It’s amazing how quickly this summer has flown by, especially these last few weeks since I last posted. After all the shoulder problems, then out-of-nowhere back issues that suddenly disappeared as quickly as it had come, I decided I needed to get back to the exercises I’d been slacking off on for a number of months. After some talking with Matt about it, we joined a gym! It’s kept me fairly busy. I’ve been feeling sore and like I have less time to just be lazy, but overall I feel really great about going consistently for the last two and a half weeks that we’ve been members and like I’ve had more energy.
Around the same time we joined the gym, I saw a physical therapist about my shoulder problems. She gave me some exercises to do that I’ve kept up with and I haven’t had any problems since. I’ve been knitting the last couple weeks without much problem (a bit of soreness here and there, though that’s likely to the gym not a reoccurring shoulder issue!). I did start the Jumper Cardigan I talked about in my last post. I knit the right and left fronts and started the back.
Jumper Cardigan – Right and Left Fronts
Jumper Cardigan – Back
The color isn’t very accurate. The swatch from my last post is much more accurate, though possibly just a smidge brighter. Speaking of color… the color combination started bothering me after I’d finished the fronts. I started the back anyhow, but had this nagging “These colors are so bright…” thing in the back of my mind. The color combination is great and I do really like it, however it’s just not very “me” and something that I would get a lot of wear out of. On top of that, I measured (my gauge didn’t change with the washing/blocking of the swatch) and it was going have about 4″ of positive ease in the bust without the additional 1 to 1.5 inches of the button band.
I thought about it for a day, but ultimately decided it had to go. I am going to knit this pattern again and try a smaller gauge for adjusting the size. I think I’d really love this in a light and dark grey yarn combination. If anyone has any yarn recommendations in sport or fingering weight that come in a dark and light grey, please leave me a comment! I’m still undecided on what yarn to use, though I haven’t searched that much for one yet. I figure I should probably get going on my Rhinebeck sweater before I start planning the next one! 😉
Since the Jumper Cardigan was going to be my Rhinebeck sweater, I was left trying to figure out what to knit instead or if I was going to knit anything at all. It’s only a little over 6 weeks until Rhinebeck after all! I hemmed and hawed for a few days. I wasn’t feeling totally sold on knitting Cottage Garden. I kept thinking “Would I wear it? It’s pretty, but it’s a pullover. I’ve only knit one pullover and generally prefer cardigans! What if it’s too hot to wear? What if…” and on and on. Of course some of these concerns, like the weather could be for any sweater! I looked at patterns and I looked at my queue on Ravelry. I looked at my stash. I went to the LYS and contemplated over patterns and yarns they had. I went back to my queue and stash at home. I felt a lot of sweater project withdrawal. I thought “Who needs a stinkin’ Rhinebeck sweater anyway?!?”…
Then I settled on a sweater: Cottage Garden. What sealed it for me was pulling out the yarn (such a soft wool/silk blend), thinking about how I bought it last year at Rhinebeck, and thinking “It would be great to wear the sweater I knit from yarn I bought last year!” So, I knit, washed, and blocked a swatch to check my gauge. This yarn? Brooks Farm Solo Silk? Amazingly soft and wonderful knit up. It was done – this had to be the next project I knit and it needed to be my Rhinebeck sweater.
My gauge was a little off, so I did some math and decided to knit one size down (42″ size). When I first started and was about 3 rows in, with 250+ stitches around, I found I’d some how twisted it when I joined in the round! I was able to save the cast on and first row without dropping any stitches, though. Last night I finished the second picot edge and now working on the body. Here’s a crappy cell phone picture of my current progress:
Cottage Garden
I’ve been working on the Maelstrom socks and now up to the heel on the second sock. I had some time between frogging the Jumper Cardigan and starting Cottage garden to finish up the leg since I was being indecisive about what to do. It’s been put aside to knit Cottage garden for the most part, though I’ve picked it up a few times while watching TV. Minty Fresh may well get frogged. I hibernated it because I lost interest and I don’t really have any plans to go back to it for now. We’ll see. Still have the Jaywalker socks on the needles, but I think I’m going to wait until the circular from Maelstrom is free or I break down and buy some more Knit Picks circulars in sock sizes to continue work on them.
Recently I’ve been rather slacking in the photo department. Just haven’t felt inspired to take photos when it’s been so hot and miserable out and if I don’t do them outside, I’m stuck with crappy indoor lighting since someone has taken over our “photo room” and my yellow craft room, while lovely, isn’t great for taking accurately colored photos. Hoping to get in some photo taking time soon, though. Alright – time to get off my butt and head to the gym! Happy Crafting all 🙂
Ms Lindz - My little corner of the internet 