Playing Catch-Up!

“Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you…” is one of my husband’s favorite remarks. Lately it’s been apt for me, particularly since I feel that the bear has been winning most of the time!

I’m oh-so-slowly spinning up 5 ounces of merino-clun forest rainbow space-dyed roving from a dye-in last fall. Progress is being measured in yards, rather than my usual multiple ounces. I’m still deciding whether to Navaho-ply the resulting singles or two-ply them with a black merino or more of the undyed merino-clun forest (which would also have to be spun). And I’m knitting three projects from commercial yarn, all of which are also going at a pace a snail could beat easily.

The knitting projects are:

A hat, scarf and glove set for my husband from Plymouth Boku wool and silk blend in their Color 11. He chose the color himself, by the way, and I’ve been tempted to take the yarn away from him – the color is beautiful! The hat and scarf are done, the first glove is done, and I’m at the point of starting the gusset increases on the second glove. The resulting FO’s look lovely, and wash up into soft, wonderfully-wearable garments, but I don’t care for the feel of the yarn while knitting it. It seems very rough, and I have had to force myself to work on these very necessary items. I’m not sure if it’s just me, or the yarn itself – after washing and blocking everything feels soft and lovely!

A “Shoulder Shawl” lace shawl from Victorian Lace Today from KnitPicks Elegance alpaca-silk blend yarn in Wild Rose. The shawl is turning out slightly heavier than I expected, but looks beautiful, and the drape is perfect. I started the edging as shown in the book, but didn’t proceed with it. The joinings were utterly counter-intuitive and I didn’t care for the garter-stitch lace edging on the stockinette-stitch ground in the least. I thought I’d be smart and finish it off with simple garter-stitch rounds picked up from the edges – now I need to rip out and come up with a better idea, since it binds terribly. Perhaps a row of purl between each “pattern” row of the edging given would fill the bill. Or I may simply choose another edging, either from that book or from another.

A summer short-sleeved sweater from a cotton-silk-nylon blend – Classic Elite’s Classic Silk - in Rhubarb. Lovely, soft fabric with a beautiful drape on size 4 KnitPicks circular needles. This one is also going slowly, although not because I don’t like working on it. I injured my shoulder recently by working long-term at a work-station that was configured for someone else, and the recovery is hindering my knitting, spinning, blogging and almost everything else!