I am knitting someting popularly called "The Thing". ha.

The Thing is from , and is, for all intents and purposes, knitting homework. Its basically a sampler of different techniques specific to the knitting of a circular sweater. So one can try out all sorts of fancy stitchery without jeopardizing an actual sweater. very appealing, right? well, sorta.

It lacks the appeal of other projects. Unlike other knitted objects, I can't look forward to its new life upon completion, because once its done, what is it? An obstensibly very useful tool, yes, one I might reference frequently, and one that might teach me great and wonderful things. Unfortunately, its also one I rarely feel like knitting.

So a few rows here and there, between sweater projects, before moving on to the next great thing.

A stripey sock is underway.

I began this sock a few months ago with these mini toothpick-esque 5-inch Brittany Birch DPNs, but I couldn't get used to their small size. I kept thinking the stitches were going to fall off the ends. So I switched to Crystal Palace DPNs. They're my favorites.

oh, and this tubular cast-on not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? so lovely.

It took 3 tries to get the cast-on right. Its a modified version of the one in KBFT. Since its worked it in the round, I had to reverse the knits and purls in the last row of the cast on. worked out fine.

Why knit socks when they can be bought at the store for like a dollar? because they are challenging, yet soothing, and have great potential to be perfect. not to mention dead comfortable.

I've swatched for the lucky clover sweater! Got gauge on the first try with size 3 metal circs.

Here's the washed and dried swatch.

Sam thinks the lucky swatch is his... he promptly curled up with it

I've also started on a sleeve, which is slooow going. I couldn't get used to the slippery-ness of cotton on metal needles, so switched to bamboo, Addi Naturas. Hopefully the gauge does not change much. I was looking for Crystal Palace circs since I love their DPNs so much, but it seems noone carries these. Perhaps they are no good.

Anyway, in my quasi search for CP circs, I went to the most fabulous yarn store - Seaport Yarns. They have *everything*. really everything. Its located downtown in an office building, and has a surprisingly huge selection of yarn and patterns. The best selection I've seen in NYC. And they are sooo nice. I was very very impressed.

One stripey sock down, one half more to go.

I've been using the stripes in this yarn as a sort of pattern guide. For example, there are 2.5 stripe repeats before the heel starts. It comes out to be about 8 1/2 inches. Then the heel begins exactly with the start of the next stripe. I think I did something similar with the toe. I follow a sock pattern, but kinda tweak it a bit so it works with the stripes.

This way, for the second sock, I can just keep track of the color repeats and not really measure. so convenient! especially for subway knitting, no tape measure necessary.

One pair of stripey socks, all set for next winter..

Yarn: Regia mini-ringel sock yarn, color 5343, 2 skeins
Needle: Size 1 Crystal Palace DPNs
Size: 66 sts at 8sts/inch; worked heel on 34 sts
Pattern: Sorta followed the sock in Ann Budd's
Pattern Modifications: adjusted pattern for optimum stripage - 2.5 stripe repeats before the heel

I used nearly all the yarn from each skein, with less than one repeat remaining from each at the end. They don't exactly match, as I didn't check the yarn before starting. If I had checked both skeins, I could have started both with the yellow stripes. But they are pretty close and they don't have to match anyway..

Heel/Toe Reinforcement:
I did not add any reinforcement thread in these areas. The gauge was pretty tight, so I didn't think it was necessary. Also didn't want to tone down the stripe pattern. Time will tell if this was a bad idea.

Tubular Cast-On:
This was worked at the cuff of each sock for about an inch. It does look lovely, but is kinda tight, and stretches out a bit when worn. It will probably snap back into shape when washed. Overall, the extra effort might not be worth it.

Train Knitting:
Probably 2/3rds of the second sock was worked while on the subway. I estimate I could complete one sock per week if knitting only while commuting.

Oh, it is so nice out. Spring has come to NYC. This past weekend was warm enough for flip flops, which I wore to the park for an afternoon of lounging, where I managed to sunburn my right shoulder only.

Also, after nearly three years of living in my current apartment, roof access has been discovered! roof access rocks. I plan to spend all sorts of time enjoying roof access this summer. Well, it would be even better if the scantily-clad hipsters who live two buildings down and enjoy photo shoots did not also know about roof access. these hipsters do not rock. Perhaps their trust funds will soon run out.

However, spring has not come to my office. Its freezing in here. I'd love to wear cute spring clothes, but for fear of extreme coldness, I have not yet deviated from my winter pants uniform. brrrr. There must be a knitted solution to this temperature dilemma, right?

Enter the Gloworm legwarmers. Perfect for in-office wearing, and equally cool-looking with skirts or pants. Also okay even if one forgets to take them off while dashing out for gummi bears.

I plan to follow the pattern for these legwarmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, using these 3 yarns held together:

Peruvian Highland Wool in Celery. 4 skeins remain from a Christmas gift.

Kusa Silk Mohair from Habu Textiles, shade 24

Lana Gatto Mohair Royal, color 2118.

One strand of each, on a size 8 12" circular needle. probably without a fancy cast-on, but one never knows what I will come up with.

Office warmness is all but ensured!

The Gloworm Legwarmers are this much closer to keeping me warm:

I am loving this project. The combination of the three yarns is interesting. Initially, I thought it might be too fuzzy or too heavy, as the pattern only calls for one strand of mohair. ah no. Two strands just make them softer.

The Kusa Mohair Silk is a surprisingly fabulous yarn. In the picture above, its the coned yarn, in the middle. Maybe its the 40% silk content. It is subtley shiny and glowy and single-handedly makes the gloworm legwarmers *glow*. This is the first yarn I've worked with from Habu Textiles, and I am so very impressed.

Here's a close-up, check out the little glowy strands of Kusa Mohair:

Today I am wearing really boring grayish/blackish machine-made legwarmers. They are super warm, but not much fun really. Can't wait for these to be done!

So the first legwarmer is done!

The patten calls for the legwarmers to be 26 inches long. This is really long! I stopped mine at 21 inches. The 1x1 rib makes it a bulky-ish item as it is, so extra slouchy-ness is not ideal. I think the 26 inch version could be super comfortable to wear with skirts, per the model in the book. But underneath pants, a shorter version is more practical.

Legwarmers truly are a versatile item. I've never really worn them with any regularity, but really, they are for more than just cheesy 80s movies. They are a viable solution to all sorts of fashion dilemmas.

For example:

1. Post-boot weather when its still cold. Tired of your winter boots? ready to move on to cute spring flats even though the weather isn't? no problem! just pull on some legwarmers under a skirt or pants. They're equally as warm as boots, but cuter, and removable on those sneaky warm spring days.

2. Really cold offices. The weather outside might be sunny and 80 degrees, but in the office its brisk and 50. Who is in control of the thermostat? Rather than trying to solve this mystery, put your legwarmers to work. They also double as armwarmers in a pinch.

3. Minimal gym storage. Related to item one above, legwarmers are ideally suited to limited storage situations. There are these subminiature lockers at the NY Road Runners club, and leaving my winter boots unsecured makes me nervous. However, the equally warm flats+legwarmer combo is imminently storeable. Now there is no reason to skip workouts and risk becoming a huge running slacker like myself.

One of the mohair skeins has run out, and the legwarmers are not done! argh.

The tag on the Lana Gatto Mohair Royal states that it has 235 yards*. By the end of the first legwarmer, I knew that barring some sort of real miscalculation on the part of The Lana Gatto Yarn Manufacturing Company or rift in the mohair yardage-per-ounce continuum, it would run out. Yet I kept knitting. I thought, hey, its mohair, do they REALLY know the yardage on this? Its so skinny and light, they must add extra. That 235 number is just an estimate, right? Nope. It was pretty much dead on. Those mohair manufacturers, they know what they're talking about.

So here I am, one legwarmer of 20.5" and one legwarmer of 13".

They way I see it, there are a couple options.

1. Buy more yarn. No no no, I do not want to buy more yarn. It would be okay if I actually liked it. But its kinda cheap feeling. There would be extra, and its not suited to a scarf. Perhaps some project would arise someday for which this mohair would be perfect, but there is enough yarn under my bed. No more.

2. Keep going without this yarn. It wouldn't change the gauge. Alas, the now-extinct mohair provides essential color. The top 7 inches of one legwarmer would be a visibly different shade. Can't do this. nope.

3. Steal yarn from the first legwarmer. Undo the bind-off edge on the first legwarmer and use that yarn to keep knitting the second. Keep undo-ing the first and knitting the second until they reach an equal length, somewhere around 16 inches. Now this is an idea.

Option 3 it is. The second legwarmer will cannibalize the first. This should be fun.

Its April 16th, and I've just finished knitting a cold-weather item. Surely now it will be spring.

Yarn: 3 strands held together: Peruvian Highland Wool in celery, Habu Textiles Kusa Silk Mohair in color 24, and Lana Gatto Mohair Royal in shade 2118
Gauge: didn't really check gauge, used size 8 12-inch circular needle
Finished Size: 16 inches
Pattern: from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Pattern Modifications: Used two strands of fingering-weight mohair instead of just one; adjusted the length from 26 to 16 inches due to lack of yarn.

Other Technical Notes:

Cast-on and Bind-off. One could easily use the Tubular cast-on and kitchener bind-off for a super professional look. I didn't do this, partly due to laziness, and partly because the yarn was so nice, it carried the project. If using a plain yarn, I'd go with the tubular cast-on and off.

Length. The 26" length specified by the pattern could really only be worn under skirts and loose pants. The legwarmers would be super comfy at that length, but I'd recommend shortening them for practicality.

I like these legwarmers. I am still not sure if I am really a legwarmer-wearer, but if I needed a pair to convince me, these would be it. The combination of worsted-weight wool with mohair strands makes a very soft fabric, similar to Rowan Kid Classic.

My brother Lars is rather picky about knit items. Not just anything will do. For example, Lars finds ordinary wool far too itchy. He'd prefer no itchiness.

Therefore, we have this:

Tahki Panda, 100% polyester. Guaranteed not to itch. This yarn is actually very similar to fleece. It is like a long thin strip of sweatshirt fleece.

On the skein, it looks pretty good. Once knit up, it already looks a bit worn. Like a fleece sweatshirt that has gone through the wash. I wouldn't use this yarn for anything larger than a hat..

But hey, Lars likes it!

Yarn: Tahki Panda, 2 skeins
Gauge: 11sts/4" on size 11 needle
Pattern: Alpha Hat from Rowan Ribbon Twist
Size: 19" circumference; 7" st st before garter border.

Pattern Modifications: The pattern is written for a larger gauge..so I had to change it. Its worked flat, from the top down. Each RS row increases 6 sts, so I just did two extra increase rows to get to 55 total sts. I checked it against my Alpha Hat for size as I went along.

Time to Knit: about 2-3 hours, including time spent calculating gauge.

So ostensibly, my main project is currently the Lucky Clover Sweater. But, off the record, not much progress is going on with this sweater. I have most of a sleeve done:

and every so often, I'll do a row or two and neither like nor dislike it. Its a decent project. Whenever I think about it, I think "yeah, I will knit this!" but somehow I just don't pick it up and work on it.

Recently, I am knitting small projects from stash yarn. Like this:

A striped sock! Its a new and exciting 2x2 ribbed variation on the standard striped sock, in Regia color #5340. I do most of my socks this way, with 2x2 ribbing on the cuff and continued over the instep. The ribbing makes them super comfy and fitted.

You know what's cool about ribbing in self-striping sock yarn? It makes the color changes less visible. The color changes in stockinette stitch look funky. Sometimes the stripes are two rows high, overlapping in areas to 3 rows high, resulting in a look specific to self-striping yarn. (Sorta visible in the image on the right)

But with the ribbing, the color changes are obscured. So the stripes just look like stripes, without the strange overlapping. Which makes me happy.

Okay. I have decided there is no reason to be a slacker on the Lucky Clover sweater. Its languished in my knitting bag for about a month now, just hanging out while I worked on socks and legwarmers. and I didn't really care either way about the one sleeve in progress.

until it threatened to become an eternal unfinished object. The yarn said, hey, I would look really nice as an orangina tank or even a phildar zippered cardigan. how about it?

Oh no, the lucky clover sweater will not defeat me. I will defeat the lucky clover sweater! I will knit it into submission. UFOs are not my thing.

So renewed effort has brought me here:

A close-up of the second sleeve:

One sleeve down, one sleeve to go. I just started the 3rd ball of yarn, and since the pattern calls for 8 balls of yarn, this means I am 25% in. 75% to go.

Some people are knitting the body of the sweater in one piece. This is a swell idea for avoiding seaming later, but how many stitches is that? How long would it take to finish a round? I am not sure if I am up for this kind of swellness. Knitting in pieces breaks up this huge task into manageable parts. If the end is in sight, I am much more likely to keep going. So I will knit the sweater in parts as the pattern states.

and I will finish it. yes. and wear it this summer.

ah yes, I now have two Lucky sleeves. Someday I may have the whole sweater. only time will tell if that day will ever come.

Working with this skinny yarn takes FOR-EVER. Seriously. I spent hours and hours and hours of knitting time before coming up with this second sleeve. 3/4 sleeves were looking really good.

I lengthened them, as I usually do, to about 19" before starting the sleeve cap. Other than that, I followed the directions per the pattern.

With regards to the clovers and how close they get to the edge: I preferred at least 3 stitches (including 1 selvedge stitch) between the edge and the first clover YO. In some cases, I let a clover get by only 2 sts away from the edge, but usually only when it was going to be decreased out of existence on a future row.

At the top, I skipped what would have been the uppermost row of clovers:

And finally, for all pieces of this sweater, I have opted for the ever-beautiful tubular cast on:

because hey, if you're going to spend a definable portion of your life knitting something, why not throw in some tubular cast-on action?? In the greater scheme of things, its just nothing at all.

I've been on the search for a good Koigu colorway for some time now. The problem is that it needs to work with an existing 2 skeins and it needs to be green.

The original colorway is a minty green, purchased solely to finish a pair of socks which ran out of yarn 5 rows before completion. I have 2 skeins of it, 2 skeins without a project; they really want a home.

Sunday I thought I found it's long lost coordinate, a dark green with bits of yellow.

Thrilled at the prospect of the search being over, I immediately cast on for the intended project, the chevron scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

However, it is wrong.

Its too contrasty. Its too stripey. After hours of trying to convince myself that the combination of these two colors is in fact quite Banana Republic, I must end this delusion. It doesn't really work. It calls too much attention to itself for my taste.

So... the search is back on!

Is there more to knitting than 4-ply cotton and clover lace? Because I am starting to forget what that's like.

and can you really start anything without the tubular cast-on process? I am not sure anymore. This one is 4 rows deep, and its lovelieness has yet to wear off.

Last night, I went to see my favorite knitter at Lord and Taylor. Stephanie was excellent, and I felt fan-like flutters to see her in person. Plus, Lord and Taylor served wine, and had hors d'ourves, and gave out gift bags! so very nice of them.

Everyone was knitting. I brought the ribbed striped sock. Working on this wool sock and DPNs felt positively strange. My hands are being converted to the 4-ply cotton way of things.

So, amoung other things, Stephanie mentioned an anecdote about a garter stitch blanket, and how it may be dead boring to knit, but the accomplishment comes upon completing it and finding your will to knit intact. The lucky clover sweater is this way. I am determined to finish it now. A week ago I seriously contemplated abandoning it. But now, knitting is starting to MEAN 4-ply cotton on size 3 bamboo circs, with clover lace of course.

the end is in sight! I am under the impression that the fronts are going to go really fast. they pretty much just fly off the needles! I am practically done just thinking about them!

Here's the start of the right front.