A Ticking Clock

When I started my Rhinebeck sweater, I knew I was likely cutting it close (not that I had much of a choice given how quickly the plans came together). But yesterday I looked at the calendar and realized that I had even less time than I thought. Although it's a bit less than six weeks until we leave, one of those weeks is Spinzilla, so I will be spending ever spare moment spinning. That means that I've got less than five weeks to finish my sweater, and I have a feeling I will need every moment.

Still, I've made some decent progress. I'm two rows away from finishing the upper part of the right front and then I'll tackle the left front. As you can see, I've started the decorative band, which is a lot of fun (though it does require some close attention, as the right and left are a bit different).

Although I was alternating skeins in the back, I've been using just one at a time for the band and fronts so far, simply because the rows are so short and involved that I thought adding a second skein would make things completely crazy. I think I will be okay -- there's enough variation within the skeins that it almost looks like I'm alternating -- but I'll resume using two skeins at once as soon as I join the underarms and start working the entire body.

I am enjoying this sweater so far and the unusual way in which it's constructed, but my one complaint is that there are tons of ends to deal with due to the fact that you knit pieces in different directions and different sections. I have been trying to weave them in as I go wherever possible, but at the moment I've got a couple dangling (along with the ends from waste yarn holding live stitches) that can't be woven in just yet and they're driving me a bit batty. I really think a lot of this annoyance will go away once the body is all joined up as one piece, but for now, I find I'm spending more time that I would like untangling and generally moving ends out of the way.

Meanwhile, my lunchtime socks are a lot bigger than they were the last time you saw them -- I'm nearly finished with the first one!

I'll be glad when these are done, as they're still not super comfortable to knit, but I think they will feel nice to wear -- and it will feel even better to have knit up a deep-stash skein of yarn.