I have been dancing in my pants to start knitting a sweater. I want to knit a garment more than I ever have. It’s probably the one of my challenges that I’m most excited about.

I’ve wanted to knit Puntilla, by Joji Locatelli, for a very long time. I love the soft femininity of it, the lace detail, the over-sized coziness. Puntilla hits my core style buttons on all cylinders. Feminine, simple, cozy, classic. It’s all of those things and knitting it in a sweet and soft mint color just seals the deal.

You may recall that I purchased this yarn for a Waterlily; I even swatched and cast the thing on. I didn’t make it far before getting mired in a huge gift project. I never picked it back up and eventually pulled it off the needles. No big loss, as I’d probably only knit about 5 rows of ribbing.

So this weekend, I decided it was finally time to start a sweater. As I started to swatch, I thought that since I’m usually a pretty loose knitter, I’ll start a needle size down. Seeing that it wasn’t right, I bound off and went down another size. After 20 or so rows, I realized I went the wrong direction and should have gone up a size. So I knit another swatch. Washed and blocked it and it was off. Stitches a bit too small. And so, I went up a needle size. Washed and blocked it. Gauge was correct, but I didn’t like the fabric.

There they are, in all their glory. I finally decided to go with the 3.5 mm (US 4). I like the fabric better. I’m knitting the medium size, to get between a small and a medium. I’m satisfied with the fabric I’m getting and the planned sizing. Hopefully this all works. I feel a little silly that I have so many swatches, but better safe than sorry, right? It looks a bit worse if you add them to all the swatches I knit for the Waterlily…

Yes, that’s right. 56g of yarn in swatches. Thank goodness I bought an extra skein of this yarn! At least I could always rip out the swatches, soak the yarn, and have… 8 mini skeins. Let’s hope that’s not necessary. At any rate, I’ve started the sweater and have finished the neck shaping at the back.

Because I had a fair bit of time waiting for swatches to dry, I also cast on a new shawl! It’s a wonder what frogging does for your mojo. I started a Canopy shawl by Melody Hoffman. I’m knitting it up in the baa ram ewe I picked up in Denver a few months ago.

I am thoroughly enjoying this knit, it’s pretty simple but interesting.  The yarn is lovely, the pattern is gorgeous. The only thing is the yarn doesn’t have a lot of stretch to it and I find that my hands tire after knitting it for a while. That’s not too much of a problem, though, since I always have socks to keep me company.

Have I ever mentioned that I love rainbows? Since the Rainbowalong is coming up, I’m only going to knit the sock tubes and wait till February to cut in the heels.

That’s about the shape of the knitting for the weekend, I think I’m just going to go curl up on a bed of swatches and enjoy my evening.

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Happy making!