Ready for winter

Pattern: Fetching, from Knitty Summer '06
Yarn: Knitpicks Swish Superwash, in "Red Pepper"
Needles: Bryspun dpns, US 5
Begun: 11 August 2006
Finished: 13 August 2006

Notes: Well to start, I used this project as a test for one of the new Knitpicks Yarns, Swish. When I ordered my needles the other day, I decided that I would buy a skein or two of a few of their new yarns, just to see what I thought. My reports on Swish? Well, at first, I was kinda disappointed. The yarn seemed kind of... acrylic-y (?). It wasn't particularly soft or anything, and something about the bright red on the skein made it seem cheap. But once you knit with it, man oh man! It's great! The yarn is a little splitty (and very uncooperative with cable-needle-free cabling) but it creates a tight, soft, squishy fabric with great stitch definition. I'm really pleased with it. And a superwash wool for gloves, hats, and mittens seems like a great idea. I would definitely use it again.

The pattern is a really quick knit. I would have finished both on Friday, if I hadn't been feeling so bad and if I hadn't had to get to Galax yesterday. The only modifications: 1. I sized the gloves down (they are a gift for a friend with remarkably small hands [and feet] -- if she's reading this now, she knows who she is!); 2. I started the second glove while at Galax, didn't consult the pattern and forgot that the cables are supposed to switch direction on the second glove. So they are symmetrical instead of mirror-images. I figure, that's ok. 3. I ditched the cable bind off. Couldn't figure it out, it looked sloppy, and a regular bind off worked fine. If I were to do it again, I would add an extra cable repeat at the top to make it grip the hand a little more (I have fingerless gloves with floppy tops). But all in all, great pattern which makes a great looking glove.