One thing leads to another…

(Beaverslide for a Tomten Jacket, Cascade 220 for a Seamless Hybrid)

So, on Friday morning, before my friend Kris came over to help me make curtains, I got out some yarn and started swatching for a few of the EZ sweaters I have planned. I had originally thought of knitting the Tomten Jacket for NaKniSweMo, but realized while swatching that I don’t particularly like the way the Beaverslide behaves with my plastic Denise needles, so I’d want to wait until I order some more Harmony tips from Knitpicks (since I currently only have size 5 tips, which in addition to being way too small to use with the Beaverslide, are already in use on my future sister-in-law’s shawl).

Then I considered just not attempting to knit a sweater this month (which was probably my most reasonable moment, to be honest!), but convinced myself that I really do need more sweaters (this is true…as a knitter who is frequently cold, I am ashamed at my lack of practical woolen goodness), and decided that surely I could do a plain-old Seamless Hybrid.

But then inspiration struck, and I realized I had the yarn ready to create one of my beloved Yoke sweaters, right there in my under-the-bed-tubs. A whole bag of Patons Classic Merino in “Natural”, and a skein each of some brown, cream, and blues, purchased some 3+ years ago when it was on sale at Joann:

I went through the various EZ yoke sweater patterns I knew of. I could’ve done an Icelandic-Yoke, or a Fair-Isle Yoke, or something along those lines, but then I thought of it…the Bohus Yoke Would you believe I’m the first person ever in all of Ravelry to knit this pattern? I searched high and low for it, and didn’t find it in the database, so I added it myself. I know I’ve seen another one on the Zimmermania blog before, but that’s it. I wonder why it is so unpopular, relative to the other yoke-style EZ sweaters? And, speaking of yoke-style sweaters, would there be any interest in an informal sort of yoke-along? I know a bunch of us have much fondness for that style of sweater, and I wouldn’t want to hog the fun all to myself!

Anyhow, by the time I’d figured all this out, it was time for curtain-making. With much help from Kris (I am pretty clueless about sewing, really), and after 3.5 hours of cutting, pinning, ironing, and sewing, the bedroom now has curtains!

The lighting is funny because I took this late at night and had to use flash, alas (and Kris, look! I made a matching one for the door yesterday, all by myself!). I didn’t get the best picture of it, but here you can see the buttonhole detail at the back of the bottom hems. This will allow us (once I, you know, get buttons) to button the curtains up halfway when we want to let light in, and also (this is something my husband and I just thought of yesterday) to button in an extra lining of some kind (we’re thinking maybe fleece?) for added warmth and/or light blockage. But anyhow, the big news is that the curtains have been made, and that I managed to sew without anyone getting hurt! (Well, that’s actually a lie. Let’s just say that it’s a bad idea to try to cross ones’ legs when one has a piece of fabric that is full of pins in ones’ lap. Ow!).

I was having such a good time while we were sewing that I didn’t really notice how tired and sore it was making me, but after we were done…wow. Totally, completely wiped out. So exhausted that I couldn’t do anything besides just sitting, glued to the couch. I tried to knit some more on the Tabi sock, but managed only to totally jack up the lace pattern (it’s been fixed, I think. But oy, stressful! They’re already late in getting to my pal, and I almost caused a total, complete disaster!).

So, wanting something that I could just knit around and around and hopefully not mess up, my decision was made for good…the Bohus Yoke will be mine. I sat down with my swatch, did some (very easy, since I have a nice even 5 sts/inch with this yarn on size 7 needles) math, and got my Key Number of 176 for a 35-inch sweater (well, it should be 175, but I wanted an even number for the purpose of having the same number of stitches on the front and the back). I cast on with my body color, and then knit the hem facing in light blue. After the turning row, I switched back to the body color, and knit the hem in as I went. I am in love with how this looks:

I just adore that little tip of blue! Anyway, the process of just knitting round and round was so enchanting that, well, look what happened:

I’m already almost to the point where I need to start the waist-shaping! I swear, it just…happened. Looks like I’m already on my way to a sweater this November. (No worries, I am still working on my pal’s sock, and my husband’s sweater, but when I want something simple to just sit and knit round and round on, I will turn to this sweater). We’ll see how the rest of it goes…