Return
Hey folks, am back in the US, after an exhausting, but fun-filled holiday. Time to start thinking about new syllabi, students, campus and deal with the million small problems that moving to a new place presents. So far, so good. I have only one major problem to deal with: an electric stove in my kitchen, which so far is resisting any and all attempts on my part to get to know it better, heating up sullenly and burning the bottoms of the pots I place on it. But I am determined to win it over.
Return also to knitting. I’m sick of socks and dpns and don’t want to see another sock for a while. I’m halfway through the second birchleaf sock, but it will keep. I wanted something more substantial than a size 0 to hold in my hands, so I started this:
It’s a swatch for the BPT cabled cardigan from Knitty. Am using the Lapaz yarn I bought from Laura’s in Colorado in June. I wanted to make another Rogue, because I’m really not happy with the one I made, but I think this yarn is too busy and variegated for those intricate Celtic cables. This pattern seems to have the right mix of cables and stockinette. Plus it’s top-down with no finishing, which is always nice!
Problem: gauge. I’m running at 5.5 stitches to the inch on size 4s, and any larger needle size is making the fabric too holey. Need to do some maths to figure out how to get it to fit.
I’m also toying with the idea of doing a button band instead of a zipper. I hate sewing in zippers. In the swatch above, to the left of the cable I tried doing a 5-stitch rib with the knit stitches twisted. Seems to give a firm and defined band that doesn’t pucker, and I’m planning to knit it as I make the cardigan body. Let’s see. I’m not that big a fan of rolled edges, but this one has an I-cord edging, which also promises to be interesting.
Hope everyone’s been having a good summer! I’m just beginning to catch up on my blog reading, and looks like most people have gone nuts with lace! If you haven’t seen it already, you must see Melissa’s Shetland Tea shawl. She has made so many of the Gathering of Lace shawls, all of them gorgeous, but this one is a total stunner.