Confession Time

I gave myself a knitting injury. I'm a bit ashamed because I should know better.

It all started with some beautiful handspun sock yarn. The fiber was superwash Cheviot from Dyeabolical that I wanted to turn into a true fingering weight three-ply. So I spun it as fine as I could, only I overshot the mark and my yarn turned out too thin. I only found this out after I had knit most of the foot on a 2mm needle. The fabric was too loose for a sock, so I ripped it.

Then I tried a 1.75mm needle. That did the trick and I burned my way through most of a sock before my hand started to complain. I decided that the leg could be worked on a 2mm needle so I switched out my 1.75mm needles so I could start the second sock. And look how far I got before I broke down:

It started as numbness, then tingles and finally pain in my left hand. At that point I wised up and stopped.
My only excuse for letting it go on so long is how deeply I love these socks. And this was to be the summer of the sock! I just didn't want to stop.

But I did, and after a few days rest, I found I could knit with no pain on larger needles. So I finished up some scarfy things that had been hanging around. Like Nightbird:

And a crescent shawl from handspun, with nupps and beads, oh my!

But I needed a my summer project to replace the sock knitting, and that project is Adrift. It's not that I love mindless stockinette so much, though it does have its place, as it is that I fell in love with this particular rendition. I bought exactly the same yarn, in exactly the same color.

The yarn, Pima Lino Lace, is a cotton-linen blend that doesn't feel like those fibers. I expected it to be rough and stiff straight off the needles but instead it is soft with lots of drape.

I'm putting the lessons learned from previous sweaters to good use here. I started off with a size to fit my shoulders, then added 2 inches extra to each front because not only am I wide, I am also tall and stumpy sweaters do not look good on me. I also plan on adding extra length to the body because I have a long torso.

Just don't expect to see me wearing this little number any time soon. I fully give myself permission to abandon ship when boredom sets in and the siren call of the socks gets too loud.