Climbing Mt. Cardigan

As we begin the month of February, I am thrilled happy to say that I am well on my way to making my first real, true, basic, run-of-the-mill cardigan.  The Mr. Rogers kind that has no real shaping, darts, contours or otherwise figure enhancing tendencies.  Just a plain old sweater.  I love it!  Its like I've finally come home to my little cottage by the sea.  Okay, not really, but I'm super excited to finally cross over the threshold like when I learned to knit socks.

To this day, I can pretty much pick up yarn and needles and make socks without a pattern.  I think I will soon be able to do that with sweaters.  Its so important to know the fundamentals of a thing before trying to conquer the intricacies.  We learn to ride a bike on three wheels, then training wheels.  We have to overcome the momentum thing before we can go on to balance.  With knitting, there are lots of things to learn after the initial how to knit, how to purl part.  Spinning its a little more tricky, but similar where the learning curve is - and a lot like learning to ride a bike. 

Back to the cardigan.  I do not claim to be an expert now, but I'm not a novice either. I want you to know that I've made pullovers before.  I started with a raglan sleeve pullover that I blogged about recently when I re-knit the hem and sleeves. And I made a short sleeve angora pullover that was to die for, until I put it one time and my husband asked if I was going to wear that to church.  I also made a short sleeve pullover with set in sleeves that I pressed, never wore and eventually threw away. No kidding. I've also made a fair isle pullover which was also quite beautiful, but like the curse of the love sweater, it was not to be worn in public.  You get the idea. 

I do hope this blue Mr. Rogers number is fit for public viewing, but I make no promises.  My goal was not to make that kind of sweater, but rather to climb Mt. Cardigan.  I'm at least half way there! 

I finished plying and hanked the beautiful red blend yarn.  Its pretty soft and will make a great ____________(you fill in the blank, I'm open).

I have begun to spin some camel down on my new Turkish spindle.  I love this thing.  Its light but has enough weight to keep the spin going once you give it a whirl.  The camel is literally as soft as a baby chick.  Love, love, love it!

On Saturday, our family is all going to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Sunday is of course the Super Bowl. I'm not really rooting for either team that's playing, but since we have a decent TV now, I will be watching and cheering for the San Francisco Patriots.