This Never Happens

One of what I consider to be my failings about being a spinner is that I spin a lot of yarn but rarely knit with it. If you looked in my stash right now, you'd see that about half of my unknit yarn is handspun. To some degree, this phenomenon is due to the fact that some of my handspun feels too precious to knit, as in I feel that I'll never find the perfect pattern to do it justice. There's also the fact that much of my handspun is sock yarn, and I already have a very full sock drawer (two, actually), so there's no rush for more socks right now.

However, right now I find myself in an odd and unprecedented position: All of my current WIPs are being knit out of handspun.

My main project in progress is my SPAKAL sweater, Goodale, which is just nearly complete. I added a good amount of length to the body so that it will actually hit at the hip (cropped sweaters just don't look good on me), and I had enough yarn leftover that I decided to lengthen the sleeves as well. I finished the first one last night; it hits just at the elbow, which I think is a perfect length for this type of garment. I'm hoping to make decent progress on the second sleeve tonight, and I might even have a finished sweater by the weekend!

Poor lighting brought to you by Eastern Standard Time

My lunchtime knitting has been a Slouchy Butterfly Beanie for Rainbow that's being worked in some CMF East Friesian that was a club offering earlier this year. I finished the butterfly chart yesterday, so now it's just a lot of plain purled rounds until it's time to do the crown decreases.

I think this may be a bit on the small side, so I'm going to do some liberal stretching when I block it. I'll also have to futz with it a bit when it's wet to try to fuzz it up a little so it will be softer. I find it a bit rough, though Rainbow didn't seem to mind when I gave her the yarn to feel. I just have a feeling, though, that she'll complain it's scratchy once it's done.

Finally, the last thing on my needles is my long-neglected handspun Breezy Cardigan. It's probably been several months since I last touched it, and I think I was nearly to the ribbing on the body at that point, though I'm not completely sure. This sweater's worked in laceweight, so obviously it moves along at a slow pace. It would be nice to get it done to be able to wear it as a layering piece in the spring, though.

This all-handspun phase is not likely to last long; I've got a baby sweater to knit in MadTosh!