Originally published Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Howdy, stranger. LOL Yes, I admit it. I’ve neglected my blog. It’s been almost an entire month since I posted anything, and I’m quite certain that you, dear reader, have been waiting with bated breath for my next entry.
I have a good excuse. I’ve been totally absorbed with knitting, college football, playing the piano, and watching the new season of some of my favorite television shows. We retirees lead very busy lives.☺
On the knitting front, I have completed the Norfolk sweater from Alice Starmore’s Fishermen’s Sweaters.
When I say completed, I mean that the knitting part is all done. I still have to weave in a few ends and correct a mistake (where the little purple stitch marker is) by making one duplicate stitch, and then, of course, I must wash and block the sweater.
It is a lovely sweater, doncha’ think? The yarn is Knit Picks Gloss fingering weight yarn, a wool-silk blend in a gorgeous coppery burnt orange shade called pumpkin. It feels oh-so-soft. There nothing quite like the feel of silk.
I used ten 220-yard skeins altogether, including the swatch. Since I purchased twenty skeins, I have plenty more, so I plan to make a pair of socks and also a shawl from this yarn.
The Gloss knitted up with good stitch definition and no fuzzing or pilling. I don’t expect washing to change anything because I washed and blocked my gauge swatch and the gauge and appearance didn’t change at all. I sure hope the sleeves don’t grow like Kinsale did. I swear I’ll never knit anything again with Knit Picks Merino Style.
Speaking of gauge, I actually got perfect gauge on this sweater. I had to go down one needle size–one-quarter of a millimeter–but I feel really satisfied to have gotten Alice’s gauge. Even my row gauge is spot on. Usually my row gauge is way off; I’ll get 8 or 10 rows per inch when the gauge called for is 5 or 7 rows per inch. I’m used to having to adjust patterns for my wonky row gauge. But this time, everything was absolutely perfect.
Norfolk is a very easy knit; the directions are simple to follow and error-free. And it works up surprisingly fast, especially considering it’s done in fingering-weight yarn at a gauge of 7.5 spi.
I actually would have completed Norfolk sooner had I not taken out a little time from it to knit a second We Call Them Pirates hat. I made this one for Joe, one of the Chariots of Iron podcasters, who during a podcast jokingly referred to a knitting circle of fans only to discover that this podcast really does have a circle of knitters who are fans and there is even a Ravelry Group devoted to the Chariots of Iron podcast. Joe refers to us as his knitting posse. LOL Anyway, I made a We Call Them Pirates hat for Joe and sent it out to Oregon just in time for cold weather. I needed this hat to be a little bigger than the one I made for myself because Joe has a big head.☺ Rather than monkey around with the gauge, I decided to add two stitches to each pattern repeat, eight stitches total, and it worked out perfectly. Since I’m on a roll, maybe I’ll get out some of that lovely red yarn from Ireland and cast on St. Enda today. ☺
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All Kinds Of Knitting 