A Sweater and Snow

I figured out the trick to making progress on this sweater, and it turns out I just have to actually knit it. Wild, I know, but it's amazing how much more body I have since I've been actively working on this again. I'm about halfway through the lower body increases, and it's really starting to look like a functional garment. I don't think I'm going to finish this by the time the Wayward KAL ends on February 28th, since I still have both sleeves to go, but that's all right—there's still plenty of winter left to enjoy this once it's done!

It's been a pretty quiet week here. I went to my mum's last night for dinner—ranch chicken, baked potatoes, and spinach and mushrooms—and then overnight we got a bunch of snow. The snow is currently deeper than the tops of my boots, and my jeans are soaked right now.

I'm currently feeling a little bit overwhelmed by my current WIPs. I have a bunch of things on the needles that I'd like to finish, and I'm currently juggling three or four pattern samples, and it just all feels like a lot. I think I might take the next couple of weeks to just buckle down and get some things finished, but we'll see what happens.

Jeri

I love easy-to-wear cardigans in simple shapes, and Jeri fits the bill exactly. Featuring a boxy, textured body with fitted sleeves, Jeri is equal parts classic and modern and is easy to wear as well as enjoyable to knit.

Jeri is worked seamlessly from the top-down with long fitted drop sleeves. The texture pattern on the body is an easily-memorized two-row repeat.

Jeri is intended to be worn with 4-8in/10-20cm positive ease and is shown in size 50in/127cm on a model with a 43in/109cm bust.

Sizes: 30.25 (34.75, 40.75, 45.25, 46.75, 52.75, 54.25, 58.75, 64.75, 66.25, 70.75, 76.75)in/77 (88.5, 103.5, 115, 118.5, 134, 138, 140, 164.5, 168.5, 179.5, 195)cm at bust, to be worn with 4-8in/10-20cm of positive ease

Requires: 840 (925, 1010, 1095, 1180, 1260, 1345, 1430, 1515, 1600, 1765)yds/768 (846, 924, 1002, 1079, 1152, 1230, 1308, 1386, 1463, 1536, 1614)m worsted-weight yarn

Jeri is 20% off on Ravelry through Thursday, February 21st!

The Year of Breakthroughs

Maybe this year is the year for breakthroughs on longstanding design ideas, because they just keep coming. I've had this yarn for a few years, and I knew I wanted to design a shawl with it, and I knew what I wanted the shawl to feel like, but I never quite got it there. I even cast on for it two different times, but neither was quite right, and then a few weeks ago, it all came together.

I'm really enjoying knitting this shawl so far—I've only just started the lace pattern, and I'm really excited to see it grow. I admit, it feels kind of weird to be juggling this with my other current shawl sample, but they're pretty different from one another, and for now I'm okay switching between the two.

This weekend we're supposed to get snow, so I'm going to hole up in my apartment and put the finishing touches on my new cardigan pattern and get pattern photos taken. The pattern will be going live the beginning of next week, so stay tuned for that. My big, exciting not-work plan for this weekend is to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy, since it's been a few months since I last did that, and I have a cowl that I've been knitting for a while now that's almost finished and that I'd like to get off the needles while it's still winter.

All Sweaters, All the Time

Happy Monday, kittens! I hope you all had a good weekend. Saturday was mostly a lazy day for me so I'd be full of energy for the talent show. The show went really well—all the acts did a great job, and we had a fantastic turnout. Yesterday I went over to my mum's house to give both the dogs baths, and I'm sure they're still upset with me. Poor Abby has so much fur, she takes forever to rinse out, and Mystic has never liked baths.

I managed to get quite a bit knit on my current sweater sample. I have another couple of inches on the second sleeve, and I'm hoping to finish the knitting and get it blocked tonight. The pattern is currently with my tech editor, and it'll be going up on Ravelry next week.

Since that sweater is almost done, I finally feel good about letting myself focus entirely on my Wayward KAL sweater again! I'm pretty much at the same point in this project as I was last week, and I'm really looking forward to making some real progress on it again.

Linking up with Crafting On

Long Weeks and Small Progress

This week already feels so long, and it's only Wednesday morning! Fittings at the dance studio have been going well so far, but I still have a pile of glitter-shedding tutus in my studio to take in. Tonight's my one night off this week, so I'm planning on playing hooky from choir practice and staying in. I'm looking forward to eating dinner at a real table for a change, and maybe I'll throw on Netflix or a podcast. Or maybe I'll lay in bed and read. The possibilities are endless.

I'm afraid I haven't been working on my Old Harry for the Wayward KAL as much as I'd like to have been. I'm almost done with the waist decreases now, and hopefully I can get a few more body rounds banged out this week. I don't know if I'll actually be able to finish this sweater this month, but there's still three weeks, and it's a pretty small sweater.

Staying Warm and Busy

Oh, gosh, I've missed you all! Last week ended up going a bit off the rails, with the polar vortex (The university closed! For two whole days!!), and I just never managed to sit down and write to you all.

I spent a lot of time reading and working on this sweater sample, and I'm very pleased with my progress. I have two inches and the cuff left on the first sleeve, and then I'll just have the second sleeve to go. (I have this nifty trick where I knit the buttonband as soon as I bind off the body, so that way when the sleeves are done, so am I.) I got most of the pattern written on Saturday, and I'm hoping to be able to send it to my tech editor this weekend.

This week is going to be pretty busy: we were going to fit costumes at the dance studio last week, but then we ended up closing due to the cold, so today and tomorrow after I get done at the library I'll be heading straight over to the studio. I'm also participating in a talent show this weekend, and we have a run-through for that on Friday.

Linking up with Crafting On

New Pattern: The Poet Dreams of the Mountain

I don't remember the first time I read Mary Oliver. She's one of those poets that, for me, feels like she's always been present in my life. I do remember rediscovering her several years ago: finding one of her books on the library shelves as I scoured the poetry section, remembering that there was something familiar and beautiful about her work, and taking the book home.

I devoured it in one sitting.

Mary was one of the first poets I turned to when I decided to start writing seriously a few years ago, but it turns out she's been more of an influence in other parts of my life. Notice beauty. Embrace simplicity. Walk gently. Take the time to be still. 

Growing up, I spent part of every summer in the mountains. They are a second home for me, and reading Mary's words about the mountains feels like being back on granite ledges, shaded by pines and gazing out across toward Imp Face. 

“The Poet Dreams of the Mountain” by Mary Oliver

Sometimes I grow weary of the days with all their fits and starts. 

I want to climb some old grey mountain, slowly taking 

The rest of my life to do it, resting often, sleeping 

Under the pines or, above them, on the unclothed rocks. 

I want to see how many stars are still in the sky 

That we have smothered for years now, forgiving it all, 

And peaceful, knowing the last thing there is to know. 

All that urgency! Not what the earth is about! 

How silent the trees, their poetry being of themselves only. 

I want to take slow steps, and think appropriate thoughts. 

In ten thousand years, maybe, a piece of the mountain will fall.

The Poet Dreams of the Mountain is worked sideways in 1x1 rib and a ribbed lace pattern. Knit in bulky-weight yarn, this shawl knits up quick, so you have time to get back outside to the mountains, the plains, or even just the dog park.

Lace pattern is both charted and written out.

The Poet Dreams of the Mountain is now available on Ravelry, and is 20% off through Wednesday, January 30th. 

Breakthroughs

Sometimes, designing feels easy. Last week I conceptualized, knit, and wrote a pattern in four days. This was an outlier, and will almost certainly never be repeated.

On Wednesday, I made a breakthrough on a shawl concept I've been working on for over two years. Certainly, most of my patterns don't take me quite this long to figure out, but I've been struggling with this one for a long time, and I was really worried that I'd never figure out the right way to turn this idea in my head into an actual, tangible object.

It's moments like this when I really love designing. I love puzzles, and this feels like finally figuring out a particularly challenging one, and it's so satisfying.

Plus, it doesn't hurt that this means I finally get to knit up this super dreamy yarn.

Most of a Body

I got so much knitting done on this sweater sample over the weekend. I'd wanted to get to the bottom ribbing, and I'm still an inch and a half away from that, but I still powered through it. Of course, it helped that I had a three-day weekend, and that I was home sick yesterday coming down from a bit of overnight hyperglycemia, but I still feel like a knitting CHAMP.

My hope is to bind off the body by the weekend. My brother has a show choir competition on Saturday, and I think I'd like to bring the Linney that was supposed to be my NaKniSweMo project, before it got set aside so I could reknit Delwyn. Right now, Linney is only a couple inches of ribbing, so it's nice and portable and should be easy to work on in the auditorium.

Over the weekend I finished both The Nordic Theory of Everything and Get Well Soon. I've started Miracle Cure and Finding Sisu, and I'm really enjoying both of them right now. I still have quite the stack of library books in my apartment, but hopefully I can keep chipping away at it and get my to-be-read pile down to a more manageable level!

Linking up with Crafting On

Weekend Planning

For some reason this week has been exhausting, and I'm really looking forward to having a three-day weekend. Tonight I'm going to my mum's, and I'll help her with a pair of mittens she's knitting and a quilt she's sewing, and I'll snuggle the dogs, and we'll eat pizza, and it will be delightful.

I've been wanting to go on a nature walk for a while now, and I'm kicking myself for not going last weekend when it was gorgeous out. This weekend is supposed to get well below zero and we're supposed to get snow as well, so I'm planning on putting in some movies and hunkering down with warm beverages and knits. I'm well into the leg of my first Ex Nine sock now, and I have the pattern memorized, so it's easy to pick up and put down in small moments I find throughout the day. I'm really loving how these are knitting up so far, and it will be great to add a new pair of socks to my drawer.

I'm still about halfway through The Nordic Theory of Everything, but I haven't touched it the last couple days. The chapter on healthcare was really upsetting and stressful to read, but I still want to finish this book. Hopefully I can power through it one evening this weekend. I've also picked up Get Well Soon this week, which is a delightfully fun book about the history of different diseases, and it's been just the right thing to balance out reading about how many Americans go bankrupt because of medical bills.