30 June 2005

Summer of the Cardigan



One thing that I was worried about in maintaining a knitting blog was that I wouldn't always have interesting things to talk about. Interesting knitting things, that is. You see, I am a slow knitter. I have been knitting away at my cardigan panel since taking the picture a couple nights ago and it's only a few inches longer. Nothing interesting has happened. No arm decreases even.

I did think it would be interesting to show some yarn I recently purchased though. I'm intending this yarn for a baby cardigan/bootee set. This summer will be the Summer of the Cardigan. Last summer was the Summer of the Sock. Yes, I spent the entire summer knitting my husband a pair of socks. In my defense, he does have large feet! Also, I blame British Airways for not allowing me to bring my knitting on the plane to and from Heathrow. That was 12+ hours of precious knitting time wasted (I have since learned not to ask and just bring it on board).

But back to the Cable Cotton yarn... I can hear it calling to me from the stash basket as I grow bored of knitting the cardigan for myself. Knitting a baby sized cardigan should go so much faster. I will probably start it soon. I just love the idea of a baby in denim colored yarn. So cute! The baby in question is my own, due to arrive some time in December. I have chosen not to find out the gender ahead of time. My idea is to purchase gender specific buttons for the cardigan once the baby is born.

28 June 2005

Cool air, happy knitting


Ahhh -- I am writing this entry with the cool air of my new air conditioner blowing on me. Seriously, I do not know why we hadn't gotten an air conditioner sooner. It's one of the best purchases I ever made.
Now that things have cooled down enough to function here at Longwool Manor, I've been working on my cardigan. The pattern is from The Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits. The yarn is this wonderful 100% cotton Patons Leila. I picked up 15 skeins of this yarn for free from my Tuesday knitting group's yarn swap a few months ago (thanks, June!). Note its nubbly texture. This is one of the front panels. I've already completed the back. This is technically my first sweater (I did knit my husband a sweater vest a few months ago). So far the pattern seems pretty straight forward. I did lengthen it by an inch for modesty.

26 June 2005

"Blogless Jen " gets herself a blog


Hooray! I will be known as "Blogless Jen" no further. I just hope I won't disappoint all you lovely Bloggers who have been encouraging me to start my own blog.

The sheep in the picture is a Leicester Longwool, for whom the blog is named. I saw this breed of sheep in person during my travels through England and loved it. It looks so dignified and ridiculous at the same time -- the exact tone I'm aiming for in this blog.