Cowl Neck, Take 2 + New Skirt

Last night after I posted, I took the plunge and ripped out

my

entire

turquoise

sweater.

You may remember that I had about, oh, I don't know, 18" of the body done. But I have to be honest with myself. I hated it, because it was so big. So I sat there and ripped, and ripped, and ripped, until it was all gone, and then I cast on again with 192 stitches instead of 246-- yes, quite a big jump. I had to cut out about five inches of width. I finished the 2" 3x3 ribbed hem last night.

I think my goal will be to knit 2" of length every day. I did my 2" of stockinette today. It looks like it'll probably be snug, which is what I'm going for, so, hooray. If I continue with the daily 2", I should be at the yoke in about a week. I'm not in a rush with this project. The fingering weight, plus the tiny needles, requires a loooot of little stitches, so patience is needed. Plus, my original enthusiasm for the project is slightly dampened by the fact that this is the THIRD time I am restarting it.

And I also started a new project today-- the skirt I wrote about yesterday. I wasn't committed to it, but a chat with a knitter friend who has completed like six projects in a week inspired me to get back on the horse. (Also a little bit of jealousy/competition.) So I cast on for the twisted stitch waistband with my Knit Picks Swish DK in Sugar Plum:

I LOVE this color, but I only have one ball, so I need to make another Knit Picks order... mmm I love ordering yarn! I'm not sure what I will get this time, except I know that instead of a bunch of random balls I'm going to get a bunch of each and try to have a project in mind, because buying just one ball of a yarn is kind of useless. Even though I don't necessarily know what I want to make. My friend is planning on making an afghan for herself... and even though the last afghan I made took YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS, I kind of want to make one too! But I'm not going to. I've decided that the next time I make an afghan will not be until I get married. THEN I will make a beautiful afghan for my new house. Probably with cables. But that is probably a while off. So no afghans for now. But maybe I will make a few baby blankets, because I know two people who just had babies. However, they are in Israel. That's the only problem. I don't know any people HERE who are having babies... not a single one. And it's a shame, because knitting for babies is so fun and easy and quick.

What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, the new skirt. I have about 7.5" of the waistband done now. You knit the whole waistband, and then pick up stitches for the body of the skirt. I'll need to order probably five or six more balls. I am loving the Swish DK-- it's a very soft merino yarn with great stitch definition. It's just very comfortable-- and it's superwash, which is GREAT. This yarn would be good for baby stuff (especially because it is washable). Maybe I'll get some of that for the baby blankets? Or the Shine Worsted-- that is also SO soft and smooth, and it's shiny and has a lovely drape. My friend is making a Bell Curve with the Shine Worsted and from the pictures it looks gorgeous-- perfect for a skirt. I really like making skirts, because it's easy to get them to fit. Getting sweaters and tops to fit is another story entirely. I think for the cowl neck sweater I'll have to do an increase for the bust. I'll figure that out when I get to the waist.

Anyway-- so hopefully I'm going to start knitting more.