Stash triumph!

I have been coveting the Dashing Diamond Pullover ever since the fall issue of Cast On came out. However, I was trying to prioritize sweaters which could be knit from stash, so I hadn't ordered the Softwist Bulky for it. But then I was digging in the Yarn Room one morning and I ran across the bags of Classic Elite Follies I had acquired some time ago from elann.com, and I got to thinking. The suggested gauge for Follies is 18 stitches/4", whereas Softwist Bulky is labeled at 16 stitches/4". However, Follies is a rayon/alpaca blend, and Softwist Bulky is a rayon/wool blend, hence they ought to have somewhat similar draping qualities; and they're both around 65-70 yards per 50 gram ball. So I looked at the Dashing Diamond instructions again, and lo and behold, it calls for knitting at 17 stitches/4". I gave it a go, and I got gauge. Now I have a front and a back and half a sleeve.

Because this design is by Norah Gaughan, who I worship and adore, I have not felt a need to make many changes. I used short rows to give it a slightly shirt-tailed hem, and I'm tremendously pleased with how that turned out. I changed the decrease technique at the V-neck to emphasize the knit stitches which are an extension of the cables, and because I have no fear of Wrong-Side Decreases, I decreased every three rows instead of alternating two and four as specified. Oh, and one last thing: I used a few short rows to make the neckband extensions turn a little more gracefully. I think maybe I should have lowered the center back neck with short rows also, but I don't think I'm going to reknit it.

I was teaching my beginner crochet class at River Wools when who should appear but Christy Renshaw, the soon-to-be-famous designer, speed knitter and handknitter extraordinaire. Christy amazed me by telling me that she looked at my blog. (I have a blog?!?!?) She also pointed out that I don't have an email link on said blog. So, as a temporary measure until I can schedule a Hack-the-Template Day:

Email Me.

I'm coming to the end of the West Side Raglan. Er, at least it started out as a West Side Raglan. I'm working in a different gauge; I used rolled hems instead of the slip-stitch rib; I added A-line side shaping; I changed the decrease style; I altered the raglan shaping; I raised the back neck with short rows; and I'm going to put a funnel neck on it. So, basically, what it has in common with the WSR is that they are both raglans. Anyway, it's all slip-stitch-basted together and I just have to sew the raglan seams properly and add the funnel neck.

I can't decide which I want more desperately: Reynolds Cabaret to knit the Norah Gaughan raglan from the spring IK, or Reynolds Odyssey to knit a Hippy Chic pullover.

I'm knitting madly back and forth in stockinette, of all things. I bought fifteen skeins of Berroco Uxbridge Tweed, #1171 Marionberry, thinking I was going to knit the heavily cabled-and-bobbled Maine. But when I swatched, I decided I didn't want a cabled sweater that hefty, and I'm making a West Side Raglan instead. I'm adding subtle A-line shaping and possibly a funnel neck.

The Uxbridge Tweed is a sad story of a lost opportunity to save money. It went up at elann.com right around the time I went to Stitches Midwest, so I didn't buy it. A couple of weeks later, I discovered that UT had been discontinued by Berroco (guess that's why elann.com had it–DUH). So I went on a mad internet hunt for it and had to pay $4.95 a ball for it, which is actually a little higher than full retail.

Meanwhile, I've completely finished the Debbie Bliss Hooded Aran Cardigan, and after a marathon week with a crochet hook, I am about a dozen ends away from having a fabulously bobbled crocheted off-white coat (Fall 2003 FCEK).

I have been a Busy Kitty. Not only did I buckle down and get a Real Job, I finished a sweater! I knit Trish in eight days, start to finish. And that INCLUDES weaving in the ends. I accomplished this by following sage advice from Hope: I started a project where I really, desperately, wanted to have the finished object. And I have certainly enjoyed wearing it. Maddeningly, it is already starting to get a little large on me. But hey, I had enough yarn left over to knit it again, and I probably will next spring. I think I can duplicate the little changes in shaping that I added (it was a straight-sided tee, which never flatters me, so I "fixed" it).

Now I am cranking right along on the Debbie Bliss Hooded Aran Pullover. Luckily, I got the Real Job before the Cotton Denim Aran yarn went up at elann.com, plus I had a chunk of store credit from a return some months ago. I dawdled and didn't buy it until mid-afternoon the day it went for sale, and the medium blue shade I was going to get had sold out already, so I'm knitting it in the lightest blue; but actually, I think I'm happier with the light blue than I would have been with the medium. I've knit both sleeves and most of the back. Again, I really want to have the finished sweater by the time it gets cool.

Oh, and in case I wasn't busy enough, I joined a rock band. All together now, everybody: "You did WHAT?"

I'm thinking of coming out of my latest Big Black Funk. It started when I discovered that ThreadBear is moving to MICHIGAN. Then a few days later, CH and I sat down and did a real honest-to-goodness budget and discovered that I cannot make any more major yarn purchases for the next twenty years. I would like to blame this on the fact that our car insurance just doubled, no doubt due to our Misadventures in Driving over the last couple of years. However, that is really only the last straw after years of poor spending habits and chronic inattention to the state of our finances. So, I am looking for a Real Job to pay down the credit cards and free up some yarn money.

Meanwhile, I have started teaching my crochet class at River Wools and it is Big Fun. This week I am writing a scarf pattern with a simple lacy diamond insertion to teach my students how to read a pattern. I will post it here when I'm finished. CH has agreed to test-stitch it, bless his fuzzy little heart.