Anticipating Spring

It's a raw, dreary day, and there's still plenty of winter left I'm sure.  Nonetheless, it's time to put aside the woolen fabric and yarn and look forward to warmer days.

I'm usually caught still finishing up winter projects once the nicer weather rolls around, but this year will be different.  To wit: 

 

 

 

Lido, a light little wrap from Hanne Falkenberg.  I don't expect to wear it quite like the model shown, but I think it will be a handy layer for warmer weather.

 

This is knit in Hanne's own line of yarn, in the same fresh green as the model.  I'm working it on US size 2 needles (2.75 m) at a gauge of 100 stitches to 4 inches -- no, no, that's just some knitting humor -- it's really knit at 28 stitches and 54 rows per 4 inch (10 cm) swatch.  Since I'm not a spectacularly fast knitter I expect it may well be warm enough to wear it by the time I'm done.  Here's where I am now:

 

 

 

Roughly 2 inches or so into the lower eyelet portion of the top -- one sleeve has been picked up and knit, one sleeve still has stitches waiting for pick up.  As you can tell, it's knit seamlessly (mostly) from the top down.  While it was a little discouraging when all 1,000,000 stitches - fronts, sleeves, and back - were on the needle, things are going a bit faster now that I am only working on the fronts/back. 

 

One aspect of it is speeding by though.  It has two 33 cm (roughly 13 inches) I-cord ties called for to fasten the fronts.  Ordinarily working 26 inches of I-cord on such small needles would not be my most favorite thing, but this little gadget made quick work out of it --

 

It's a simple little I-cord machine, The Embellish Knit.  A tiny little 4 stitch circular knitting machine that does only one thing - I-cord - with only a couple of weights of yarn (fingering or sport, basically), but it does that one thing like a champion -- cranking out my 26" of I-cord in about 5 minutes.  In the photo you can see a wee little tail of I-cord coming out of the bottom of the machine.  Normally the weight (it's a clothespin with metal bits inside!) would be attached to the cord itself, but for photographic purposes I removed it.  Does anyone need such a Johnny One Note gadget?  Nope, not at all -- but I sure am glad I had it!

 

I've started Spring sewing too, but that's a story for another day...