Does anyone else find it hard to admit that a project is just not working out for some reason?  I’m trying really hard to get better, but I must confess that I feel guilty when I lay something down for good.  So what I said Sunday, about how I was going to make it through the Silken Scabbard?  Yeah, forget that.  I just really hate the way the pattern is written, I didn’t like the yarn I was using, and knitting an entire tunic from DK weight yarn in one piece just makes me feel like I’m not getting anywhere.

Guilt free, right?  Maybe not, but I will try to move on!  I started a new sweater instead, as the yarn for my baby cables sweater is not here yet (I chose the brown, thanks for your votes!)  This is Polly, from Thrown Together by Kim Hargreaves (I swear, I should get paid for knitting so many of her designs!)

Unnecessary belting aside, it’s a cute basic sweater, and it’s going to knit up super fast.  Gauge is hard to measure because the textured stitch is so stretchy.  Mine measures small, but stretches easily, and this is superwash yarn (Elann superwash chunky) so I expect some stretching, especially from a heavy sweater.  Kim seems to use this stitch a lot (it was featured heavily in Honey, and the Skye wrap in her new book (the one I’m planning on making, now possibly from the called for yarn) also uses it.  I can see why she’s a huge fan – the resulting fabric is stretchy, and there are no purl rows.

I’m also making great progress on the “Simple yet effective” shawl, although I do have this to say: Dear Mr. Noro – what’s up with the one random bright color in the middle of every nice colorway?

I like the bright blue, but I am far less enamoured of that minty green.  It would seem that although I love greens, I really hate anything minty… reminds me of the color half the walls in my house were before we painted them.  I’m kind of wishing I had bought a different colorway, but I will withhold judgement for awhile… maybe it will get better, and maybe I’m being picky.