Fall is in the air
I’ve been wanting to knit a sweater for awhile now. The thrill from the shrug wore off fairly quickly. So, a few weeks ago I decided to buy Interweave Knits Fall 2012 and Knitscene Fall 2012 because of the sweater patterns. I also bought Knitscene Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 since they were on sale (20% off if KS Fall 2012 was bought at the same time). Again, mainly because of the sweaters.
And I’ve cast on! The first sweater is the Agnes sweater by Ruth Garcia-Alcantud from Knitscene Fall 2012. (It’s the cover sweater.) I’m using Sublime Yarns Cashmere Merino Silk DK in the color Tease on 4.5mm Signature circs. The back is almost ready for the armhole shaping and I only cast on two days ago. I love how fast DK knits up. I keep forgetting because I’m so used to working with 4-ply and laceweight.
Once Agnes is done, the next sweater will be either Petit Four by Heather Zoppetti from IK Fall 2012 or Lepidoptera by Anne Kuo Lukito from KS Fall 2011. It really depends on what I feel like knitting and if I can find the right yarn. I’ve already got three skeins of Malabrigo lace that could work for the Lepidoptera cardigan, but I think I need one more skein. Then there’s also the fact that Malabrigo is a single ply yarn and the yarn used in the pattern is a two-ply so I don’t know how well Malabrigo would wear. Slightly concerned with pilling.
The Citrus Cusp socks are done (photos will be going on Ravelry soon)! The colorway is just so happy that it makes me smile whenever I see them. When it gets slightly cooler I can start wearing them. I want to be sockless for as long as I can, because when I start to wear socks again, it means summer is officially over. And I don’t want it to be over just yet.
I’m still working on the mystery shawl by Janine Le Cras. The final clue came out last Friday and I’m two rounds into it so far. I have come across some issues with the pattern so far. Nothing major, but for instance where it says to transition don’t work for me. I delayed the first two transitions as much as I dared and I still had to start the final transition early. And I ran out of #3 before the transition was complete. I do believe I have enough yarn to complete the shawl so it’s not a major deal. Another was a mistake in the chart key. Again, not major but I’m glad the written instructions were there to double-check it against. I’m slightly concerned about the size too. So far it seems a bit on the small side. Hopefully blocking will do its magic and make it grow to a decent size. I’d be further along I think if I wasn’t so distracted by the sweater. And if I loved the yarn more. The colours are fabulous and I’m really happy I went with the colourway I picked. It’s not too busy that the lace pattern gets obscured. But Ling (70/30 merino/silk) isn’t as soft as Eos (50/50 merino/silk). It’s just not calling to me.
Onto cooking! I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but I got The Skinny French Kitchen by Harry Eastwood as a birthday present from O. Almost everything I’ve tried so far has been fabulous. The ones that weren’t fabulous were good, but not mind-blowing. If you’re interested in photos of my meals, I try to remember to post them to Twitter. The plan is to try at least one new recipe a week. I’ve already made Turkey Cordon-Bleu, French Onion Soup, and Emmental Gougeres among others. Tonight, it’ll be Sole Meuniere. Well, almost. Asda didn’t have any sole available when we did our weekly shop this morning, so I’m having haddock instead. Next week, I’m going to try Confit de Canard. Hopefully.