Dying to finish

It's been a few days since my last post. I was planning on posting yesterday, but I had the most terrible day. I ended up spending the entire afternoon at the car mechanic. I originally went because my battery needed changing - but of course, there turned out to be other problems as well. Luckily, there's nothing too serious with my car and nothing too expensive - but it took several hours for a part to be delivered and installed - and then it turned out to be the wrong part. So, my car is still in the shop, and it ended up being a total waste of an afternoon.

However, it wasn't a complete waste because while I was waiting I made great progress on my "To Dye For" sweater. As of last night, I finished the front. Here's a picture of it:



I must tell you though that at the moment I have mixed feelings about the sweater. I loooove the feel of the yarn (Rowan Kid Silk Haze). It's so soft and yummy. But, I hate working with it - especially since the sweater is knit with three strands held together. The yarn keeps catching on things. So, I keep getting tangled up. That's the thing about mohair - I love the way that it looks and feels but really don't like all the trouble I get from it while knitting. The other thing is that I'm concerned that the sweater won't be flattering. It's knit on size 13 needles so the gauge is quite large. The yarn also seems to be stretching a little as I work with it. I'm hoping that with some blocking at the end that the problem will rectify itself. The good news is that I'm loving how quickly the sweater is going. I'll be off at a conference in San Francisco this week - and with the plane and extra downtime that I'll get, I feel that the sleeves aren't too far behind!

In other knitting news, I stopped by a Barnes and Nobles the other day. Just to "take a look" at the selection of knitting books and mags at this particular B&N. Yeah. Sure. Of course, I came out with two small purchases. I'm still feeling a little guilty about it even though it was only $25 - but I couldn't help it. I ended up purchasing Sarah Dallas' Vintage Knits. There are so many that I have my eye on knitting. So, I'm thinking about knitting either this one first:



or this one:



Come to think of it, they're actually pretty similar looking - I could do both as a twinset. Although I'll need to think about that one since both are knit on size 2 and 3 needles. I hope I won't go insane! That's why I might start with the shortsleeve and see how I feel at that point. Regardless, I have in mind to also do a quicker project at the same time so I'll feel that I'm making some progress. So, I also ended up picking up this season's Interweave Knits and am planning on working on this one next:



Now if only I had unlimited funding for my yarn budget!!!

One last thing - I cast on and did a few rows of my first sock. First time with DPNs - so far so good!! I do feel a little awkward juggling so many needles at once...for some reason, an octopus comes to mind...but I'm determined to master it.

Now that I have multiple projects in mind - I decided to put up knitting meters in the sidebar. That should keep me motivated and on track!