Leftovers

I thought I'd show you a picture of my cardigan so far:

The body is done, joined at the sleeves and the ends run in, which makes me happy, because that's one less thing I'll have to do at the end.  I have the lace pattern done on the first sleeve. So, it's going along. Rachel would like it, I think; it is her yarn, so I hope she would approve!

This was actually my second project that I worked on with circular needles.

The first project with circular needles since the stroke is this:

This is the Abstract Leaves Cowl by Deb Mulder. (Hmmm, I wonder if she is the lost sister of Fox Mulder, who was abducted by aliens? Nahhhhh...). Aside from being a free download on Ravelry, it's wicked pretty. I decided to use leftover yarn from my Pueblo Stole - I am getting a lot of mileage out of that kit! The beads are size 6 beads inserted on the knit stitch between the two yarnovers in the pattern. The beads are leftover, too; I originally got them for this project, but realized they were redder than I wanted. Thus, I called it the Leftover Abstract Leaves cowl. 

I knit a couple rows, and admire it, knit a few rows, and admire it some more. Actually, it's pretty slow going, because I have to get the beads on with a crochet hook one-handed, but that is kind of fun. I drop them frequently, but I have a handy-dandy grabber thingy that lets me pick up things with ease. I'm halfway through the cowl. It seems like a timely thing to knit this autumn!

I mentioned before that I am taking part in a mitten knitalong by Tori Seierstad, but it's a mystery, so I will wait to post my pictures till the end. This is exciting because I am using handspun yarn - leftover brown (that is terribly underspun) that I spun before my stroke, and orange (that is much better) that I spun after my stroke, when I went up to Nova Scotia to see Sharon and Richard.

So pretty. I can't wait to show you how the pattern is coming out! Such a clever girl, that Tori. 

Don't forget to leave a comment on the blog post about Faux Taxidermy Knits by Louise Walker! The deadline to enter is September 22!