Wednesday WIPs

Sometimes I show all your lovely people my great triumphs, this is not one of those times. This is a time to admit that, perhaps I have too many things on the needles. But casting on moves yarn out of the bins, thus making room in the stash... it's legit, ya? So, let's take a tour of the WIPs, (that's Works in Progress, as opposed to Wery Important People.)

I took part in a Knit-a-long with the crafty friends at Fancy Tiger. We were all working on the Blank Canvas by Ysolda Teague. I'm using a couple of skeins from the sale bin - Anzula Squishy. Naturally, since I can't have it remain blank, I added lace panels to it. Things I learned -
1.) Size 4 is really small for making a whole sweater. (I knit rather tight, many folks would use size 2 with this yarn.)
2.) I HATE bobbles.
3.) This thing is taking forever because of 1.) and 2.).

We had two months to work on it, and I am usually one of the first done. But alas, I have only the torso and starts of sleeves. I think it will rest a bit until I've finished something else.

These mitts, perfectly portable, not so good for mindless knitting! I started with a pattern, but quickly realized how stiff and unnatural the trees looked. Since it was too tight I went ahead and frogged (*gasp* What? I never frog!) back to the beginning and have been making a pattern up as I go. Thus, it is not mindless, there's no repeating, each row has to be considered and each stitch judged. The yarns are Tracie, left over from my Viking Boat sweater; and a surprisingly soft mill-end bought in New Zealand.

Having been slaving on those two projects, each inching along and requiring focus, I started a quick and easy instant gratification project. My father had requested a dickie - basically just the yoke of a sweater to wear for extra warmth under a coat. So I am revisiting the Riddari lopi, nice greens and grey, size XXXL. It may seems large but it has several nice features for the knitter -
1.) Worsted weight yarn, size 8 needles, 'nuff said.
2.) A simple pattern, colorwork that can be memorized instantly, then repeated 42 times.
3.) It's only the yoke, once I split the sleeves I will do a few inches of ribbing and call it good!

Let's not talk about the Laminaria, it's hibernating on the back porch to avoid any further moth damage. I will pick it up next time I feel like doing 650 stitches at a time...

What are you working on?

Lopi Sweater Number Two

 I've joined the KAL at Fancy Tiger to make another Lopi Sweater, this one with the worsted weight yarn I bought in Iceland. I opted to do it top down instead of bottom up, which means I've already completed the interesting part.... Boo!

That does however make it more portable, not needing to have four colors of yarn on hand. I'm also planning to knit the sleeves bottom up and graft them on, so they will remain highly portable projects. School starts this week, I need to make sure I have projects for lecture time! Who knows how I'll get projects finished after I graduate.

The original look for this pattern is black sweater with shades of gray in the yoke, I opted for something more colorful, a lovely merlot and a gradient of mauves. I couldn't find a third transition color, so the light pink there is a scrap yarn dredged out of the bottom of my craft closet, good thing I never clean that out right?

Hopefully I can wrap this up by early February, I expect it will be cold enough to want it before the winter is over! What's your latest project? How do you stay motivated to knit stockinette for 15 inches?