In remembrance… Wicked

Thanks so much to everyone who commented on my comfi cardi – I may not be able to respond to each comment, but you all have made me feel so special! I took the advice in the comments and tried wearing the cardigan with a long sleeved shirt underneath – much better with the arms! I wore it to work on Wednesday and was complimented, and it is indeed very comfy.

I had some sadness this week… the very first death of a handknit. Yes, my Wicked sweater has met a sad end – a combination of pilly yarn, a washing machine, a wool hungry cat, and my own really lousy job of binding off. Here we are in happier times…

*Sniff* Seriously though… if anyone tries to give you a bag of discontinued Debbie Bliss Merino Aran, just say no! I have never had any sweater, handmade or storebought, wear so terribly. And then, of course, the cat pictured in the photo decided to nearly chew a hole in it during blocking, and finally my crappy bind-off came loose in the washer, and I had to accept that the sweater’s time had come.

There is a bright side though… I had been wanting to make a sweater out of Dream in Color Classy, but I couldn’t find a design I wanted to knit that would show off the yarn (I think handpaints look best in plain stockinette.) I had even thought about another Wicked, but then I couldn’t bring myself to own two… problem solved! Now the only problem is choosing a color… my LYS only has Smooshy, so I’ll have to order online. Any color recommendations?

I had a little knitting mishap this week… the first time in a long time that I have had gauge bite me. I swatched twice for the hexacomb cardigan, and then went with the smaller needle in case the gauge was bigger in the stitch pattern. The body should measure a little over 16″ across for my size.

Oops. Apparently my gauge is much looser in the stitch pattern. Lesson learned – even though the pattern said to swatch in stockinette, you can’t always assume that will work out in the sweater. The gauge ended up 4 st/in instead of 5 st/in (give or take… anyway, it’s too big.) On the bright side (again) I was not really loving this yarn knit up into the pattern – it wasn’t showing the pattern enough for my taste, and was somewhat inelastic. So I’m going to try again, but I’m going to swatch in pattern, and I’m going to use a different yarn – something with a little more “spring” perhaps. I’ll swatch a few yarns in stash and see what I like. I’m sure it will be for the best!

These problems have been discouraging me a bit these past few days. My lush cardigan is also stalled – I am not happy with the sleeve cap I have finished, but I can’t seem to bring myself to rip it yet, since I can’t decide if I’m being too picky or not… besides, I think I need a break from following the (uncharted) lace pattern. I’ve been doing some swatching, trying to decide what I want to make next. We’re in that weird period where it’s too cold to wear spring clothes still, but you don’t want to start anything for winter, in case that encourages it to stick around. I’m thinking this might be a good time to go ahead and crochet another sweater – Joy and short and sweet are both ready to start, even if I won’t be able to wear them for a bit.

I’m thinking about starting this though… so pretty.

Unfortunately, the yarn isn’t going to work for the pattern.  I must have been blinded by the pretty, and didn’t notice that this yarn is DK… but isn’t it pretty?  I’ll find something else and hopefully start this pattern soon!

I sound so scattered, don’t I? Ah well… it’s the time of year I suppose. We’re approaching Easter, which is super busy for me. I have a little drama going on with work etc, and that stresses me out. I am very ready for spring, but instead we had an ice storm on Thursday (on the bright side, Marc got to leave work at 10 am, so we got to spend one of my days off together, which is rare.)

Now I will go watch Dr. Who and swatch… hopefully that will work its magic, and I’ll find something to work on that excites me!