New beginnings

2013 has started with getting started on one official knit-along and one "Ooh, what a neat idea! I should totally modify it!" year-long project. Oh, and one ninja giant sweater that the recipient has asked there be no photos of so it'll be a surprise. I'm just going to drop some numbers on you: 6'6" tall. 58" around. (Cue quiet sobbing.) The sleeves are done, but just the bottom ribbing of the torso (about 3") took 7 hours. Now I know why I don't usually track how long projects take me. (Also, the second knee-high sock for my mother. Scads of slightly variegated black 2x2 ribbing...>_< )

The KAL is the Evenstar shawl, as the manager/daughter of the owners of the yarn and fibre shop I spend oodles of time at has been roped into knitting one for a friend's wedding in July, and she decided she was not facing this on her own.

Cast on 1/13/2013. One week in and I'm on row 30 of the second chart. I plan on posting my progress on this on a weekly basis. And no, I have no real idea what I'll do with it once I'm done, but sometimes, spec knitting is fun, too. I had originally swatched this in red, but it was almost a cobweb weight, and I decided not to do that to myself on this shawl. Stash diving came up with this wonderful Lacey Lamb in off-white. Super soft and sqwooshy, and a pleasure to work with.

The other neat project is the "My year in temperatures" scarf that my sister-in-law told me about and is doing. But, because I can't leave well enough alone (and I live somewhere where there are some pretty interesting temp changes over the course of the day), I decided to knit two scarves; one for the highs and one for the lows. I also don't like the look of garter stitch, so opted for a 1x1 rib. Oh, and since I'm using fingering weight instead of worsted, I'm doing a back and forth for each day, so it'll hopefully get to a decent length. I love how different the days look when compared to each other!

 

High vs Low