Nine continues to be the number

No matter how many projects I finish, I still manage to maintain nine WIPs on the needles.

It is March and I am three pairs for three months. Yay!

For the year, I have completed twelve projects! Wow.

Albeit, several were relatively small, including a bookmark, swiffer cloths, and a couple of hats.

Looking at the current projects underway, there are two pairs of socks and a pair of mittens (which are much like socks).

It is understood the colortopia shawl is a long-term project, so I should really not be counting it, but I do.

That leaves five more projects, four of which involve lace.

The cashmere Ene from Scarf Style has turned into a love/hate thing. I love the yarn and the pattern, but mistakes are easy, even with lifelines. I imagine this being an enjoyable knit when I have lots of time and strict attention to pay to it.



For my mother I started this Vintage Lingerie Top from Inspired to Knit. The pattern screams my mom. She even picked out the yarn, Silky Wool from Elsebeth Lavold. I cast on and have only completed the edge trimming, but I love the results. There are a lot of little details with this project, but the yarn has excellent stitch definition and I believe it will be beautiful. I do not know why I have not been working on this because I want to have it done by Mother's Day.



The Gothik Scarf is a fine and fun pattern. I thought I was being clever when I paired it with Dream in Color Smooshy in Gothic Rose. The truth is, the color is gorgeous (it did not translate well in digital pixels), but I do not enjoy the feel of the yarn in my hands. While 100% wool, it actually feels like acrylic to me.



Conversely, with Cece, I love the yarn. I mean LOVE the yarn, but HATE, HATE, HATE the pattern. The yarn is a sport weight called Prairie from Yarn Daze. It is squishy, soft, and springy. I think Chic Knits has some wonderful pattern and, good grief, I have bought plenty, but this is the second one I have tried. I frogged the first and am very close to frogging this one, too. I do not think her patterns are that clear or intuitive to me. I guess I have been spoiled by the thoroughness of Laura Chau's designs, of which I have knit two without incident. Wee One keeps asking me about this. Were it for me, I would have frogged this long ago. At the moment, I am closely approaching the point where I would much rather slash my wrists than continue. All of which is a crying shame because it is close to 70% complete and the dear child would love to wear it.



The last project (Hap Shawl) is most likely to be complete in April, early May as Lolly, Adamboysmom, and I are gearing up for a knit-a-long (that should give some life to this blog!).

At the moment, I have been swatching, swatching and swatching as both girls have identified a sweater each they would like. If anyone is keeping tally, Sweet One now has chosen two (2!) sweaters she would like to have.

While I have not mentioned it on the other blog, everyone here knows she will be going off to college in the fall. It is much colder (not by Michigan standards) there than it is in South Texas. When we went up there last November to check it out, we almost froze to death. As such, she is seeing the warmth and benefit to a couple of cozy sweaters.

Not to be left behind, Wee One chimed in and picked another sweater from the same pamphlet (Jenny Watson Pattern Poster 1 by Ester Bitran Hand Dyes).

Both call for bulky weight yarn. Some of the swatching I have done has been with Malabrigo worsted, doubled. Both of them LOVED the results; however, Cascade Jewel is far more economical ($27 a sweater) than two strands of the Malabrigo worsted or even one strand of the Malabrigo Chunky($60 a sweater).

Sweet One liked this one, but without the bell sleeves:



This is the color she chose:



My only reservation is the thick/thin nature of the yarn, but I cannot justify making this in Malabrigo. If she ends up absolutely loving this and wanting to wear it everyday, then I will make another in malabrigo.

Wee One's sweater of choice is very similar, although, she has asked to make it longer, rather than cropped as in the picture.



This is the color Wee One picked:



Apparently, neither daughter is much enamored of variegated yarn.

Those will be my summer projects. There's nothing quite like knitting bulky weight yarn in 100 degree weather, is there?

So, here is my guilt-ridden update on the WIPs around here.

What have you been working on?

Comments

Lolly said…
What you've knitted so far on your mom's Vintage Lingerie Top has a pattern that's a whole lot like the pattern on my Flat Feet socks, which I forgot to show you. I'll be posting more pictures soon. I was looking at Ene the other day and I thought you had queued that one up.

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