Now that the construction work is done and the garden is in, the hot weather season will soon be here. In spite of this, the knitting mojo has come back unexpectedly. We have been traveling to a wedding and for business, but once we got home again to stay put, I started knitting the ribbings by hand for future sweaters:
I don't like ribbings knitted on the machine much so I do them by hand and then seal them up in a quart-sized zip lock bag until I get around to hanging them on the machine and knitting the rest of the sweater. The ribbings in the picture will all become cardigans.
Then I remembered that I meant to make some more pullovers. I have sewn together the pink pullover, and the black and the aqua, but the purple pieces are still waiting. In the meantime, I started a sage green pullover with a patterned front panel. After the front ribbing is knit, I pick up the middle section, add seam stitches to the sides (and seam stitches will be added to the center edge of the machine-knit side portions), and then I knit the patterned panel by hand. This is fun to do, and I get to try out some of the stitch designs in my Japanese pattern books. Here's another sweater that also had the center panel done the same way:
The original pattern had lots of twisted stitches, but since I don't like knitting those, I just used regular stitches. I also added a small cable to the sides, and it is turning out very well.
We have been having one of those peculiar cold (but unfortunately not wet) California springs, but most people are really glad. News reports say that El Nino is coming back to the coast, so the chances of good rainfall next fall and winter are good. I hope they are right.
Update: Finished up the purple V-neck pullover! Also cleared off the table in the sewing room and set up the LK150 that has been boxed up since the construction. Ready to knit.
