I Can't Help Myself!

New yarn calls to be cast on, so I did.

I chose Elbac for a cable project. I chose Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Worsted because that is what the pattern recommended. Initially, I did not like the pattern much, but it is growing on me. Instead of knit cables against a purl background, we have ribbed cables against a garter background. The result is a reversible scarf with subtle cables.



Initially, I liked the yarn, but now not so much. It is soft and has a nice halo even in skein. But there is very little twist, even less spring, and it tends to split. Now that I am past the initial diagonal rows of the pattern, though, the knitting and cabling are going fairly smoothly, so I will probably continue with the status quo.

The Sitcom Chic sweater has been in the back of my mind, and now that I have a new yarn for it, I just had to swatch.



My MO is to drop a needle size from what the pattern calls for, but cast on with a needle one or two sizes larger. So I cast on with a US9 and knit with US7. My gauge is a little off, but I have yet to soak the swatch. Which I will do because I do not want to start a third version of Sitcom Chic.

I am progressing nicely through the Hedgerow socks.



I had increased the pattern by one pattern repeat, which made the legs six stitches larger. The decreasing in the toe relies on multiples of eight, however, which I did not have until I thought to terminate the gusset prematurely and leave a couple of extra stitches for the footbed.



Now I am running dangerously low on yarn. *sigh*

And just in case you think nothing is getting completely finished around here, this pic is proof otherwise:



The Sun Ray shawl in all its blocked glory.

Today Betsy got her stitches removed. Forty minutes of driving for four minutes of work. Betsy is still reluctant to put much weight on her "new" leg, but recovery from doggy ACL surgery takes one to three months. It has been only two weeks, but I am really tired of helping her up and down the ONE step it takes to enter/exit the house.