Friday, February 4, 2011

667

The downside of my January finishing spree is that I was left with no projects to work on. Yeah, I cast on for a pair of plain old socks, but plain old socks just don't really satisfy that knitting urge. I had several different sweaters on my to-do list, so I broke out the needles and the yarns and started swatching. Failed to get gauge, or even close to it. Broke out some different yarns and swatched some more. Failed again. The sweaters that I want to knit are similar to Paper Crane in that they are knit in two different directions, which means that both row and stitch gauge are pretty important. No fudging allowed, at least not without some actual math taking place. I'm not averse to doing the math. I like math. I'm teaching my older son math (intensified algebra even), since his teacher isn't quite doing it. But I really wanted to be able to dive into a new project without having to do too much mental gymnastics first.

So I decided to play around with my the laceweight yarn that I had left over from Paper Crane. I knit some swatches with it doubled, to see what kind of gauge and fabric I got. I like. When my swatches are dry, I'll post the results.

This made me remember that I wanted to knit another Paper Crane, but in a pullover version. Yes, I know this just confirms my crazy. But I like the laceweight sweater. It's perfect for those transitional times in Fall and Spring when a full-on sweater is too heavy, but a long-sleeved t-shirt isn't nice enough. So I broke out another skein of laceweight (color: Spinaci) and cast on:


Then I took some pictures of the Annis shawl I made for my friend, now that it's dry and the sun is out:


It's so pretty! And it was a pretty fast and easy project. My grab-it-and-go scarf tore, and I need a new scarf. So...


I cast on one for myself. It's a crappy picture, I know. The yarn is Wollmeise, again, and the colorway is Agatha, the dark version, which is a mix of black, dark blue, and dark red.

Between the shawl and the sweater, I spent the day casting on 667 stitches.

I am crazy.

6 comments:

spider said...

i'm with you on the paper crane. i finished one and bought yarn for another one. i like your idea of a sweater.
i also started on "thursday".
must be crazy too.

Loren T said...

I'm glad to know I'm not alone in Crazyville, spider :)

Tracey said...

I made a beautiful Annis which was fun to knit but was clearly not for me. Fortunately I have a friend who looks fabulous in it! Maybe a different yarn would make it work for me...I like the idea of your darker colors.

So sorry the math teacher isn't teaching. Let me know if you need a pre-lesson lesson!

Loren T said...

Tracey - Annis was definitely a fun knit and it looks so pretty on. I hope you can find a yarn you like for it.

Thanks for the pre-lesson lesson offer :) I'm a big old math geek at heart. Calculus was my favorite class in high school. This whole thing does reinforce my belief that I could never homeschool Sr. Jr. because we butt heads too much. He's not as cheeky and stubborn with his teachers as he is with me.

kippi said...

You are not crazy, just inspired. The Agatha color is gorgeous.

So are you finished with either one yet?

Loren T said...

Well, Kippi, now that you mention it...

Annis goes very quickly and the only reason that it won't be finished today is that it's Monday, and you know what Monday is :)