Stress Relief = Stockinette Stitch

Geez, it has been a long time since I've blogged. Anyhow . . . My 13 month old has learned how to climb. He has been climbing up on the kitchen table and walking around. This has put me in a constant state of stress for fear that he fall off and kill himself. Although he is fairly confident about his abilities he still falls a lot when walking across an empty room.

What to do. I feel like I am in a constant state of vigilance trying to anticipate what he will climb next. Meanwhile I am knitting one sweater of worsted weight on size 1 needles, one sweater in fair isle fingering weight on size 3's, and a shawl on lace weight with size 4's. None of these projects allow for the type of stress relief I felt I was needing. So what's a girl to do but start another project.

You might notice that my newest project is DK weight stockinette stitch on size 6 needles. Much more relaxing. I am knitting Soliel from Knitty which I was going to save for the summer but perhaps I will have it done by summer instead. I am using the Rowan Cashsoft Baby DK which I acquired at the great after Christmas sale and one of my LYS's. I am loving this yarn but it would normally be a bit out of my budget. The color is called crocus. I have actually seen crocus' lately although this yarn bears very little resemblance. The color is nice though. It is hard to tell whether it is tan, pink, or orange.



In the last couple days I have found myself straying back to Fulmar. The progress is not really noticeable. I am not inspired to knit too fast since I don't anticipate wearing this sweater until next winter.

Too Many Projects?

I figured that I would give you an update on my projects now that I have finished Leaves In Relief:



1. I haven't worked much on my Shetland Lace Shawl from A Gathering of Lace. I started it to get a sense of it. I am trying to hold off on it so it can be more of a summer project though. Over the past couple days it has been sunny and warmer though so I have been working on it a bit. I am sure that when it snows again I will lose inspiration.









2. Here is my Donegal sweater from Alice Starmore's Celtic Collection. I also have not finished much of this. I still am not sure about the colors and that it making it hard for me to stay inspired. This much I know -my next fair isle project will use Jamieson and Smith's 2-ply.





3. My newest project is Fulmar from Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting. I am using Nature Spun in pink please. I have been knitting on this a lot but am using 2.25 mm and 2.50 mm needles to knit this out of light worsted weight wool. The ribbing was killing my hands. The needles kept bending and the knitting was so tight. I am happy to say that I have switched on the larger sized needles in Addi Turbos and my hands are much happier. I have also been trying not to use a cable needle although I have needed to on some of the larger cables because the fabric is so firm. I am in love with this sweater so far though. It is just beautiful.

One of my main reason for making at least one project out of worsted weight wool is that my LYS does not carry much else that I would use. They carry a lot of bulky yarn, acrylic, and novelty yarn. I do like to go there every couple weeks to knit and hang out with other knitters though so I like to keep a LYS project going.



Finally, off topic, Meijer Gardens has a temporary butterfly exhibit going now. Aren't they beautiful? If you are in the area stop by and check out the butterflies.