start at the beginning

"A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead"
- Graham Greene The End of the Affair

welcome to the blog of thorny desert girl! since i don't know where to begin, i'll beginning at the beginning... i've been doing a lot of knitting and, like always, i've been knitting like an ADD fool on crack. i can't start one project without jumping to another without getting up and running to the yarn shop or the computer for new yarn and ideas. i want to make so many things and i want to make them now now now! before diving into the dreamworld of what CAN be made, i'll introduce you to some things i'm currently working on.

i'm finally in the finishing stages of a short-sleeved sweater from Katia no. 48 (primavera / verano). the sweater (#28) is a simple, unshaped, boatneck that i'm knitting in elsebeth lavold's silky tweed color number 10 (a peachy / yellowish shade).

here it is blocking on the floor:


here's an upclose shot of the bottom ribbing. the color in the images is pretty true...


now i just have to sew up the side and sleeve seams (which sucks i hate finishing) and try it on (which sucks even worse since i can't ever seem to make a sweater that fits). i'll post a finished picture of it when it's all seemed up!

details on the sweater: knit on size 6 bamboo circs (bottom ribbing done on size 5 addis. pattern called for size 4s and tubular cast-on, but i used 5s and knit cast-on). yarn: silky tweed #10, 7 skeins (size b). other mods: started sleeves at 23 cm below shoulder seam and knit sleeves to 4", instead of 2.75". pattern is good, but it's a lot of boring stock. knit flat.

there are actually quite a few patterns i would make out of this book, but i'm not crazy about the sometimes fugly colors of katia yarns. having said that, wendy at knitandtonic (love her!) made this sweater in the katia jamaica and it turned out great. and that's enough about that for now...

i'm also working on knitandtonic's (love her!) somewhat cowl sweater. so far so good with this. i'm knitting it in elsebeth lavold's silky wool (earthy green). i guess i'm on a silky tweed / wool kick right now. i just like the colors and the weight and drape of the yarns. they seem good for desert knitting - especially summer desert knitting...

as you can see, i'm not very far along at the moment:

i'll keep you posted as things develop with this sweater. i've read on other blogs that i shouldn't increase the raglan seam to the 10+ inches called for in the pattern. anyone out there with advice on that?

details on this sweater: knitting on size 5 29" inox circs. yarn is silky wool #08. following pattern with no mods so far, making size 38, although my gauge is the tiniest bit off so i'm expecting this to be a little bit smaller.

since this is my first post, i'll add some dirty pics:

some of my stash tucked away in a little basket. i have maybe another basket or two of yarn, so it's not too out of control, i don't think... here's some of what's in the basket:

silky wool for the somewhat cowl project. does it count as stash yarn if i'm actively using it??

soft green chunky yarn that i'll probably use for a hat / mittens...

more green yarn... top is alpaca cloud from knitpicks and on bottom, green debbie bliss pure silk. i also bought the book. this yarn is soooooo soft and soooo delicious - you must get your little fingers on it. i'll probably use the laceweight for this stole. and the silk for this.

to show you that not all of my stash is green, here's some other stuff from the basket.


some purple yarns. top = purple worsted merino from 100purewool (ebay). great stuff, super soft. used a blue and brown colorway for the 2nd clapotis i made... bottom = purple laceweight knitpicks shadow - don't know what i'll use it for yet.

and finally, more from knitpicks. this time 10 balls of barn red andean silk. this will be some kind of sweater. someday. maybe.
good god that is exhausting! how do all you bloggers do it!?
i'm off to make a lasagna and open a bottle of red. hope everyone's having a great mem day weekend!
~r

posted by rockbridge @ 2:41 PM