The up side of living in Minnesota...

...is that you can knit a sweater in April and still get to wear it. As I look out my window at the snow, I'm toasty in my sweater. HA to you, spring!

Having finished an actual sweater and worn it and and having quite liked wearing it, I am all gung ho to knit another. I have been looking for a pattern to use ten balls of blue bamboo that I have had in my stash for a few years. Right now I am considering a couple dress patterns. Is that crazy? I mean, a dress couldn't be any more intense than some of those monster shawls I've knit, right? Right?

Bamboo Dress Swatch

I'm trying to be rational. I like quick results, so a top or short cardigan would seem like good ideas. But it seems silly to use up only half the blue bamboo on a little ol' t-shirt when I could have a blue bamboo sundress. I've flipped through all my magazines, and thumbed through my pattern files, but darn it if a bamboo dress doesn't seem just the thing. Some serious swatching is required, though - if knitting a sweater that doesn't fit is sad, knitting a dress that doesn't fit would be devastating.

As the bamboo dilemma percolates, I realize I have next to nothing to work on. The Leaves Dancing shawl, which is moving quickly but I'm not even halfway done. I need to swatch for the ribbed baby jacket that I am so in love with. I'll knit it up in Cotton Ease, so that will be a satisfying knit - quick and squooshy. I finished two facecloths with donated vintage cotton, I'll do one more than gift the girls at work.

Frogged Pea Pod

I picked up the "Pea Pod" baby sweater I started possibly ten years ago, because my sister happened to see it and thought it was cute. It had been completely finished (except for buttons) for a while, but the shoulders were stiff and bulky. I'd taken the sleeves off about fives years ago, intending to fix the problem. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just stuck it in a corner to let it think about how disappointing it was. I picked it up the sweater last night, with no idea of which size I had been knitting, or what needles I had used, but thinking I had a nearly-finished baby sweater on my hands. I kitchnered the shoulders and picked up stitches for a sleeve. After an inch and a half, I realized my sleeve was great - it was the rest of the sweater that had problems. I started it as a new knitter, when gauge was more important than the resulting fabric. The resulting little armor jacket was not salvageable. I frogged it all. I still love the yarn - a 75% cotton, 25% wool blend - so maybe I'll try it again.

I also frogged a little scarf project that my MIL gave me yarn for. The gauge was off, and I knew it. I wasn't going to enjoy working on it. The yarn is awesome, so I'll cast on again with bigger needles and avoid the black mohair madness syndrome.