Obsessed with waffling!

I have been knitting on Thermal like a woman possessed.

I love the waffle stitch. It goes quickly, and I don’t have to pay too much attention! Another plus of knitting the pattern flat – absolutely no rows that are all purl stitches! I’ve added 3 more pattern repeats since this photo (most of my students were sick and didn’t come tonight!) I’m knitting mine smaller than the pattern calls for, because my swatch grew substantially. I’m also planning on 3/4 length sleeves, because I have loved the Thermals I’ve seen with that mod!

Every time I consider making a sweater with skinny yarn I get freaked out, but once I get past the first two inches it always seems to fly.

I got a WEBs order today that contained their new fall yarns, Williamstown and Sheffield.

Both yarns are very soft, and I will swatch them soon to let you all know how they feel! I’m planning on using the Williamstown to make the Drops swing jacket, and the Sheffield for the Sweaterbabe cardigan I’ve mentioned several times. For a yarn with angora in it, it isn’t too hairy feeling in the skein.

I typed in a URL for the IK Winter preview, and to my surprise the new preview came up – I didn’t know we were only a few weeks away from the magazine coming out! Go here for the preview, but keep in mind they may still be working on it… it isn’t linked from the front page yet.

At first glance I am likely to make two projects – Ann Budd’s Refined Aran Jacket (although the small is probably too big for me so I don’t know), and Miriam Felton’s Logan River wrap, which has an interesting drop stitch/cable combo, and is knit in Kathmandu Aran – how I would love to have a snuggley tweedy wrap for winter! There are others that look interesting, but I will need to see them up close.

It was cold and rainy today, so I got to wear my Tree Jacket out of the house for the first time. I still just adore that sweater, which does not make me feel in the least self conscious that I’m wearing a handknit sweater! I think I have more knits in this category, but I still have a few that make me self conscious. For instance, I wore my Jess Jacket last Wednesday, but it just reminded me that I need to fix the crazy wonky collar, and that I had no clue what I was doing with seaming when I made it. Still, those sweaters are in the minority.

It’s also handknit sock season at last. My feet are always so cold, I really do appreciate them! I find that I have a hard time getting my socks small enough – 60 stitches seem small enough at first, but they always stretch so much when I wear them. And I don’t have terribly narrow feet, just super skinny ankles and calves, so anything smaller is hard to get on. I also get a fair amount of heel felting in most socks, but I figure that is inevitable – I treat them pretty well (no machine washing) but they get a lot of wear!