Present Joys

I’m currently in the middle of a pullover sweater I’m knitting for Dempsey. I’ve wanted to try fair isle knitting for quite a while now, and when I saw this fair isle Totoro motif, I knew Demspey would love it. I decided to use EZ’s fair isle yoke pullover pattern. The sweater I just finished had a lot of seams, and I’m pretty stoked that this one is entirely seamless.

The yarn is aran-weight Stitch Nation from Jo-Ann. I paid about $5 per skein, which is pretty good considering it’s all natural fiber. The blue I’m using on the sweater body is 55% bamboo/45% wool, and while it looks quite nice, can’t possibly compare to the lustrous white, which is single-ply 100% wool. I’m a sucker for single-ply yarn, and this stuff is just wonderful. I’m already thinking of how I can use it on future projects.

I started out on circular needles but after just a few minutes of knitting I got so fed up I decided to buy a cheap set of dpns (or, if you prefer, a ton of cheap sets of dpns). I figured now that I’m getting pretty good at knitting I could stand to actually pay for some needles. Plus, since I’m a student, I didn’t have to pay for shipping! I prefer double-pointed needles about a hundred times more than circulars, and now that I have fifteen sets of dpns, it’s simply thrilling to think I won’t have to use circulars again any time soon!

I’m working an every-four-stitches every-four-rows bird’s eye pattern in the sweater. It’s been difficult to maintain gauge, because I’m knitting with blue in my left hand and white in my right. But I think I’ve finally hit my stride—I’ve got about eight inches of the body finished and am well on my way to having this baby all done!