More finished sweaters around fibre space. Veronica finished her Eastlake sweater, which I am sure is also immaculately finished, tails all woven in and what not. That Veronica… The pattern is available in the Berroco booklet, Norah Gaughan Vol 3, available at the shop.
I whipped up this Lace Leaf Pullover from Teva Durham, available in the Loop d Loop book that we have here in the shop. It is my second time around for this pattern. My first one got a big ratty and went off to live on a farm somewhere (isn’t that what our parent’s told us happened to our pets when really, they ended up in the garbage can out back or the toilet bowl?) The yarn I used was a gift from Karida of Neighborhood Fiber Co so it isn’t something that is available but we have pretty much demanded that this color be in her palette and she working on naming it and dyeing some yarns in it. I am looking forward to having a nice big floppy comfy sweater this winter and this is just what I had in mind.
On a side note, I have to say that working this pattern a second time around has been amazing. I typically hate doing the same pattern twice, but my first crack at this one was so many years ago. Actually, it was when the book first came out in 2005. I can’t believe how much my knitting abilities have changed since then. The first time around, it took two or three attempts to get the top and bottom sections of this sweater grafted together in a way that was clean and neat. This time around, it looked great the first time. I remember struggling with the seaming of the sleeves the first time around. Since then, I have finished so many sweaters that this one wasn’t a problem at all. It was just a really cool reminder that we are always learning and improving as knitters and even the same pattern can be a totally different experience the second or third time we do it….
Last week we also finished a Slytherin scarf (one of the “houses” on Harry Potter) for the manager at Greenberries Coffee Shop, who has been very kind in hosting our knitting classes for Arlington. He asked, jokingly, for this scarf quite a few times, so we took the hint and got him one done. It is a giant tube, worked in the round. I might have cheated…I might have used a knitting machine…it might have taken a couple of hours instead of a couple of weeks. But it is Malabrigo, so really, does it matter how exactly it was done?
Knit Tip
When working a tube scarf like this, I like to trim off my tails but leave about an inch not woven in. Since the ends of the tube are sealed shut (three needle bind off), the tails will never be seen but leaving them a little long prevents the tails from ever poking through the fabric.
