It's the Little Things That Get You

I have been trying to get a fair amount of knitting done. I have finished the ashes-of-roses shawl though it still needs to be blocked. It's five feet long and took five skeins, so I still have one left to make something else for the Divine Adrienne. I'll post a picture of it when that has happened.

Right now I've got two, count 'em, two honey cowls on the needles, even as we speak. Or write. Or type. Whatever. I really like the way these knit up quickly, and the pattern is enough to keep me interested and relaxed. With a knitted row, and a patterned row alternating, I can keep knitting at these til my legs get tired (not that I knit with my legs, or even my feet, but I tend to sit in a tailor position on the bed whilst knitting, and the arthritis in my right knee means every now and then I have to straighten my leg out; if I'm knitting whilst sitting on a chair, this isn't usually an issue). It's a good thing that these knit up so fast, because my plan is to make six of them. Knit in Tosh DK, below are the cowls in the Cove colourway and the Burnished colourway, respectively.

Cove Honey Cowl

Detail, Cove Honey Cowl. I love the bits of aqua blue in this colourway.

The Burnished Honey Cowl. It really does look like burnished bronze.

I also cast on a sweater last night, because I don't have enough to do. But since the back will be all stockinette, all the time, I don't have to worry about thinking about it until I bind of for the arm holes (three stitches, each side). The front will have a cable, but even that is not onerous. Since this is a sweater for a very tall man, it's going to be miles and miles of stockinette. Oh, and even though my friend Bee would pitch a fit and probably deck me, I'm going to live dangerously and not knit a gauge swatch! Why? Because I've made this sweater four times already, and have always gotten gauge.*

At some point I need to get back on track with the two Milanese Loop cowls I've got going. I'm at the point on the blue one (Betty Draper's Blues, Tosh Vintage) that the pattern is beginning to show up and one can see how pretty the lace is. One cannot tell from the picture on the printed pattern because it's just a drape of knitted yarn around some model's neck, and the delightful detail is completely impossible to see. Really, what are these photographers thinking when they take pictures of a finished object?

Honestly, the more I knit, the behinder I get.

*OK, maybe I will knit a swatch for the sweater. Because I'm using different needles than is my wont, and it might, just might, a teensy bit, affect my gauge. I just want you to know that I am not going to enjoy knitting that swatch, no, not for a single instant, and that I'm going to resent the hell out of it. Because it's the little things that get you when you're not paying attention.§


§This was a song by Jim Infantino, a local Boston folk singer, and performed by his band, Jim's Big Ego