She’s Hot Right Now!

It’s been a really gratifying week in Cheryl’s knitting world 🙂 Lots of good things have happened. The weekend was particularly awesome. On Saturday, Miss Jacqui joined me at Rosehaven for the Knitter’s Crash Course. What a natural! Though Miss Jacqui had knitted before, she wanted to begin at the beginning and learn knitterly skills from the ground up. Herself an accomplished pastry chef, it’s maybe not surprising that Jacqui was patient, careful and very physically in tune with her tools. By the end of class, she was throwin’ like a pro and had produced about 2 1/2″ of the Windowpane Scarf each stitch perfectly executed. I can’t wait to see (and post!) photos of Jacqui’s FO. As a bonus, the effervescent Chris Hall of Cake Tin Hats kept the day sweet and fun despite the crappy weather.

Sunday brought the first meeting of The Cardigan Project. I couldn’t wish for two better participants than Miss Glenda and Miss Deborah, both solid knitters and bright, charming people as well. We had so much fun substituting and choosing yarns for this project. Both Glenda and Deborah came into the project with neutrals in mind, just sure that if they chose clear colors their sweaters wouldn’t be worn as often. (Do I need to say it) SURPRISE! Glenda chose a beautiful clear shade of Canadian red in Berroco Ultra Alpaca for her ‘Nanook’ and Deborah opted for a deep, enigmatic peacock-y blue-y green in Galway for the ‘Harvest’ Cardigan. I’m so happy that they chose two different patterns. Great knitting stories were swapped, gallons of coffee consumed, several swatches worked and we were off!

For my own project (I couldn’t let them knit alone, could I?) I’ve chosen ‘Dark and Stormy’ by Thea Colman of Baby Cocktails. I’ve been wanting to knit one of Thea’s many gorgeous patterns for quite some time. Y’know, she’s hot right now. I’m using KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Opal Heather. Yes, this is the Acorn yarn. I got half way through Acorn, quite a way past the sleeve division, and decided I did not like it. At all. I was not enjoying the pattern and didn’t like the result so last week while culling through my stash out she came. Onward and upward to the second incarnation. So far, I’m loving Thea’s cable; it’s quite compelling.

Best part of Sunday? A sweet phone call from Elizabeth to share with me that “Harriet’s Jacket” had made it to first position on Ravelry’s Hot Right Now list. I am just so excited! This ingenious little jacket has such intriguing shaping that I’m dying to make it. Since the original yarn, Elann’s Peruvian Highland Chunky, has been discontinued, Miss Lizzie has updated the pattern for Quince & Co. Osprey, a big favorite of mine. I’ve had some yarn lust for Q&C colorway ‘Rosa Rugosa’ lately; it’s a deep fuschia-red-rose color which is a bit of a departure from my usual neutrals. I’m thinkin’ maybe its time has come. Elizabeth is offering this pattern as a FREE Ravelry download for a limited time. Get it quick! She’s Hot Right Now!