I had a Very Long Meeting, so I put in 2.5 hours of overtime yesterday. (The Very Long Meeting continued into today, but we wrapped things up in time for me to leave the office at my usual time.)

So when I got home yesterday, I didn’t feel much like knitting. Do you ever have one of those days when wrapping the yarn around the needle is a struggle? Yeah, that’s how I was feeling. So I knocked off knitting early and passed out.

I picked up the Pinwheel Sweater this morning before I left for work — I always allow a few minutes between getting ready for work and actually leaving the house to sit and watch the early, early news, with Lucy in my lap. In that bit of time I did more knitting on the sweater than I managed in the couple of hours I struggled with it last night. I was definitely in the zone. I briefly considered calling in sick so I could sit home and knit, but we did have the continuation of yesterday’s meeting, complete with a contractor who traveled here from parts north specifically for said meeting. So I reluctantly set the Pinwheel aside and trudged on in to the office. (Pinwheel is too unwieldy for commuter knitting, otherwise it would have come with me.)

Here it is, on a 32″ (Addi Turbo Lace) needle. Time to switch to a larger one.

Pinwheel Sweater 112907

And here it is on a 47″ (Knitpicks Options) needle.

Pinwheel Sweater 2 112907

Amanda commented:

Lovely edging – a really good idea. But before you get to knitting it on, have you considered whether to add a bit of flare to it? Looking at the pattern photos, the laid out flat sweater as well as the two of it being worn, it seems to me that the edging continues the increase rate of the circle, and that this is necessary to get the right drape especially at the back neck. But you probably have this all worked out already.

I’m expecting that blocking will take care of this. It has on the circular shawls I’ve knit. The edging I’m going to use is pretty stretchy, so I don’t think it would be too much trouble to bend it to my will.

Katheryn asked:

Does Lucy have fur between her toes? One of my girls does and its my favourite part to pet!

She does! Cute little tufts of fur!

Lucy 112907

Boy, you guys sure have strong opinions about knit versus crochet edging for this sweater!

As I mentioned yesterday, I worked up a lace edging for my Pinwheel Sweater. I knit a little swatch of it to see how it looks.

Lace Edging 112807

This is two repeats worth. It looks a little wonky because I was still working out the direction of the decreases as I knit it. And the fact that I knit the sample in a different yarn makes it a little hard to visualize. But I think I like it.

It’s a 16-row repeat, and you attach it to the body of the sweater on every other row, so it’s one repeat per 8 stitches of the edge of the sweater. This will work out perfectly, as the sweater ends up with 440 stitches around — that’s 55 repeats of the edging.

The sleeves start with 80 stitches and the pattern directs you to decrease down to 70 stitches. However, I don’t thin I’ll do the decreases — I think I prefer a sleeve that’s not tapered. (But if I did do decreases, I’d decrease down to 72, which would accommodate 9 repeats of the lace edging.)

The crocheted edging on the sleeves is deeper than on the body. I’m going to do mine the same as the edging on the body. I plan to knit the body edging before I start the sleeves. Then I’ll try the sweater on to see how long I have to knit to the sleeves before starting the edging, as it’ll be a bit longer than the pattern directs.

After I’m sure I’ve got all the kinks worked out, I’ll post my edging chart so anyone else who wants to do a knitted lace rather than crocheted lace can use it.

Meanwhile, on the sweater, I’m at the point where I am putting stitches on a holder for the sleeves. For each sleeve, you put 40 stitches on a holder, and then provisionally cast on 40 stitches over it to continue in the round.

Pinwheel Sweater 112807

I did a crochet chain for the provisional cast-on. That’s about the extent of my crochet abilities.

There was a question in the comments about how I am doing the increases. I’m doing a knit in the front and back of stitch, which, I believe, is what the pattern specifies — don’t have it front of me and I’m too lazy to go check it.

Here’s a gratuitous photo of the increases.

Increases 112807

And here’s a gratuitous photo of Lucy.

Lucy 112807

You know, it’s funny — I had never seen another Pinwheel sweater knitted up before yesterday. Yesterday I logged into Ravelry and searched for the Pinwheel sweater in the pattern search function. I found a whole bunch of them in progress and completed.

It didn’t occur to me to look before yesterday. Sometimes I am slow like that.

I got home yesterday afternoon feeling fine and dandy after my first full day at work in a very long time. A half hour later, exhaustion kicked in. So, consequently, not a whole lot of progress on the Pinwheel.

Pinwheel Sweater 112707

But I am a few rows from the point where I can put the appropriate stitches on hold for the sleeves, so progress is being made.

As I mentioned yesterday, the body of the sweater is divided into 8 sections, and you do the increases at the end of each section.

To facilitate multi-tasking, I have separated each section with a stitchmarker.

Small Marker 112707

And I used a larger marker (in a different color) for the last section.

Large Marker 112707

This way, I can easily watch tv while working on this. It’s just mindless stockinette stitch, so I know to increase without looking when I feel the marker coming up. The larger marker, of course, signifies the end of the round, so I know to stop and start increasing at that point, as the increases are done every other round.

It’s really a dead simple sweater. Until you get to the edging. Which is . . . crocheted.

(Insert ominous music here)

I don’t crochet, apart from doing a chain for provisional cast-ons.

L-B very kindly offered to crochet the edging for me, as she can and does crochet. (Note: L-B specified that this is not a blanket offer for all non-crocheters. It is a one-time, non-transferable offer.) I did think about taking her up on the offer, but I’m toying with the idea of knitting on a lace edging. I mean, why the heck not?

I’ve doodled up an edging and I will knit a sample to test it out. Stay tuned!

Behold!

Lucy 112707

The picture of kitty contentment.

Pond Scum 112607

My new non-sock project is being knit from Socks That Rock Heavyweight, in the Pond Scum colorway.

Seriously, how could I not buy yarn in a colorway named Pond Scum? The fact that I love the color is just a bonus.

(But how could I not love a colorway named Pond Scum?)

Oh, you want to know what it is?

Most of the projects that y’all guessed were things I’d never heard of. I guess I need to get out more.

Nobody guessed exactly (except L-B, but she had prior knowledge) — only one commenter got it in general: Regina, who guessed a circular sweater.

It’s the “Lara Pinwheel Sweater,” a free pattern on the Elann website, available on their Free Patterns Page. To go directly to the pattern, click here.

(Though you might want to take a stroll through Elann’s free patterns anyway — there are a lot of really nice things there. And did I mention? Free!)

The pattern calls for Elann Lara, which is a mercerized cotton, about dk weight. But I note that pattern is also shown using a yarn called “Mister Joe Blanket,” which is a wool blend yarn.

Anyhow, L-B and I discussed a while back how we’d both like to make this sweater, and we both bought the yarn for it at the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth at Stitches East last month.

The gauge for the pattern is 22 stitches and 24 rows to 10 cm. I started swatching with a 4.5mm (US & needle). I went down a couple of sizes and got gauge with a 3.75mm needle (US 5). The stated gauge on the STR Heavyweight label is 6 stitches/inch on a 3.25mm (US 3) needle, so I probably should have started swatching with a 3.75mm needle to start with. That is, if I had bothered to look at the ball band.

So far so good. You start at the center of the back — it starts with a cast-on of 8 stitches, which you join and knit in the round. This forms a little hole in the middle.

Pinwheel Sweater 112607

I suppose I could close up the hole, but I actually kinda like it.

Hole 112607

You increase every other row in an ever-enlarging circle. Because the increases are done by knitting in the front and back of the last stitch in each of 8 sections, the knitted fabric has a pleasing pinwheel effect. Hence the name!

Now excuse me — I must go collapse in a heap. I made it through my first full day of work since the beginning of October and I’m a bit exhausted.

Lucy sez:

Lucy 112607

“I had leftover turkey for dinner!”

Thanks for all your good wishes — Lucy, the KOARC, and I had a very nice Thanksgiving. I don’t think Lucy has had her fill of turkey yet, though.

Tomorrow I attempt full-time re-entry into work, so this is just a quickie. I must spend the rest of the day steeling myself for the horror that is work.

I did finish the Lace and Cable socks:

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And I started . . . a non-sock project!

New Project 112507

Can you guess what this is?

New Project 1 112507

Lucy sez:

Lucy 112507

“I like my turkey cut up in dainty pieces. White meat, please.”