Optimism

I do get rather annoyed when a project decides, halfway through, that it's not going to work. Even though I know it's something that happens when half my knitting projects are from handspun, or stash that's been there a while - things where I have to use what I have, because I can't get more. And even when I do recognize that it's a grand exercise in problem-solving and creativity.

I want to get the little baby sweater my aunt commissioned done in the next few days, since I can then pass it off to Mom to give to her this weekend. However, I had to restart it yesterday. The back was 3/4 done when it became very obvious that the remaining blue I'm using as the main color would not be enough for the sleeves. Not even half the sleeves. I wondered it I was going to have to choose an entirely different pattern - and I really like the little intarsia stars. But then I realized that I could keep the pattern if I reknit it in stockinette stitch rather than garter, seeing as it takes essentially 2 garter rows to equal one stockinette, in height. It means the cast-on stays the same. The stars are knit with one row rather than 2 per stitch, and aren't quite square anymore (and will need more attention to end weaving, seeing as it's easier to get gaps with only half as many rows and no difference in frequency of color changes), and I had to add a hem to keep the bottom edge from curling. But it will work. Is working. And going faster, so the back is already redone, and one front almost half done. And the extra yarn saved should be enough to take care of the sleeves.

Other things, at least, are progressing. The oatmeal alpaca I had on the wheel this week is done and plied, for a total of 340 yards.

And not only are my crocuses out, but there are scylla and miniature daffodils. Cheerful and pretty and exciting.

Soon, by the looks of it, there will be more things too, with buds in the wood hyacinths and the pulmonaria and some of the big daffodils. Someone needs to reschedule Tulipfest, because at this rate they'll be out weeks early.

On the Knitting Front

I finished my challenge shawl Thursday night, and blocked it. Surprise, surprise, when I went to pin it out, I found that although I had been aiming for a triangle, it wasn't quite.

Still, it's pretty, with a soft, lofty, shiny texture, and the angled shape may be better, given that it isn't huge - blocked size is 48" across and 21" deep. When I write up and retest it, I want to make a larger version, and one with a slightly deeper border. Both things were limited by having only 500m of the yarn available, and I cut it so close that the remaining bit of yarn wouldn't be enough for even one row extra. I did the border separately and sewed it on as I didn't want to have to tink back on the shawl body if something went wrong. I seamed it a bit differently than the cria shawl, and I like the way the join looks, like an ornamental braid. I think the shawl will end up being named Swanhilda. Deb said it looks like bat wings, which is true, but I can't call something white and fuzzy by a bat/vampire name.

Now the primary project (and I want to finish this week) is the baby sweater. The two fronts are done and the back is in progress. Being handspun also, and leftovers from my sweater, I am crossing my fingers for there to be enough yarn. I could always make the sleeves in stripes if needed, but it would look better in the blue.

I would like to record here that my first crocuses opened today. In Ottawa. And it's 20 degrees C out. I'm beginning to suspect we must have skipped January, and this is really mid-April instead of March. Mom has snowdrops, and there were roses which lasted until December, so that is 2 months only with no flowers this year. At this rate, the Canadian climate is going to cease being useful to show how tough we are.

I See A New Star...

Deliberate misquote there. The original is from a song in 'The Band Wagon' which starts 'I see a new sun, up in a new sky...'  However, since my newest project has a pattern more like a star than a sun, that's how it came out in my head.
I started the baby sweater my aunt commissioned yesterday. The getting started took a while. I had earmarked a skein of grey handspun for the base color, but swatching told me it was too thick - not even close enough for me to knit a small size and end up with the large one I wanted. So then the question was, could I find something in a reasonable weight where I had enough of one color for the sweater AND several other colors for the stars? After swatching and rejecting a few other things and rummaging through the stash, I found the leftover handspun, 2 1/2 skeins, from my February Fitted Pullover.

It's close enough gaugewise to use. I'm knitting the 0-3 month size for width and aiming for the 6-9 month dimensions. The blue/gray indigo and logwood mix means it'll be good whether the baby is a boy or a girl, and I have plenty of natural-dyed handspun I can use for the stars. Now fingers crossed it'll be enough yarn.

I was a leetle nervous about the stars, being as it is my first crack at intarsia. But by George, I think I've got it. Wool handspun is nice and grippy, so I think that helped, and the first star came out quite nicely.

There were a couple rows in there where I had 9 different strands of yarn going, and half of them were only needed for one stitch. I managed it without getting into an irretrievable tangle, happily. But weaving in ends is going to be fun.

It's quite amazing to think, after having tried it, that the original use for these patterns was for shoe insoles! Think of that. People who probably didn't have an excessive amount of free time, spent some of it doing intarsia with all these strands, for a finished product that went inside your shoe. I am in awe - and very happy my work will likely be more visible.