S - I - C - K

sick, that is what I have been for 10 days now. Enough already. Today I do feel better, but still hacking and tired. The first half of this illness I was too sick to read, or watch movies, or KNIT. My eyes needed to be closed. At least I can knit again and here is what I am working on.

This is becoming a shawl. Once finished I will block it to open the stitches. The colorway is Mustang Sally from Blue Moon. I am using a pattern from Victorian Lace Today. The instructions are vague and the charts do not match the written instructions. Luckily this is a very simple pattern and did not take much to figure out the error. This is hands down the easiest thing in the book, the error makes me wonder about trying something more difficult. Anyone out there used a pattern from the book?

Then there is a mitten and 1/4. This also uses Blue Moon STR, the colorway is Rare Gem and it was the bonus skein from our December mailing. Every club member received something different and one of a kind. Very cool. I am making these mittens using the Tvaansstickning method described in the Jan/Feb Piecework magazine. The work is slow. Every stitch is twisted over every other stitch. Unlike colorwork where you can alternate the twist of the stitches to keep the working yarn smooth, tvaansstickning has you twist every stitch in the same direction. This means you have to drop the needle every stitch to lift one of the yarns over the other. It also means you have to stop and untwist your yarns every round, then pull out and secure just enough yarn for the next round. The upside is they fabric is very warm and not too bulky. Will I make something like this again? Doubtful.