Lady Eleanor the Second

Here she is:
Isn't she lovely? I'm about a third of the way through now. This yarn is a dream. It's very well-behaved. I love how the colors change across each square. Every once in a while, I'll get a square that is all the same color. In fact, I have one tier that is entirely brown.

I've been knitting a little over a skein a day, so I could be finished with it in March.

Stitches, or I have $1.02 left in my pocket

The Stitches market was fun. I made a beeline for La Lana Wools and bought the Forever Random Worsted I've been drooling over for the past year.






I finally got to see the Noro Kureyon Sock. It's much too thin for me to knit into socks, but I think it will make very pretty lace.







I bought some cashmere, Just Our Yarns Myne, as part of a beaded shawlette kit.







Here is the sample of Malabrigo laceweight that the Malabrigo booth was giving away on Thursday night.










There's more, but that's enough for now.

Beech Wood

I ran out of yarn just after the second full repeat. Not sure what happened, but it still looks pretty, if asymmetrical. I hope my friend likes it!

Things I've learned about knitting lately

1. Life is too short to knit an ugly pattern. If the pattern is ugly, changing the yarn and/or colors probably won't help.
2. Life is too short to use ugly yarn, too.
3. Do not take a class from someone who writes patterns but doesn't have the pattern edited or test knit, unless you're a masochist.
4. I like cashmere.
5. I like knitting lace.
6. Cashmere lace is awesome.
7. Merino's nice, too.
8. Purling in the round takes all the fun out of knitting in the round. Never knit a pattern in the round that uses purls for half the pattern.
9. Always read the pattern all the way through before starting. This may be something you have to learn the hard way, though.
   
10. I really do have enough pink yarn. Possibly for a lifetime.
11. On the other hand, I don't have any pink cashmere laceweight. Yet.
12. I need a challenging pattern to keep me interested. 5000 rows of the same pattern over and over will drive me mad in white linen. Although linen is nice, too.
13. I'd rather buy a sweater than knit one, but I do appreciate a well-knit sweater.
    
14. I don't like knitting on a deadline. Anybody's deadline.
15. Don't take multi-day classes, because again, I hate knitting on a deadline.
16. It's ok to take a year or two to finish a project.
17. It's also ok to frog a project that I can't remember what row I'm on, don't like the yarn, and can't remember why I thought the project was a good idea in the first place.
18. I'm still allergic to mohair.
19. I do not enjoy Fair Isle right now.
    
20. Socks are fun (I really like turning the heel) but I don't have the patience to knit two of them. So from now on, I'm only buying sock yarn in complementary colors, so I can have socks that are, well, not fraternal twins, but at least vaguely related.
21. I finally learned to use DPNs without stabbing myself, but I still prefer Magic Loop.
22. Rather than trying to figure out what fibers make me itch, these are the animal fibers that don't: wool, silk, cashmere, and camel. Yes, I even find qiviut and baby alpaca itchy. More for you.
    
23. I don't like to knit the same pattern twice.
    

I'm about a third of the way through my child's size Fair Isle sweater, halfway through Lady Eleanor (still), a quarter of the way through my Mistake Lace scarf, 2/3 through the Clapotis, and half way through Beech Wood.

Beech Wood needs to be done by Tuesday morning, since I'm giving it to the wonderful friend who took care of my cats while I was in the hospital last week. Luckily, it's a fast knit, and it's in the scrumptious Hand Maiden 4 Ply Silk Cashmere in the Paris colorway.