DesigKnit

I’m not sure I’d call it a speedy knit, but I did cast off for the cowl on Tuesday night. Less than a month per project is an improvement, I suppose?

Considering that I cast on and knit without swatching, checking gauge, or really counting stitches, it came out at just about the perfect size. It’s big enough to slip down over my shoulders, and long enough to fold over at the neck.

That does make for a rather dramatic neck opening that I will probably close up with a shawl pin for warmth.

I haven’t worn it yet, so it remains to be seen whether this style works well for me, but I’m hopeful.

I have been having a hard time finding a new project to cast on (with all this wool around, I’m not sure why that statement is even possible, but there it is.). Knit night snuck up on me yesterday, and caught me with nothing on the needles. With limited time to plan, I grabbed a ball from the stash and cast on for a pair of handwarmers.

This time, the educated-guess cast on method isn’t working quite as well; the ribbing is ok, but the mitts are a little snug. If I’d switched to stockinette for the hand as I’d originally planned, it might have worked out, but I think these will probably be frogged and reknit with an extra 2-4 stitches.

I did an asymmetric increase pattern at the thumb to avoid interrupting the 1×1 rib. I do like the increase line, but I’m not sure I’m a fan of the slanted look it gives the rest of the ribbing, so I may rethink that next time around, too. Fortunately, handwarmers are small, so it isn’t a big deal to pull back and start over. Who knows…I might even come up with a more interesting project in between. For now, it’s just nice to have something on the needles again, and to be making progress. Here’s hoping that it continues!

From a knit-free October, we sailed right over a knit-free November, and halfway into December as well! The semester ended last Friday, and I’m still kind of reeling from the intensity of it. This was the semester for getting up to speed; in addition to learning the basic “grammar” of design, there were also several new tools and a whole lot of disciplinary culture to pick up on. It’s exciting to be in a world where everything is completely new, but it also takes a lot of time and attention to perform at a high level when you’re starting from scratch. But, with just a few minor ends left to weave in, it went very well. I learned a lot, and had fun doing it, though there were a couple of weeks where I could have done with a bit more sleep.

In addition to finishing the semester, I actually managed to finish a project last week.

After many months of what seemed like infinite knitting, the second welted garter shawl is done. There was a bit of yarn chicken with the dark blue on the i-cord bind off, and I know for a fact that I could not have made another repeat with either of the other yarns (because I tried and had to rip back – one of the skeins was about 12″ too short to finish the repeat), so I am satisfied that I got all that I could out of those three skeins.

Looking at the shape laid out, the dark blue center seems a little out of place with the rest of the shape. I added an extra set of increases at the transition from dark blue to the shawl body, since that’s where the shoulders should be. In another version, I might start those extra increases earlier to make the join more continuous.

I also spaced the increases differently, and added the extra pair at the row edges of the blue version, to help it wrap all the way around a bit better. The blue version isn’t blocked yet, but here’s how it compares with the shape of the purple one.

We’ll have to see how it performs in the wearing, but so far I’m thinking that I’ll like this one better.

After a couple of days of empty needles, a couple of failed swatches and several trips to the stash, I started a new project on Saturday night. In a bulky yarn on size 6 needles, this cowl is coming together really fast. It’s just a simple brioche rib, and I love how the texture is working with the colors.

I briefly considered some holiday gift knitting, and then promptly decided to look at the calendar and talk myself off that ledge before I even got on it. Two weeks before Christmas in a knitting-deprived state is not necessarily the best time to show judgment about what can be accomplished in time for gifting. I wanted to enjoy the holiday season, and big needles, fat yarn and no deadlines seemed like a much better way to do it.

I’m hoping that a “quick win” will help to jump start my knitting mojo again, and that I might manage to make up for lost time over the break.  I have a seemingly infinite list of things to work on in the next few weeks, but it is really nice that grading final exams and prepping for spring classes is not on that list this year. It’s been a long time since the end of the semester actually meant an end to work, and I plan to fully enjoy it. Even if I do keep right on working, at least it will be at my own pace and on projects that I choose. And I’m hoping to find some time for knitting in there, too. Fingers crossed that I’ll be back soon!