Happy New Year

I finally finished my husband's vest. It took about two months, longer than I usually take for a whole sweater. Maybe it was because there were so many cables and since they were six stitch cables I used a cable needle instead of trying to do without one. I used Filatura Lanarota wool that I bought in Rhinebeck the year before last. The pattern was from an Irish booth at Stitches East. This was a thank you gift because he took me to those and other knitting events. Luckily it came out at 22 inches long, a standard size, so I was able to buy a zipper and matching thread at the local sewing shop, the Rag Shop. Otherwise I would have had to scout around for a custom zipper.
I also took some time to complete the Sunflower Tam from Knitting Nature for me. I couldn't find the specified yarn so I used Lamb's Pride Bulky, 85 % wool and 15 % mohair, in Autumn Harvest. It was a quick and easy knit and I love it.
So many blogs have year end wrap ups and New Year resolutions but I am just not in the mood to go over all the projects I did last year or think too much ahead. Let's just say I made quite a few socks and finally learned grafting. I also completed my first successful lace shawl thanks to The Amazing Lace. I don't want to forget a great big thank you to Lolly for Project Spectrum which brightened my spring considerably. I do have a few knitting resolutions. One is to document all my new projects in 2007, either in this blog or a notebook. Another is to go through my stash and give away what I won't use and use up the rest. I would also like to try fair-isle knitting and make some of the gorgeous mittens I see on the web, starting with the ones in Knitty. Of course my usual resolution to lose ten pounds, the one I make every year, still stands. This has been an exciting year of knitting for me and I am looking forward to the next one.

Progress report

I am still slogging away on the vest for my husband, unfortunately without much enthusiasm. I finished the back and am doing both fronts together and am about halfway done with them. This many cables has gotten to be torture and it definitely won’t be finished by Chanukah, which is tonight. Meanwhile he has gained weight. I don’t want to measure him again because this is supposed to be a surprise and I have no intention of ripping and restarting it anyway so I am knitting with my fingers crossed.
To cheer me up I needed some portable knitting so I started Chain Link Socks, the new pattern from Six Sock Knitalong. It took me a while to decide on colors but I had some Opal sock yarn in black and grey from Stitches East and I picked up some Lanett in red in Brooklyn and began. This is a slip stitch pattern that forms chains and I love it. I am trying to only knit the vest at home and limiting the socks to work and the car so I finish both.
This town has a knitting group called Keep You in Stitches which I belong to but never go to. It only meets once a month at the library and usually conflicts with the step class at my gym. But last night I made more of an effort because they were having a demo of mini stocking knitting and I wanted to see if I could learn any new techniques. The best way for me to learn is by seeing something demonstrated. It turned out to be a simple top down sock but I did use double pointed needles instead of my usual two circulars. We all made the little red and white sock on the left. This was only the second time I attended in about a year but the other knitters all seemed very nice and I will have to try to attend more frequently.

Current Events

I am still working on the cabled vest. I finally finished the back after almost three weeks. All those cables make my hands ache. I am doing both fronts at once but they are slow going too. Actually, I started a scarf this weekend as a travel project while in the car with my husband and did about 8 inches but it started leaning strangely to the left and the bottom looked wider than the top. Too bad I forgot to take a picture of it before it went into the frog pond. It was from gifted yarn from Knitpastis in beautiful fall colors and the pattern was a giveaway at Stitches East taken from the new Victorian Lace Today book. Even though that book is gorgeous I really do not enjoy knitting lace so I doubt if I should buy it. This was the purple easy lace scarf in the book. Now I have to find something else lacey to make and there is only about 410 yards of the yarn.
The new pattern from the Six Sock Knitalong came out on December 1 and it looks like a winner. It is done in a solid color with a chain of slipped stitches in a contrasting color around the leg. I bought some black sock yarn and figured I would pair it with something from my stash but it really doesn’t look great with anything so it may have to wait until I can get to a yarn store. I discovered two yarn stores on the same block in Brooklyn near my mother’s house so I guess I can pick something up when I visit her next week. So no pictures this week but I’ll try to get double the amount for next time.