Knitamazoo(tm)

I am bound and determined not to procrastinate. (Well at least with my secret sock pal socks. I’m not so sure about the rest of my life.) I have about an hour between when I get home from work and when I need to leave to get to the LYS to teach. I decided last night to sit down and at least cast on the second sock. This done, I knit a few rounds of the cuff and flew off to class. I was blessed by only having two students, both of whom are fairly competent. While they were casting on, a lady showed up at the shop saying she was there for the felted bag class (this is our learn to knit class and I just started a new group on Monday night). I explained to her that the class was meeting on Monday and when we checked the class list, sure enough, she had signed up for the Monday class. As it turns out, she teaches painting on Monday nights. So since I only had two students, I had her pick out her yarn and I got her started on the bag. She had learned to knit many years ago so she just needed a refresher which left me time to work on my sock while walking my other students through the hat pattern. By the time I got home I was almost done with the cuff. I kept knitting on it after I got home and I’ve finished the cuff and started the leg. I am on a mission I tell you! These socks will be done by Monday!

Mr. Greenjeans (a wonderful pattern by Amy Swenson available on Knitty) is coming along nicely. I am using Malabrigo worsted weight in the Vaa colorway. I wanted to knit the size large but my gauge was off. I got gauge using US9 needles but I hated the fabric. So I went back down to the US8’s and got a fabric I liked. I’m getting a 1/2 stitch more per inch than the pattern calls for. So I did some very scary math and figured out if I knit the size 2X with my gauge, the sweater would come out just slightly larger than the size L. (Believe me, I did the math several times before I let myself cast on. Math and I have never gotten along.) When I put the sweater on waste yarn and tried it on, it fit wonderfully! I can’t wait to finish it and wear it. I am loving the cabled rib at the bottom. This is also the first time I have tried cabling without the aid of a cable needle. With a four stitch cable it really isn’t scary at all. In fact, I find it a lot less fussy and I don’t feel like I’m stretching out my stitches as much as when I use the cable needle. I am also in love with using YO’s for the raglan increases. I love the little lacey touch it brings to the sweater. Cables and lace, how can it miss!