Even more patterns

I don’t know what my deal is lately with my knitting.  I’m knitting plenty, but I seem to be totally unable to finish anything.  I think this may be attributed partly to my distraction with the house (this week I am doing the foyer and removing even more wallpaper.)  The rest is probably because we seem to have had an unusually hot summer, with far too many days where the temperature hovers around 100 degrees.  Yesterday I turned to Marc and said “We should move to Minneapolis.  I could wear more sweaters there.”  (note: we aren’t actually moving) And I used to hate winter – crazy what knitting does to you!  It makes it too hot to even wear summer sweaters, so I haven’t made too many this year.  As a matter of fact, as of today I am announcing that I am beginning my fall knitting.  Never mind that summer lingers to November here, I am going into denial and knitting some nice cabled jackets.  Wish me luck!

The first part of this plan involves shelving tempest for the time being.  It’s a nice sweater, but my row gauge is too big, causing me to have to redo the shaping, and I think I might run out of yarn.  I’m also not sure I would actually wear it.  It was, however, a nice distraction during the moving – and while the stockinette is mind numbing now, it was fun for awhile.  If I stop now, I can still make nice socks with the yarn I have, before it is all cut into tiny pieces for the stripes.

With that out of the way (I try to let myself quit a sweater without shame, but it’s hard!) I’m going to start Honey, from Nectar by Kim Hargreaves.

It’s made of all seasons cotton (frogged from Manon) and will make a great fall jacket.  I want to make something from Nectar before I am allowed to get the two new books Kim is releasing this fall.  Joy was a sad failure (well, it was pretty, but the lack of charts doomed it for me.)

The Fall Vogue Knitting is here now, and I am so pleased at the magazine – I hope this is the direction it is going now, still fashionable, but away from the crazy.  I have only bought 1 of their last 5 issues, do you know how crazy that is for me?  I will buy anything with knitting in the title!  Anyway, I am strangely obsessed with this sweater:

I cannot guarantee that I will make it, but I love the shape and the slight dolman sleeves.  I think it would be great in a solid color too.  Other sweaters I love:

Both of these suffer from unfortunate belting, but I am assured by the ravelry page for the first (by Veronik Avery) that it is not shapeless.  I have a bag of Valley Yarns Williamstown that may become this sweater.  The second sweater is by Elsbeth Lavold – I can’t think the last time I saw one of her designs in a magazine.  Again, the photo is terrible, but I like the cable and it appears to be a cozy winter jacket.  Love the collar too. I will have to carefully examine this one.  There are a few other nice sweaters in the issue, it’s definitely a keeper!

Other new releases I love: Linden by Veronik Avery, and this hoodie from Chic Knits.  I think it looks very much like a sweater from one of my 1960s books, which I love, and it also reminds me that I promised I would knit a vintage sweater this winter.  I have several good candidates, and my books are now unpacked and in the built in shelves in the parlor!

Funny that I am longing for cozy cabled jackets in the heat of August!  I’m also excited for several knitting/crochet books coming out soon, too many to list (dear condo: please sell soon so that I can afford the truck of yarn I will need to knit with this fall!)