Old stuff

There has been very little knitting these last few days and I do mean very little.  It seems as if I just get settled down to have a quiet moment and I am on the run again.  People around here are actually expecting meals.  On time.  And random water runs.  And snow to be shoveled.  

What is up with that is that Mr. Needles is home from a small surgery and scary bout of infection and so I have extra stuff to do.  These are very good things, but it all is cutting into my precious knitting time.  The whole 3 sweaters before Christmas is going to be a real challenge yet.

Since there is only so much of the Remix sweater that I can do in a day  - its less elastic fibres are messing with my hands - I'm planning to cast on for the last sweater of the group.  It is made of pencil thick yarn on larger needles so I expect the knitting is going to be speedy.  I hope that the different yarn and needles will mean that my hands feel stresses in different places and I can keep going just a little longer.  If I can do that, I might just make this puppy on time!

In lieu of actual grand knitting quantities, I have a long unfinished task to show you.  

 I had to move it from where it had lain dormant these long months.  As I picked it up, I realized it had a stong and not so pleasant odour.  It was a blend of the oil scent from its weaving designed put up with a little sheepy Eucalan on top.  Not good.

A complete and long rewash was in order.  I gave it a second good soak in some Dawn dish detergent.  A good long soak.

OK, I forgot about it for the better part of a day.  Then soaked in rinse water several times.  It now smells a little Dawn like but trust me, that is much much better than before.

I had to do it in two steps.  I ran out of pins!  I never run out of stuff like that, but I had to pull every pin to task for this mammoth job.  I obviously need more pins!

I also did not use the blocking wires. The blocking wires took so long to set up, and there wasn't enough rods to do it all in one shot.  I ran threads through the various parts of the shawl.  One set ran around the centre of the shawl and another just before  the final lace edging. The threads did the bulk of the job of opening the lace.  

Its was interesting using lines to block. The last time, when I blocked the centre of this shawl, I blocked it fairly hard.  The candle flame pattern needs a really good blocking to lie properly, but that firm blocking meant the shawl was going to be a monstrosity. It would swamp it's eventual owner.  Using the lines, I was able to control the outgrowth of the centre a little better.  It is a little smaller than before 

but the lace looks beautiful.  

It is about 65 inches by 78, still a very large shawl.  To try to block it square would be brutal on the yarn.  I simply should have knit the centre 2 repeats longer.  And that note, is going into the book.

I loved every step of this shawl and I can see me doing another for myself.  

-25 C

Right now, at this very moment, at the weather station nearest us, the thermometer is recording -25C. That it is 2:21 a.m. is beside the point.  It is cold.  The forecast for the deep depths of night (as if 2:21 isn't deep enough) is -30 C.

This deep dense cold makes me wonder about one thing more than almost any other.  What the heck were people thinking when they abandoned wool?  Or at the very least, what the heck were Canadians thinking when we abandoned wool?  

There have always been elegant suits and tailored pants in very expensive wool.  It is the most classic of fabrics for modern menswear.  It isn't hard to find, for ladies who want that same business like look.  But outside of a really great pair of pants, or the odd very expensive sweater, there is little pure wool to be found.  

Unless you shop in little boutique shops in trendy parts of town or stores that you would never ever take kids into, pure wool isn't there.  In an average mall, you'll probably find only 1 or two stores with pure wool fibres, and I'd be willing to bet that when you do find it, it will be a men's wear store. If you shop in an average chain store, wool isn't there.   If you shop on a budget, pure wool just isn't there.

Wool is the perfect fiber for Canada.  In Canada, even in the hottest summer, having a light wool sweater at hand is the right thing.  Summer nights can be chilly and spring and fall are perfect sweater wearing weather. 

But winter...Winter is why Canadians should hearken unto to wool like few other places on the planet. The other wool places are like us, secure in our position on the top or the bottom of the globe. Polar people.  Wool people.  Wool should be our common middle name.  

If I were a really talented writer, I would write a soliloquy on what it is to discover wool as an adult, and wear a wool sweater in the middle of a deeply cold and dark winter night.  I would tell you how, when I slip on a wool sweater or toss a shawl across my back, the chill that haunts me, is gone.  I would be able to capture the deep comfort that is sleeves curving down around my elbows, making the wool hug just a little more closely across my back as I move and work, and how a nicely buttoned sweater envelops me like my mother's hugs.  I would be able to make you read and feel the wool if I were a truly talented writer.

But I am not a really talented writer.  I may have been close to good on a rare occasion or two.  I might turn a nice phrase once in a while and that is enough for me.   

What I am is a knitter.  I am a pretty good knitter and I hearken unto wool.  That matters to me.  That matters more than is rational and sensible.  It has meaning in the deepest heart of me and in the cold of a Canadian winter night.  It ties the inside me and the outside world into one.  

I am cozy.  I am comforted.  I am warm.

I am also going back to bed.  

It's -27 C now.  Bed, snuggled under a pile of blankets, wrapped in my sleepy time wool shawl, is, after all, the only sensible place to be.

Snowed in

You would think that being snowed in would lead to copious knitting.  It did not.  

What I did do was play on Ravelry. The whole afternoon.  Wasted all of my knitting time playing around.  

I ought to have been knitting on the sweater.  I ought to have been working on the shawly other knitting, but I just did not.  

And yet, it was time well wasted.  In a week or two there will be an update to the library feature on Ravelry.  Its going to be grand.  Just wait till you see it.  

With a pile of books beside me

For as much of my life as I could get away with I have gone to sleep with books.  I used to read voraciously and bedtime reading was a way to finish up, slow down, cap off the day with an imaginary and fantastic world. Eye problems and age (I fall asleep when I read) make me less readerly, but not less interested in stories.  These days it is audio books and traditional books with a lot of pictures that capture me.

Thankfully knitting books have a lot of pictures!

Last night I pulled out yet more lace books.  I have three of the 4 Interweave lace series, Tradtional Lace Shawls, The Lacy Knitting of Mary Schiffmann, and Gossamer Webs.  I would love to get my hands on a copy of the now out of print Lace from a Victorian Attic, but am a little bit reluctant to pay the premium price that it demands.  

Traditional Lace Shawls is what I was going through last night (while watching Amadeus, a smashing combination) and I just have to say what an excellent little book it is.  It isn't the biggest, it isn't the most comprehensive, but it is a sound little collection of traditional Shetland style shawl elements.  With it, you could happily create and knit shawls for a lifetime.

Taking this time before my planned year of big lace and reading through the books rather than picking elements and knitting is like taking a lace workshop from a whole lot of master knitters, and masterful thinkers.  Its the little things, things like some of Margaret Stove's comments on the gauge of lace and her continuous swatches to get a needles size that shows off the lace elements to their best.  There isn't any one thing that I can point to in last night's meandering read that strikes me as a revelation, but I feel so deeply inspired by the simple things I read last night,  so in tune to the lace knitters who captured air and space and created lace.   

There is't a lot of stuff to talk about while knitting the body of a large mans sweater in stockinette. There isn't any illumination in it, just comfort and ease and rest.  But knitting these things now, when I have a short timeline and am knitting as much as I can, knitting till my hands tell me to stop, is giving me such time to dream, such time to plan and think and consider.  

Beyond dreaming of knitting them, part of it is dreaming of delving into the lace stash but much of it is also contemplating the state of modern lace.  

There are still the traditional shawls knit with frevor.

(Stil blocking edges on this one.  Or rather still waiting to find make time though knitting is long done.)  

But there is also the diversity and grand invention that is modern lace shawl knitting.  Diversity of shaping, diversity of motif placement and construction, diversity in edgings.  Take a look at this, Atelier Audrea Baron Takes the breath quite away, doesn't it?  That motif in the first shawl is simply stunning.  And then her Ravelry page.  There are no words... I mean look at those edgings!  I crave to understand the edgings.

She is just one of many many many really great people out there pushing the limits, taking lace knitting one step farther than it has ever been, keeping it fresh and fitting for our time, keeping the tradition of lace knitting alive and growing. 

Lace lives. 

And I am having a really, really great time thinking about it all. 

 

Damson

In the background of all this sweater knitting is a little something else.  

Damson is one of the little something elses.  

 I was really worried about it pooling but the double stranding is doing its job and it looks great.  The colours are so rich and intense.  I love the depth of the blacky blue and the power of the bluey black offset against that perfect white.  

Damson is the perfect shawl for strong colours like these.  Its simple offset of garter and stockinette

 bordered by the most basic of lace allows the colours to shine.  The offset of the two patterns gives it flare.  I've just got into the stockinette part as you can see. 

These background projects are never fast knits.  They are what is picked up when my hands tire of working on a heavier project.  And right now, that main knitting is getting heavy indeed. I am about halfway up to the underarms, and the length added on to the density of the fibre means it is getting heavier than I have been able to manage this week.  

Next week I have to do better to stay on schedule.  Somewhere between here and Christmas, there is going to have to be some fierce knitting.

The new Twist Collective

A new Twist Collective is up and oh there are some nice things.

I've been playing around and reading and looking instead of writing this morning.  I probbably ought to stop it and go do something, but instead, I'm going to go back to look again.  

You should do the same.

A slight hiccup

Its been an odd sort of weekend.  Mr. Needles had a little medical thing that meant a long sit in some very uncomfortable chairs on Saturday and a crazy mixed up Sunday.  But trust me.  I was the lucky one.  Mr. Needles, not so lucky.  He had to have some quick surgery on a knee.  I expect it will be Hopalong and me for a few weeks.  

I'm pretty sure there will be ample time for knitting.  Heaven knows I did a fair bit of knitting on Saturday.  Sunday not so much.  

There was significant finishing.  Remember that pretty blue Llama and Silk?  

The one that a friend knit, is of a worsted weight yarn and wraps closely around my neck.  This one is much larger, being in a chunky yarn.  The weight of the yarn means it is much much longer.  It wraps twice around my neck 3 times and the ends tuck in nicely.  Unfortunately when I wrap it around my neck that much, I look a little more in fashion than I usually do.  

And not in fashion in a way that I desire.  In fashion like this: 

 

Yeah.  Not going to do the triple wrap thing.  Slouchy double wrap with longer tails is just right.  It is as close to this double chin as it is going to get.

In public at least.  At home all bets are off.  In the privacy of my study, I might choose to be very fashionable.  It sure is nice and warm that way.  Snugly and soft and good. 

Remembrance Day

Every year at this time, I try to find something that adequately expresses this day of Remembrance. It does not want to be found so....

I do not like war.  I do not like fighting.  But I firmly believe that we must stand in defense of those who can no longer stand for themselves and sadly, sometimes, that means we send our sons and daughters off.  But this is really not the day to discuss that.

It is not a day to discuss if we should or should not join a conflict, not a day to discuss the right and wrong of it.  It is not a day to discuss the peace movement.

This is not the day for me to opine, to question, to rant or rave or even tell you how I feel about this these things.  I have every other day of the year to think and speak about those things.  

This is not my day.

This day is theirs and all they ask of me is that I remember them.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, 

We will remember them.

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. (Jose Narosky)  

 so, I stand in remembrance of those who come home too.

Just Enough Ruffles

I have a very pretty soft gray scarf knitted out of Malabrigo in Laura Chau's Just Enough Ruffles pattern.  I've always liked it.  Its ruffly, but not overwhelmingly so.  The yarn is gloriously soft and snuggly.  It is just the right length to wrap around my neck a couple of times and tuck the ends under for superior warmth on a blustery day.

I didn't knit it.  I know who did though and she has a knack of finding the most interesting stuff on the web.  She donated the scarf and I snuck it out from under my boss' hands in a silent auction fundraiser the store does for the Alzheimer's Society.  (I'm tricky like that, but only in silent auctions.)

I bought the pattern because I knew that someday I would want another.   

Along came the Llama and Silk, the yarn without a pattern (you know where this is going, right?).  Though I tried several things, nothing felt right till I started knitting this pattern's interesting short row shaping that gives it that nudge towards brilliant design.  

Llama Silk is a chunkier yarn than the Malabrigo the pattern is designed for but it has the right touch of softness.  I have no idea how much this is going to affect the finished size, but I have plenty of yarn and I am very willing to play.  

Or I was till I got to the part that says '600 stitches' . The designer seems to be flinging that phrase about rather blithely.  Casually even.  

I was having a really good time till I got to 600 stitches.  

There is one good part.  After the whole 600 stitches fiasco, there are only a very few rows.  Just enough for the ruffle to gain some depth and an appropriately ruffly appearance.  

But still. 

Nicki Epstein and Knitting Block by Block

Nicki Epstein is hanging around our store today.  Well, OK, hardly hanging around.   Working her heart out, actually and everyone, every single person walking out the door has had an absolutely marvelous time in her classes. She is a lovely warm person, with a wonderful laugh.   

But it really made me think about her work, and about all the great designers and knitters, indeed it makes me wonder what they were thinking about when they create.

I'd be willing to hazard a guess that their first thought would be something like, 'neat'.  I like to think that way back in time, when the first knit 2 together was done in the middle of a fabric, and the maker realized that it left a hole and that it kind of looked nice, and that when that knitter decided to do a few more holes in that row, that they would have said something close to that.

I'd bet that the person who figured out how to do a leaf shape in lace, had that same reaction.  (I sure do when I follow the directions to make one)  I'd bet the first person who managed colour work felt the same.

So when I look at the many interesting things Nicki has come up with, when I looked at the her books scattered around the store, I wonder  what happens, what she is thinking as she comes up with such interesting things.

I have always held that we who follow, stand on the shoulders of those who go before us.  It seems only right, particularly now that I have met Nicki, to say, I'll step lightly and thanks for taking the lead.

PS, her most recent book might be titled Knitting Block by Block but there is so much creativity in it, that you will use it in a thousand different ways. 

Multi

I was all over the map yesterday.  

I worked on sleeve 2 of the sweater.  I worked on the body of the sweater.  I worked on the lovely blue yarn.  I worked on some socks.  I finished one project besides that. My housework proceeded in much the same way.  A little of this, a little of that.  

It feels like I did nothing and yet, had I stuck to one thing in either area, significant change would have been seen. Still, all the days work will show up one day when these projects come nearer completion.  

It will feel that I suddenly have completed projects springing to life out of thin air.

Today though, I will be taking it a little easy.  I have a tiny little cut, so small I don't even remember getting it, a paper cut most likely, on the tip of my index finger. It is right where it interferes a little.  I'm going to knit only on socks for today.  I can knit socks western style and avoid it altogether till it heals a little.  A day or two should take care of it.  

I feel a strong desire to go back to bed this morning and I had a good sleep too.  Maybe this is catch up for last week when it felt like I barely slept at all.  

There was much sweater knitting yesterday.  

I knit a lot on the second sleeve, and then decided that I should knit a little on the body for relief.  I find that the small needles in such a tight circle end up being just a little hard on my hands. It was nice to cast on when I had plenty of time to do it right the first time.  And yes I did get it right the first time.  

I knit as much as my hands were going to take but as usual, there was a bunch of day left, so I wound some yarn. It was that lovely blue Llama Silk that I picked up when I was working the other day.  

And then I knit some on it. Nice and relaxed.  Larger needles, but not so large that it felt like broomsticks.  It was lots of fun.  It felt slightly naughty, as if I was breaking a rule.  It's kind of a nice feeling. Might do it again today.

Close

but no cigar.

I did not get away unscathed a third time.  We worked hard, but there still was time to shop a little.  I did't follow anybody's plan.

This is Diamond Yarns Luxury Collection Llama and Silk.  It kind of looks like an ordinary blue, a nice tweedy blue, but this is one of the yarns you have to see to believe.  It is one of those colours that defies photography.  

It is teal but not, turquoise, but not, navy but not.  It has depth and intensity that is hard to define.  It doesn't matter since it is mine. All mine.

I have enough for a nice long wide shallow triangular scarf.  Possibly a Shape It Scarf.  But first...

There is always work going on on the second sweater.  Remix is a seriously fine yarn to work with.  So much so that if I had the room I would buy a full bag in every colour.  Its that rare non wool yarn that might very well do everything well. It's like the Cascade 220 of non wool yarns, but it's tweedy and easy care.  There will be more in my future.

Sleeve one is done and sleeve two is underway.  There has not been much time to knit but  had there been, sleeve two should have been about half done.

Should have been but isn't.  This lovely cuff was about an inch wider than the first cuff and had to be completely reknit.  And when I was comparing first to second sleeve again last night, cuff two is several rows longer than cuff one and a couple inches has to be frogged to fix it.  

I have a ton of work to do today.  Working the last few days put a crimp in the laundry schedule and I am out of bread so I have to bake too.  These are both things that can happen alongside large amounts of knitting and if heaven works in my favour, there will be a significant part of the second sleeve done before I go to sleep tonite. 

And if I get sick of sleeves, I can always start working on the body.  The sleeves require increasing all the way up, so its knitting I have to pay attention to.  The body is just brainless stockinette.

I'm looking forward to brainless.  Brainless knitting is highly underrated.   

Day 2

Again with the no touching of the ArtYarns.

Inconceivable.  

I did come up with one other idea that fits the plan criteria.  I love the Undercurrent sweater from  Knitty First Fall 2011 I have some gorgeous  Noro Silver Thaw that would be just about perfect for it.  All I need is another yarn to coordinate.  There are a couple things at the downtown location that might work, but I didn't even get the chance to think about it.  Oh well.  I'm back there for a few days next week.  Maybe I'll get the chance to figure it out then.  

Now, for tomorrow.  Tomorrow, I am at the southside location.  Southside has some slightly different yarns.   I need another plan.  

All this planning is hard work. Maybe the plan should be to touch some of the Artyarns.  Touching it is the sort of thing I should probably schedule.  Its safer that way.

And in breaking news, Mr. Needles sweater is finally dry!

I was asking him to 'vogue' but I clicked the camera too soon.  He might have been voguing just after this shot, or maybe it was just that he was bent over laughing at the very idea...  

The Plan

Well the plan worked.  

Within a minute of familiarizing myself with where things were in the store, I knew I would not go home with yarn.  They did not have the colour I hoped for.

Within a minute of knowing that, I knew that I wouldn't be able to stick to the plan.  I played with such lovely yarn yesterday.  I spent the morning pricing and sorting and getting the yarns ready for the shelves for both stores.  In the afternoon, I worked with students till 4 pm and then priced to the end of the day.  

When I say to the end of the day, I mean right to the end of the day.  I did not have a single moment to even cruise the store, looking for something interesting, or beguiling or even checking out how much of a particular colour of Remix they had in stock.    

So, I came home with no yarn.  I stuck to my plan through no fault and with no resolve of my own and I kind of regret that.  

I mean, they have Madelinetosh Vintage in stock.  They have a whole bunch of new colours and fiber qualities of Iris Schreier's glorious Artyarns in stock.  I didn't even get to touch any of it. Not even a single squeeze. 

Well I did brush the Art Yarns once in passing, but just once.  Not hardly a real touch at all. Barely a fondle.   

It was most unfair. 

Ice

I'm doing a few shifts at the yarn store the next couple weeks.  Sunday was one of them.  I was feeling weak, so I went with a plan of attack.  

The plan of attack was that if I bought yarn, it had to be pre-planned and it had to work with something I already had in the stash.  It couldn't be a whole project on its own.  So, the thinking began.  What do I need want in my wardrobe that I did not have yarn for, and that I had a reasonable chance of finding in the store on any given day.  And the deal breaker was that if they didn't have exactly what I was looking for, I could not get anything else.  

Ever since finishing Mr. Needles Lichen vest, I have wanted a colourwork vest made with Cascade 220 for me. 

There were a couple of lovely things in Folk Vests, my recent constant companion.  

I checked out a favourite, Scandinavian Star.  I checked Ravelry to see what others had done.  Right there, without looking any farther, I saw perfection.  A lovely blue and white version.  Sigh.  Breathtaking.  

I have a bunch of white Cascade 220 in my stash.  I have the the book and pattern.  All I needed was a nice icy blue.  

Cascade 220 is a fast moving product.  If you see what you want, buy it and buy it now.  It isn't going to be there the next time you go in.   I knew the blues that I didn't want, but was a whole lot less certain of what I wanted.  I wanted really soft blue.  I wanted cool.  Not pastel.

I winned!  Planning worked so well, I think I will do it again.

Perhaps a plain sock yarn?  No.  Too easy.  

..........thinking...thinking...thinking...

Ahhh there it is.  I have a lone ball of Fritidisgarn in a soft oatmeal colour.  I'll use it with some of the Cascade Eco on hand.  A gradient sweater perhaps?  The New Zimmermann book has one that is firing up my imagination.  I don't have quite enough Cascade Eco to get on with, but with the addition of a couple balls of oatmeal, it will be just right.  The price is right on Fritidisgarn too.  Under 5 dollars a ball.  Perfect.  

Here is hoping they have the oatmeal colour I want.   Otherwise I am toast.  

One down

One sweater down.

It doesn't look like much in the picture but lying flat in its, dampish state, it hardly looks like a sweater.

What an adventure knitting it, though.  I followed EZ's design for set in sleeves and knit them simultaneously.  I did adjust a few things.  

EZ worked off percentages, but since I had no idea and could only take a wild guess at the number of stitches before I started working sleeves together, I fudged it.  By the numbers, I think the sleeves and upper body would have been a little too short.  So as usual, I followed what felt right and it worked.

I did have a bit of a stop and consider when I got to the top of the sleeves.  I wasn't sure how I was going to approach that.  Again, I felt that if I followed her instructions implicitly, I would end up with too little room on the shoulders.  I did the knit and attach sleeve caps across the fronts and backs all the way up to where the shoulders needed joining.  When both the fronts and backs were done, I did a three needle bind off.  I considered doing the bind off in the usual way, so the ridge was inside, but I like that little ridgey look.  I did it on the outside.  Easy peasy and it looks great too.  

I kept making the poor fellow try it on.  I wouldn't have needed to do that if I was knitting a gansey.  I'm comfortable with the fit he would need with those big open sleeves, but this, with its closer and more defined fit, left me feeling unsure.  But I think, when you see a picture of him in it, you will agree, it worked out very nice.  

So a very good weekends work.  Better pictures tomorrow.

On to sweater 2.  I'm knitting this one bottom up as well.  The pattern shows raglan sleeves, but I may or may not do that.  I might do this sleeve again, and give Son2 fitted sleeves.  I know the fitted sleeves look great on him, and I am not sure the raglans do.  I suppose it isn't a concern on a big broad shouldered guy but...you know me.  I will worry till it is done.

Fridays File

We are still waiting for my daughter in laws paperwork to go through and its getting so very close.  Her medical stuff is back in Kiev and we are just waiting for the final decision.  If the world works the way it should, she should be here before Christmas.  I'm so excited and thrilled.  

Its hard enough to move cities within the same country, much less leave and come to a place where the language you hear, where the words on the page, where the TV is so very different.  Every facet, every minute of the day will be so very different. 

I wonder at my son's wait, and I wonder at my daughter in law.  My son is working as much as he can so he doesn't think.  My poor daughter in law, my poor sweet girl.  Everything is about the wait.  When she sits in her home, she thinks about packing.  When she sits with friends she thinks about the leaving them.

As you can see, I'm setting myself up to worry for my sweet daughter in law and like all worries, it is energy spent foolishly.  My time is better spent elsewhere...only I don't know where.  Or how. I hate when that happens.  I hate the not knowing what is needed, what will be needed.  I'd much rather know and then do.  I'm better at doing than I am at not knowing. This waiting to know place is almost impossible to bear.

And so I knit. Its the doing part of knitting that makes it mean so much to me.  I can do this and keep occupied.  I can do this and not lose my head.  I can do this and think about everything else other than the waiting.  And so I knit.  

I knit from the minute I get up till my hands give out.  Then I do other stuff.  Yesterday I made a bunch of apple strudel for the freezer and a great huge apple crisp.  When that was done, I made a huge batch of chili, some for dinner and a bunch to freeze.  

I don't know what I will do today.  It might involve housecleaning.  

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

I didn't get a whole lot done yesterday.  A few rows in the morning a few rows at night, and that was it.  Today though, today, my name is knitting.

I intend to move this one forward.  It shouldn't take too long, really.  It is after all down hill from here.  

After knitting a very large part of the sweater without knowing just what kind of sleeves I would do, just what I was doing on the shoulders, I have finally come to a decision.  It will be bottom up, simultaneous set in sleeves with a saddle.  Of course, at this point, the saddle is still negotiable.  That is part of the fun of not following a pattern.  I can change my mind as I go, depending on what I feel like doing the moment I need to start doing it.  Sometimes, it blows up my face, but that is part of the fun of it too.  The adventure of the unknown.

There will be a point today, when my hands are going to give out.  I know that already.  When they do, I am going to be working on this.  

I have had this quilt topper on the go for at least 10 years.  There was no rush on it.  I worked on it in batches of time when I had nothing else to do.  Its the style of quilt topper from when quilting meant sewing the layers together and elaborate patterning in the stitching was the focus as much as the sewing the top together.  I was doing it for the stitching not sewing the topper.  The white squares will eventually have a stitched fan across the corner topped with an elaborate spray of roses.  The stitching on the white squares will be done in soft dusty blue thread.

Or that is the plan.  Its always been the plan.  It stayed as a plan for a very long time.  Till one day last week, when my hands needed a rest from knitting.  I had knit a ton, had wound as much laceweight as I could bear in one sitting, and I still needed to be doing something so I wouldn't drive myself nuts. I dug in the cupboards till I found the quilt top and decided now was the time.  Up till now, only half the squares were sewn together and it is time to move this puppy along.  

At the time I started it, I meant it to be a quilt for my bed, a queen size.  Now I mean it to be for the guest bed, a double.  The half done top was magically a 3/4 done top.  Its plenty large now, so the only sewing left to do is the plain blue borders.  

There has never been a rush to do this, but things change.  There is a sort of rush on it now.  Remember these?

Taking up a lot of room.  It would really be nice to put the 'turn down the furnace, sleep under wool quilt' part of that plan into action.

Looking good.

There is always a place I get to when I am knitting a sweater, where I feel like my nine year old nephew riding on a roller coaster, in the dark, at Disneyworld, screaming "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die' every time we were headed down.  (I was right there behind him.  I thought it sweet of him to say exactly what I was thinking.  It was in the dark.  Big D dark.)

I get that same gaping hole in the pit of the stomach feeling just before it is time to try a sweater on.  What if the fabric looks like trash when it's on him?  What if the yarn won't hold together?  What if I discover an error in the pattern an inch from the bottom? What if it doesn't fit?  

This year the answer  is I would have spent an entire month of my life knitting... badly, that's what.  It would put a real kink in the 3 sweaters before Christmas plan this year.

It's fine.

Math strikes again.  And wins.  Funny that.

If it looks like Mr. Needles is standing there a little stiffly, it is because he is gripping the sweater with his armpits to hold it up and is saying testily 'what's the camera for?

He gets the blog part, but the need for a headless shot of a sweater during a fitting is beyond him. He'd rather have this kind of photo.

So I'll give him one.  After all, he did hold the sweater up rather nicely.