knitting neels

Sundays are for catching up on knitting and for watching documentaries about octopuses. I could knit four sweaters at a time if I were an octopus. I’m just saying.

The grey cardigan has been steeked! I have cut it (properly, this time) but still haven’t gotten around to picking up stitches for the button band. If you look carefully, the little ridge along the left hand side is the crochet binding that I used. It worked really, really well and I think it’s a technique that I’ll stick to. I need to tack down the band before I start picking up stitches so I’ve been putting it off. I really shouldn’t because the cardigan is so close to being finished!

Instead I have suddenly changed tack to this, the Tangled Yoke cardigan.

This is sloooowww going. I blame it on the purling. I have been trying to grin and bear it though because it is working up beautifully. I have also been working on the cotton tunic for This is Knit. I started this a little while ago but stalled because I needed a few minutes to sit down and work out what I was going to do with the front. Since I had no minutes to do anything over the last ten days, this had to be temporarily left aside. I made great tracks with it this afternoon, though.

Can I just say again how nice this cotton is to work with? It is very soft and resilient… and I am particularly fond of that buttery shade of cream. This is going to have three quarter length sleeves with a slit to match the neckline and it will be edged in an denim blue. I cannot wait to see it completed because I think it’ll be a great summer top for our Irish weather. Light enough for mild weather but the neckline and longish sleeves will provide cover against cool breezes.

Lastly, the Noro sock saw the most progress during the week because it came with me everywhere on the bus.

I quite like the yarn. Aside from the fabulous colours, I like the composition of the yarn too. I can see how others would think it a little frail and scratchy for a sock yarn. Neither of these things bother me! I actually think it would be better to approach the yarn not as a sock yarn but as a Noro lace weight yarn. As Noro goes, you get a good bang for your buck and would be a good choice for a shawl or a fine-knit top.

Things are back to the crazy this week but hopefully I’ll have a little more time in the evenings to catch up with things. Don’t forget that the next round of design classes kick off this Wednesday! There is still a place or two left, I think.

(Judging by this octopus documentary, I wouldn’t be surprised if they could knit four sweaters at a time. They are really smart! They could work out complex puzzles to get to food. They also showed one in the wild a big mirror and after feeling around the back of it, you could see that he knew it was himself. How do these people get funding? ‘We wish to confront octopuses in the deep with mirrors’.)