I spent this week out of town, which was both good (flight delays and hotel insomnia = extra knitting time) and bad (Iphone camera photos of my knitting are very unsatisfactory). Here's the round up:
(1) Before I left I put in a little time dyeing which yielded both this fabulous dye pot
And this choice of trim for finishing off Ollie's Crayon Ragman.
Any thoughts on which color you think will look more like a design choice and less like a screaming "I ran out of yarn" advert?
(2) On the road I got through the better part of two (of four) repeats on the Orchids and Fairy Lights Hat.
This pattern is SO much fun to knit and have I told you I'm knitting it in a thick, soft, buttery cashmere? This hat feels incredible. And the bobbles are fun, the cables are a challenge to keep straight, and all in all, this hat makes me feel good about myself — a pretty big pay off for a little bit of careful pattern reading. Stephanie Dosen is the designer behind Tiny Owl Knits. She is a fabulous designer and articulates a great, clear pattern. I can't wait to knit her Amy March Slippers and her Catching Butterflies Mitts as well. You should really look at every single pattern she has, but if you look at only one thing, check out the incredible Bee Keeper's Quilt. I definitely have a crush on Stephanie and her beautiful patterns!
(3) I've finished (except for a line of crochet trim on the bottom edge I need to teach myself to do this weekend) the Honegart Hat.
I love the pattern. The details are clever and it is a very satisfying knit. Several members of my household are vying to keep this, but it's a birthday present for the oldest child (who doesn't read my blog), so I suspect I may knit a few more. I like the way the skeins of yarn play together — as I mentioned, two skeins were originally dyed together and then I overdyed one of them, so that some of the original color shows through. It's hard to display in a picture, but if you look closely below, you'll see some of the green from the band showing through in the blue "honeycomb" top.
(4) I also got in some time working on the body of Ellie's Tiny Tea Leaves Cardigan. I'm well into the "miles and miles of stockinette" part of the body which, while not the most exciting knitting is possible to do while carrying on a conversation or catching up on the news.
I'm hoping to finish up the body this weekend so I can get to work on the sleeves and button bands. I'm knitting this sweater in Madeline Tosh, Tosh Vintage Merino, which is a wonderful yarn. I'm wondering if it would be possible to consider this yarn a collectible item so I could justify buying some in every one of her amazing colorways. It's great to work with and the softly dyed colors are very pretty.
That's the wrap on this week's knitting, and a satisfying collection it is! Usually I'm in varying degrees of frustration, but all of these projects seem to just want to go well. The knitting gods seem to be smiling on me at the moment, which I'm going to try to enjoy, because I'm sure it will be fleeting.