A Project-to-be

I feel like I've been rather sadly neglecting this blog of late. It's not for lack of knitting, though it is for lack of knitting show-off-able projects, and for lack of finishing much.

For instance, in Paris, I finished a pair of simple stockinette socks for my sister Mary, but they were on Lion Brand Microspun (which I have decided I hate), intended as a way to start an in-the-round project with my other, knitting sister, Sarah. They took about two days, and that's with ripping out several times to accommodate feet which apparently grew over the course of each day. I have a photo of a sock-in-progress, but I never did take a picture of the finished product... I'll try to remember next time I see her, but that could be months.


I did finish one yellow sock for myself, and it's neat. I haven't cast on for the second yet. But I carry it in my purse, just waiting for the proper enforced down-time at work or wherever. Emily does have a softball game tonight...

I've started a sweater for a friend's child, out of Phildar yarn (a result of our French yarn shopping), and her birthday is in a week, so with luck I'll have a finished project to show soon.


I went to the WEBS tent sale last weekend, and picked up a handful of single balls to experiment with, including a Noro Transitions and Noro Silver Thaw on good discounts, some funky hand-dyed ribbon yarn, and a bag of Rowan All Seasons Cotton in the grape colorway. It's just exciting to have, even if I don't actually have plans for it yet... I'll have to take a picture soon.

But the big thing on my mind is a project for which I have ideas, photos and a bag of yarn, but not yet a pattern. I'd decided, before we ever left, that my souvenir of France would be the purchase of yarn that I couldn't get (easily) outside of France, to make a sweater to commemorate the trip - a way of combining a shopping trip with a longer-term hobby, you know? And our first day there, we went to the Opera, and I was inspired by the complex mosaic patterns on the floor. So I want to take these:






...and some of this yarn (the off-white is part-cashmere, yum!):



...to make myself a sweater, in the spirit of a Norwegian skiing sweater, with patterning along the waistline and neckline/shoulders and possibly also the cuffs of the sleeves, and a fairly wide off-white stockinette band in the middle. I haven't had the time and focus yet to sit down and map it out, and I want to finish off a few pending projects so I have more mental space for this one. But soon. Soon.