Bristow: on to the sleeves!

Makes it sound more exciting than it really is, eh? I finished the right front. Woo.

Actually, I'm feeling really hopeful at how quickly Bristow is moving along. I feel like I kind of "get" the pattern now. I'm hoping to knit both sleeves together, once I get past the cuffs (which, on my size 4s, are just too wide to knit at the same time). Then they'll be the same length... be it short or long! I cast on one sleeve at noon today. Funny how I don't mind seed stitch when it's just 7 rows and it's for me me me.

I also got lots done on a new washcloth for Rabbitch's drive. It's from the rest of my Peaches & Cream that I used for my string bag (which I still love but it's holding all that Calmer I bought at the garage sale; I need to stash that so I can use the bag again!). I'm making one of those basic biased garter-stitch washcloths with the yo increases till you get halfway across (I'm going to weigh the yarn to try to use it all up), and it's now my waiting-in-the-car project, since I just finished my other one.

I still haven't started a new lace project... odd, isn't it? I'm once again eyeing Birch, to see if I can master her after all. (There is just no way to write that without it sounding like a sex thing. Or maybe it's just me.)

Will I ever finish anything???

I feel like I have 6 projects and will never finish any of them. sigh

The most likely candidate is G's childHood, which has the sleeves sewn in and just needs the underarm/side seams done. When that is done, I can really try it on him and estimate how the hood is coming along. Maybe 1-2" left of that, I think. Then I can put buttons & snaps on and BE DONE.

But nothing else is as close to being done. The blue cotton Tahki is slow going and I have my doubts about the way I did the decreases on the bustline (directions are vague for every row after the first--"do the same decrease" but the first decrease row gives stitch counts and there are fewer stitches after that!). And it's getting heavy. I should calc to see how many more rows I have till the shoulders. I already decided not to start the v-neck as low as they recommend, as I'm hoping to wear this in other places than the Ren Faire.

I'm completely befuddled on Branching Out. I had too few stitches on a row, so started to tink back, only to realize that I don't konw which row I put the lifeline through (10 or 1?). Ugh. It is lovely so far, though...

Birch continues to taunt me. I may put her away in the basement and start the Swallowtail shawl instead. I already have the laceweight alpaca it calls for. Ha!

Birch 1, Me 0

Birch has won this round. I got to the end of row 4 and instead of 6 stitches left, I had 1. I give up. I'll frog that and re-cast-on with stitch markers every 10 stitches, since the pattern is over 10 stitches. (and am eyeing Kiri as an alternative...)

I've also decided to frog my other KSH project, Branching Out. I just kept making mistakes and getting paranoid, so I'll use that beige color in something else, maybe stranded along with another yarn. I've restarted Branching Out in my Misti Alpaca sportweight in a beautiful aubergine. (No printed gauge on the label! Little Knits says it's 6 sts/in, so it should be fine for this pattern.)

Am slogging away on the blue Tahki cotton sweater, checking rows off on my clipboard. I think I need to frog down to one decrease, though, as I did it in reverse (the k3tog first rather than last; what was I thinking?). I'll get to the V-neck shaping soon!

Am also slogging away at the Redwood Forest socks. I'm on row 18 of the 20 rows of k2p1 ribbing. I hope the 10-row pattern can be clearly charted so this can continue to be a very portable project (unlike the blue sweater).

And finally--am nearing the end with childHood! Finished the 10" of the hood last night. Just need to try it on the Child With The Significant Cranium to make sure it will fit him before I do the 3-needle bindoff. I've heard the hood is absurdly large so we might be just fine. Then I'll have to sew the sleeves on and seam them and the sides, sew on the buttons and snaps, and be DONE.

Not a lot of news

Once I get my home computer back to where it was, I'll post some photos of updates. Until then, I'll just have to describe things.

Birch: still scaring me, I guess. Still on row 2. (or maybe 3.)

childHood: still about 1/2 way up the hood. The end is in sight! I may decrease a few stitches in the middle so that it doesn't have a silly point when I 3-needle-bind-off the top.

blue Tahki cotton sweater: looks good. I'm about up to the v-neck shaping, which occurs front and back. I have to keep track of my rows on a sheet of binder paper, checking off rows as I do them. I still like the look of it.

And, of course, I have to start a new project, oy! A friend really likes penguins, and I have some Red Heart handy, so I started Pasha. It's going to be kind of big! Not sure I'm up to miniaturizing it, though, so I'll probably just go for the 8" size. Fun to be working on something small, though. I hope she likes it! (it's s surprise)