Seasonal colorwork

Last time I posted, everything was still in progress. Change that to ‘done, but’ and that’s the theme for today (heh). Both tilting block afghans are done, but for weaving in the ends. And the Icelandic Lace Shawl is done, but for weaving in the ends and blocking (I thought the crocheted loop bind-off would never end!).

Naturally, this means I had to start something new. Way back in February, while at Stitches West, my friend and I purchased sweater kits from the Philosopher’s Wool booth, for Clueless. She got the blue, I got the red, and we both agreed that we would get these things done in time to wear them to Stitches West next year.

My friend cast on months ago, but I, alas, cannot escape my procrastinator tendencies, and while I wound all the yarn shortly after I bought the kit, I did not actually cast on until about two weeks ago, because I realized that if I have any hope of finishing a stranded colorwork cardigan, I had better get started.

The pattern has you start with the sleeves, which act as your gauge swatch. It took me a bit to get the hang of carrying two strands at once again, since my experience in stranded colorwork is pretty minimal, and blocking is going to be my saving grace when it comes to the tension, especially near the cuff of the first sleeve (wince), but I’m really having a lot of fun with this project so far. So much fun, in fact, that I finished off the first sleeve on Thursday, cast on the second one that night, and just finished that one shortly before I sat down to write this post. Obviously I’m getting better at that whole ‘carrying two strands’ thing. Heh.

I’ve left all the top stitches on both sleeves live because I am very good at making my sleeves much too long, so this time I stopped them just a bit shorter than I might normally do, and by keeping the stitches ‘open’, I can always string them back onto a needle and add an extra few rows, if it turns out I need it.