what's on my needles (or soon to be) update

Hi! I haven't given a knitting update in a while. I thought I would do that today. This lovely first gem is about to be on my needles. It's called Beatnik by Norah Gaughan. What a beautiful pattern! I'm very excited to start when the yarn gets here. I ordered the yarn it calls for, Berroco Remix, in a color called Patina, a brownish grey. I wouldn't normally order a yarn with much Nylon in it, but the reviews are great so I'm gonna try it out. It has cotton and silk as well, so it should be a nice weight to wear most of the year.

This second lovely photo is of the Oatmeal Pullover by Jane Richmond (Ravelry link). It's a simple top-down raglan sweater. I'm currently done with the body and just have to knit the sleeves and I'll be done! I made it in a deep grey yarn called "Puffin" by Quince & Co. It's been a nice quick knit. I started it last weekend. I made it longer than the pattern so I could wear it with leggings, but tried to keep it short enough that it wouldn't stretch out over the bum and be unflattering :) I'm hoping it will turn out to be that go-to warm sweater that I love to wear.

This last photo is of the first sock I finished of a pair from a pattern called "Tyrolean Stockings" by Ann Budd. (Ravelry link) It's a really lovely knee sock pattern that I worked on over the holidays. I'm on the second sock and haven't gotten too terribly far, but it's so cold I wouldn't want to wear knee socks with a skirt right now anyway! It's a nice travel project to have while I'm working on these bigger sweater projects at home. I wound up using the Green Mountain Spinnery "Cotton Comfort" yarn instead of the "Vermont Organic" the pattern calls for. I also went down to a size 2 needle on the foot of the sock to make it fit tighter. It does fit quite tight, but I like knowing it won't stretch out when I wear it. I needed to stay on the size 3 for the leg because of all of the cables. It would've just been too tight to knit on the smaller needle and though it's not completely skin tight on my leg, the cables are dense enough that they keep the sock up and it doesn't fall as you walk. Nice.

That's it for now. I took a break from designing patterns so I could give the old brain a break and a chance to re-energize. I hope to start designing more in the next few months. I'd also like to write up the pattern for a sweater I designed a few years ago, the "Everything Gold Cardi." (Ravelry link) Hopefully I'll get around to that! I think it might sell ok.

Hope everyone is having a great 2011 so far. I'm enjoying MORE snow here in Nashville. It's crazy how much we've had this year. It's beautiful though and working from home is nice, especially when the weather is bad. Stay warm and keep knitting!