A Misc Post

It's a holiday here, so I'm just going to do a quick update on different things.

No pictures, as I spent yesterday sorting thru my stash (added a bunch of stuff in Ravelry that I'm looking to unload... I'll probably eventually get them up on Ebay as well). That was a lot of work, but my stash room is fairly well cleaned up (my living room... not so much. Need to sell it and get it out of here!!).

Would you believe that I haven't bought yarn since Maryland Sheep & Wool? This may be the longest I've gone with no yarn purchases. Quite frankly, I don't even have a lot of desire to buy more. So many projects, so much stash... I really am feeling maxed out right now. I have stuff I want to get to Right Now!!

Which brings me to the current status of my projects.

Still knitting sleeves. The first sleeve on my Mermaid is done. It looks a lot more "normal" now that it's done. I just think it's hard to tell while knitting side to side. As I said, I'm just not used to knitting sleeves in that direction, and I think my perspective was off. They're still short... and I think that's actually good. I know the garter will stretch down and I've seen a lot of people mention how long their sleeves are. I don't think they'll be short for long...

Matt's Sampler Cardigan is currently sleeveless. However, I went ahead and added the length to the pockets that he wanted and I put on the buttonband (easier to do without sleeves anyway). I'll pick up the stitches for sleeve attempt #3 today. Oh, and since I was asked by Ruth in my comments, the pattern I'm using is by Sarah James called "Sampler Cardigan". She's got several versions of these patterns (a pullover, a tee shirt, the cardigan and I believe a coat). I've made some changes to the pattern, but it's a fabulous basic pattern and having the mix of stitches makes it very interesting to knit.

In other knitting news... do you have a project that you want to work but just doesn't? I've been playing around with St. Brigid for a while now. I even bought Alice Starmore's Herbidean yarn to make it. I started it, put it aside, tried other yarns and tried the Herbidean again. I want it to work with that yarn. It simply doesn't. I bought a dark purple (similar to the color in the book) and the yarn just isn't working with it. The color is dark. The yarn is soft and not evenly spun. Sigh. I must stop trying. I've cast it on in that yarn 3 times now. I know I'll be happier with Cascade 220 and I'll use the Herbidean for something else.

Okay, off to pick up stitches for Matt's cardigan. Or I'll work on something else. As today is all about baseball games and knitting!