Viking Sweater first, then the summary of the year.
Why? I am interspersing knitting with updating webpages, sock pages and filling of boxes for the post office tomorrow.
Viking Ship Sweater
It isn’t the officially correct way to knit a Scandinavian Sweater – but it works for me.
After looking at the pattern and deciding where on the chart would make the best merge row, I did a provisional cast on (merino/tencil sock yarn leftovers are wonderful for this) and knit six rows for the facing side of the hem.
Next a picot row. Next, another row of white, then the four pattern rows. And the four pattern rows, and the four pattern rows… You see, I do this portion flat to avoid sewing and I really wasn’t paying attention. The Vs face outwardly in the front and the back. The first time around, I just knit them all in the same direction without looking at the side locations or the center back. The second time, well, I just made a couple of mistakes on the purl back row. And the third time, I only had to take part of it out. Four times is the charm.
After another row of the white, I was ready to bind the two sides together. Transferring the facing stitches to a circular needle, I got three stitches done and thought my fingers were going to bleed. Deciding to be a bit smarter – I transfered them all (alternating one front, one back) to the main needle before starting the merge.
Since I was matching two white rows – the colours lined up well and my fingers are starting to recover from the sharp points.
From there, it was around and around and around for the pattern on the bottom.
After doing a repeat – I decided that I was going to need three sets of blocks rather than two in order to have enough length.
Measuring – it looks like I made it 9 cm on the first white ball. After the third, looks like I will need to make a choice as to whether this is going to be a sweater …or…..turn it into a vest. And it will look a lot better as a sweater.
Knitting
A small start on the handwarmers for Nina. Silver glitter woven into grey yarn with red beads.
Socks
As far as I can tell – I knit 45 pairs of socks this year, all adult size, 38 of which count for the 52 Pair Plunge. That means that I have 18 pairs to knit prior to 1 April when we close out the year. I think I can manage, but most of them will probably not be terribly fancy. And I have more than enough yarn on hand – trust me on that. If you want to see the collection please go here.
As far as the rest of my projects for the year, I need to update that page since it is only current to April. Just didn’t get there today.
Audio Books
The Cat Dancers – P.T. Deutermann.
May you have a safe and great New Year.
-Holly