The 11’s have it

So, it looks like the size 11 needles will be okay for the Hoodie project. The after-washing gauge came out to 3 st = 1 inch on the nose. Good enough for me. As I said; growing boy and all. He may grow another inch by the time he gets to wear this hoodie.

On the hat front; the “Warm and Ready” Knitter's Winter 2007 pattern was such a quick knit that I actually made two!

I finished the first last night and then worked the second up to the shaping. It was a quick-to-finish project this afternoon. Yeah! I have a hunch I’ll do a couple more of these before all is said and done.

We have a winter storm warning for some nasty weather this coming weekend. Hopefully that will give me some time to get going on the Hoodie for Eli and at least one more hat done.

If you’re in the path of the storm, I hope you get to stay in and knit like I plan to do!

Have a happy, safe and warm weekend.

A Day at the Spa….

I wish. Well, the swatches had their “spa” visit today. That is, they had a soak in the sink:

And they are now resting after a mini-massage:







The top swatch is knit on size 11’s and may do the trick (and save me from the dastardly 14 inch long straight 13’s); I was getting 3.25 stitches = 1 inch with the size 11. If it measures that close once it's dry, I'll probably go with those needles (since he's gonna grow). The bottom swatch is the first one I knit on the 10.5’s. I'm giving these swatches the full treatment; since this is cotton yarn, so the next step once they are dry is the hang test. I still want to see what the yarn "does" after the swatch hangs up for a day or so. (For those unfamiliar with cotton's properties - it can have a tendancy to grow lengthwise - sort of like little boys).

Other than that and some house cleaning; I worked on another hat. There was a minor tragedy when the cable on the circular needles broke. (That’s what I get for buying “cheap” needles – I found these no-name bamboos on clearance at a discount store). Ugh… no need to panic, though. The stitches are pretty firm and I picked them up with a set of dpns and kept going round. I did foray into my cache of aluminum needles, I do have a set of 16" number 8’s (but no size 13 circulars at all) if I really want to go back to working in the round, but so far the dpns are fine and the hat is near the decreasing point where I’d have to switch to dpns anyway. Onward I say!