Queue Check — February 2016

So since my January Queue Check, I finished Bob’s rollneck sweater and started and finished my black raglan. (I posted a sneak peek by the way.) While both sweaters were drying on my dining table over the weekend, I had this moment of pause and relief and thought, “wow, so all I have on the needles right now are those two hats!” Of course, before the sentence was even complete in my head, I remembered ANNA! The thing about Anna is the stitch pattern is so mesmerizing I fall into a trance and forget I’m even knitting. Then I remembered, uh, I have a couple of other things going as well. Actual current WIP tally, top to bottom:

1) Anna Vest, begun in October and saved for the Anna Vest Knitalong, now going strong. This pic is the back piece, and the two fronts are where they left off after my inset pockets tutorial. By the way, there’s plenty of time to join the knitalong — just tag your posts wherever with #annavestkal. [yarn is Fibre Co. Terra in Coalwood]

2) Grey Sawkill Farm sweater (no pattern), sleeves knitted in November and then set aside to make way for Bob’s sweater and my black quickie. This one will probably get knitted here and there over the course of the next few months, ready to wear by fall. No rush. [yarn is Sawkill Farm from Rhinebeck]

3) Penguono, cast on in January among friends doing the same. Really love this photo, but really not feeling this sweater. I’m not sure what will happen next, but how gorgeous is that Camellia handspun? [a gift from Rebekka]

4) Seathwaite Hat, still waiting for me to sit still during daylight hours and do the brim join round. [yarn is YOTH Father in Saba, a gift from Veronika]

5) 1898 Hat, just waiting for some attention, any attention! [yarn is Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in Soot]

I’ll be getting back to both hats soon, because while I don’t really think I’m about to knit 5 more stockinette lopi sweaters, I do think there’s more stockinette in my future (a nice plain cardigan, a simple sleeveless linen something for summer), and the hats will be the much-needed spice in that rather bland knitting diet.

After all the wardrobe planning and the last few makes (both knitted and sewn), I’m feeling for the first time since the purge like I’m able to get dressed in the morning, and for different seasons, and am not in such a panic about filling wardrobe holes. Also feeling more like I have a sense of where my wardrobe is heading for the foreseeable future. So whereas my Queue Check posts have mostly been me obsessing about the five next things I want to make, right now I’m just gazing casually out across the year. And the only thing I’m really feeling particularly driven about is finally casting on that Channel Cardigan I’ve been plotting for two years. If I can decide about yarn, I’ll cast on this spring and work on it in a leisurely fashion, with the anticipation of wearing it, too, this coming fall. Doesn’t that sound lovely?

PREVIOUSLY in Queue Check: January 2016

13 thoughts on “Queue Check — February 2016”

Really enjoyed making the 1898 hat that you introduced me to. Thanks for that. Hope you’ll explore Topsy Farms yarn at some point.

I think it’s so great the way all your makes can play with each other. I hope to achieve that some day. I need to make a real plan like you did. Your new sweater looks perfect for you.

Building a little breathing room into our wardrobe-knitting queues sounds like a grand idea. I just was feeling anxious about my bulletin board of Spring knitting ideas, then took it all down and just put up Summer and Fall projects. I’m rolling over to my Spring capsule wardrobe on March 1, and the goal will be to knit for future seasons and sew for the current one (or one ahead). Feels much more sane. Phew!

Karen Templer says:

February 24, 2016 at 6:52 am

That’s exactly how I’m trying to approach it!

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I feel ya about that Pengono – was looking through the photos on ravelry… what’s up with the back? love the rest of it and yes, that homespun you are using looks GREAT! a fun jacket – I think you should keep it in the queue but let it take you a long time! I’ve declared 2016 as the year of the sweater… currently “shire”, “anna” and “tales from the isle of purbeck shawl” on the needles. Will be adding another cowichan vest, snoqualmie and Ingrid Pullover – and that’s the goal for 2016! yarn already purchased for all of them – now I just have to stop looking at patterns and knit!

That Camellia handspun is beautiful! It would look gorgeous in a garter stitch pullover with drop sleeves a la Wool and the Gang / We Are Knitters.

I’m about half way up the back panel on my Penguon. I went over and over the finished pieces on Ravelry for ideas and was also surprised at the plain back on most. I’m going to mix it up, color-wise. Even though its my first sweater, its so funky that I’m already playing with ideas on how I want it look outside the pattern or other versions. For one thing it will be primarily dark colors. My knit-along hats are languishing while I knit up other hats for my shop that are my design. Two small shawls I started last spring/summer before my move are just sitting now. All the energy I had around them has disappeared but the colors keep drawing me in. One more pair of years old socks to complete before starting any more. That’s my queue at the moment.

Gotta put in a word for the Penguono! I finished mine recently and already want to make another — in fact have been dreaming up white-ish projects so I’ll eventually have the scraps to make one like yours. The pattern is unlike any I’ve ever followed, and it is SO much fun to knit (especially once you get past the massive seed stitch square), and it is incredible to see how it all comes together as you approach the end. It feels like an alarmingly crafty project while you’re doing it, but somehow the result looks and fits great, perfectly neat and professional, warm but not stifling (perfect for Virginia and I bet Tennessee too). I’ve never gotten so many compliments on a hand knit sweater, though this one took a lot less time/effort/skill than others I’ve knitted. I actually did a lot of the garter knitting while reading for work (!).

Karen, maybe you could take the concept of the Penguono and make a throw. That way you could get it out of your system. After following your blog for several months now, I simply don’t see you wearing something like the Penguono–ever. Your taste in clothes projects simple and clean. That might be why you are not “feeling it” when you take a step back. A throw might be really cool. You can wrap yourself in it–in the house. :)