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Knitting Away

It is time for an update regarding the knitting taking place not only in my home but also others.

The Prairie Fire toddler-sized sweater is complete except for the edging around the sleeves.  It was always intended to be short sleeved, but I am rather liking the capped look of it right now.  For today it will rest while I make up my mind what I want to do with those sleeves.  BTW, part of my thinking has to do with the amount of yarn left.  I think there is enough, but I must love the yarn roulette game, because I am playing it again.

One of the things about the yarn issue is gauge.  My sweater looks to me as if it will fit Miss M when she's in school rather than this coming winter, which means it will fit her in a few years.  What caused this?  I used cotton yarn and plastic needles plus my rather loose knitting impacted the overall size.  Each contributes to a bigger gauge (yes, yes I know I should have checked and didn't)  Nice thing about knitting for children -- you know at some point they will grow into it if it is too big.

The lace

The unfinished cap sleeve
The front (clearly I had trouble getting a decent photo)
 I also photographed some of the knitting taking place by others at our Knit Nite.  First is the Wave Blanket from Loop Knits that Pam is working on.  She is using the same Berroco Modern Cotton yarn I used for the sweater above, only in a taupe colour.  Here's the blanket as it approaches being one half done.  (Pam is making an adult size that will be approximately 60 inches long instead of the baby blanket outlined in the pattern.)

This design reminds me of the wave blankets my grandmother crocheted in the 1960s and 70s

A better look at what's going on
Tena is feverishly knitting away to finish a scarf/shawl for an upcoming trip to Spain, where it will be hot during the day and cool at night.  The pattern is called Clapotis (French for lapping, as in water that seems to have a constant wave) and is being knit in a silky wool yarn, the name of which I'll have to post later.  (Tena says it is Ella Rae Lace Merino and the colour is listed as Multi #119.  She's using 2 skeins of 100g 420m/460yds versus the 4 skeins of yarn listed in the pattern on Ralvelry.)  This pattern uses dropped stitches to create separation between rows of stockinette.  There have been more than 22,000 of these scarves made and posted on Ravelry, meaning it is quite a popular pattern.  Tena has enough yarn to make it long so it can easily be used as a wrap as well.  (I love the colour on her.)  It has beauty in simplicity and I just might have to make one up for myself sometime.

A clear view of all the dropped stitches 

This photo helps explain the name -- Clapotis
The Blue Ashton is moving along fine, but I won't photograph it just yet.  I find if I work on it when my mind is rested and I'm not stressing about a deadline, everything works much, much better.  This leads to a final word about how knitting can reflect one's state of mind.  Sylvia Olsen wrote in Knitting Stories: Personal Essays and Seven Coast Salish-inspired Knitting Patterns that she could tell in the Cowichan sweaters she bought from First Nations knitters what was going on in their lives.  She could see when someone was sick or money was in short supply or when there were problems in a marriage because the sweater showed the tension, stress and anxiety.  That's why I decided to only work on Blue when the knitting would show peacefulness, not tension.  It's a great lesson to keep in mind always.

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