The homestretch

I'm on the last half of the second sleeve on the York sweater! Woohoo! Can't believe I will actually have all the bits finished. Any ideas for me on how to trick my mom into seaming it for me? I think someone should start a "finishing up" business. You could mail them your sweater bits and they could do all the blocking and seaming for you. I seriously think some enterprising soul could make some bucks! Anyhow - here is the progress so far:



hmm....What to start on next? I need a new needle for the clapped so that is on hold. The Gedifra Yeti sweater is just out of the question. I suppose I could fall back on the Myrtle jacket especially since I have the biggest part finished already....but who am I kidding? We all know I will cast on for something new. I joined the Butterfly knitalong so I really ought to actually work on it. I have the yarn for it - Silk Garden #88. Unfortunately that colorway is essentially the muted female version of the York sweater colors and I am really in the mood for something more colorful. I also joined the Black Water Abbey knitalong - sucked in by my ambition to lose my fear of cables. I have actually done cables before but they still seem rather exotic to me. But I love the way they look! Black Water Abbey has some really nice patterns on their site too. I ordered the Celtic Dreams sweater(for me), the Son of Aran sweater (for DH), the Aran Hats (for everyone in the family!), and the Slingburst Bags (to learn short rows). I got a large skein of the Slate yarn intended to become one of the Aran hats as a birthday present for my stepfather but then I realized how close his birthday actually is sooo - it looks like he will be getting a winter hat in the middle of June for Father's Day. That means the pressure's off so I don't really have to confront my fear of cables just yet. :) Knitting cables requires paying slightly more attention to what you are doing and what will all of the late nights and heavy construction around here I just don't feel up to the effort. I feel like Winne the Pooh - a bear of very little brain.

Those dangerous yarn pushers over at Black Water Abbey sent along a sample card of their yarns. I really like Butter and Iris but my very favorite has to be Bluestack. It is a blue with a purpley cast and tweedy bits in it. Lots of depth. If I ever actually knit the Celtic sweater it will definitely be in bluestack. But I am going to finish the hat first and see if I actually like using this yarn since I haven't worked with it before.

So - what to work on next??