Have Knitting, Will Travel

Last weekend was SAFF, or the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair if you're fancy, and a good time was had by all.

This is a picture heavy post, y'all.  Sorry-not-sorry.  (Also what are you complaining about, you on a dial up or something?)

We left Murfreesboro at the crack of 8:00 a.m. and drove straight on to a little berg outside of Knoxville where we left wee Bu, happy as the proverbial clam, with her grandma.  Bu is a child of a different disposition from her older sister.  Older sister would not have suffered staying behind at Granny's gracefully.  Bu was pretty much, "Sure, yeah, see ya, bye.  Granny and I have stuff to do... are you still here?"

Then off we went for Asheville.   We stopped at the Tupelo Honey Cafe for a late lunch slash early dinner (side note: they have built a Tupelo Honey in Franklin across the street from my office.  Cue high-pitched, inarticulate sounds of joy).  

Bestie Jess and I at Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville

We walked around downtown Asheville for a bit (whereupon I suffered from a bout of camnesia.  Took no pictures the entire time).   But I did prove that I can navigate on foot from Tupelo Honey to Purl's Yarn Emporium from memory, so there's that.  We didn't buy anything, because SAFF and the markets were the next day.  It was fun to poke around and look though.

We also passed by a wig shop (because why not?) and I kept muttering, "Vhen vill you vear vigs?" every time I saw the place because I think I'm funny (YouTube link).

Other than a trip to Target and some truly mediocre live music paired with some truly fantastic goat cheese balls (not a euphemism) at the hotel bar, that was pretty much it for Friday's excitement.

Saturday is when shit got real.

Now, SAFF is not in the same building as it used to be, and they moved the weekend too.  I truly missed the "THIS IS NOT THE TRACTOR SHOW" sign this year, but whaddya gonna do?  The new venue meant that the vendors were nicely spaced and that there was plenty of room to move around, but since everything was all on a level, you totally lost the SHOCK AND AWE spectacle of seeing the vendor floor spread out down below in the arena when you first walk in.

Not that there wasn't plenty of shock and awe to be had.

Best Jess is not amused at my picture taking shenanigans

Morgan was very patient with me tho

HOLY CRAP THOSE OWLS

I picked up a gradient kit in these colors from the Unique Sheep.

Who doesn't love a llama in a hat?

How gorgeous is this wool rug?

Bestie Koren and I at the Vendor Market

So that night, drunk on yarn fumes, we headed back to the hotel to roll around in our yarn see what we'd bought.

Morgan fell in love with some alpaca.  We had to tell her to stop cuddling it before it all felted.

On Sunday we went back and saw some critters.  This llama and I are going to run away together and get married.  He doesn't know it yet, but I'm sure it will be fine.

What a handsome lad

There were also some fine looking alpaca.

And a whole whack of sheep and goats.  Pictured here are Spotty Dotty, Comma Butt, and Gradient Gus.  Jess is not allowed to name most things, but if I had sheep, I might let her name some of those.

This is the where the vendors were last year. Looking down on that was nothing but SHOCK AND AWE I tell you.

Then it was back in the car and off to find lunch.  We stopped at a great place in Asheville called The Barleycorn Pub, where Morgan reports she was served the best hamburger that she has ever eaten.  My corned beef hash was pretty frickin' spectacular too.

The fun thing about travelling with a GPS as your navigator is that sometimes you get taken by the most interesting routes.  I fed the address to the Barleycorn into Carmen (that's the GPS).  After we got off of the interstate and started driving through a residential area I asked Carmen, "Are we going to someone's house for lunch?"

"Turn Right onto Haywood Road," came the reassuring reply.  In the end we drove straight to the place, and I should never have doubted her.

The mountains were absolutely fabulous on the way back.  The weather had turned ever so slightly colder, and the colors of the leaves just snapped.  Gorgeous.  If you can ever go drive in the Smoky Mountains in the fall, do it.

Back in Knoxville, we got to meet wee Baby Ruth (who is absolutely beautiful), and chat with big brother Thomas.  Oh and their parents were there too.

Wee Bu was thrilled to see us, but was not best pleased to realize that it was time to go home.  She voiced her displeasure with this new circumstance but was finally appeased with the application of animal crackers and Iron Man on the radio.  I was likewise appeased with the application of Starbucks, and homeward we continued.

I decided it would be best to warn Carl about the yarn situation before I got home.

I was kidding.

Mostly.

I bought some yarns

So that's SAFF in a nutshell. I didn't take a class this year, but there was lovely food, lovely company, lovely yarn.  BOOM.

Oh!  And I finished Carl's socks!  They'll warrant their own post in a day or two.

Is it time to start the toe yet?

Overall I give the weekend an A++, Would Go Again.

The Knits That I Can Show You

I've had a bit of a casting on spree the past few weeks (as one does), but given the season there's a fair bit that I can't (or won't) show you.  Many of my knitworthy constituency read the blog, and there you have it.  

Fear me not, there will be pictures and reports after the Yuletide.  In the meantime I'll try to keep the vague mutterings of "I knit some stuff" to a minimum, as that's no more interesting for me to type than it is for you to read.

All of that said, I do have some progress to report on several of my current projects.

My Four Color Cashmere Cowl is moving right along.  I'm about half done the yellow (excuse me, Turmeric) bit, and then there's another stripe or three and it's done.

I took this picture several days ago, but that's about where I still am, as I've been distracted by other knits.

Carl's Big Dude Socks are so close, y'all.  I can smell victory.

Victory smells like feet.

I posted this picture to Instagram the other day (oh hey, I'm on Instagram, username Kadollan, come follow me).  I captioned the pic "I can call this good right?  I'm done?" or words to that effect.  I cannot believe how long these dang things have taken me.  Though in my defense, once you factor in the more than half sock I frogged, I've knit enough to already be done and then some.

Anyway, I've turned the heel and now it will go WHOOSH! down the foot.  May his second pair not also take a year. Amen, So Say We All, etc.

My Halloween socks (which clearly will not be done for Halloween, but whatever, I do what I want) are also moving right along.  I'm using the OMG Heel by Megan Williams on this one.

Oh, and get a load of that project bag.

I made two -- one for me and one for my "date" to the masquerade ball for the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup.  She made me a bag too (not pictured.)  It's silly and fun and it makes me happy.  Oh, and the best part?  I raided ancient fabric stash for those bag boys (er... bad boys, but that typo is too funny not to leave.)

I plan to do some winter and Christmas themed ones next.

And then in the midst of all this industry, I've cast on a hat.  This is Bankhead by Susie Gourlay.  It's a simple, unisex beanie style cap, and a great use for Lion Brand Heartland (which, okay, confession time.  I like Heartland.  It's soft and the colors are all up my alley.  There, I said it.)

I have about another 1.5" to 2" to go before I start the increases, and then it's a hat for the gift basket.

So that's about all that's fit to print.  I do have some other projects on the go, but as I said... you can't see 'em. So nyeah!

Preparing for a Fiber Festival

Happy Friday, dear readers!

It's fall, and everyone knows that fall means fiber festivals.  In point of fact, Rhinebeck is happening RIGHT VERY NOW (without me, alas.  Perhaps one day I will make my pilgrimage).  That said, we have our very own local Fiber in the Boro next weekend, and then SAFF the weekend after that.

Fiber in the Boro is a small, low-key fest, but I enjoy it.  I appreciate the opportunity to support our local fiber economy, and it's nice to see some old friends.  Plus it's like, three miles from my house.  WIN.

SAFF on the other hand, is another thing altogether.  Koren and I went for the first time last year and it was huge, delightful, overwhelming, and generally awesome.  (And speaking of local fiber economy I didn't realize that Erin Lane - not her real name - of Erin Lane Bags is actually from Murfreesboro.  Had to go alla way to South Carolina to find that out.)

Anyway, the point of all of this is that fiber festivals are fantastic opportunities to learn new skills (if you're into that) and to BUY ALL THE THINGS ... I mean ,.. to do some judicious shopping, in person, of fibers and yarns that may not be easily or locally available.    And the sheer abundance of options, choices, and hell, yarn fumes, that are available can make it really easy to get overwhelmed.

So, this is not a "pick out your workshops, find your map, make a hotel reservation" post.  Y'all can figure that part out on your own.  This is a how to shop post.  (Not that I am by any means an expert.  I should qualify this as a "this is how I shop" post, but that has less of a ring to it.)

So, first things first.  Budget.  Know how much you can comfortably spend without having to serve Kraft dinner or ramen to the family for a month.  Be reasonable, be real, and take cash.  It is way harder to overspend cash when it is gone.  Also, not all vendors are going to be set up to take credit or debit cards.  But unless you are carrying knuts and galleons, everybody will take your cash.  (I am actually fairly confident that some of the vendors would take knuts and galleons too, but I'm not at liberty to discuss which ones.)

Next, give a good hard think to what you actually love to knit.  Not what kind of yarn you love to buy, mind you, but what you actually love to knit.   Variegated fingering weight yarn sure is pretty.  But how many Hitchhikers does one girl need?  (Okay, yes, I know there are a lot more options for variegated yarns.  And arguably one girl needs "all of them" in regards to Hitchhikers, but you take my point.)

So, say you really enjoy knitting with tonal colors.  You love to make cabled hats.  Flat colors make you wrinkle your nose.  Variegateds give you heartburn when you try to knit them.   If you know this going in you aren't going to come home with two skeins of a solid lace-weight and half a dozen wild and funky sock yarns.  Instead, you'll come home with a skein of gorgeous, tonal DK or Worsted for that cabled hat you love.  

My point is:  know what you knit. And remember that what you like to buy is not always the same thing as what you like to knit.

Gosh this is already running long, and I'm not even to the pictures yet.   Still with me?

Because next stop is Ravelry.  What's in your queue?  Your favorites? What are you excited about knitting that you don't have yarn for yet?

There is a free program called Trello (it's a productivity software based on a kanban approach for project or production management).  And because I am me, and this is how I do, I use it to gather my knitting inspiration and wish lists.

My Actual SAFF Trello Board

You could do this any number of ways, but the key factors here are: visual reminders of what you are interested in (before the wool fumes get to you and you completely lose your mind), along with yarn weight, pattern name, yardage requirements (this part is really important) and recommended gauge.

Armed with this information you can come home from your festival with yarn that you are more likely to actually use, and (again this is key) in sufficient quantities.   

If you guys would like more information about how I actually set up the Trello board, just let me know and I can go into more detail around the mechanics of it.

One last thing to consider -- cell reception and data can be really spotty at some festivals.  Which means that you might get out to the Barn of Wonders where all of the vendors are waiting to entice you with their wares, and have no access to your carefully constructed plan.

The solution to this dilemma was stolen wholesale from Aimee Beth of The Fat Squirrel Speaks (who in turn stole it from someone else.)   Save a picture in your phone.  It requires no data to access, so you won't get stuck.

Trello has an app, so I just pulled up my board and took a screen shot.  Bob's yer uncle.

Lastly, but not leastly, check out the vendor list from the Festival's website.  Are there any vendors that you are either dying to check out, or that you know you adore from previous years?  If so, make a note so you can be sure to get over to them.  Ideally you'll get to see all of the vendors, but at the bigger festivals you may run out of time and oomph before you run out of places to shop.  A good problem to have, but let's make sure we hit the Must Sees first.

There's so much more that I could say about this  -- and maybe I should have even approached this as a two or three part series, but I hope that this little taste of my process is helpful.

TL:DR

Budget

Carry Cash

Know what you want to knit

Know your vendors

Happy Shopping!  

Focus, Finally. After a Fashion.

I've been as close as I get to project monogamous this past week.  Long-time friends of the show will recall my opinion on the moral implications of the number of projects a person currently has on the go: to whit... there are none.

That said, you can sure get more visible progress when your focus and energies aren't widely dispersed.

This past week has seen a fair bit of progress on my 3 (4) Color Cashmere Cowl.  

If three colors are good, four are better, amirite?  I'm planning to add the Turmeric as the main color block after the skinny teal and grey stripes (er, that's the yellowy-brown for those of you that were raised on the 16 color Crayola box, instead of the mega 120 color set).

Most of my crafting energy (such as it's been) has been spent on the cowl, but I've also finished the heel flap of Carl's second Big Dude sock.  No picture, but y'all know what a grey-brown sock with a heel flap looks like.

I've also done two more squares for the Circles to Squares afghan.  At this rate I could conceivably finish it ever.

I was laying it out according to the little map in the pattern, trying to get a gauge of what size blanket I am going to end up with.  (Pun unintended... but I will admit to leaving it because I thought it was funny.  So there.)  I have around half the squares completed.

That's really it -- I haven't picked up Nurmilintu, my Hitchhiker, my Halloween socks (Christmas socks at this rate).  And we won't speak of the two sweaters I have on the needles at the moment.... Or the shawl.  Or the other blanket...

Look, I'm only flirting with the idea of project focus.  I don't want to get all crazy.  

Everything, All at Once

It's been another week of "pick up one project, knit two rows, put it down, and pick up another," here at chez woolly.

So pretty much business as usual, then.

In no particular order, I've been working on:

Carl's socks.  Remember last week I mentioned that I had the second sock on the needles at Morgan's band concert?   They've gone whoosh and I've just started the heel flap.

#bigsocksforbigfeet

And speaking of socks, I decided to hurry up and get my Halloween socks on the needles sometime before the last week of October.  This is me, (almost) planning ahead.   I got this sock yarn at last year's Fiber in the Boro, so I rather wanted to get them cast on before we go again on the 24th.

That orange, tho!

The yarn is The Color Wheel Tuff Sock in the "Hoot" colorway.  If she's there again this year, I might have to snag me some more.

In non-sock related news, I've started another 3 Color Cashmere Cowl (henceforth to be known as the 3CCC, because I'm lazy).   I don't know why I think I need two of these, lest it be that it is both surprisingly fetching on, and fun to knit.  Okay, never mind.  When cast in that light, it's obvious why I need two.

This one is starting out with grays instead of browns.  So far I'm using Knit Picks Capretta in Caviar and Platinum.  I may shake it up a bit when the time comes to add more color.  We'll see.

Nurmilintu (remember Nurmilintu?) has also seen some action in the past couple of weeks.  I've been trying to balance starting new things with finishing up (or in some cases frogging) some older projects.  Nurmilintu is a keeper, so it has been put back into rotation.

I really like how it's turning out.  Morgan is doing one too (we're having the wee-est of alongs.  In fact, I think Koren just cast one on as well).  Anyway, Morgan is doing hers in Hawthorne Fingering, Her gauge is tighter than mine, and the yarn reads as a tonal rather than as a variegated, so the overall affect is quite different. I'll have to try to get a picture of them together for next time.

And speaking of working on old projects (you didn't think I was done did you?) I also hauled out my old Circles to Squares afghan.  The Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup will accept blanket squares as a finished object to turn in for classes.  That is serving as excellent motivation to work on it again.  I started this bad boy back in 2013. which makes it my second oldest WIP.

I'm maybe a third of the way done?

So that's (more or less) everything I've been working on in the last couple of weeks.  I'm trying not to be frustrated by my lack of focus and to just roll with it.  As long as I'm working on something just about every day I'm making progress.  And I surely have enough variety.  (Also, if last week's post is anything to go by, it isn't actually hurting my output any.)

Hey Long Time No Post or "Where the Heck Did September Go?"

Hey hey hey, friends, remember me?

There I was trucking along and posting just about once a week ALL YEAR LONG and then BAM!  I blink and five weeks go past.  That whooshing noise you just heard was the end of the Summer of 2015.  Gone now.

Anyway.  So when last we spoke, I was showing you the sweater I made Rowan (at his request).  I'm pleased to announce that he has worn it to school of his own free will and volition three or four times.  Dude is totally knitworthy.  (I told him that he couldn't put it on the floor, so he very carefully wadded it up in a lump on his bed.  He tried.)

Rather than try to catch up with a billiondy FO posts (and honestly the thought of that alone may have held me off from updating even longer.  One of those problems that only gets worse as you ignore it), I've decided to drop a great whack of pictures on you all at once, and then resume my regularly scheduled weekly blogging.

So brace yourselves.

This summer I made some project bags:

Left to right these are a gift for Koren, a gift for Jess, what happened to my favorite old flannel shirt, a paisley sock bag for me, because PAISLEY, and a bag I made as a prize for our last Stashdown round on Ravelry.

I'm still mostly making "knock-off" Erin Lane style bags.  I want to experiment with some other construction techniques.  But for now these are making me happy.

In fact, here's a better picture of the paisley one:

I have a predictable color palette, what can I say?

I also finished up some cowls.  These are the BFF Cowl (made in conjunction with the aforementioned Jess -- she did the red and I did the blue) and the Infinitude Cowl, which is going in the gift basket.

The BFF Cowl above only shows one of the two links that I knit.  For Jess' cowl I did a "Milkweed" stitch pattern, because she's an entomologist that studies butterflies, and I think I'm funny.

Jess' Link,Unblocked

I knit a sweater for wee Miss Bu.  I actually did this one before my accidental blogging hiatus.  This is what the veiled references to "and I'm knitting something else that I can't show you" were about earlier this summer.

That ribbon tho!

I finished up some socks.

Here's one of Carl's Big Dude Socks:

I'm into the leg of the second sock now.  In fact I worked on them last night at Morgan's band concert.

I also knit up some Rose City Rollers out of ancient and venerable stash.  Stash so old that the internet tells me it was discontinued in 2008.

It took every bit of one 50g ball of Knit Picks Simply Stripes yarn.  Which was perfect, because one ball is all I had.

Oh!  I also finished up Trillian (I told you I'd been busy).  This was my "Colors of Fall" knitalong project, so here are a couple of styled "Fall looks."  (I am not a "styled look" kind of lady).

It just happens to go with my Harvest Sweater from last year, so that's a win!

And of course, I can't forget Calcifer.  I'm playing in the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup this term (long story, for another blog post), and I needed a wee representative of fire.  This is so going on my Christmas tree this year.

10 yards of Fire Demon Ferocity

I think that about catches us up.   And seeing it all in one place like this... DANG.  I have to say, that's a lot of knitting, yo.  I still have plenty of WIPs of course, but this has gone on more than long enough.  Besides, I need something to blog about next time, right?

FO: Long-Armed Sweater for a Young Dude of My Acquaintance

So after all that hand-wringing last week, I sat down and got the zipper installed into Rowan's sweater.  It was considerably less traumatic than I expected.  My last zipper/sweater experience was in 2008 in the much-lamented "Man Sweater."  It did not go nearly so smoothly back then.

Turns out, it really ain't no thing.

Pin early.  Pin often.

There are lots of great tutorials out there on how to install a zipper into hand-knits.  I read through this one (Chic Knits), this one (Knit Picks), and just for kicks this one (Techknitting -- this one involves knitting the zipper into the sweater).

And then I went home and just did it.    I pinned the zipper to one side, making sure it was smooth, and laying flat.  Then I pinned the other side, matching the stripes (not gonna lie, the stripes made it easier.)

Then I unzipped and rezipped it a coupla times, just to make sure it was all copacetic.

After that, I hand-sewed it in near the teeth, using a basic back-stitch.  I then used a whip-stitch to secure the zipper-tape down.

See those stitches?  No you can't, and that's the point.

On a sweater for me, I'd probably cover the tape with ribbon, but I didn't bother for this one.

I have no idea what he is doing here, but this is one of the least blurry shots I got of him.

So in summary, after nearly a year (and after knitting the body of the sweater twice -- remember that? -- Rowan's sweater is done and it fits.

And he likes it, so I don't need to make him eat it after all.

Anyway, over all I am very pleased with how it turned out.  In retrospect, I rather regret using Wool-Ease -- at the time my logic was that it's a) cheap and b) easy-care.  But Rowan would have gotten a nicer sweater if I'd gone a different route.  I hesitated to invest a lot into it because I really wasn't sure if this whole "wanting a sweater knit by my mom" thing was really going to last.  Oh me of little faith.

Next time he gets nicer yarn.  (At least, assuming this one doesn't end up covered in chocolate sauce and felted.  I've already given him the "bring it to me to launder or I will end you" speech.)

Project Notes

Pattern: Emilien by Ariane Caron-Lacoste
Yarn:  Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Denim and Natural Heather
Total Yardage:  1381 total yards.  632 in Denim, and 749 in Natural Heather
Needles:   US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 6 (4.0 mm)  I used several different lengths of circulars, and DPNs for the cuffs
Started:  September 28, 2014
Completed: August 11, 2015

In Which I May or May Not Have Won Stash Dash

So! The knitting on Rowan's sweater is totally finished.

In fact, in further good news, it turns out that the length of zipper I needed was both standard and in stock at the local Joann store. (This was a spot of random and happy happenstance, as I lengthened the ribbing at the bottom.  If I hadn't done that, I would have needed a non-standard zipper length.)  I was able to run in last night after work and grab exactly what I needed, no muss.

In potentially less good news: turns out I need to get that puppy installed by Friday.  I was under the impression, and I am not actually sure where I got this idea, that as long as the knitting was done I was good to go for Stash Dash.

Turns out maybe not so much.  Something was nagging at my to double check the rules (probably my innate fear of public humiliation) and I ran across this little gem from The Stash Dash Empress herself, Lala.

In the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln, "Well, dang."

If I can work some zipper magic by Friday, my Stash Dash total is 3274 m.  So I've either won... or I haven't.

I guess I'd better get my zipper groove on, eh?

Meanwhile Trillian and Carl's big dude sock are both still in progress and still growing.  More pictures next time.   For now just go back to last week's picture and add a couple of inches in your imagination.

Anybody know a good zipper installation tutorial?

Hoodwinked

It's still all sweater all the time here at chez woolly.  And while I recognize that weeks of updated shots of the same knit aren't any fun for you, dear readers, it's no picnic from where I'm sitting either.

Last Saturday saw the completion of Rowan's second sleeve.  When I did the first sleeve I popped a removable stitch-marker at every decrease (following the excellent example of Jasmin of the Knitmore Girls.)  The markers, in combination with a 22 row stripe, meant that the second sleeve went "Whoosh!" -- I didn't need to pull the tape measure (or the pattern) out at all, I just matched the second sleeve to the first, comparing markers and stripe row counts, et voila. Sleeve!

The dude approves.

Once I got him to try it on and we didn't have use our imaginations to add in the sleeves anymore, it was easy to see that a collar wasn't going work.   See how loose and low the front of the sweater is hanging? The collar would have just made the sweater look like it didn't fit.  (Also, I want you to know that it is taking every ounce of my maturity and will-power, not to mention that fact that we're talking about my kid, to keep me from making a "your mom" joke right here.  Loose and low.  I'm just.  I can't.)

So anyway, after some discussion we decided to add the hood after all. And by "discussion," please understand that I mean that I said, "Hey we should do the hood, I think a collar would look weird," and he just shrugged and blinked at me. 

Whatever.  I do what I want.

What the heck else was I going to do with leftover Wool-ease anyway?

Don't fret though, hood notwithstanding, I'm still on track to be done in time to count the yardage for Stash Dash on the 14th.   I'm about half done the hood, and then it's "Pick up approximately nine-billion stitches and K2P2 rib for three years or one inch...whichever comes first."

So no problem.  And man, it's a good thing I just read back through this before I published.  Do I look like the kind of knitter that would throw down a gauntlet like "no problem" in front of the Knitting Goddess when I'm on a deadline?  Nosirreebob.  I am cautiously optimistic.  At best.

In non-sweater related news, I've done some more work on Trillian and Carl's sock.  They both look exactly like they did before, only more so.  

I could not get the color and light right the day I took these pictures.

Okay, so I might have lied before.  I may have stepped out on the sweater just a little.

On Saturday I cast on my birthday Hitchhiker in some Wollmeise Twin that I had marinating in the stash.   

Gratuitous yarn pic. 

I'm not far into it yet, but I wanted to get it on the needles on August 1.   I turn 42 in a couple of weeks, and I can't think of a better way to mark the occasion.

Life, the Universe, and Everything

Friends reassure me that knitting the same pattern four times is not actually excessive.  Though in a few of their cases I think it may have been an "if this is wrong baby, I don't want to be right" kind of situation.

When Your Stash Dash Strategy Lands You in Sleeve Purgatory

Stash Dash is officially over on August 14 -- which is a little less than 3 weeks away.  I currently have 2256 yards (that's 2063 m), so I'm about a 1000 meters shy of a 3K.

I realized this earlier this week, and (you will all be so proud of me) instead of casting on the half-a-jillion new things that I'm dying to work on, I took myself to my spreadsheet (remember my spreadsheet?) and decided that what this Stash Dash needs is a strategy.

Note to Self:  have strategy revelation a month before next Stash Dash starts, not a month before it ends.

So, I took stock of how much time was left, and what I already have on the hooks and needles.

I needed a project that would be over a thousand yards when completed, but is already close enough to done that I can pull it off in three to four weeks.

Maybe something that only need a couple of sleeves, a button or a zipper band, and a collar.

Something like Rowan's Emilien sweater, maybe.

Besides, if I don't finish it quick he'll grow again.  That child is forever tall, and has arms that go on for miles. Yesterday I messaged my bestie Koren about my sleeve lamentations.

Please ignore my egregious spelling/typo error.

She was very sympathetic.  

Anyway, last Tuesday Rowan's sweater barely had one sleeve started.  As of last night, it has one full sleeve and the second sleeve is barely started.

I feel good about my chances ::touch wood::

When he was last polled, Rowan opted for a zipper (instead of buttons) and a collar (instead of a hood).  I'll ask one last time when the second sleeve is installed, but not knitting a hood in this thing sure doesn't hurt my feelings any.

In other knitting news, Carl's Big Dude Socks are growing (again).

#bigsocksforbigfeet #itmustbelove

I have them in my purse for those moments when you need to take the edge off, and a giant sweater just won't do.