I’m slowly making progress on this cardigan. The sleeves moved a little faster than I was expecting (maybe because of the lace pattern), but they still took me about a month to knit. This morning I started the raglan shaping. I’m looking forward to finishing this project – nothing against the yarn or pattern, I just really need to move on…

I enjoyed reading your comments on my last post. I think the appeal of Oslo is that it looks modern. Something to knit and wear now with its structural cable and clean lines. I really want to cast on, but I think I’ll break my usual habit of overlapping projects and finish this before starting a new project.

Posted by brooke at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Winding a skein and knitting until I need another allows me to savor the project and amplifies the process of creating a sweater. But my preference for winding yarn as I knit challenged the progress on Ariann last week. I finished the first skein Tuesday. The rest of the week I couldn’t find the time or energy to wind up more yarn so late in the evening. All I wanted to do was to sink into the couch and knit. (A new sock with the ribbing complete connected to approximately 400 yards of yarn was what I reached for each night.)

Ariann waiting for the weekend…

^{natural beauty - occasionally I run into a fleck of straw}

To make up for last week, I wound up three skeins of Beaverslide this morning. A weekend of good knitting ahead…

Posted by brooke at 08:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I’ve been working on Ariann all week and am about to knit the first one row buttonhole. This is my first cardigan and I’ve only knit buttonholes on kids knits using the yarn over method, so I decided to try out a few before placing the first of four 3-st buttonholes on this cardigan.

One Row Buttonhole

1 – Elizabeth Zimmermann’s one row buttonhole from Knitter’s Almanac without turning the work
2 – slipping the stitches knitwise (Hint du Jour by Bonne Marie - Buttonhole Version D)
3 – one row buttonhole, slipping stitches purlwise (video here)

I’m going to use Bonne Marie’s suggested buttonhole since it looks neat and sturdy.

This has been a really satisfying project thus far – the pattern has a really nice rhythm to it and the yarn is knitting up beautifully.

And some lovely scents brightened my week…

handmade soap by Megan…Springtime Lure [Lavendar & Lime]

And I was expecting glorious colors, but wasn’t expecting it to smell lovely too (yes, I sniff yarn!).

sock yarn by Wollmeise

Posted by brooke at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

I swatched once and am ready to swatch again. Enter new yarn slated for Ariann. Beaverslide Dry Goods, natural wool grown in Montana, 2-ply worsted weight in color cottontail. This particular color has more fine kid mohair than the other worsted weight yarns, but the natural color is exactly what I wanted for my Ariann. (BTW, Go check out Kristi’s Ariann-simply stunning.) I’ve never been so excited to swatch!

Posted by brooke at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I really wanted this Cascade Dolce to work for Ariann, but I can’t get gauge so the yarn is off to the stash to hibernate till next year. I’ve been following Cara’s Ariann and I’ve caught the bug. I have some Cascade 220 in gray and coral that would work and will swatch again tomorrow.

I started Eunny’s Anemoi Mittens with this Sundara Yarn and white koigu. Hopefully pics tomorrow of some pretty corrugated ribbing.

Posted by brooke at 11:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)