I spent a lot of time this past week looking for THE pattern for one of my summer yarns. I finally decided last night to make up a pattern myself.

I'm using the hempathy and I'm making a top down raglan with a drapey cowl in the front. I'll be able to wear it to work as well as on the weekend.

I'm definitely winging the cowl.

I love the hand of hemp and linen when laundered so I knit up a gauge swatch and washed and dried it. After drying I got 6 SPI and 9.5 RPI.

I sketched it out and calculated my CO amount. Since this is a raglan I also calculated what I'll have at the end of the raglans (when I split off for the sleeves).

I did a few rows of garter before joining in the round. This is for two reasons. I want a slight bit of weight at the edge of the cowl to help it drape. Plus, I used a knitted on CO and it spirals around the needle before it has any knitting to stabilize it. I love the look of the knitted on CO when used with garter.

A little discovery. I cast on at a cafe and I realized that I forgot my stitch markers just as I was pulling in to park. There was no way I could do a top down raglan without stitch markers! Thankfully there was a Target nearby so I picked up a package of hair elastics for girls - you know, those thin elastics made for little girls' hair. I intended just to use them so I could start, but these are *awesome* as stitch markers! They're super thin and come in a variety of colors. So I have one color for the raglan increases, one for the cowl decreases, and one for the end of row. These will definitely be in my knitting bag from now on.

I'm sharing my knitting time between this and my grey jacquard socks. My goal is to knit through a few more skeins of sock yarn before Maryland in May. And I also want to knit something I'll actually be able to wear this season. Reasonable goals, right?

I ripped back to the ribbing and gave 8 more stitches to the cable panel. I also knit the ribbing a good inch and a half longer before starting the cables. It’s looking better but I need to knit more to confirm. More on that next week...

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the types of big projects I’m knitting (meaning, garments). Given how long it takes me to finish a larger project, I need to start knitting them several months before I want to wear them. So, if I want to make something for the spring and summer, I need to start now.

I pulled three yarns from my stash

• left: Dale stork, 100% cotton, fingering weight, black
• niddle: Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy, hemp, cotton and modal, DK weight, a great red
• right: Louet Euroflax, 100% linen, sport weight, eggplant

I’m so out of touch with warm weather patterns. I need to do a little more studying and a review of my Rav faves. I want to get something CO by next Sunday. I’m so tired of not finishing garments. I want to wear what I knit! And not just on my hands and around my neck (although that’s nice too).

I'm open to any suggestions. Please leave a comment if something comes to mind. Help a knitter out :)

Oh! I almost forgot (ok I did forget, but I'm updating this post right after I hit publish). Here are a few things that caught my eye this week:

• The Blathnat socks, a new mystery sock pattern designed for the SKA January mystery KAL. The theme is flora and fauna and these are a gorgeous combo of flora-inspired motifs. Take a look at this stunning FO by IgnorantBliss. She always takes the most awesome pics.
• The Knitty surprise came out and I love the Freja mittens with their abstract heart motif on the front. I won't be starting any more mittens this winter but I'll definitely consider these for next fall.
• Wingspan shawl a garter stitch, short rowed shawl that works exceedingly well with long repeats of color. Check out all the projects - there are some masterpieces!

I still have a hankering for some more cables so these will have a swirl of cables going up the front. I used the same stitch counts as I did for my Ambroso mittens since they fit well. You can see the start of the thumb gusset and I plan to make a flip top so I can easily use my phone without freezing my hand off. It's the little things.

I’m using Cascade 220 Quatro in Lupin Twist. I’ve wanted to use this colorway for a long time but was worried the four colors would be too busy for a garment. But it will be perfect for mittens! And the colors seem to meld together when knitted and almost look gradiated. Really pretty!

One small issue with the yarn - it's coming out of the yarn cake twisted so it's getting caught up on itself. Every now and then I need to hold up the WIP and allow the yarn to untwist. I'm not sure there's anything I can do about it, right? I think it means the yarn is slightly overplied. I don't notice anything once it's knitted though - it might be a problem with a garment though.

Oh, and let me know if you’re interested in the mittens. I’m keeping notes so I can make the second mitten and if there’s enough interest I’ll post a free pattern for them.

And before we go, here are a few things that caught my eye this week:

• This cabled blanket is amazing It almost makes me want to knit another blanket. Almost.
• The new Knitscene is out! View the preview here or browse on Ravelry. Like many of the spring Knitscenes, this issue showcases a mix of warm and cool weather projects - short sleeve pullovers, vests and a shawl as well as mitts, mittens, hats and a cowl. Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark is the featured designer. I really like her Beulah cardigan with its embroidery detail. I’ve been drawn to embroidery on knitting lately but this is the first one I’ve liked on a garment.
• I just came across Twisted Fiber Art yarns. Wow! Meg dyes self-striping and gradiated yarns (she calls the Evolution). She has mostly fingering, DK and light figering - great for socks and shawls. Several of her yarns have nylon in them - great for durable socks - and she also has the popular MCN (Merino Cashmere Nylon) blend too. Oh and she also offers mini skeins for coordinating heels and toes or small amounts of two color knitting. I will *definitely* be buying some as soon as I finish up a couple pairs of socks. I will NOT increase my stash this year. I will NOT increase my stash this year.

I CO for my Nuvem last Saturday. I knit on it during my commute all week and wasn’t sure about it. I had a hard time keeping everything together on the train – a combo of fine yarn and stitch markers – and was considering frogging it. It was so bad that I chose not to knit at least twice this week. Yeah - that bad. With the amount of stockinette this needs to be a commuting project. There’s no way 1,300 yards of laceweight stockinette would keep my attention otherwise.

Before I frogged though I decided to give a different pair of needles a try and swapped from Knit Picks to Addi Lace. What a difference! The join is smoother and the needle has a bit more grab to it. While I won’t know for sure until my commute tomorrow I think this will be a winner. And good thing because so far I’m loving the colors and the lightweight hand. I’ve knit almost 5% of the ball so I think this is likely a year+ project.

Can you believe this is 5%? It looks like nothing. I guess laceweight projects are always that way - even if you're not knitting lace.

New Blog Feature

I love how Andi ends many of her posts with links to things she discovered this week and I’m going to give it a try too.

Here are a few things I loved this week

• brittg’s arabesques pullover is half garment and half art. I’d love to do just the sleeves on a top
• Berroco released their spring 2012 booklets and they're downloadable too. I haven’t come across anything I love yet but like many pattern books I suspect I’ll discover several after FOs pop up on Ravelry
• Garnstudio announced their Spring/Summer 2012 patterns and are posting the pattern over time. There are only a few up there right now but all the pics are there. They liberally featured garter stitch yokes and mesh in garments and have a mix of accessories too – shawls, scarves and even some socks.

I toyed with the idea of doing a big retrospective, but truthfully I didn't do all that much crafty in 2011. We did A TON of work on our house and that took a good 6-9 months of concentrated effort. So I ended 2011 in a good place - a house with no active renovation projects and a smaller stash because I sold quite a bit of the yarn I didn't want to use.

For 2012 I do have a few simple goals.

• Continue with weight loss. I increased last year's goal to 15 pounds and I only got to 7. I struggled for a while with this but I need to remember - I'm still 7 pounds less than I was a year ago, and slow weight loss stays off. I'm going to reset my yearly goal to 10.
• Always have a commuting-friendly project OTN.
• Shop my stash first, but don't make it a chore. If I have a great idea and the stash can't support it, allow myself to buy without the guilt.
• Continue working on weeknight meals. I still need to find my groove with that.
• Figure out how to make sewing more a part of my weekly crafting. I have a hard time working sewing into my life. Knitting is just so portable and stop and go, but sewing is so instant gratification. I need to find the sweet spot for sewing.

And lest you think this is all about things I want to do in 2012, here's my first FO of the year - Lintilla!

I love this project - the simplicity and cleverness of the pattern, the easy knitting of garter combined with the little ruffles and the ease of stopping and starting at any point (I put this project down for over a month and picked it back up without a problem).

My only regret is that it's a bit smaller than I'd like, but that's not a surprise. The original was knit in Wollmeise (575 yards per skein) and I knit mine out of Miss Babs Yummy (400 yards per skein).

One thing I like about many of Martina Behm's shawl and scarf patterns is that she writes them not in terms of number of rows or inches, but rather percentage of the entire skein. So, regardless of your yardage you can create the entire shape of the shawl and use up almost your entire skein.

My scarf used up 90% of the skein, so I had 40 yards left over. I don't think I would have been able to get another full repeat in though - those final rows were using approx 5 grams for each set of rows.

And now that I'm done with one Martina project I'm going to get started right away on another - Nuvem. It's a very different shape fromLintilla but has the same

percentage directions so I can use up most of my yarn. I'm going to make mine in Creatively Dyed Waterfalls - a handdyed heavy laceweight of purples with a bit of pink and white. It coordinates with about 70% of my wardrobe so I can envision using it as a scarf or a wrap around the office. 1,300 yards will definitely be longer term so I don't expect to finish this until next fall/winter.

That’s not to say I haven’t been knitting (I have) – but a couple inches here and there are not very interesting. I came to that very conclusion myself this morning.

And promptly remedied that with a trip to my LYS.

I picked up 7 hanks of a dark brown Cascade 220 for a cardi. No pattern, but it was originally inspired by Annikki by Norah Gaughan (volume 1 – I’m going old school). My current plans are barely reminiscent of Annikki though. I’m planning a top-down raglan with a big cable up the center back. I’m undecided about the closure though – maybe buttons, maybe a zipper. I do want to do a deep collar like Annikki – maybe even a bit deeper – and plan to make my cardi a more traditional length, possibly a tad longer.

I’ve been pouring through stitch pattern and cable books looking for *the* cable and I may have found it. Maybe. After I publish this post I’m going to CO for the world’s largest swatch – over 70 sts wide and at least 36 rows long. I’m excited to do more cables after my mittens last month, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to knit this on the train. Because you all know, the newest WIP is the only one you want to work on, and I figure I deserve to indulge the week before Christmas.

I stopped at JoAnn’s the day after Thanksgiving and found a new to me sock yarn I wanted to try – Jo-Ann Sensations Soles & More (75% Superwash Wool, 25% Nylon). I’ve been looking for a good striped sock yarn I could wear with work clothes and this fit the bill.

I decided to try Wendy’s Toe-Up Slip Stitch Heel - a flap and gusset heel. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT – the fit of a gusset without the picking up of stitches you get with most flap heels.

The sock is about 95% right. I increased 2 sts per inch(ish) to go from 64 sts to 74 sts on the leg and that worked well. But the heel isn’t quite deep enough. Next time I’ll add a few more stitches to the gusset to make the heel slightly deeper.

Weekday cooking for weeks 1 and 2 were tough. The good - I made food, used leftovers, saved money, ate healthy and enjoyed my food more than I have in quite a while. The bad – I only cooked once in the past two weeks. Ends of the year are always busy at work and in retrospect not the best time to start something new. But I’m still trying.

I made one weekday meal and ate leftovers three evenings. My goal was two weekday meals but I'll be honest - some weeks I may only be able to squeeze in one. But I do plan to make enough for leftovers and that's still a win.

Sausage, Peppers and Onions

I LOVED these! They were simple and made enough leftovers for two lunches. This is definitely in the weekday rotation and we bought the ingredients to make them again next week.

1 pound spicy poultry sausage, cut into 3" links
2 green peppers, chopped
1 large onion, sliced into crescents
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 whole clove garlic
1/2 c white wine
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the peppers, add the onions when halfway cooked. Separately, heat a grill pan on high and grill the sausage.

When the peppers and onions are cooked through, add the oregano and red pepper flakes and cook for a bit. Deglaze the pan with the wine and let cook down. Grate the clove of garlic with a coarse grater. Add some water to keep the mixture wet while the sausage continues to cook.

When the sausage is done, toss them in the pepper mixture and cook for a few minutes to meld. Add salt and pepper and serve on a crusty baguette or with cooked pasta or orzo. We did both, making sandwiches the first night, and cooked orzo while eating to use for lunches.

I’m in a great place with my knitting lately, largely in part because of my train commute. The 25 minutes I spend on the train twice a day has turned into the perfect amount of time to get knitting in every day. I haven’t felt so fulfilled and satisfied with my crafting life in a long time.

This satisfaction is in stark contrast to my food and cooking life though. I’ve hit a rut – an unhealthy and expensive rut. I buy lunch 3-5 times/week out of laziness and convenience, and I bring home take out at least 3 days each work week for dinner. I don’t get much enjoyment out of the kind of food I’ve been eating. It’s significantly less healthy and I certainly don’t enjoy the hit on our bank account either.

It’s time to get serious about addressing this. Now.

I spent the past few days browsing my recipe book stash and was reminded of a true gem - Robin Rescues Dinner by Robin Miller. Robin shares 52 weeks of meals - 3 main dishes and many, many sides – for a full year’s worth of options.

I've put together a mini training plan to get myself in weekday cooking shape by January 1st.

Step 1 – Prepare and organize: One of my favorite features of the book is that each week’s recipes build upon each other. For example, on day one you’ll cook twice as much chicken breast so you have it on hand for an even quicker meal #2 later in the week. She also points out make ahead and freezer options so you can prepare during the weekend.

Step 2 – Stock my pantry - I’m making a list of items I want to add to my pantry. We always have a full selection of pasta, rice, herbs and spices, but we tend to have very few vegetable choices on hand. I plan to stock up on some frozen, jarred and canned veggies. I also plan to look at prepared sauces, salsas and toppings like spicy red pepper relish and pineapple habanero salsa. Robin bakes chicken and pork chops with prepared sauces, uses them in tacos and enchilada bakes and tops quick pizzas with them as well.

Step 3 – Start small and expect bumps in the road - they say it takes 30 days to form a habit and I’m prepared for the next month to be a challenge. I’m starting out slowly and plan to work my way up to my final goal. I'm not looking for the quick fix - although it'd be welcome! - but rather a lasting, life long change. It's going to take time and I'm going to have some setbacks. I'm OK with that...for the most part ;)

Week 1 goals

• Make dinner twice
• Bring leftovers for lunch twice

I selected at least 20 recipes from Robin’s book that I want to try (see all those post it tabs sticking out the sides of the book?), including:

• Tandoori Chicken with Flash-Fried Chickpeas


• Baja Chicken Soft Tacos


• Chicken Burgers with Cheddar and Charred Tomatoes


• 5-Ingredient Spicy Apricot Chicken


• Spanish Sausage and Vegetable Kebabs


• 4-Ingredient Pork Chops in White Wine-Tarragon Broth

I also have a few quick-fix standbys that I’ll put on my list as well:

• Orecchiette with broccoli, garlic and bread crumbs - if I make a double batch I'll sometimes add other veggies on day 2 such as carrots and peas to make more of a primavera.
• Stuffed Peppers -Love this easy weekend meal! I make a double batch using ground chicken on Sunday for an awesome lunch during the week as well
• Taco salad – with ground chicken and all the fixings from the salad bar, although lately I’ve been curious to try ground pork as well
• Pepper and egg sandwiches – they won’t work for leftovers but they’re super quick and can use up leftover green peppers and onions

And because this is Thanksgiving weekend, I'll of course be making a Turkey Pot Pie tomorrow as well. That should be a great meal with at least a couple leftover lunches or dinners. Nice!

So then I went searching on Ravelry and found a few lovely options in my faves.:

from left to right: forbes forest, drifted pearls, unique melody

As I browsed around, I kept focusing on texture. Not necessarily any one kind of texture, but just something with a great tactile feel. Bobbles, columns of knits and purls, and yes - I was even taunted by the traditional cables that I knew wouldn't suit this yarn. In the end I went with Unique Melody because I loved the bias patterning and I thought the yarn would drape well - especially when knit up at the ball-band gauge (looser than the mittens). I've always had a thing for leaf and flame motifs - one day I will knit you Shetland Triangle - so Melody was an easy sell.

I've knit through the entire setup rows plus a couple repeats and I'm in love! If I keep going at this pace I should be done in a few weeks. I'm anxious to wear it though so don't be surprised if you see this pop up as an FO even sooner. It's been a long time since I've done a project that needed blocking as much as Unique Melody will need. It's taunting me to keep knitting just so I can actually block it and see it in all its drapey, glory. I can't wait.

ps - a big thank you to Andi who reminded me about Rose Beck (the Unique Melody designer) a couple weeks back in this blog post. I've known about Rose Beck for a while but it was Andi's post who brought her top of mind when it came to choosing this scarf pattern. Thanks, Andi!

It's been a long time since I've knitted something for the first time. I've been relishing this first time experience on the Ambroso mittens - it's fun to do some knitting that makes you think, something a bit more than autopilot. This first mitten taught me several things:

• Thumbs need to be longer than I expected. When you think you're done with the thumb, knit a few more rows. You'll thank me later. I had to reknit the end of the thumb to add a few more rows.
• A little negative ease is a good thing for the cuff.
• And a little positive ease in the hand so I can move my fingers, grasp things, and curl my fingers up if it's really cold.

• Top decreases: just like the toe of a sock, I need to do more experimentation to learn my preferred style with the top decreases. I think I'm going to try a spiral with 6 spokes next time. The 4-spoke version fits fine but I don't like the aesthetic.
• In retrospect, I should have selected a sturdier yarn. 100% alpaca will certainly be soft and warm but I'm concerned about fulling/felting. I bought enough yarn for a scarf too and I can't wait to wear it around my neck (more on that next time).
• Similarly I'm out of cable practice and if I made these mittens again I'd use one with more cable definition. This is especially due to the fact that the cables are worked on a stockinette background. You lose that pop cables get when they sit atop a purl background.

Having said all the above, I'm in love with these mittens. They're soft, warm, and a bright pop of color with beautiful hand dyed striations. I'm sure I'll get a lot of wear out of them.

I'm as far along on the second mitten as I was on the first last week and I'm hopeful I'll have a finished pair later today. Yes, mittens do still seem to be fast! It's supposed to be in the low-mid 50s on Monday and down into the 40s by Thursday so it'll be just in time.

I’ve been merrily working on Lintilla and I’m still in love with the pattern. It’s clever and perfect commuting knitting. I can stop at just about any point and pick it up without issue. Of course, this assumes I actually look at where I left off. Otherwise, I might spend an entire train ride knitting long rows that need to be frogged because I should have started another ruffle.

Just sayin.

It’s starting to get cold in the Philly area. Even on the warmer days, the mornings are in the low to mid 30s. I have plenty of scarves but I’ve never made myself a pair of mittens. Until this year mittens just weren’t practical. I spent so much time commuting in the car that I’d just use fingerless mitts to run from car to building. But this year I need full on mittens.

I haven’t knit many cables recently and I had a bug to knit them. There’s no shortage of cabled mittens. At writing Ravelry has 262 women’s or unisex cabled mittens – and those are just the ones with photos.

After a morning of Ravelry trolling and yarn shopping yesterday I picked up three skeins of Shibui Baby Alpaca DK in a strong red color 430 – three skeins because I plan to adapt a scarf out of the pattern as well. Baby alpaca because I couldn’t resist its softness. BTW the Shibui skeins come in 225 yard 100 gram put ups and were only $20 USD – that’s a good deal for hand dyed baby alpaca!

I chose Ambroso mittens by Carol Feller in Knitty Deep Fall 2011. I love the asymmetrical cables and the look of cables on a stockinette background. I’ve knit the entire cuff and half the thumb gusset increases already – I think mittens will be fast? Since the Shibui is 100% alpaca I’m knitting the yarn more tightly and I’m sizing them slightly small. Alpaca is notorious for not keeping its shape so I’m hoping this will work out *fingers crossed*. Oh, and I did make one design mod – I skipped the twisted cable cuff. I like the cleaner lines of the 2x2 rib.

I also made a last minute sizing mod and increased from the smaller size to the larger size after knitting the cuff. I think mitten cuffs should fit closely to keep the wind out but I want to ensure my fingers have enough room to move around in the mitten itself. Since I’ve never made mittens I have a bit of anxiety until I have enough done to try them on.

I may also make one more mod and change the top to use spiral decreases. I always find myself mildly obsessed with the look of spiral decreases but I don’t like the way they fit me for socks. When I read that Carol Fuller had posted a mod for a spiral decrease top I knew it’d be for me.

I feel an accessory period coming on for my knitting. The portability for commuting is fantastic, it allows me to buy just a few skeins to get that yarn shopping high and they’re quicker to knit. That may be why you haven’t heard about Audrey in Unst lately ;)

Random info of the day – I learned about “Try-It-On Tubing” on the Knitmore Girls Facebook page yesterday. It’s plastic tubing that slips over your knitting needles to make a continuous ring so you can easily try on your knitting with minimum effort. I can’t believe I’d never heard of this. It’s genius (and inexpensive at only $2.95 USD for a yard). Of course, I learn about this right after I decide I’m going to focus on accessory knitting and have no need for it (hmm, maybe that's not true - I bet it would be great to spread out large lace shawls as well). But I’m sure some of you will. Enjoy!

It's a good thing I finished sock 1 of Bubble Stream last weekend. I CO for sock 2 on the train this week and...haven't touched it since. I don't doubt Bubble Stream will get more attention soon though. 2 pairs of my hand knit socks have developed holes in them recently and have become their own annoying works in progress so I'm low on handknit socks. Especially ones I can wear to work. I love the thought of my red socks peeking out from my pants to add a splash of color to my outfit.

While at the Tess booth I saw several sample Summit shawls/scarves. I loved them and was shocked that it's a Knitty pattern from last year! The pattern pics didn't call grab me but the Tess samples sure did. I like the idea of knitting things that don't look like traditional handknits. I don't have an immediate idea for a suitable stash yarn to go with the project so that's going into my idea bin for now.

I've already mentioned the orange cover socks - Isabella D'Este -from the Knitter's Book of Socks. I didn't realize a blog reader designed them though! Jayme Stahl has been a reader for many years and I was tickled to get her comment that I made her day! Those socks will almost definitely be my next pair after Bubble Stream.

I needed to start something with the Rhinebeck yarn though and the Miss Babs Rhinebeck 2011 colorway was calling me. I CO Lintilla last week. I'm so impressed with both the creativity and cleverness of this little garter stitch shawl! I love what she's done with the edges to keep them tidy (I actually thought it was an error at first - sorry Martina I won't doubt you again) and I'm obsessed with the swirliness the ruffles create. I even brought it to the bank yesterday so I could get in two rows while waiting in line. I'm already planning a second one in a more drapier yarn (possibly this hank of Just Our Yarn Myne 100% heavy laceweight cashmere). Lintilla will definitely see more action today.

And Bubble Stream should as well. I'm out of practice with cuff-down sizing and made the toe one row too long. I need to rip back a row and kitchener the toe. Good thing I didn't want to kitchener on the train. I'd be a bit bitter about ripping out grafting and that would be a sure way to put Bubble Stream into the "someday I'll finish you" pile.

Fortunately Saturday was much less wet - although it did rain hard for 30 minutes around 2 o'clock.

But you didn't come here to read about New England weather. You came for the yarn.

Over the years - this was our sixth Rhinebeck - we've honed our shopping approach. My mantra when deciding to buy a yarn this year was "Can I get this at home? Do I know what i'll make from it?"

That mantra helped me avoid several impromptu purchases. In the end I bought three yarns and a book:

• A skein of Miss Babs sock yarn in the Rhinebeck 2011 colorway. Miss Babs said she'll be doing commemorative colorways moving forward and I couldn't pass this one up. My pact with myself is to knit up this skein before next Rhinebeck so I can buy the 2012 colorway. I love it so it feels doable. Right now I'm thinking a garter stitch shawl to showcase the colors and avoid the possibility of pooling. Possibly Lintilla for its movement with the stitches and the ruffle.
• 2 skeins of Gypsy Girl Creations Transitions in the Viola Bouquet colorway. I've never seen this yarn before and I couldn't resist. I need to hunt for the right sock pattern to take advantage of the gradient dyeing. Any suggestions?
• 1 skein on Lang Jawoll sock for a pair of entrelac mitts. I was intending to make entrelac mitts and then I realized I'd hate knitting entrelac on such a small circumference. So I'm on the hunt for a mitt pattern that will look great with the long repeats.
• Clara Parkes' new book The Knitter's Book of Socks. Clara (who's seriously one of the nicest people I met this year) was signing books and I'm *obsessed* with the orange socks on the cover. I want to finish my current sock though - Bubble Stream.

Speaking of - I'm done with sock #1 and it's a beauty (pic next time, I promise). What a wonderful pattern and I'm starting to appreciate the virtues of cuff-down sock knitting. The feet go *so fast*. I'll be casting on for sock 2 tonight so I don't lose momentum.

There's also one yarn I want to keep in mind for Maryland. While it didn't satisfy an immediate need it's really cool and I'd like to come up with a use for it - Miss Babs' Moo & Ewe - 80% milk fiber 20% merino - reminded me of a bamboo merino blend - super drapey, great sheen and the fiber took the dye similarly to bamboo with its more subtle saturation. Generically I was thinking shawl but do particular pattern came to mind. We all know that would have created a minimum 5 year stay in the stash. No thank you.

What about you? Did you go to Rhinebeck? What did you get?

So I threaded some waste yarn through so I could nicely lay the whole thing out at once. Then, I took one of my favorite stockienette stitch cardis that doesn’t have any lycra in it (so the sizing needs would be similar) and put my work on top of it.

Phew! It’s looking good.

I did make a couple of mods:

• I added 3” to the length. I’m too busty for a fitted, cropped cardi. I do have a couple but they’re all a relaxed fit for a more casual look
• I’ve also decided not to do waist shaping. None of my store-bought cardis have waist shaping, and because of the way I wear them I buy them to fit my mid-section and only button those couple of waist buttons. This gives me the most flattering silhouette. So, no waist shaping for me.

I’ve added almost as much length to the body in the past week as what I knit in the three previous weeks. That twisted ribbing is a beauty but I’m happy to get a bit more progress in this week.

I’m still obsessed with Audrey and haven’t touched my Bubble Stream socks or the shawl I started in a panic when I didn’t know what I wanted to make out of the Silky Wool. (you do that too, right?)

Speaking of cooler weather clothing, I'm making good progress on Audrey. The first week was slow going and I briefly thought "why am I making a cardi with 36 freaking rows of 1x1 rib?"

And then I finished the ribbing on Friday and got my answer - it's gorgeous!

I'm still a bit nervous about sizing. I haven't made many bottom up tops (I'm more of a top down girl) so I'm still in the pre-try it on stage. I really want a red cardi for work though so it's motivating me work on it during every commute. In fact, I haven't knit on my Bubble Stream socks in 2 weeks.

I'm excited to see the cardi take shape and can't wait to be able to slip it on to see how it all behaves together. I'm not sure I can handle frogging all the ribbing but hopefully I wont have to find out *fingers crossed*

This will likely be my primary Rhinebeck project although I always bring a few just for flexibility. I can be a fickle, fickle knitter.

Speaking of Rhinebeck - are you going? What should I put on my shopping list? This will likely be my last post before I leave so let me know if you're going to be there. I'd love to see some new faces and the usual suspects too!