Works in Progress

Yep, that’s plural - Works in Progress. I’m a big fan of having more than one knitting project going on at the same time. That way, I’ll always have something that will suit whatever I feel like working on. At least I tell myself that’s the reason. In actuality, I just really love to start new projects. I love to sort through patterns, pick out something that I really want to knit, and choose a yarn that will make the pattern come to life. So I often stray from whatever I’m knitting to cast on something new. And I mean often. I can’t exactly say off the top of my head how many projects are sitting around my condo in an unfinished state, but it’s quite a few.

I’m going to introduce just a few of them. These are the ones that I’m currently spending most of my time on. There are a couple more, but they’re gifts, and just in case the recipient stumbles across my blog, I’d rather keep them a surprise.

This is my Red Hot Mountain Stole:

The pattern is actually called Cold Mountain and was designed by Kieran Foley, but I’m calling it Red Hot Mountain because there is nothing cold about this color. This is my first real lace project. I’ve done a couple of “lacey” projects, but this is the first one using lace weight yarn. The yarn is 100% cashmere, and comes from a sweater that I bought at Goodwill and unraveled to reuse the yarn. I’m a huge fan of doing this, and I’ll probably talk more about it in a later post.

This is my Deep V Argyle Vest:

This fantasic pattern was written by Eunny Jang. I’ve made quite a bit of progress since taking this photo, so I really ought to take another one. This past weekend I set the steeks for the armholes. Yep, I’m steeking. For my non-knitting readers, why I are you still reading this? Haven’t I bored you to tears yet? Well, if you’re still reading, I’ll probably explain steeking in greater detail some other time. For now, let’s just say that it’s kind of a big deal. I have done steeking once before, but it was a teddy bear sweater that I knit for the sole purpose of learning to steek. This is more recycled yarn. It’s 100% wool and the sweater was entirely the off-white color to begin with. I took about half of it and dyed it with Kool-Aid to the mocha brown color that you see here. I guess I’ll have to explain the process of Kool-Aid dyeing in another post too.

And this is Glynis:

Glynis is a sock (obviously). I LOVE knitting socks. Socks are the reason that I learned to knit. My grandmother taught me to crochet a long time ago, and I picked it back up just a couple of years ago. I made some nice things and joined a knitting group where my newfound friends admired my crochet abilities. For a long time, I resisted learning to knit. I guess I felt like I was sticking up for “the underdog” by not learning to knit. But my knitting friends could make socks… And they were beautiful! They were lightweight, stretchy, colorful, and had many qualities that I could not replicate with my crochet. So I learned to knit. And now I love to knit socks.

Yes, I know, you can crochet socks, but they just aren’t the same. I’m not saying that to insult crochet. I love to crochet too. But each skill has its own strengths and weaknesses. When it comes to making socks, knitting wins.

Now this specific sock is Glynis from Cookie A’s Sock Innovation. I think it’s a fantastic book, and I’m currently challenging myself to knit every single sock from this book. This is the first sock pattern in the book, and it’s made of a beautiful yarn called Merino Sox from Sandy’s Palette. Sandy is a yarn dyer from Wisconsin who had a booth at the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival this summer. The yarn is 100% Superwash Merino Wool and it seems to be a good match for Glynis.

So there you have it. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!