sunday meander...

I'm sure the last thing you want to hear is more complaining, but I'm feeling a little disgruntled today. I hope you'll bear with me. We have a friend visiting from out of town and he and AK have headed up to the mountain today to enjoy the snow. But I got left at home this morning, due to a relapse in a back injury that has left me not moving much. This is day three and I'm still waiting for some signs of improvement.

Nonetheless, I can sit well enough, and so if I can organize myself to get all my materials within reach, I have a good excuse to stay put and work on some projects. There is a green sea turtle started, and I'm hoping to cut out a second so that I might have two finished by next weekend. On stitching breaks I am knitting a row or two on AK's sorely neglected (but 3/4 done!) socks, and I've got a hand stitched skirt in progress too. If I can't be sliding down sparkling snow with mountain peaks surrounding me, at least I can be cozy on the couch with stitching in my hands and a little sun filtering gently through the window behind me.

Last week I finally finished off another project that has been a long time coming. Sometime in the fall I started knitting on a cardigan in squishy Cascade Eco Wool. Halfway through I began to develop doubts about it, but I pushed on. When it was finished I knew as soon as I pulled it on that it was not going to work. Even the ever-diplomatic man had to admit that the shape was just not fitting me properly. Nuts. Knowing I could so easily tuck it in a corner and avoid it, I decided to suck it up and frog it immediately, then start again. Thankfully, the second go turned out much better and I've added another cozy handknit cardigan to the slowly growing collection. This is a simple shape inspired by Aidez, which I have knit before, along with a vest variation. What can I say, the shape works for me. This version though was a considerable departure from the original pattern, really only using the general raglan idea and some of the shaping. This cardigan is knit in the round from the bottom up, and joined with the sleeves (also in the round) to finish the yoke, with the cabled collar wrapping around to the back (there are also cables up each arm, which is hard to see in the photos). I then knit pockets directly onto the front, so that when finished, I managed to make it so I only had to sew in the ends and close up the small opening under each arm. There is certainly a place for seams, but I think the fit on this came out very well without. I also did only 3/4 sleeves, partially because I end up folding up my cuffs often through the general tasks of my day, and partially because I was unsure if I would have enough yarn. I used two balls of Eco Wool, with only a small portion left over, so there definitely wouldn't have been enough for full length sleeves.

What are you up to this weekend? Are you knitting or making anything you want to share? Leave a link in the comments and I'll be sure to check it out.