My latest knitting projects have been all for me -- shawls and wraps for the summer.
First off was a new white cardigan. I have two -- one is the white cardigan that was part of my school uniform in 5th grade. I picked the embroidered school name out many years ago, and since it's 100% acrylic it's showing no signs of wear. Yes, I still wear it. I'm wearing it right now. It still fits, and the sleeves are still too long.
My other white cardigan is off-white and I've lost a button or two so I need to replace them.
I decided to knit the "Pearl-Trimmed Cardigan" from the May issue of Creative Knitting. I decided to make it in the recommended yarn, for once, and even the same color (a cream/off-white).
This picture is about a month old -- I now have the whole body of the sweater done, all of one sleeve, and 90% of the other, thanks to a good few hours of knitting time at my brother-in-law's graduation ceremony Saturday.
A couple of weekends ago I went shopping for a new dress to wear to weddings this summer. I was hoping for a nice colored dress -- but I didn't like the bold, huge prints that seem to be the style this season. I ended up with a black-and-white print dress, not a good match for a cream-colored cardigan, so I had to cast on something else to go with.
(Okay, imagine it over a nice dress rather than a T-shirt.)
This is the Summer Lace Shawlette from Interweave Knits (It's available free online). I finished it in less than a week, using a new acrylic/wool blend yarn from NaturallyCaron.com. I made mine a little longer and wider than the pattern specifies. The interesting thing about this pattern is that it's shaped to fit around the shoulders, not just a rectangle or triangle. I think it will be a little easier to handle without fussing than a triangular shawl would be.
My latest project is another wrap -- this one will be a cape, and I'm knitting it from a lace-weight merino wool so it'll be a little less warm than the red shawlette.
This is a free pattern from Drops Design, a Norwegian company that gives away patterns to sell their yarn. I had the yarn in my stash from a KnitPicks clearance color sale, so I hope I have enough to finish the project -- otherwise I'll have to buy a different color for whatever part of the top I don't finish. It seems to be knitting up quickly, and the lace pattern keeps me interested.
By the way, I've started the Ivy League Vest from Interweave Knits Winter 2007. I had all sorts of fun buying the wrong weight yarn and recalculating the pattern to my new gauge, then misreading the colorwork chart, a couple of times.
It's slow going, a lot of small stitches on slippery needles, and because of the stranded colorwork I'm knitting two-handed which is not yet comfortable. This is something I'll have to plug away on in short stints.
