Purlwise

Stash enhancement?

We've invested in a few head of Suffolk sheep.

The girls are very cute and quite friendly.

Not sure if they'll be providing wool for a future knitting project ... they're mainly my husband's summer endeavor. He's been watching too many Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall TV shows lately.

The trip over the mountains provide ample time to catch up on the gansey. The back is nearly done.

This week I'll be working on the last half of the front.

 

Thanks to a knitting angel I have replacement row counter that fits in my little knitting kit.
Thanks so much!

Nothing fancy

The third project is done. A very simple raglan knitted in pieces from the bottom up. It also has a stitch pattern that matches at the shoulder seam.

Sometimes simple is good, especially when juggling several projects at once.

Still haven't started the second project, a dolman sleeved cardigan. I keep pressing on with the other projects, hoping I'll eventually find time for the dolman.

The Aran is almost finished but it's on the back burner while I make progress on the gansey and Lopi projects.

Here we go again ...

We have another project to start.

For me it's a Lopi sweater called Aftur. It's a pattern I've been admiring over the past few weeks and with only seven weeks until the next class I really don't have enough time to come up with my own design.  This colorway is similar to several Aftur projects on Ravelry.

I'm thinking of adding a couple of pink/purple colors.

Never used this yarn before. After reading reviews on Ravelry I'm kind of concern that it might shed too much.

Finished a project

Yippee! The first project of year two is finished.

It's the Shaped Lace T from Knitting Lingerie Style by Joan McGowan-Michael but redrafted with "puffy" sleeves.

This weekend I've been catching up on my projects. It took me two days to sew sleeves on the raglan. I swear, I'll never use Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed again. The yarn is wonderfully soft but breaks too easily when seaming.

On the way home from the Farmers market I popped my head into  the Quilting Loft. Last year I remember seeing some wonderful bags by Cheryl Kuczek on display. She was teaching a class on how to make these bags but not having much time for another class, I asked whether they had patterns for these bags. They didn't but expected to have some in a couple of months. Time flies ... and I totally forgot until yesterday when I was in the neighborhood. This time they did have them. Don't know when I'll find time to make one though.

On to the gansey

Wow, so much interest in that little Folca box!

It is a great little box that I found through the Japan Knitting and Crochet group on Ravelry. Someone was looking for one and another member mentioned that  Ichiban Kan had a few. Unfortunately they don't seem to have any in stock right now.

Thanks for the tips on the row counter. I'll check into the ones that Beenotions makes.

I started the gansey this weekend. It's growing fast ... nearly at the halfway mark for what needs to be done for homework.

About the Aran ...

I mentioned that the strip on the shoulder is off center because of how sweaters tend to shift when being worn.  This type of adjustment is done on this sweater so that the panel is clearly visible from the front. We haven't done this on any of the other sweaters we've knit. I'm hoping Jean will let me do a panel on the Gansey so we'll see if she suggests making its panel off center as well.