No… it’s pretty warm outside. But it’s coming – and so I’m starting some winter accessory projects! First up is my very own one row scarf. I cast on 30 stitches for a nice snuggley scarf, but not as wide as the one I made for Marc last year.
Yarn is Malabrigo in Paris Night – so soft and lovely! This pattern is a wee bit tedious, but it’s great purse knitting (if you have a giant purse like me!)
I’m also making Brooklyn Tweed’s Druide Mittens, from the Fall Vogue (I know, 2 projects from Vogue, crazy!)
Yarn is Harrisville New England Shetland. I’m using size 1 needles – somehow glove and mitten patterns always call for size 3, and there is never any way that would work for me. This is actually a little bigger than gauge, but I have giant pianist hands, so I need a bigger size (I have to buy men’s gloves…) The pattern is fun, but it looks involving… I’m planning to concentrate hard on these this week!
Finally, I started a new sweater.
This is the Minimalist Cardigan from last Fall’s IK in Valley Yarns Colrain. I love the combo of color and texture, and so far the moss stitch is not bad. I’m knitting at a tighter gauge to achieve a size 32″ bust, and I’m thinking about messing with the sleeve pattern a bit. I’m not going to focus on this just yet – right now I am enamoured of my mittens!
I did swatch for a few things, for instance Tess in Cascade Revolution.
The ball band states 2 st/in, but I am not able to get that… this is 2.5 st/in on size 15 needles. I will not make this sweater until I can get larger circular needles – I do not knit with straight needles anyway, and these are like tree trunks!
I tried to wind some Malabrigo Silky merino, but all my skeins are epically tangled in the skein. Is this a common problem? It’s going to take hours to fix, and right now I don’t have the patience.
Seriously, this is the worst yarn I’ve ever seen for tangles, and it’s all kinky as well. I wonder if I got a bad batch? The yarn is lovely, but it seems like a lot of trouble.
Thanks for all the compliments on Old Penny (Sarah Jane says thanks too for all the love!) I really love the sweater, and I can’t wait for the weather to get cold enough to wear it!
Green apples - Stitchywitch Creates 
i love all the yarn colors that you picked out…you are such a fast knitter, and your sweaters always make me want to try to knit a sweater…but i’m not sure if i’m ready for such a task.
i just bought some of the paris nights. i love the color. too bad malabrigo pills so bad because that would make a great sweater…..
That skein of the silky does look really wonky to me — what a nuisance.
The purple Malabrigo is so beautiful. I have never seen that colorway before, but it will make a lovely scarf. I had a skein of Schafer yarn that was in a horrible state like your silky merino, and it took me HOURS to untangle it. I almost gave up, but now it is turning into a mighty fine lace scarf. I guess it was worth the effort 😉
I do think you’ve got a bad batch of Silky Merino – I’ve tried a couple of different colorways with no problems. Looking forward to seeing your mittens!
yum. the orange is my favorite. hope it works up quickly for you, i can’t wait to see it completed!
Wow, you are so productive!!
yes, i had the same problem with my malabrigo silky merino. Yours actually looks like the same color as mine. It took me 2 days of winding by hand for a an hour or so, but it really is worth it. I made a lovely lacey scarf as a gift for my son’s teacher and the lace pattern was really nice with this yarn.
Your knitting is so beautiful. I wish I had a the guts to try a sweater again, but my first one was just ugh. Fun to knit but I knew and understood nothing about sizing it correctly. You do an amazing job. thanks for sharing.
HMM I don’t know what’s up with your silky Malabrigo. I just wound 7 skeins for a sweater, and had a little trouble at first-it wants to stick to itself, but once I got it going it was ok…
Paris nights! Paris nights! ::sigh:: I may have to add some of that to the stash just because of the name. Ah, nights in lovely, lovely Paris…
I’m still admiring your Old Penny Cardigan. Could you tell me the color number or name you used? When I looked up the yarn on line the green I found wasn’t nearly as nice as the green in your photos.
You’ve certainly got some knitting mojo going on! 🙂 I love the look of the Minimalist cardi, I bet it’ll be beautiful.
And Old Penny is so pretty on you, too – I love that shade of green! I’ve always felt a bit nervous about using pins to close cardigans.. What if a stitch snaps or pulled totally out of shape, that kind of stuff. It probably depends on the pin… 😉