I have been clicking away at the Fall Cardigan (that's not the real name) lately. I am at the hip increases. I figure that if I am going to design a cardigan, it might as well have some shape and pockets. Nice, deep pockets.
There's a podcast at the end. It's awful, but whatever...keeping it real.
I just casted on the Reyna Shawl using my handspun yarn.
I recently hosted a "Blind Wine Tasting" party with a few girlfriends. It was a smash hit! Or were we smashed? I forget.
No, I actually only poured 1 oz. samples of each wine so my friends could drive home safely! Plus, we gorged on a potluck style buffet of appetizers!
Red and white wines were separated and the bags were numbered.
There were 10 wines altogether! I told everyone to bring 1 white or red wine, and if they could, a really, really, really cheap wine...because sometimes they win the taste test!
I had score cards and a little guideline for scoring...taste, appearance, body, etc.
My cheese and fruit platter (there was so much food by the end!). I had a mustard seed Gouda, regular Gouda (I love Gouda, what can I say?) a mango chipotle cheddar and a Parmesan goat cheese blend.
The wines, revealed. Guess which wine won? That's right...a cheap white wine (Vivello Peach Moscato from Trader Joe's).
The temperatures in the Midwest are feeling a bit like fall. Last night, it got down to the 40's, so I decided it was a good time to snuggle up with my woolen Ripples Reading Afghan to keep warm in our family room.
In honor of the cooler weather, I am running a 15% off sale on all of my patterns. No coded needed; the difference will be made at the checkout. Now might be a good time to stock up on some already reasonably priced patterns for your knitting queue this fall and winter?
The pattern sale ends September 20th at the stroke of midnight.
Last week, I started this Fall cardigan design that features stripes of bulky yarn that patterns (like Opal socks, but in bulky weight), and yarn that variegates in a couple of tones, as well as solid stripes. It's hard to tell, since the top is folding over, but I am about at the armpits, so I will save the sleeve stitches soon and work on the body.
I did all of this in about 2 days, but then had such an awful congestion type of cold, I stopped the knitting train. I am back to (almost) full health, so I feel inclined to get back into it again.
I am testing out Lion's Pride Woolspun yarn in their new fallish colorways that I got at Michael's. It is a 20% wool, 80% acrylic blend. I like blends for durablilty and softness, but I hope that one day, we can find 30% or 40% wool blends, for added warmth and naturalness without sacrificing that soft feel (and inexpensive price) that people expect out of an acrylic blend.
I love yarns that pattern. I am spending the time to add additional yarns, so there will be a bit of weaving to do, but who can resist working with a yarn that looks like intarsia? I am all about creating patterns that look good, function well, but are generally easier knits.
For example, I feel like any good cardigan deserves deep pockets. Right? Pockets can get fussy or confusing though. I plan on implementing "afterthought pockets" in this design. When I come to the area where pockets should go, I will knit a set of stitches with waste yarn and will pick them up with dpns after the cardigan is done and knit in the round like a sock or hat. I will graft like sock toes (so it's a little nicer and flatter than a 2-needle bind-off) and push the fabric down back into the pocket. It should be painless. Stay tuned?
