OhSewCrafty Blog

I questioned the wisdom of starting Nespelem (knitting with cotton), as the weather was still quite cold and this weekend we even got a dusting of snow!  But I was in the mood to knit something for Easter and the spring weather around here can be mercurial; it may be hot by the time this is finished.  The yarn is Elann Sonata, which I picked up during the bag sale on March 1st.  It feels strange to be knitting with relatively new yarn after so many “stash” projects, and the 100% cotton is rather unforgiving on my hands. I’ve had problems with my gauge loosening up to the extent that the copious ribbing in the pattern looks sloppy.  But I do love the color, a wonderful jade green.  After two weeks, the bulk of the sweater is done and the collar, a quite substantial piece, which is actually about half of each front side of the cardigan, (pictured) is in progress.

I looked in my stash/queue for a project that would be a bit warmer compared to Nespelem, using softer yarn.  I settled on the “Soft Linen Hoodie” from Classic Elite’s “Make it Modern”.  Well, I’ve subbed Elle Elite (cotton/wool) for the Soft Linen and the yarn color reminds me of sunset, so my project is dubbed: “Spring Sunset Hoodie”.  There’s something addictive about the pattern, it definitely sucks the knitter into “one-more-row” syndrome while watching the simple, graphic lace pattern appear.  I’ve already made a few mods to shorten the body length and start with 1/2″ of seed stitch- I don’t like rolling hems, and though it is flipping up at the moment, I am sure it will flatten when blocked.