Look, look what I got!

I bought myself a swift in anticipation of having to wind a billion yards of laceweight for the shawls that I want to knit.

And look, look, it works!

It’s more dumpling-shaped than cake-shaped, but it’s definitely a center-pull ball. This is Sundara’s scrumptious silk lace, in one of her unrepeatable somewhat-solid colorways. You’ve seen this before, and I’m now almost positive it’s going to become a Print o’ the Wave stole for myself.

But, look, look!

This was a hank of navy Merino Oro for the Myrtle leaf shawl and now…yuck. Even a swift can’t help you wind yarn that’s already gotten hopelessly tangled in the hank. So, despite my best efforts to avoid exactly this scenario, I will be winding 1375 yards of cobweb-weight yarn by hand. Assuming, of course, that I can get it untangled.

In the course of dealing with my One Project Paralysis following the completion of the Endpaper Mitts, I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t in the mood to knit anything challenging. No lace, no cables, no epic projects. I was flailing around for a project to knit next when a bunch of babies came to the rescue. Enter the Harvard Square Cardigan.

The Harvard Square Cardigan, which you can see at the left, is from Knitting for Baby, by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas. I will give this book a proper review some day, but I love it and have been eyeing the Harvard Square Cardigan pretty much since I bought it.

Eagle-eyed readers who have been with me for a while will recognize the yarn I’m using for the sweater as the same yarn I used for Fred the turtle. It’s been a quick and easy knit so far—heck, most of it is garter stitch—but it’s also curing me of my current lack of desire to work on a challenging knit. I’ve been spending a lot of time lately looking at lace and laceweight yarn lately (as if I need more yarn) and I think I will be casting on for one of these from Victorian Lace Today (which I will also review properly at some point) after I finish the sleeves on the cardigan.

And then I will probably treat myself to some of Sundara’s cherry blossom yarn.

Pattern: Endpaper Mitts, by Eunny
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft 4-Ply, #420 Papyrus and #423 Monet
Needles: Addi Turbos, US1 (2.5mm) and US2 (3mm)

These are my new favorite fingerless mitts. The double thickness and the snug fit make them very comfortable and very warm. They were a little tight just off the needles, but a good soak and blocking loosened them up just enough to fit perfectly. The pattern actually calls for a US0 for the ribbed portions; I used a US1 because that’s the smallest needle I own. It turned out to be just the right size, I think. Any tighter and the ribbing would be pinching my thumb.

KathyMarie asked: Are they lilac and light lime colored?

Lilac, yes. Lime…depends on the lime. The ribbing color is called “Papyrus” and is a sort of taupe/khaki color that hints at grey and green. If you had a key lime pie that had started to grow fuzz, you might wind up with this color.

In retrospect, Cashsoft 4-Ply is not a great yarn for this project, although it is definitely soft and nice against the skin. The yarn is a bit fuzzy, which obscures the colorwork a bit, and really isn’t meant for a hard-wearing item like fingerless mitts. I’m sure I’ll make a second pair at some point, but definitely in a different yarn.

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