New Projects, Old Projects, Languishing-on-the-Needles Projects

I have some FOs (finished objects) to show you as soon as the second one comes off the blocking board. These finished objects are not socks.

Are you amazed? Astounded? Flabbergasted?

I am even a bit surprised. In fact, the pair of July socks that had its heels turned on 06 July is still a couple inches short of a leg. And, if that weren't enough, the third June pair of socks, which had one heel flap knit on 05 July, is still waiting for the other heel flap to be knit (and the legs).

So what have I been knitting? Scarves and shawls.

The two finished objects are both scarves. And I have three other scarves/shawls on the needles.

Why three more? A hard one, an easy (i.e., almost mindless) one, and one that requires thought and stitch counting but not to the exclusion of everything else.

One of the shawls, a wedding stole, is knit in cobweb lace. I have not knit with cobweb lace since I was a kid. On this project, I got off to a rough start. There was an error in the pattern directions, which I did not realize until after I had knit the first row and still had four stitches on the needle. Ripped out, restarted, got through the first row just fine...and somehow lost a stitch---a yarn-over---when I purled back. Ripped and restarted (again).  The third time, I added two rows of stockinette stitch at the bottom of the pattern. Since I always cast on to a larger needle, I was having a hard time starting the lace pattern and changing from one needle to  a smaller one, so I gave myself the two rows of stockinette to change needles and to establish the border, and to set two markers in open sections of the pattern.

The markers made a big difference. Instead of counting from the beginning, I only had to count 36-40 stitches. I could count stitches in each section as I knit them and when I reached the marker, to ensure I hadn't dropped a stitch or lost a yarn-over or, on the back side, inadvertently purled a yarn-over together with the next stitch.

After about 10 rows, I decided that the yarn needed a larger needle. But I'm test knitting this pattern for the designer, who wants to know the gauge I get with a US3 needle, so I had to change the yarn, since I couldn't change the needle.

With the second yarn (the cobweb lace) and with the pattern error in the first row corrected, and with two stockinette rows at the beginning and two markers in open sections of the pattern, I haven't had to tink back more than 40 stitches. (And I've only had to do that once.)  But I can only knit four rows at a time, then I have to do something else for a while.

The stole coming along, but s-l-o-w-l-y. The pattern is 113 stitches wide, with 36 rows. The stole requires ten pattern repetitions. I'm ready to knit row 19 in the first pattern repetition.

More on the other scarves/shawls later. This month I'm also determined to finish some projects that have been languishing on the needles for months: the two Adult Surprise Jackets (one is called Coat of Many Colors) and my oldest grandniece's sweater-tunic. Watch the progress bars on the left (in the "On the Needles" section) to see if---and how quickly---I follow through.

Once I get those finished, there's another project, called Purple Jacket, that hasn't been touched for about a year. Partly that was due to my gauge change, partly to a lack of time, and partly because the sections of the project still to be knit aren't as interesting as the initial section.

What are you knitting? Have you made any knitting resolutions this summer?

Susannah