Sheepish

Unlike Alex last week, I am actually thankful for one more week of brisk air. No, I’m not crazy. I do adore all things summer and have been [loudly] complaining about the cold since February. The problem is that I have 2 large wool projects on the needles that I really want to finish.

This will be a cute sweater very soon...no really, I'm serious.

Normally, summer weather doesn’t keep me from knitting with wool. I have the luxury of central air conditioning pretty much everywhere I am. But the sweater (Owls by Kate Davies) I am knitting for my teeneage daughter is done in Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds Chunky. Anyone who is familiar with this yarn will tell you that it is heavy as heck and frankly, smells like the sheep stall at State Fair. Even the best central air can’t really fight those two monsters.

I am now well acquainted with the smell of the Steel Grey Suffolk.

The sweater body and sleeves are finished and have been attached by the yoke that I have a pretty good jump on. I am hoping to have this sweater done this week if all goes well. And then I will need some good non-humid days to get this sucker to dry after blocking (yesterday would have been perfect!). A smart girl would probably wait until fall to wash and block this sweater...I, however, am an impatient control freak who needs to have closure. I’m pretty sure I will have a finished sweater that took 2 weeks to dry in this humidity (and still smells sheepy).

It is actually very strange for me to have 2 knitting projects going at the same time. I am a start...finish a project...start another one girl. (This phenomena only occurs in my knitting world btw.) For a whole host of reasons I decided to get this sweater out of the way before I finished my Vineyard Wrap. It is not as heavy as the Owls sweater...but it is growing by inches every time I work on it and it is 100% wool. I think it’s probably halfway done. I would really like to get this cast-off before I start something summery...we’ll see if that happens.

My Vineyard Wrap about 12 inches ago...

I’m dreaming about knitting things small and practical. A whole pile of dishcloths maybe?

–Cassandra