KNITTING!!

I TOLD YOU I'D DO A KNITTING POST! HERE IT IS, THE VERY FIRST ONE!

Okay, here's what I'm currently working on:

Aren't these pretty? The colors are a little softer than this, and there's a soft lavender grey that, er, knocks my socks off every time it crosses the needles. It's a basketweave rib pattern on the leg and down the top of the foot,and I like the way it breaks up the stripiness of the stocking stitch (visible here in the sole of the foot). These are going to look terrific with blue jeans and also with black jeans. (Pattern here: http://stitchesofviolet.blogspot.com/2005/03/basketweave-ribbing-socks-pattern.html)


The photo does not do the colors of this yarn justice by a long shot. This is Noro's Transitions yarn. It was a total impulse purchase--Little Knits (http://littleknits.com) had it on sale for about half off and I thought "I'll never, ever find this at a better price" and bought ten skeins. Little Knits is a very dangerous site. Hide your credit cards before you go there.

At any rate, this yarn is such a joy to work with--the colors are very soft and subtle, and there are 6 different fibers: wool, silk, kid mohair, angora, cashmere, and camel. The reason the item here looks so wrinkled is that it's the Broken-Cable Sweater pattern from Vogue Knitting Very Easy Knits. The reason it's not finished is two-fold: First, since I'm violently allergic to sewing seams, I've worked it in the round to the armholes, and it now occurs to me that when I divide for the front and back the stripe pattern will change. Second, I've used a size 10 circ and am wondering if I should have used a 10.5 or even 11. Obviously it's not the kind of yarn that's going to have a great "drape," but it does seem like it would be a bit less firm if it were worked on a larger needle. So I'm trying to decide whether to frog-pond it.

The story of this yarn is typical of my usual struggle to make anything. First I was going to do just a plain ol' circular-yoke sweater (and if I had it would have been finished weeks ago while the weather was still disgustingly wintry), but after about 8 inches I decided that was just too plain. Ripped it all out, rewound the skeins (I do love my swift and ball winder!). Started inventing a top-down pattern with a funnel neck, 6x2 ribbing, and a wide center cable. Messed it up, ripped it out, rewound. Sulked a few days. Didn't want to buy a Noro pattern book, but after looking at pictures of various Noro patterns, decided that this Broken-Cable sweater might give some of the same effect, which brings me to my current predicament.

Maybe I could do a cuff-to-cuff sweater?

Current soundtrack: "If You're Only Lonely," from the album of the same name by J.D. Souther. Can this guy sing or what?