Amazingly, I finished the first sleeve of the Airy Cardigan this weekend:



Even more amazingly, it looks like it will fit and be the proper length. (These are the ones I had to redraft the pattern for as I didn't like the 3/4-ish length sleeves and wanted full length ones. For the non-knitters, it's not a just a simple matter of knitting more rows: the increases had to be spaced differently so I didn't wind up with a sleeve that would fit Popeye's giant forearms but be too big for me (besides, I don't think foxglove is Popeye's color...). It looks like my modifications worked - experimentally holding the sleeve up to my arm shows that it fits appropriately snugly, yet is long enough and should be loose enough in the upper arms to be comfortable.)

It only took me a week or so to knit this, which is surprisingly fast for a sleeve. (Knitters tell tales of being stranded on "sleeve island...")

I hope the other one goes as well. I kept pretty extensive notes of what I did, so if anyone else is planning to knit this in the 44" (or maybe it's 42"? I don't remember without looking at my copy of the magazine) size and wants my modifications, drop me an e-mail and I can tell you what I did. It's not difficult at all which is why I'm so pleased my modifications worked.

***

My dad called to talk briefly last night. He's feeling a lot better (perhaps this was developing over time). He had been complaining of feeling "wheezy" before during the week but had chalked it up to allergies.

He did say that in the ER, they kept asking him if there were any small children in the home or if he had gone anywhere where he "might have picked up a respiratory virus" - presumably, they were trying to, in a non-panic-inducing way, determine if he might have H1N1 (but he didn't, and besides, he is in the age group that would most likely have greater immunity/resistance, having lived through the prior swine flu mini-epidemic and also the Asian flu epidemics of the 60s).

So my concern was relatively unfounded and I should have taken my mom's "There's really nothing to worry about" to heart. It's just, I think, because I'm a fundamentally healthy person, I tend to over-react when someone I care about has serious-seeming symptoms and ESPECIALLY when an ER visit is involved (but where else would he go on a Saturday afternoon? And with the way he was feeling, it was wise not to wait until his doctor was back in on Monday).

***

Still, I did get the start of a new Clapotis out of it. The nice thing about this is it can be a "put it aside to work on more complex things" project because it's easy to determine by counting (even without a row counter) where you are in the pattern.

The yarn is Louisa Harding's "Impression," which is mostly a polyamide ribbon yarn with a thin strand of mohair wrapping it to give it a "halo" effect.

I think I said before I generally don't like ribbon yarns, but I take that back for this one. It behaves well (doesn't fold up on itself like some ribbon yarns) and it feels nice, and it's very very lightweight (which will make for a nice summertime stole). And it's a very pretty color.



Alas, the pictures don't do it justice. The colorway was what Elann described as "rose garden," it's a mix of several greens (one that shows up as almost turquoise in this photo) and pink and a deep purplish red.

And it's shiny. It has an iridescence to it (which doesn't show up in the photo) that reminds me a bit of the plumage on ruby-throated hummingbirds. So it's a really lovely yarn to work with, and may make the best Clapotis yet.

I had originally bought this yarn, very cheaply, from Elann (which actually I think has been the main source of yarns I've used over the years - again, for the non-knitting audience, this is a mail-order place in Washington State/Canada (they have dual offices for customs reasons) that does deep discounts on close-out or overstock yarn, plus they have their own line of "basic" yarns (I like their Highland Wool. I know some people complain about it and it does pill a bit easily, but it comes in such a huge range of colors). The stock changes fast and they post new stock on Mondays and Thursdays (and sometimes Tuesdays) so it's worth checking it out often.

I had originally bought the "Impression" (about 750 yards' worth) for a scarf and winter hat, but decided against that idea later on. Then, a while back, while sorting through the stash, I found it and realized, to my delight, that I had enough for a Clapotis shawl. (Which I have made two of before, but there are some patterns that are just so good that it's worth having multiples in different colors. I feel the same way about the SitCom Chic sweater - I have knit three, and I have yarn put aside for at least one more).

So Saturday night, when I needed some comfort knitting, it was the first thing I thought of. And I'm happy I did, because I think it will be particularly nice when it's done. And that initial bit of knitting did help me to remain calm (Well, at least until I went to bed. Any time I have something weighing on my mind, the worst possible time is that first 15 or 20 minutes after getting in to bed - and also that time around 2 am when I usually wake up for a while (actually, the 2 am time is almost worse, because if you first get into bed and your brain won't shut up, it seems reasonable to get up and watch some cartoons or Weather Channel, but getting out of bed at 2 am feels like throwing in the towel on sleep for me).