Long absence but lots of knitting!

I have not had a chance to update my blog for quite a while so I thought you might like to know what I have been working on lately. I started teaching a sock class last Wednesday and I will start a class on Tuesday which will be making the Fairly Easy Fair Isle sweater from Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation. That has kept me busy writing handouts and knitting up samples.

I have been working on the second sock for a pair of blue and brown striped socks made of Lion Brand Magic Stripes yarn. It is a very simple stockinette pattern on size 2 needles that I have used multiple times. I have perfected the fit this pattern and yarn combination. I like a snug fitting sock so fit is important to me.

The other sock I have been working on is made from Online Supersocke 100. This yarn is much finer so I am using size 1 needles. I really am not having fun with this one!! I think this size yarn and needles are just too small for my stiff fingers and poor eyesight to manage comfortably. I am knitting it in a 3x1 rib which is difficult enough. I tried to use a slip stitch pattern for the heel but I found that it just wasn't going to work. So the heel will be stockinette.

I am still not sure about the fit for this one either. I am getting 10 stitches to the inch but the sample still seemed loose thus the reason for the ribbing.

I have to say that going back and forth between these two socks has been teaching me some things:

1. I really like a slightly heavier yarn and larger needles. Of course I already knew that! I love my worsted weight socks! Especially when we get temperatures around zero like we have today!
   
2. Dark yarn like this green is very hard to see! I find I do best with it during the day when the light is better. Unfortunately much of my knitting time is at night.
   
3. You can "feel" the difference in the size of yarn and needles even when they are this small.

On to the sweaters!

I am finishing up a Baby Surprise Jacket. This one is so cute! I used Kinder Baby yarn from Mondial. It is a self-striping yarn in a wool/acrylic blend. This sweater is intended for a baby due in March so I might loan it to the LYS for a while so they can put it up as a sample.

My Fairly Easy Fair Isle is made of Lamb's Pride Bulky yarn. I have joined the sleeves to the body of the sweater and I am almost ready to start the color work on the yoke. I made several samples with other stitch designs that I wanted to try with this sweater but they weren't working so I am going to just use the patterns from the book. Sometimes simple is really better. With our cold weather, I would really like to be wearing this sweater so I decided, as a friend of mine has been known to say, "finished is better than perfect."

Lastly, I started a Spiral Baby Blanket last night in a mint green acrylic. This is a fun pattern but I keep forgetting whether I am on the knit row or the increase row. There has been a lot of tinking going on!

I am going to work on some of these projects tonight as I watch the second half of Jane Eyre.

Knit on!

Denise