For me, certain projects require a bit of a push. There’s almost always one all-out, late-night, knit-fest to get through some part of a project. Last night was the endurance portion of my Overdyed Cypress vest knitting, but it paid off.

On the blocking boards! Click for project page.

The back and front of my vest are complete, similarly-shaped (the back is purposefully narrower than the front), and vaguely garment-like. Once they dry, I will seam them up and then it’ll be just a matter of adding armhole and neckline trim before Saturday. I’m a little worried that the pieces are too long (I didn’t make row gauge and tried to compensate for that) but we’ll just have to wait and see about the fit. Sometimes, staying up into the wee hours to power through shoulder shaping sections is totally worth it.

Garnet Tonic, click for project page.

Meanwhile, the cowl that I’m so in love with is progressing, slowly but surely. I’ve forgotten how much I like working a simple lace pattern back and forth on straight needles. No shaping to fret about, it doesn’t get longer any as you go, and there’s no annoying circular needle join to contend with. Pure pleasure.

Lendrum Falkland wool, click for handspun page.

I’m still chugging away on the never-ending-pound of Falkland wool that I used for my ply experiment. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a delightful fiber and a joy to spin, I’m just itching to make some big fluffy colorful singles yarns, and this flow of fine white fiber is not abating.

On an entirely different note, does anyone have any good teaching resources for brand new knitters? I’ve volunteered to teach a bunch of middle-to-high-school-aged girls how to knit this Friday, and I haven’t had a chance to do much searching for materials yet. We’re going to be making Harry Potter scarves, in either striped garter stitch or 1×1 rib (their choice) and I’ll have some samples to show, but it would be great to have some illustrations and written directions that they could take home with them on a handout. If anyone knows of some good resources, please let me know!