Knitting Project Friday

I did say yesterday that I might declare project Friday, and I have decreed it to be so. So here's what I've been working on.

This is my current sweater. Unfortunately, it's going to be very difficult to photograph well until it's finished because it's all in one piece, it's very dark yarn, and it's late October in Western Washington which means there's a dearth of natural good light. This is the back view. The little orange and green plastic things are stitch markers; I'm using one every 14 stitches, which is every other lace pattern. That way if I screw up the lace, it's easy for me to find where and fix it before it becomes a problem. They're lifesavers right now.

Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne found at www.flintknits.com
Unfortunately, the sweater is not going quite as fast as I would like. I did have to tear it out and start over early on, and that slowed me down some, but the dark color of the yarn is doing a number on me, too. It makes the stitches hard to see when I want to knit in the evenings in front of the TV (prime knitting time for me), so I can't do as much as I would like. Plus it's all in one piece, so before the sleeve split, the rows were really long, almost interminable, so it was hard to muster up enthusiasm for the knitting. It is going a lot faster now that I'm in the lace part of the body, though, so I will finish it in reasonably good time.

And here's my current sock, #9 of the 12-sock project. I finished this one a few days ago, and have yet to cast on for its partner. Not because I have second sock syndrome, but because I want to finish the sweater. I feel like I get more projects done when I'm project monogamous, and I broke that for a little while, but once the sweater is done, I'm going to try to go back to just one project at a time.

Pattern: A Good, Plain Sock by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee AKA the Yarn Harlot. Found in the book Knitting Rules

The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Flamingo Stripe color. Part of the proceeds for this particular colorway go to breast cancer research, which makes them perfect October socks. Love this yarn, it's very soft and springy, and the sock is very comfortable on the foot. I'll cast on for sock #2 when I'm done with the sweater.

Knitting goal for the week (between now and October 30): Finish the body of the sweater and make headway on at least 1 sleeve.