The Beginnings of a Sweater, Part Two

The beginning of SweetGirl's Wildflower sweater. I will readily admit that the intarsia is KICKING MY BEHIND. I can't knit it on the train because it is too complex (too many bits of yarn to keep track of) and there are just not enough free hours in a day to keep it going at a good pace at home.

I'm probably sour about this project because I got to just about this point once already and had to frog the whole thing because it just wasn't working (was not getting the hang of the intarsia) but this time around it is going much faster and looking far better. Hopefully it is a sign of good things to come with this sweater.

In other knitting news, I'm almost done with the back of LittleMan's sweater - the cabling is simple and fast (which is why that project is my train project).

Knitting on the train has always been pretty interesting. Before the days of iPods, I used to get really distracted by all of the people on the train and their *sometimes* loudly rude conversations. Other times people figured it was a good time to ask about knitting, and for someone who is easily distracted and frogs a lot, it was just not helpful for someone to start asking about "what you knitting?" or "how long have you been knitting?". Admittedly, it's nice that people take an interest but I'm also a little selfish (since having 2 little ones at home leaves very little time to knit and those hours on the train are a nice stretch of time to accomplish things). Now, I just plop my earbuds in and ignore the rest of the world. It makes me seem antisocial, but really I am trying to maximize my time by catching up on my PotterCast and making a dent in my knitting :)

Speaking of dents. Wildflowers call. I need to turn my attitude around on this sweater because otherwise it is nevah going to get done!

The beginnings of a sweater

The Beginning of LittleMan's Dougie Dog Sweater. The cabling is very simple and much easier than I thought, I've been working on it on the train since SweetGirl's sweater is too complex to attempt on Metra. The intarsia is kicking my rear at the moment. Anyway, this progress on both of the sweaters is good, considering the main project of late has been SweetGirl's Halloween Costume (which deserves a kraft korner post of its own).

The Cobbler's Children

Or in our case, the Knitter's Children. Aside from a super-quick blanket I made for SweetGirl just before her second holiday, my kids do not have a single item of knitted goodness. (I started a LittleMan blanket well before he was born but the project was abandoned and the yarn repurposed for other projects.)

This is the year that changes! I have committed myself to making 2 sweaters for the kids for their holiday pictures (yes, it's October but the Holidays come fast for a knitter pressed for time) and a blanket each for part of their Christmas gift. Not just any sweater knitted on giant needles and thick yarn - sweaters made of fingering weight and sport weight yarn. With Intarsia. And cable. I say I have committed myself but perhaps I need to have myself committed. It's ambitious but it is time the kids actually received a knitted item from their mother, instead of watching knitted things come off the needles and into boxes that travel to other places in the country.

All of this came about because in a fit of weakness (cannot resist a good knitting book. just can't) I purchased Lucinda Guys' Handknits for Kids and found myself face to face with some of the cutest kid items that are sophisticated at the same time. Of course now that I have ordered the yarn for all 4 projects I really am committed to finishing everything. Because otherwise I will have spent a lot of cash to enhance my ever-growing stash (OtherHalf's eyebrows will not shoot off his forehead when this box arrives because he TOLD me to buy the yarn. so HA!)

Keeping in mind though, that kid sweaters are a much faster item to finish than, say, an adult sweater, it should not be an impossible task. I am, however, going to force myself to finish SweetGirl's Halloween costume for this year before the yarn arrives (thank goodness this particular carrier is slow to ship, won't receive yarn until late this week or even early next week) and sew the backing for the last blind to be hung. And now that I have told you all my ambitious plans I will be motivated to entertain you all with photos and updates of the projects (and you can all yell at me randomly: "You are posting and commenting too much. That means you are on the internet and not knitting. Back away from the computer and get back to knitting.")

And you know my sisters are a pair of enablers (this is a good thing) ... I'm still working a sweater from yarn my sister sent me in May and then my other sister sent me deliciously tweedy yarn with JUST ENOUGH yardage for my very own Weasley sweater (literally the exact yardage required by the pattern). I tell OtherHalf that my stash is not entirely my fault. Nor is my pattern book collection (because along with the yarn came a cute pattern book with children's sweater patterns that I now must decide which to make!) But I can't resist yarn! And patterns! And! And! I'm going to have to go work part time at a LYS to curb my addiction (or fund it). Don't get me started about the queue of ladies having babies in the next several months!! If I perhaps gave up sleep I could knit to my hearts content without interruption. Then the Knitter's children would have plenty of handknit items to wear.