YIPPEE!

Yes, I did do it. Finished the Einstein coat/sweater for Sarah to take back to Philly with her. Turned out very nice if I do say so myself. Only thing not pleased with completely are the buttons and may have to find some others to replace them. It took 7 skeins of the Noro Kochoran yarn. I made it shorter than what the Sally Melville pattern in the Knit Stitch called for because I didn’t really want a coat length, that is when I was planning on wearing it. Ahem! Definitely a fun sweater to knit, to keep one in progress for when you’re traveling and need mindless knitting. Barbara at KnitXperience showed off her lovely Einstein coat, a full coat. Outstanding!

After knitting what seemed like non-stop on this sweater and a bunch of fingerless mitts for Christmas presents, i decided my hands needed a rest. That lasted about 6 hours max, until the hands and needles were going again. How about you? Did you get worn out knitting Christmas gifts or are you still going strong?

Fingerless mittens are the project doing battle with the Einstein Coat right now. I knit these two at a time in the magic loop way. I was working on these the other evening and Dan looked over and said, “Socks?” And I said, “No, mittens.” Shaking his head he said, “Next it will be two sweaters at one time.” Now, doesn’t that give pause to consider all the possibilities?

Knitting Two at One Time

Use the magic loop (knitting on one long needle) to do all your circular knitting. Double points have not touched these mittens. I even do the thumb by way of magic loop. And of course two at one time. Can you tell I’m not very patient? After discovering I can do socks two at a time, there’s not going back.

Will I make it? Missed completion by her birthday in October. Christmas is close. Will I finish the second sleeve in time?  But if I can’t figure out how this sleeve is to go… Ahhhh. there we go. This fits here and connects on the top. One of the neat things about the Enstein coat is that the only finishing required is to seam the top of the sleeves. So…just maybe.

Projects in the Works

Good grief! Why haven’t I finished the Einstein Sweater? Besides being restricted to the 24 hour day, yarn keeps pouring into the shop, and I have no resistance. At some point hugging and squeezing the yarn isn’t enough and you have to get some on needles. It’s aggravating when the yarn comes in without pattern support. Can’t just pick up a ball and run with it. Araucania Aysen yarn was calling to me after doing a little sample sock from Cat Borhdi’s book for SoXperience and realizing how incredibly soft the yarn is. With a blend of merino wool, alpaca and silk, that’s exactly what you would expect. What to do, what to do? Had in my mind’s eye a side to side vest. Tried out quite a few until I settled on one called Puget Sound in Nancie Wiseman’s Classic Knitted Vests. As you can see from this photo of the pattern, it uses the same colorway in two different yarns. I tried combining other yarns with the Aysen, but was never satisfied, so decided to use only the Aysen for the entire vest. Next came the gauge and many needle sizes later, settled on the size 10 for the vest. So, you can see how it’s coming along. I think the garter stitch rows will set off the yarn nicely. After all this work I called the publisher to order copies of the book to discover it’s out of print. Big tears! But all is not lost. After some negotiations, we were given permission to make copies of the pattern. So…smiles once again.

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With the completion of the back, the Einstein coat has transformed from a long strip of knitting to more of a sweater shape. Clack the cat is still bored with it all! Next comes the left front and then sleeves. The real question is…will it be ready for Sarah’s birthday in October. Nah…don’t think so. Don’t you love the striping of the Noro Kochoran yarn?

 For SoXperience this year, one of the classes was an original sock pattern from Edie Eckman. She incorporated a crochet motif into the pattern, beginning our socks as usual and then adding the motif (which we completed in the morning class) as we went along.

Not being a skilled crocheter, I cheated and had my flower motifs made for me! (isn’t that just awful? But I really would still be working on that thing now as we speak!) It worked up rather quickly and it was exciting to fit this squarish lacey flower thingy into my sock. I’m excited to see what the results will be, once I’m done.

To give you the details. . .the yarn is Claudia’s Handpaints - Blue Ridge Blue, and the solid is a coordinating color from Claudia. Another fun tidbit from SoXperience - mom tries to feature local businesses and people - Claudia is from Harrisonburg - just over the mountain from the farm - I’ve used her yarn before and it’s wonderful to work with!
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