Lollipop: June 2007 Archives
Thank you to everyone for the encouraging comments about my starry quilt top. I think that my sewing machine is going to be a little quiet for a while as I work on some fiber projects that need my attention, such as Lollipop. I'm finding knitting to be a very pleasant pursuit right now, as I can put my feet up, be still and let my fingers travel over my needles while the baby does her little dances. I thought that as she got bigger, she'd settle down some, but she's still as active as ever. And as she gets bigger, those motions get somewhat more distracting. Knitting also has another benefit -- my belly doesn't get in the way. Funny how sometimes I just forget that it's there and bump it into things!
This little sweater now has two sleeves. Even on tiny needles, when I sit down to work on them, the baby sweater pieces just seem to fly. A whole sleeve in a few hours in an evening? Certainly a first for me, if you don't count any of my sweaters worked in bulky yarn. The Cashcotton is a nice yarn to knit with in the summer, as well. It stays fairly cool to the touch and doesn't get that slightly sticky feeling wool sometimes gets for me when I knit with it when my hands are warm -- and right now my hands (an the rest of my body) are almost always guaranteed to be warm.
Onto the back of this sweater!
I decided to approach the next sweater for my upcoming arrival from the same perspective I would if I were making a sweater for myself: get the sleeves out of the way first, so as to avoid second sleeve syndrome later on. You see, I figured that even though the sleeves in question would be much smaller, the yarn and needles would also be scaled down. And the pattern had a small bobble.
Even though this little sleeve took me longer than almost he whole Tulips sweater seemed to, it was a pleasant little knit and once again helped me appreciate the allure of knitting for small people. Smaller person = smaller sleeve (the book is in the picture for perspective) = less time spent on the dreaded Sleeve Island. And while I haven't yet cast on for the second sleeve, I don't feel any particular boredom issues arising as a result of that thought, so I think there will be more sleevage for this little sweater soon.
So far I also like working with the RYC Cashcotton 4 Ply. It has that same somewhat dry but not unpleasant feeling of RYC Cashcotton DK and it creates a nice fabric without too much stitch distortion in places where decreases and bobbles were present. It does seem a bit fuzzier than the DK weight yarn, and it is shedding some little short fibers, but since it's been a while since I worked with the DK weight Cashcotton, my memory may be failing me here.
This will be the last post of the week. I'm off to Ann Arbor to spend father's day with my favorite Dad and a very special Dad-to-be. There will be some brewing of beer, a good deal of food from Zingermans, some planting of trees and probably a bit of mom and daughter shopping time. I'm only packing two knitting projects: Lollipop and my Sprung Sock. With luck, maybe I'll actually get that darned sock finished so that I can write up that pattern for everyone!
See you all on Monday. Happy Father's Day to everyone celebrating it this weekend!
