Knit, Swoon

You know you’re excited about a project when you sacrifice an extra hour of sleep so you can get up early to work on it. 

I can’t remember when or where I first heard about Knit, Swirl, I only know that I was immediately smitten with the beautiful, drapey sweaters with their unique, circular construction.  What can I say?  I am a sucker for knits with interesting construction techniques.

After pouring over the book several times I finally chose Strata Sphere as my first project, partly because I thought the off-centre circle would be flattering and partly because the Noro Silk Garden would be easily available and entertaining to work with.  When you have to knit band after band of alternating stockinette and reverse stockinette, frequent colour changes help to keep it interesting.

My yarn arrived the other morning while I was writing my last blog post (thanks for the warm welcome back) and it wasn’t long after I hit “publish” that I picked up the needles and started swatching.

After soaking and blocking it soon became apparent that even though I was getting stitch gauge I was going to have to go up at least a needle size because row gauge is equally important in this type of sweater construction.  I knit a second swatch and after its bath it seemed to be pretty much bang on.  If I was a good, little knitter I would have waited for it to dry and pinned it out and checked and double-checked but I was too impatient to get going.  I decided it was good enough and cast on the required 537 stitches.  (The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding—cross your fingers!)

So far, so good.  I managed to join in the round without twisting and am into my third welt (each band of stockinette and reverse stockinette is called a welt).  I love how the colours are playing out so far—unlike some Noro colourways there isn’t one, jarring colour that clashes with the rest—and I look forward to seeing the stripes of colour widen as the circle grows smaller.  

Meanwhile, it’s the first of the month and, therefore, time for the next round of the Silk Road Socks and Knit. Sock. Love. knitalongs.  

 

I’ll be casting on for Gordes

and Cusp later this afternoon, as soon as I finish vacuuming.

Just to make it clear, it’s not that I’m virtuous, just realistic.  If I start casting on now, the vacuuming will never get done.  We’re going away for the long weekend and I want to come home to a clean house.

With all that plus a secret project for my yarn fairy (more about that later), not to mention a variety of half-finished socks and sweaters kicking around, I have more than enough knitting to keep me going for a while.  Even though September no longer means “back-to-school” for me or my family, there is still a sense of new beginning at this time of the year that fills me with inspiration.

Except when it comes to housework.