Reporting From the Couch!

Happy Friday everyone!

Guess what? I haven't touched the needle case project since we last spoke on Monday. I did, however, purchase the remaining elements that I was missing so I am all prepared when I do take a moment to sew this up. I just needed some "couch time" this week after the kids went to bed. With that said, I have made some progress on my new knitting project!

Knitting in Progress

There were many projects in the running for my stash of Blackwater Abbey worsted in Autumn. I will give you a peek at those...

I have always wanted to make the Hemlock Ring blanket by Jared Flood:

Hemlock Ring Blanket by Jared Flood

But then I thought that this stiff wool wasn't soft enough for a lap blanket. So I considered the Perth Wrap:

Perth Wrap by Cari Clement

It is beautiful, and ideally suited for this yarn...but...it is cables. I'm a bit cabled-out after 2 fully cabled sweaters. I shifted gears and went to a little sweater I have had my eye on for a while. The Goodale by Cecily Glowik MacDonald would possibly look really cute in a more rustic yarn like my Blackwater Abbey:

Goodale Sweater by Cecily Glowick MacDonald

 The pattern actually calls for supersoft madelinetosh pashmina. Maybe it wouldn't hang right in something stiff like wool. I second-guessed my renegade yarn notions and decided to abandon that pattern idea. I went back to the idea of a wrap and logged some serious search time in on ravelry.

The winner is the Vineyard Wrap by J.L. Fleckenstein:

Vineyard Wrap by J.L. Fleckenstein

It suits my yarn perfectly and is something I could really use. I am embarrassed to say that I have a nasty fleece throw given to me by a vendor that I use at my desk during the day. It will be replaced by the Vineyard Wrap as soon as I can bind it off!

So far, this project is going well. At first, I had a bit of trouble with the K1B (knit one back) stitch. This was a stitch I hadn't done before and so of course I turned to youtube for some help. There seems to be quite a few variations on this stitch and I had gone down a few incorrect paths before finding the right one. Luckily, the one I needed was the simplest. Once I got my stitches down, I started to cruise. Well, as much as I can cruise on what is essentially a lace pattern. Let's just take a moment to thank the universe for the progress you can make with size 10 needles.

I have also been giving a lot of thought to my 2011 crafty resolutions. I keep coming back to the same thing. Cooking, cooking, and cooking. This is the area that I want to work on. I love to cook, am a decent cook...but I want to be an even better cook. I don't want to be fearful of things that seem complicated. And, I want to expand my vegetarian repertoire. So there you go...we'll see what happens this year!

Have a great weekend!

–Cassandra