When in doubt...

Audrey is finished and blocking; expect photos of breathtaking beauty some time soon. I think she turned out allright, but it's hard to say before blocking, with those lacy straps.

Don't knit under the influence! I did, and the result is 3/4 of a sleeve for Notre Dame de Grace from the latest IK:



The texture is great, and this could be an awesome pullover with that intricate collar. But.. do I have enough yarn? I doubt it. I bought 4 skeins of merino, total yardage about 840. The pullover requires 880, so theoretically one could pull this off (since patterns don't always use every scrap of yarn). However, Notre Dame is eating yarn at an alarming rate: it looks like one sleeve will take 1 skein of yarn! You don't need amazing math skills to tell that since the front and back have a larger surface area than the sleeves, there is no way this sweater can be made from 4 skeins of yarn!

I'll need to think about what to do. One idea was to make the collar and the shoulder plackets from Peace Fleece Georgia, which knits to roughly the same gauge. But do I want a collar made out of Peace Fleece? Until a decision is reached, Notre Dame de Grace will be on hold...

Dragons

What should one do with four projects on the needles, one of which is 10 rows away from being done?? Cast on for something else, of course!

I WILL make a gorgeous tailored cardigan out of Peace Fleece, probably using the Georgia Rose color (but all their colors are gorgeous!). However, I am still designing the said cardigan, and the technical details like collar or armscythes are not quite ready yet; and I am not quite ready for these details. So until then, I am putting my two skeins of Peace Fleece Worsted to good use.



This is Elsebeth Lavold's "Fafner" pillow from "Viking Patterns for Knitting". It is a cute sampler of her trademark cables, a dragon head that is knit separately (you put 4 stitches on a holder, finish the square, then go back and make a dragon head out those 4 stitches). The blue border has more cables; you turn the corner using short rows and the pattern magically works out. Well, not magically. Lavold is a very talented designer... Her patterns are good and somewhat challenging. She holds your hand at some key points, but also leaves some issues for you to figure out; definitely a "thinking pattern", which is exactly why I started knitting this. It should make a great pillow.