Fall is Coming

I've been pondering the state of my wardrobe for the fall as well as the many, many WIPs I have stashed around the house. Inspired by a review of my knitting books, I pulled out some old old old Takhi Bianca yarn originally intended for a sweater for me. This was back in the day when I didn't understand the value of gauge and ended up with something ginormous and promptly frogged it and have been saving the yarn for something new. Sally Melville has a pattern called "not your mother's suit jacket" (or coat) in her Purl book and I've begun knitting away.

The pattern calls for a super bulky yarn mixed with a bulky yarn knit on a size 13 needle at 7 stitches to 4". Bianca is technically super bulky and I swatched it on 13s and 15s by itself and got about 9 stitches to 4" on both. Not sure how that is possible but off to the LYS I went. I went to Modern Yarn in Montclair, NJ. They are open Sundays, have very cool yarn organized nicely and the owners are very nice and helpful. I finally chose Blue Sky Alpaca Suri Merino to mix in--it's 60% baby suri and 40% merino. The color is called "fog"--a very pale gray. It's super soft and a little fuzzy (but not so much that I am picking pieces of it out of my mouth--I hate working with that kind of yarn). Anyway, it's luxurious--it actually says "Opulent meets orthodox."

I started knitting last night. You can't really see the suri knit it because it blends with the black, white and gray of the Bianca. You see a very faint haze right now--I'm wondering if that increases over time. In either event I love it. I'm winding up with a very stiff fabric. I'm making size Large which should be big on me, but I believe if it doesn't work out for me, it is beautiful enough for a gift. Look at the progress I made in one night! I have to admit my hands got sore but I love that there's so much progress. That's about 42 rows. I'm still on the first ball of suri and started the 4th ball of Bianca.

Truth be told, I ordered more suri in "Dusk" which is a charcoal gray, for a sweater for me. More on that another time. I also picked up some red and green Cascade for a holiday pillow I saw online and a ball of Kureyon for a hat I saw online that I'm trying to size for my niece.

Now for my confession. I did not finish a single item that I intended to complete during the Ravelympics. Not one. Never even looked at them. Had the best intentions. Planned and planned and planned to do it. Oh well. There's always 2012. I hear Michael Phelps will be there.