What Homework?

Like I said, I've been fitting knitting time in whenever possible, which is completely unlike me. I'm normally a very lazy knitter who prefers to read blogs, buy yarn and plan sweaters 3 years in advance. This is everything I've been knitting for the past few weeks:

I was caught downtown a few days ago in a t-shirt in fifty degree weather, necessatating a store bought sweater. I bought one on my break that looks like something i would knit myself, except it was missing elbow patches, so I knit some:



The patches are knit out of knitpicks telemark on size 2 needles. I haven't had time to block them and sew the suckers on, but all in good time.

I'm knitting a scarf on the train:



This scarf is really killing my fragile knitter ego. First of all, the yarn is beautiful, soft and spongey. Run it through my grubby man-hands and it becomes snagged, pilled and hairy. I'm trying to compensate by handling it more gently, but that results in really ugly stitches. It kind of looks like I was knitting baby cables. The best I can hope for at this point is a bohemian look. Le sigh.

I started knitting Major from Rowan. Well, kind of. I had to use a completely different pattern due to Rowan's really awful sizing issues and worse schematics. I'll add the details from the origional pattern to a sweater sized for a human being and all will be well.



*Note: Please ignore the awful lighting. I knit this in my studio, where natural light is only spoken about in rumor. That also explains why I've only knit 5 inches of the back of a sweater knit on size 17 needles. Don't judge me. I do plan on passing this semester.

I'm still knitting the zipped raglan. I finished the body and have started a sleeve. I'm knitting the smallest size, but I knit it to the length of the large. This may be finished one day. I'm aiming for Thanksgiving. Please do not hold back ridicule if the end of November comes and I have a body and half of a sleeve knit. Be cruel, otherwise how am I ever going to learn?



And a sleeve:

19:19

In the Bible, Leviticus prohibits the mixing of textiles under the penalty of death. "..neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee." -Leviticus 19:19. While shellfish and pork are prohibited most likely to avoid nasty bouts of trichinosis, I wonder what the purpose of this mandate is. Perhaps it was some form of consumer protection? You pay your last shekel for a halug, you want it to be 100% linen or wool, depending on your needs. Whatever the case may be, the death penalty is a little extreme, don't you think?

Well start gathering the mob and pass out some stones.



75% wool, 25% bamboo, 100% worth being bludgeoned to death.

If that doesn't condemn me, I also loaded up on Rowan Soft Tweed as it was on mad sale.



56% wool, 20% viscose, 14% polyamide, 10% silk. Yeah, that should do me in for sure.



Why does sin feel so soft?

What's Next?

Alright, the second glove is moving along a wee bit slower than the first and Bob is, ahem, taking a breather as my feeble brain can't handle the ever changing amount of yarn strands that grace his beautiful face right now. So, I will show you yarn for my next few projects. Note: I am a deceptively slow knitter so please ignore the dust on the yarn.

First we have some Rowan Big Wool in Best Brown.



This will be a cardigan of some type to keep Andrew's skinny ass warm in Chicago. I'm betting I can knit this sucker in a week.

Next we have my new winter sweater.



This is about 11-12 balls of Manos in color 108. It will be a zip up raglan from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I'm super stoked about this because I've had half of the yarn for about 3 years and now my plan for my first sweater that I'm not embarrassed to leave the house in is almost complete.

The next collection of yarn is much more speculative in nature.



It's 8 balls of sport weight alpaca that have no intended purpose whatsoever. For some reason I have a tendency to buy single balls of sport weight alpaca just because. I don't get it either. Anyway, I know that I'm a big fan of the solid dreary man-colors, but I was thinking that this could be the start of a really great Kaffe Fasset-esque sweater, much like this one...



Too Heathecliff Huxtable? I don't know. I figured it would be perfect for a baby sweater but the only baby I know lives in San Diego and what freak in their right mind knits a baby sweater out of alpaca? (Note: if you happen to be knitting a baby sweater out of alpaca, I'm totally not talking about you.) Do I really want to knit a sweater in sport weight that I will probably never wear? Maybe I'll find a new friend with really bad taste. Let's hope.