Status Report

In the early days of my corporate life, writing status reports was an ongoing activity. The habit stuck with me so that I tend to think in terms of the status of things whenever things get busy and boy are things busy right now so...

Tangled Yoke - I'm having a bit of a block about this - my goal last month was to have it ready to wear to the first DKC (Downtown Knit Collective) meeting of the year tonight. Apparently moving it to various locations in the cottage in the hopes of piquing my interest at some point didn't work. I haven't knit a single stitch on it and I left it up north so there won't be any progress on it this week either.

Fair Isle Cardigan - With both sleeves finished last night I did the ribbing for the body and got it onto a circular needle with extra stitches organized for the steek.

I am very proud of this wee baby steek (my first!) there between the markers. I have read so many blog posts about cutting a steek I didn't recognize the amount of planning for one from the time you cast on. I understand now that I've done it. I opted to add two stitches between the purls either side of the steek in the pattern to give myself a bit more room to play around. I may well come to see this wasn't good idea but at least then I will have learned from the experience.

So now with steek established I've started into the first pattern. The huge mass of yarn and variety of needles sizes/lengths of circs (I'm using gauge and the A line shape to tweak the fit.) makes this a very messy project quite unsuitable for moving - even from one place to another in the house. :(

Merino Lace Socks - these were my leave at home project this summer - I've knit four rows on them - I guess that tells the tale of how much time I spent at home.

Berrocco Socks - I love the yarn in the ball but the obvious striping/colour and especially the random freckles of dark colour in the grey sections are not making me happy in sock format. (I did try this yarn for a scarf from VK Summer '09 but fully HALF the pattern was missing in the magazine - there's errata and then there's just ridiculous - I decided to bail on that project.) The feel of this yarn knit up is very reminiscent of something nasty and artificial. I'll finish them as a car/take along project. I will wear them even though I won't love them and I'm keen to make room in the stash.

Swatching - Ms Zimmerman's words are haunting me and making my knitting mind spin off in a million directions. Ms. Modesitt's words are enabling me to imagine any number of embellishments I might incorporate into Zimmermanesque projects. I'm channelling this into swatches and scheming to buy yarn to enable all this. 'Good thing I couldn't go to the KW Knitter's Fair - imagine the trouble I might have got myself into there!

I'm looking forward to the DKC meeting tonight - if you're in the Toronto area you should really consider going. Its a big room with more than a hundred knitters with a presentation by local yarn companies and distributors about the new yarns for autumn and winter 2009. I found DKC meetings to be much easier, more comfortable to drop in at than any LYS knit night/class or event I've ever attended. Here's a link to the info.

Thanks for dropping by today!