It has been rapidly turning much cooler here. The leaves flashed a red and gold and promptly began to fall. Meanwhile, the cats began to huddle together in cool rooms and gravitate toward the warmest rooms for the better part of the day. It’s a sure sign that winter is on its way.
Thinking of cold weather, I realized that I needed a new knock-about sweater to wear here at home. I wanted it out of acrylic so that I could throw it in the washer and dry it and have it ready to wear again right away. This is necessary because of kitties seeking warmth under my sweaters. So I began knitting myself one. I didn’t have a pattern for this. I knew, though, that I wanted raglan sleeves in it and I wanted to knit it from the top down on circulars so that I would have as few seams to sew as possible. It must be a roomy cardigan, as I find them most usable, and I also wanted some kind of design on each front piece and a repeat of the design down the back. So I tested several designs until I found one that I thought looked good in worsted weight yarn.
This is what I finally did. I hope I like wearing it as much as I enjoyed knitting the design panels. This is fresh off the needles, so it hasn’t been blocked or anything. This photo shows the truest color.
I put seed stitch on the front edges of the cardigan and around the bottom of it. I’m rethinking the bottom of the sweater, though, and I may rip that out and go with ribbing.
I have been using my Denise needles. I find that they are very useful, and I love having a way to make stitch holders in the set which hold my sleeve stitches until I am through with the body and can come back and knit them.
Each sleeve holder in the Denise set is made up of two buttons and a length of the cable. As you can see, it works out quite well. I didn’t have to be careful of knocking the buttons off during the knitting of the body of the sweater. Those stitches were quite secure. Tonight, I continue with the sleeves.
I have also knitted several dishcloths. More photos later. I began knitting the Christmas Ornament dishcloth and ran out of yarn with only a few rows to go. So once the flurry over beating everyone else to the best sale has died down and I can drive without a jillion cars on the road, I’ll go out and see if I can find some more of that bright red.
Reading
I’m still working on the Aubrey/Maturin series. I ordered four more of the books the other day, so they are waiting on me. I’m nearly finished with The Letter of Marque.
I also broke down and ordered Victorian Lace Today. My, my! What an interesting book. I lingered over it, letting my eyes delight in the wonderful photography and the charming old patterns that it contains. I have to admit. This is the ONLY knitting book about which I’ve ever dreamed! All those beautiful shawls kept appearing in my dreams in all those bright colors. What a delight it is. It inspired me to pick my Persimmon/Strawberry stole up and work on it some more since it’s taken from this book. I think I lack only about eight repeats having the center section done, and then I can knit the border. By the way, in the book that stole is known as the Maltese shawl, but in Knitter’s Magazine it was named Persimmon. I may wind up just calling it the Maltese shawl, but it’s still done in strawberry pink!
Thanksgiving
We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving. Our daughter came down to spend the day with us and wound up doing some of the cooking. I wasn’t feeling well, and I’m afraid she and my husband cooked most of what we had to eat. It’s always fun to see our daughter. She’s the light of our lives, and we just wish we could see her more often. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.