Out with the Old, In with the New

After finishing up my sweater sample, I thought about casting on something new but decided that I really should work on finishing up a long-languishing WIP. So I pulled out my oldest active WIP (I'm not counting the sock yarn blanket that I started for Rainbow before she was born and still have yet to finish, as it's safely packed away in the stash) -- that would be my handspun Breezy Cardigan. It hasn't even appeared here on the blog since last September, which appears to be just about when I shoved it into the bottom of my project bag. When I pulled it out again last week, there was only a bit of knitting on the body left to do before I could start the ribbing at the bottom. Despite the fact that this is laceweight yarn on size 4 needles and the rows have hundreds of stitches each, I somehow managed to finish the body, ribbing included, on Saturday.

As you can see, I've also started the first sleeve, which is going considerably faster than the body. I'm under no illusions that this sweater will be done anytime soon (there are other things I'd rather knit, frankly), but it's nice to pull it out every now and then and put a little bit of work into it. This is a really a spring/fall sweater anyway, so it wouldn't even be practical to wear it now, when it's ridiculously cold outside.

That cold (or, at the time, the coming cold) was what caused me to pick up a skein of madelinetosh Vintage  in Well Water at my LYS on Saturday. My everyday hat -- a Koolhaas worked in a fuzzy singles yarn that I knit about three years ago -- has been starting to show its age and pill a lot, so I decided that I needed a new one. I'm improvising this "pattern" (I use the term loosely) myself, and it's knitting up very quickly. I should have a finished hat in a day or two, depending on when I can sneak in some knitting time. (I confess my wheel has been calling to me.)

On a completely unrelated note, it seems that I was quite timely in posting the baby sweater last week, as we heard yesterday that the new cousin has been born! And it's a girl! Of course, now I will need to knit some gender-appropriate stuff (not necessarily pink, but certainly lacy and frilly are now acceptable).