Peterborough

   I am never taking this off.  Never.

  I'm always kicking myself for not finishing things that I end up really loving, sooner.  In the case of Peterborough, I had to deal with the yarn (it's lovely, but primarily cotton), worrying about running out of yarn, and the possibility that it might not fit once I've gotten all the pieces knitted and sewn together (as with all seamed sweaters).  Eventually all of these things had to be overcome, or really, I just had to quit being lazy and dragging my feet.  Thankfully, a Raveller sold me a couple of extra skeins in the same dye lot, so no issues with running out of yarn.  In fact, I only used 22% of one of those extra skeins, which is surprising since I had to add an inch in length to each sleeve.  That cable pattern up there was downright addicting, and of course this made the long sleeves (that I foolishly knit last) incredibly boring.  Add to that the length of the cardigan made for some really long seams to mattress stitch together and 50 gram skeins = millions of ends to weave in.

   But after nearly 10 months on the needles with a lot of down time in between it's done!  And it's perfect.  

     

   It's the perfect weight for a multi-seasonal piece.  The cotton/silk is heavy enough to be warm and cozy, but cool enough that I will most likely wear this all the time.  Bonus is that the sleeves are the perfect length.  I've never owned a store bought sweater or long sleeved top that actually fit as long sleeves on me, so it's always nice when I can custom knit something to fit to my liking.  

Pattern: Peterborough, by Norah Gaughan

Yarn: Mirasol Yarn Wach'i

Colorway: 1512 Cream

   Another plus is that this finish means I can now move 1765.5 yards of yarn out of my stash!  Even if the knit skeins were already out of my actual stash storage, that yardage is now officially removed from my stash yardage total.  

   This has been a big week for knitting FOs.  I think over the weekend I'm going to commit to getting Santa's House stitched.  If I don't finish over the weekend I at least hope to get it mostly done.  

weekly WIP progress report

  Here's a look at what I've been doing this week.

Peterborough

Pattern: Peterborough, Berroco: Norah Gaughan Vol. 8

Yarn: Mirasol Yarn, Wach'i

Colorway: 1512 Natural

   Peterborough is well on its way to completion.  The body and one sleeve are finished and I'm nearly done with the ribbing on the second sleeve.  Knitting 4" of ribbing with a (primarily) cotton yarn is no fun, but I managed to CO my second sleeve right after finishing the first.  Trade secret: always CO immediately following the BO on the first piece of things knit in pairs (i.e. socks, sleeves, mittens, etc.) to avoid the nearly unavoidable SSS (Second Sock Syndrome), or in this case SSleeveS.

   I've been panicking about not having enough yarn to finish this cardigan, but I got another 2 skeins of yarn (from the same dye lot!) from another Raveller in the mail this week.  I'll have plenty of yarn to finish this up.  No more excuses for this WIP.

  

Miss BB

Pattern: Miss BB, Chic Knits

Yarn: Mirasol Yarn, Sawya

Colorway: 1800, Black

   This week I also spent a bit of time with Miss BB.  I've got nearly 6" of the back done.  The yarn is gorgeous and wonderful to work with.  No regrets about adding 17 skeins of it to the stash, except maybe not snagging another sweaters worth when I had the chance.  Once I get Peterborough squared away I can devote 100% of my time to Miss BB, and I'm sure that time will fly by.

  Here's a preview of another WIP I've been working on.

Pattern: February Cottage, Country Cottage Needleworks
Fabric: stitched over 2 on 35 count linen from Wichelt - lambswool
Floss: DMC and Crescent Colors

This morning I spent an hour or so putting a few stitches into my February Cottage and its nearly finished.  Look for an update soon!

weekly WIP progress report

   It's Sunday morning and I'm enjoying a cup or two of coffee.  Here's what I've been working on this week:

February Cottage

Pattern: Country Cottage Needleworks, February Cottage
Fabric: stitched over 2 on 35 count linen from Wichelt - lambswool
Floss: DMC and Crescent Colors - Pink Champagne and Pink Posey

   I've started on my February Cottage and it's nearly done.  I never thought I'd say it, but there really is A LOT of pink on this cottage.  I've seen other mods of this chart and think I will also make my birds into bluebirds and might also leave off some or all of the floating hearts surrounding 'February'.   

   I'm still worried about my issues with the January Cottage, but I figure that I can finish stitching February and March, which make up the top row of my 12 cottage piece, before I do any major ripping out on January.  At this point, I'm feeling that I do need to rip out the January cottage and start over.  The problem is that if I rip out the cottage, there goes my snowman and tree also.  

Peterborough

   The body has been washed and blocked, so I've moved on to sleeves.  I'm pretty sure that my 4 remaining skeins of Mirasol Yarn Wach'i will not be enough to knit both long sleeves, but thankfully a kind Raveller has offered to send me a couple of skeins so I can finish up.  
   Once I do get the sleeves knit up, seaming will be a long and tedious process.  I actually enjoy knitting garments in pieces (many mini FOs FTW!) and like the structure seamed garments have, but sewing the pieces together by hand is a bit tedious.  Hopefully I don't stall out on the finishing for Peterborough, because it's lovely and has had WIP/Hibernating status for way too long.  

A New Start

Yarn: Mirasol Yarn Sawya

Colorway: Black

     
      This yarn turned up at my mailbox this week.  In the near future it will become a jacket/cardigan for me.

a change in the weather

  Through the summer I was in a major funk.  I picked up and put down various WIPs and had numerous starts, but not many finishes.  Not even the Ravellenics managed to motivate me.  That's right... absolutely no finishes, not even a cotton dishcloth.  It must have been the heat.  My only solution was to trade my knitting needles in for q-snaps, fabric, and floss which was a worthy substitute.

Fall is here: the view on my run yesterday afternoon.

  But things are changing.  Since, I'm surrounded by fall colors here in Nebraska, it's only right to pick the needles and a long-hibernating WIP back up.

Pattern: Peterborough, Berroco: Norah Gaughan Vol. 8

Yarn: Mirasol Yarn, Wach'i

Colorway: 1512 Natural

   Hopefully, I get my rhythm back.