twitchyKnits

Say what you will, the eighties gave us some amazing music.

Folks, I have an announcement! I will be shipping out to basic training on February twenty-fifth! In the meantime, I will be doing my best to exercise as much as possible, knit as much of my stash as I can, and live it up before they send me off.

Right now I’ve got I think four or five projects on my needles. My mom’s Gathering of Cypress sweater (Gathering Intentions, from Inspired Cable Knits [errata]); my own First Sweater (Tubey, from Knitty.com); the Blankie (basic log cabin blanket in eye-searing colors); a pair of socks with an original design I’m trying; and Brian’s hat that I must re-knit so it actually fits him.

Let’s talk about the Gathering of Cypress sweater for a minute. I LOVE this pattern. Love it. The cable pattern is easy to memorize, interesting without being tiresome, and it looks SO GOOD knit up. There’s only one issue I’ve noticed with the way the pattern is written. There are two setup rows you’re supposed to do before starting the cable pattern itself; the instructions for it are included in the section on the back portion of the sweater, but not anywhere else. If you’re not paying attention, your cables might be two rows off between the front and the back.

I first heard about the pattern from the Knit Picks catalogue. That catalogue is probably my favorite thing to receive in the mail besides packages and money. In it, they show Gathering Intentions knit up in Knit Picks Comfy in ivory; it looked gorgeous and I fell in love with it. I knew my mom would love to wear it—she’s big in to the big, cozy sweaters.

Of course, in the course of falling in love with the sweater as it appeared in the magazine, I didn’t bother to read any reviews of the book, check for errata, note the fiber content of the yarn, or do any of the other things people should do before shelling out for a hardcover book and a sweater’s worth of yarn. Oops!

I lucked out though and the book and yarn are both great. I’ll write up a more comprehensive review of it later, but thus far I haven’t found any errors in the patterns I’ve looked at. The yarn turned out to be seventy-five percent Pima cotton, twenty-five percent acrylic, and so soft! It almost feels like it should fall apart in your hands or turn to dust because it’s so smooth and soft. I really do love Knit Picks yarn and I feel a little guilty when I buy it because it’s just so inexpensive! Mmmm.

The color is a pretty dark green that my mom picked out, and I really like it. My only issue with it is that it comes up a dark grey (or lighter grey, depending) in my photos, unless I take the time to take pictures while the sun is out and make sure they come out nice, so really the only issue is that I suck at taking good pictures.

Okay, this has gotten long enough. I’m thrilled with this pattern thus far, and have knit about ten inches of the back panel. More on the book and the other patterns in it later!