knitting kitchen

Rhinebeck, 2008. The one thing I didn’t buy (and there was one), was a Shetland 2000 kit from Yarns International. I thought about it for the better part of a year. So when Rhinebeck, 2009 rolled around, I was scouring their website, trying to select the kit of my dreams.

Mark chose Scotland as his sweater of choice. It was (one of ) the first thing(s) I bought this year.

I didn’t cast on until a couple other things were made:

Olivia in Inga hat, St. Denis Nordique yarn

Random Norwegianesque Christmas stocking in Cascade 220

Flyingdales cardigan designed by Lisa Lloyd knitted in Plymouth Tweed.

I love this yarn and really enjoyed knitting this sweater. All the ends are woven in and the buttons are sewn on. Really. I’ve even worn it twice. There is a glaring mistake in this sweater and I have actually contemplated ripping it out to fix it. Nothing like being just a little bit OCD.  The cardigan body is knitted in once piece. Somewhere between the beginning of the pattern and later, I changed from seed stitch between the cables to moss stitch.  The yarn is dark and flecked with other colors so you really have to look and see it in a certain light to find that there is a mistake, but it really makes me nuts every time I put it on. It won’t be a total shock if I find myself knitting another Flyingdales just so I can sleep more easily at night.

One glove in Koigu. The other one is knitted up to the beginning of the fingers.
End of May Hat knitted in St. Denis Nordique.

I had actually cast this on as we were driving to Rhinebeck.  In the car, I was gushing about how much I LOVE this yarn. Then I had the good fortune to meet Veronik Avery, the designer of this yarn, at Rhinebeck.

Alissa’s Hat knitted in Cascade 220.

My friend Alissa showed me a hat she bought in Ireland. We both like this hat a lot so I figured out the pattern. Someday I will write it up. Right after I finish doing all the laundry in the house (HA!).

So here are my progress shots. The main reason I am bothering to take a photo every day of my knitting progress is that it is my deepest desire to actually finish this sweater. I have never bought a sweater pattern kit and I have lusted after any Alice Starmore kit for close to 25 years. They’ve always seemed to be so exorbitantly expensive which is kind of funny when I actually add up how much $$$ I spend on yarn per year (despite Quicken, Hell will freeze before I ever actually look at that number).  This sweater kit is the most I’ve ever paid to knit a single sweater. That being said, it’s still roughly half the cost of an AS kit.  In my own crazy logic, the only way I can justify every buying a kit from Virtual Yarns (Alice Starmore’s company) is if I knit this one in a reasonable amount of time and finish it. Even weaving in the ends…and sewing the seams. All of it. Really.

11/14/09

11/15/09

While I’m sure all of my details of knitting this sweater will bore the beejeezus out of everyone, I’m not sure I care. For the next little while anyway, my intention is to knit this and blog my experience despite the tedium it may cause others.

*This is in response to NaNoWriMo which is National Novel Writing Month. I will not be boring humanity with the novel I have buried in my soul.  I’ve turned this into National Sweater Knitting Month, even if it takes me a year to finish.