Hi friends and happy Wednesday!
What are you working on this week? I’m still trucking along with my Arctic Intentions — I’m down to the rib cuff on sleeve number one:
One more sleeve, a bit of knitted pocket lining, and then it’ll be ready to roll! Have I ever told you how much I love button bands that are knit as you go? I don’t know what it is, but picking up button bands at the end of a project always seems like such a task. But not on this sweater — that garter stitch button band was knit alongside the body of the sweater, woo hoo! I think this knitted cardigan-verging-on-jacket is going to serve me quite well over the coming months!
With the onset of fall, I’ve really wanted to cast on all the things, but I’m trying to exercise a bit of restraint and focus on finishing projects before starting new ones (revolutionary, right?). But I’d been feeling a bit stressed last week, so as a little treat, I gave myself permission to cast on something new Sunday. It took some doing to decide just what out of my massive mental queue of things to knit I wanted to start next, but I finally settled on Melodia, by Janina Kallio:
Do you see that? The yarn sparkles! I’d heard Louise of KnitBritish’s great review of this sparkly Knitting Goddess 4-ply a few weeks back and was intrigued — she described it as a yarn that even people who don’t normally go for sparkly yarn would love (that’s me). When I saw this skein in the flesh (er, wool?) at Northern Yarn, I knew I had to have it. I love the unexpected combination of a sheepy, breed specific wool (the yarn is a blend of British BFL and Masham) in a natural color with that subtle strand of sparkle. I’ve found it so incredibly pleasant and soothing to knit with, and it makes a delightfully light but still eminently squishable fabric on US size 6 needles. I think it’ll be a perfect shawl for the holidays!
On the reading front, I’ve just started Counting Sheep, which I’m pretty excited to get into — a history of different sheep breeds in the UK. I’ve only just begun, but so far, it’s a much rosier history from that described in Love of Country, which I just finished and highly recommend — so I was a bit of a resisting reader for the first few pages. But I’m looking forward to seeing what’s to come — maybe I’ll do a paired review of the two when I’ve finished!
Linking up with As Kat Knit’s Unraveled Wednesday — go see what others are up to this week! And as always, I love to hear what you’re working on (or reading!) in the comments.
xo K
fiber and sustenance 