On the needles

I realised that I haven’t shared any WIP pics with you for a while. There are just 3 on the go atm – amazing with my track record of start-itis!

Here is the oldest WIP first – the aran lace cardigan started in September 2006. It’s moving along nicely again, since I allocated it as my “home” project. The construction is quite unusual as it’s knitted in one piece from the neck down to the armholes, then the sleeves are worked in the round, then the lower half of the body and fronts are worked in one piece to the hem.

I’m now halfway through the second sleeve, and trying to work one or two lace repeats every evening to keep up a reasonable pace on it.

I have about 4 balls of the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran left to complete it, so hopefully it should work out ok.

It’s a lovely design and interesting to work on, with quite easy lace stitch patterns.

Next is the Crochet Fitted Jacket, which I half-heartedly started not long before we moved. I was inspired by the fitted jacket in the Happy Hooker book, but wanted to use a cone of 4-ply lambswool/alpaca that I’d stashed away from ebay a while back. I’ve created a pattern using my Knitware Sweaters program, but didn’t really think about exactly how much work is involved in crocheting such a garment in 4ply yarn,not am I convinced that I like the yarn once it’s worked up. What do you think?

Finally – the newbie on the block – a pair of Hedera socks using the beautiful variegated emerald green Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn I bought from Little Knits last year. I wanted a small portable project that I could work on in short bursts as I get chance during my lunch breaks at work, so it had to be a sock. I like the look of the easy lace in this design, which is different to any of the other socks I’ve done up to now. The yarn looks and feels yummy too!

As always, I’m enjoying these projects but impatient to move on to the next ones at the same time.. I really need a smart brown cardigan for work, and I have some lovely aran-weight bluefaced leicester in the perfect shade bought from ebay calling me from my stash. But then the weather should be warming up soon, so should I wait until the autumn? So many decisions to make.. ;-)