Knitter Gone Wild

After working so diligently recently on getting old projects off the needles I lost my mind this week. It started on Wednesday when Wes innocently asked, "Do you think you could make a baby gift for my friends by next weekend?" Uh, hell yeah. I ran home and grabbed up the leftover Inca Cotton from a baby blanket from last year. I hit up the Ravelry Experimental Pattern Search. Are you using it? It rocks. Like really hard. I plugged in my yarn weight and a range for yardage. I was guessing I had 200-300 yards. Check for baby items. Answer the Soft Baby Cardigan from The Knitter's Book of Yarn (check for errata).



I haven't had any socks on the needles for a few weeks. I was heading out with Wes and the boys and wanted a good take-along project. So I cast on for the Merino Lace Socks in Smooshy from an old IK. Two at a time on one circular because I was in a rush and I found my 40" size 1 needle first.



And then last night I saw this cool free pattern (Ravelry download) for a short row hat and thought, "That would look cool in that leftover handspun I have." So I cast on and am nearly halfway done.



Someone stop me!

Taking the Long Way

I started the Tulips Cardigan as a quick diversion. It was a chance to use my handspun and knit a small, simple project. I ran out of yarn. So instead of finishing the sweater last night I had to make more yarn. I dug around a little bit in my office and came up with leftover Dazzle yarn and this merino/tencel that I spun up two years ago and have never had a clue what to do with. I took my newly acquired cabled yarn skill from Madrona and set to work. I added extra twist to the two finished yarns then plied them together. The result is not great. Dazzle was a little underspun and the merino/tencel is a little overspun. They don't hold together well as a cohesive yarn. Oh well, too bad! I used it anyway for the bottom edging.



I used a second class sample three-ply skein to start the first arm. The color works pretty well with the rest of the sweater but it's going to get a ugly by the second sleeve I fear when all those orange/reds start coming into play. Oh well, too bad!

Here, I'll distract you from my ugly sweater with a picture of my adorable, but now enormous, dog.