Knitting News

I made great progress on the Feather and Fan Cardigan last November. I finished the right upper bodice at Thanksgiving but then put the project aside in order to finish the Maltese Shawl for my DIL. Now picking up the cardigan again, I am finding it hard to get back into it. I usually take notes when I knit, especially when there are two of something to knit that have to be exactly alike. But I guess I wasn't as careful this time, or I was in too much of a hurry when I started the left upper bodice. I ended up ripping it out at least three times before I got things right. Well, almost right. I was still one stitch off with my sleeve increases on the front side, but I came out with the right number of stitches at the shoulder. Hopefully, when the seams are stitched up, no one will be able to tell. But you never know which mistakes will show and which will remain forever hidden. When the left upper bodice is done, the lower bodice will be knitted down in plain stockinette stitch. Here is a photo of what it should look like when finished.

Rowan has come out with a new magazine. I really love their styles although there are a lot of them I would never wear. I currently have three Rowan projects that are started but not finished—the Helon Dress, Anya, and Glade. The Helon Dress came to a stop because of sizing problems. As Grace over at Bad Mom, Good Mom related, getting the size right is the hardest part of knitting. I would have thought that having a sewing dummy would help, but apparently not. Sometimes as soon as you cast on, the die is cast so to speak. The size is set and there's nothing you can do to change it. That's the case with the Helon Dress.

The magazine was on sale at Sakonnet Purls (I think the sale is over now). Yarn was on sale, too, and they got me with the free shipping offer for orders over a certain amount. So I decided to buy some yarn while I was at it, but I didn't have any projects in mind. When I saw this luscious yarn by Knit One, Crochet Too, I was hooked. As you can see from the label, it is a handpainted yarn called Ambrosia, 70% baby alpaca, 20% silk, and 10% cashmere, color lavender cream. I bought six hanks, enough to make a tank top or short-sleeved top. When the yarn arrived, I was delighted with it and spent many hours searching through my pattern books for just the right project to knit with it. The current choice is another CEY Make it Modern pattern called Girl Tank, but I may change my mind. The yarn is so special, it needs special treatment and I just know I am going to love working with it.