First and foremost, I am happy to report the successful completion of the cascading leaves socks.

The specs:
Pattern: by Jean Townsend
Yarn: dyed sock yarn from Knitpicks
Needles: size one, magic loop.

Modifications:
I did ten repeats on the cuff instead of five. Also, I think if you follow the pattern as written, the top ribbing and lace pattern don't match up. The top ribbing is a stitch or so off. On the sock on the left, I moved the start of the round so the purl stitches in the lace pattern matched up with purls from the 2x2 rib at the top.

and, because you just can't stop the sock knitting, I started two new pairs. The Chalet Socks from , and the Gentleman's Fancy Sock from . You all know this already, but I must say again, Nancy Bush writes great sock patterns.

Specs:

Yarns: Kool-aid dyed worsted weight wool, held together with Madil Kid Seta in salmon. The wool was pretty scratchy, and needed this mohair/silk to soften it up.

Pattern: the so-called scarf

This was a pretty speedy scarf. I really enjoyed knitting it. The colors are pretty bright, but its fun to wear. very contrasting with my black coat.

I really need to catch you guys up on all my knitting! In the works are the sweater with wide collar and a nearly finished pair of socks, amoung other things..

To explain my recent blogland absence.. it was due to a rather large project at work, a new website to be exact, that had me putting in late nights in the office for multiple weeks. The site launched last weekend, though still a bit buggy, and I wonder if I can ever get all the bugs worked out. and completely password protected. thus no link. but really, I was working on a website. you just can't see it. really. Needless to say, normal working hours are back!

Over the last couple weeks, I've worked on the Sweater with wide collar, from Rebecca 29. Adele once made a totally cute and wearable version, and its been on my list of sweaters to knit since fall. The back and front are done, mostly seamed, and blocked.

The shawl collar grows out of the sides of the front piece. The ribbed section gets increases every RS row, plus bonus short rows are added to the ribbed section every 10 rows. Increases + short rows = Lots of extra stitches for the collar only.

Check out the nice seaming job on the back neck.

I did a 3-needle bind off to attach the two collar sides at the back neck.. it turned out pretty well. I figured that since the ribbing was going in opposite directions, it would never graft properly anyway. I knit the whole bind off row. Its a visible seam, but nice and even.

There is a situation though. The shawl collar is huge. The whole sweater is kinda roomy. Totally unlike Adele's sleek version. I haven't tried it on post-blocking, because what if its still not wonderful? argh. what is with these non-fitting handknit sweaters? I will try it on, then we shall consider the options. perhaps it shall be abandoned for the more wonderful somewhat cowl. though not without consideration of the options.