  I will show you a picture of where I am on my sock.  It helps me to stay honest and to remind me that a little knitting here and there makes a difference 

because the last time I showed this sock, it looked like this.

This time, I am making a garter stitch toe up heel flap.  I messed it up just enough that it is going to take some thinking to recreate the error for the second sock.

My first cup of coffee is finished.  It is time for a second and Anne from My North Knit Corner has a new video up and that and my sweater sleeve are where I am going to start my knitting day.

So Close

I had so hoped to finish the back yesterday. I got vey close but my hands were done and I know them well enough to know that pushing would stop my knitting for weeks. This morning I have three rows and  cast off to do.  

I am one and a half rows in  and will finish shortly. 

You may notice that the ribs are more or less the same length.  They are.  I decided to make front and back the same length because because the sweater is long enough that my lower back will be comfy and warm as is. The other and likely the main reason is I am lazy and want to finish.

It was so lovely yesterday that both the front and back doors were open.  Our full screen doors are perfectly placed so that fresh air swoops all through the house when there is the smallest breeze. As I was going down the hall, out of the very corner of my eye, I saw a leaf fall from the maple in the yard across the alley. I stopped and watched the leaves gently fall, fluttering, wafting from the branches on the way down to earth.  It was a perfect moment in time.

Some days that is the medicine your soul needs.        

 

I'm Here

I did a little too much on Monday, so yesterday, I took the day off.  Instead of writing, I took the time to knit and to listen to books ( yes, multiple books ) and to watch some Digging for Britain.  It was a pretty good day.  And after an epic sleep last night, I am ready for a new day.  It's 10 a.m. and I am still on my first cup of coffee.  

I am well into the ribbing.  

Ribbing knits fast for me when I am going back and forth.  I can knit through the back loops and wrap my purls wrong to my hearts content. (Wrapping my purls the other direction means that I can knit through the front loops on the other side and is what makes ribbing fast )  The powers that be** only refer to this style of purling as wrong, but like everything else in knitting, there is a place for it.  Back and forth ribbing is it.

I am watching Aka Nora Knits this morning and she is talking about a cardigan that has been on her needles for a very good part of this year.  It reminded me of my shawl.  

I started this Bridgewater shawl in 2012.  It is the oldest of all my WIPs.  It is from the time before, before my husband died.  

I think about it each time I dig in the WIPs bin.  I think about it each time I pick out and wear a small shawl to keep the chill off the back of my neck.  I think about it a lot for something I am not knitting on but really do want to finish.  Maybe time to finish?  

But not today. I am on a sweater kick and want them more than a shawl at the moment. 

**Just who are the powers that be anyway?  My inner six year old wants to know and my outer 66 year old is delightfully free from caring.  Such are the joys of getting older.

Fronts and Backs

The front.

I am  so pleased with the way this is looking.  In a perfect world,  the years would have magically made the dyelots of the grey a perfect match but since it is not a perfect world, oh well.  A perfect world would be boring.  Vive le chaos.  It's only me here everyday and I am the only one who will ever notice it.  And Keith I suppose but he will never 'see' it.   

The back.

I have a good start on the back.  Once this last Silver Thaw Noro row is complete, there is only grey. I plan to make the back about two inches longer than the front and I have decided it will all happen n the ribbing. It will give the best balance to the whole.  

And then sleeves, but only three quarte sleeves.  This is a garment that I will wear often and I want it to be a good sturdy working garment.  I hate the fuss of having to push up sleeves.