Can You Spot the Knitting?

Here is a view on a rainy day from the kitchen of my new place. The leaves already on the ground are mostly from aspens, which at my altitude have turned a beautiful golden-yellow that is startling against the mostly-pine forests that coat the Rockies. And there, nestled in the corner, is the knitting.

Although I said I would not be able to start the fair isle sweater until the blue shawl was done . . . I lied. I decided to use a random pair of smaller-than-threes circs that I found in a cafe a couple of years ago. I was Magic Looping because these needles are literally long enough to make a sweater for a cow. I had no idea that they even made needles that long. Luckily I had decided to go with just a thin ribbed border, so I'm already on to the fun part. Wish me luck.

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The other day at my office one of the teachers wore this ridiculously cute orange sweater - some sort of orange cotton, short raglan sleeves, empire waist, and from the bust up it was this amazing waffle-textured stitch that I would never have expected from a machine-knit. I found it fascinating, and I've been trying to duplicate it from my memory of what it looked like. I found a stitch called Rose Fabric that looked very promising, and I've been knitting swatches ever since. Below are a couple:




This is the first swatch I knit, and it's the same yarn as the Fair Isle Socks . I was distressed as I knitted - I had never played with knitting "into the stitch below," and it simply doesn't look anything like the picture of the pattern on the Maggie's Rags site. Ultimately, it's much too loose. But before I gave up, I tried a couple of other yarns, kicking myself all the time that I left most of the yarns that give really good stitch definition with my parents.



This one's knit in the same yarn as the fair isle sweater - I ended up with an extra ball of this red. I have to say - I love this yarn. Love it. The stitch looks lovely, though a lot looser than the picture on the website. I still want a bit better stitch definition, but I am pleased. Maybe there's a project in the works here?