Weekend Swatching

Over the last few months, my weekends and evening have looked pretty much like this:

A lot of swatching, a lot of coffee, a lot of spreadsheets. Oh, the spreadsheets.

I've been working on a new project that has proved to be a tremendous amount of work and quite the challenge for me (as I had expected). But you know me, no stranger to hard work and always willing to take on a challenge. So despite the tired eyes and the would-rather-be-at-home-in-my-bed-but-I-can't-get-any-work-done-with-a-toddler-rampaging feeling, I'm pressing on. The swatch this weekend is Dream in Color Smooshy (the same yarn I used for the Adult Tide Pools pattern) held double. The final piece will be in different colors. While I am loving the amazing smoosh of this swatch I hate the glare of a blank spreadsheet. I need to get cracking on this pattern over the weekend so wish me luck. 

Organik

My initial plans yesterday consisted of frogging my Audrey and reskeining the yarn. However, those plans were thwarted by this:

Notice something missing?

Oh yeah, that would be the handle.

I've been following the Rocky Coast Cardigan knit-a-long in the Coastal Knits Group on Ravelry and finally decided to wind some yarn and swatch. Mid-yarn winding, snap, and the handle was off. I had a "what the?!" type of moment and called Knit Picks customer service. My new winder will be on its way tomorrow morning. Crisis averted. This of course means that I haven't frogged Audrey yet because I don't care to do that without the winder. 

In the meantime, I swatched for a couple projects and eventually cast on for the Rocky Coast Cardigan. This is going to be an open front, cabled cardigan knit out of The Fibre Company's Organik yarn in Magma.

At this point, I've knit through two skeins the Organik (pattern calls for nine) and it is working up beautifully. Once this project is done I don't know if I'll be able to sing the praises of the Organik enough! Not only is it soft, it has a really lovely sheen that kind of makes the whole thing glow. Over on the KAL forum, a lot of knitters were concerned that because this is a single spun yarn there would be a fair amount of pilling (oh, the dreaded pilling!). The designer, Hannah Fettig, recently posted on her blog information about the yarn and why this luxury yarn is also a workhorse. I was definitely sold but in case you haven't had the chance to see this yarn in real life (I know my LYS doesn't carry this) I thought I would offer you a quick comparison between the Organik and some Malabrigo Worsted.

I think it's easy to immediately see that these too are not as alike as one might initially think. Although the Organik is very light and full, you can tell that it holds together better than the Malabrigo.  I also gave both yarns a few twists in the opposite direction and the Mal unspun pretty quickly while the Organik sprung back into place.

Don't get me wrong, I love Malabrigo with the best of them but if you're considering the Organik for your sweater, it will be well worth it and I bet it will last for quite some time.

I've already divided the sleeves for my sweater and am working my way down the back. This is a cable heavy pattern (although an easy cable) and being able to cable without the cable needle makes things go much more quickly. I'm sure I'm not the only person doing this but I thought, for those out there who are interested and unsure how to go about it, tomorrow I'll post a little tutorial on how I cable without the needle.

Just a Swatch

There was a whole lot of swatching, blocking, measuring, and re-swatching this weekend. 

Truth be told, I'm not one of those knitters who hate swatching. I've been lucky enough to have honest swatches that have helped me create an awesome garment. But you want to know what's really annoying? When you swatch, block, and measure to find that your gauge is too large. So you go down a needle size. You re-swatch, block and measure again only to find that you have the exact same gauge.

Now, that's annoying. 

I finally managed to get gauge on two of the three projects I swatched for. These two are for some sample knitting I will be doing and cannot dally on. I'll be sharing more on those later in the week. The third is for a second baby sophisticate that my mother requested for an assistant in her office that is due in December. 

Stay tuned this week because I have an awesome giveaway and interview to share with you that is making me super excited!