Swatchy

Phew, nice for Fern to be done. I was putting off a lot of stuff, because I thought I should get her finished first. So, a lot feels backed up.

A while ago, I changed my template, to make it more compliant with standard blotter. I had really hacked up a template to my liking, but I wasn't keeping it up because I'm interested in doing a knitting blog, not proving that I can hack HTML.

I'm adding sidebar stuff as I go along, not even trying to replace what I had. I put the rings back in, and I think they work properly. I left out the Knit along stuff, as I've completed the ones I signed up for. I will be contributing to the Vogue 25th anniversary KAL this year.

I put my year goals up top. Pretty much like last year, knit from stash, try to do six sweaters. Different than last year, in that I have actually planned most of the sweaters I want to do, and have pulled and boxed the stash for them. I also learned from looking at my blog activity that I just can't bear to work with wool in the summer. So, I've set aside some cotton and cotton/rayon projects just for summer.

I'm loving Ralvery, by the way, as their project queue seems to make the planning even more real than the boxed yarn with their assignments.

The stash has been quite a lump to deal with. I found I would dig around, and not use particular yarn because there was either too much ( enough to make an entire sweater, or enough for half a two color sweater ), or not enough, or I was saving that yarn for this project or that. Talk about a Goldilocks syndrome.

I have a lot of "Vintage" yarn where the ball bands are either absent, or do not indicate yardage. This causes a lot of anxiety when planning a project. Keeping records last year has helped a lot. I have been weighing finished sweaters, and now have a much better grip on how much I need to do a particular sized piece.

My head had some projects that got into my head, that I can't stop fussing over. This is where I started with my planning exercise. I wanted to make a set of "his and her" sweaters for BIL and SIL. They wear that kind of stuff; I've seen their whole family decked out in matching Aloha shirts on vacation. So I did a lot of digging, and fussing, and finally decided on what I wanted to do for that project. Hence, the Fair Isle pullovers. His will be light avocado and pine green. Hers will be purple and the same light avocado. I'm making some modifications in order to make the pattern suit the gauge, and noting that.

I also have a baby sweater still on my mind. This is one left from my last year baby mania. The girl is born, but I'm not feeling a rush. I like to make a 1 year old size; newborn sizes are too small after a short three months. I got these GREAT vintage fish buttons while on vacation, so, I'm thinking of making this Dale of Norway model, but doing a fish motif in the yoke band instead of the leaf motif. I like the way the hem edge is wavy; I think it will go with the fish motif well. I have to go into the stash and find the colors. I know I have the pink, and yellows and pretty sure I have good choices minty green. Should be cute.