I'm a terrible blogger

Two of the things I'm currently working on:



The pattern is http://www.chicknits.com/catalog/cassidy.html">Cassidy.

Remember this sweater?:



I frogged it. It didn't fit well, and the yarn (Queensland Kathmandu Aran Tweed) was too nice to just have it sitting unused. So now it's becoming a cardigan.

And!:



Dale of Norway's Lillelam pants! GOD these are cute. SO much work. SO much work. But it's really fun, so I don't mind.

I got a hot tip from someone in the Stranded group on Ravelry for weaving in ends as you knit. It's here on Sock Prøn's blog. It's working decently well, and the thought of cutting down the finishing is a big relief.

The only thing is that the inseam looks wonky from working so much patterning in the round. It occurs to me that an extra stitch as a false seam would make it look much better. But tearing out... oh lord... I don't know.

At any rate, if they don't fit (my nephew is a big boy -- in the 90th percentile and up for his size) I'll throw a temper tantrum like the world has never seen. I'm knitting the one year size, and he'll be 7 months by then (xmas), so MAYBE. But he's already wearing 6-9 month clothes. You see my concern.

(especially since nothing I've knit him so far has fit. Sigh).

Just in time for summer

I've been thinking a lot about knitting between stitches lately, and after some swatching, ended up with this hat:



It's really just a variation on a slip-stitch, but I'm pretty fond of it, and have great plans for more swatching and tinkering.



I worried all through knitting that it would be too big, and it's not. It's not totally snug, but I was actually aiming for that since I'm not-so-fond of hat head. I know, crazy.



It's a nice dense fabric and cozy like whoa. I defy you, summer weather!

Well. While I was in the Poconos (which are in Pennsylvania, for those of you playing at home) I stopped in at Mountain Knits and Pearls in East Stroudsburg. It's a great shop with lots of Dale of Norway patterns and yarns, plenty of sock yarns (including Noro's Kureyon sock), and what looked like a charming knit afternoon. Plus beads and stuff, but I mostly ignored that.

ANYhoo, I was browsing the Dale of Norway patterns and saw these Lillelam pants:



And my ovaries melted into a puddle of goo. I mean, I'm not really one to get all in a fluff about clothes, but there's clearly some kind of subliminal cuteypants message in all that fair isle. Even now I keep thinking "Pssh, they're pants, whatever, I'll just take a look and awwww those are so CUTE I love you yes I do."

Yes I do.

But! I was going to Maryland Sheep and Wool the next weekend, so I refrained! And in the following week thought better of it, and called the shop and ordered the pattern book AND the yarn. I couldn't find a website that had both together, so I figured I was being clever. And in conclusion, I was. Sort of. Dale Ull is pretty expensive. I won't tell you what I ended up paying for the yarn and the book because it pains me.



So. I pulled out the book and started to read the directions. They're short -- like 3 paragraphs. And it's all dense and abbreviated and it uses 7 colors, y'all, 7, and GOD do you know how many ends that will be? and this is for an infant and all they do is eat and poop and make messes and then they grow out of EVERYTHING and 7 colors, people! AND ONLY 3 PARAGRAPHS OF DIRECTIONS. How smart do these people think I am?!

And then I have to go lie down for a while. But they're cute pants.