Socks on Two Circs – Day 1

I managed to do a short row heel right, the first time! Woo hoo!

Yesterday, from class.

Today, when I got tired of the sweater.

Koigu. The yummiest of yarns.

FO – Broadstreet

Pattern: Broad Street (sans flap) by Janis Cortese, from Knitty.

Yarn: KnitPicks Ambrosia (80% baby alpaca, 20% cashmere. In “Night Sky”. I used just under one ball for each mitten. (The yarn is just like butter. I’ll have to see how they wear, right now, the alpaca component is a little prickly on my skin. Perhaps there will be lavendar & white mittens in the future … I’ve been wanting to play with fair isle and I can’t think of a softer yarn to experiment with.)

Also, I have two more balls of the Ambrosia (also in night sky), that at least for now have no plans. In case any of the yarny people out there would like to make their own soft and snuggly mittens.

Needles: Size 2, Bamboo

Notes: I changed the gauge from 7 st/inch to 8 st/inch (older photos show how 7 st/inch was just too wide for my hand). I made the right mitten a bit narrower than the left around the palm, but that didn’t do much for it really (it isn’t noticeably smaller across my hand, but it’s just enough that the index finger seems tight because I suck at math and didn’t think to add in stitches to keep the fingers the same diameter earlier in the process).

In other news, my betta, Fishstick, just tried to give me a heart attack by playing dead. I changed some of the water and he swam around sideways for a bit, then laid down on the bottom of the tank. He’s moving around now (lots of tapping on the glass and dropping a food pellet in), but there for a minute I was very worried.

Finish things before starting new things? Whaaa?

I’d been considering all sorts of wooly pullovers for my next project … but then it was over 60 degrees outside this morning, so I’m thinking that maybe something light would be fun for my next project. Like say: Spring Fling!

I was going to do a theoretical ruffly cardi (ruffli cardi, if I wanted to be cutesy cutesi, anyway, a cardigan with a ruffle), which was going to come from my stash – but all I have for that project is black and dark purple yarn, and Spring Fling just seems like it should be white or pink or periwinkle or something. If I made it in cream/white/ecru I could wear it with just about all my summery dresses I never wear because they’re all sleeveless, and with most of the skirts I never wear. Will ponder.

(The theoretical sweater is coming along, I’m about 2 inches from finishing the back. I’m feeling kind of meh about doing the front for a second time. First thing I need to do is get a new cable needle. I lost one, and I’ve been using hairpins, which were fine for a single stitch wide cable on the back of a mitten, but not so good for a giant sweater. Also I’m thinking straight/bell sleeves ala Tubey, rather than tapered (normal) sleeves. Not sure yet. It’s harder to roll up Tubey sleeves, but it wouldn’t be so hard to fit a long sleeve shirt under it (a problem with the gray sweater I used for reference the other day).

(Also, after seeing this girl’s version, I really want to make the KnitPicks Kimono sweater.)