Version 1 finished, now for Nightbird 2.0

As I whizzed through the last section of the beautiful lace shawl/scarf last week, I kept asking myself how much size it could possibly gain through blocking.

   The answer: quite a bit, and it looks lovely and feels incredibly soft
. . . but it's pretty tiny for a wrap. On further reflection I realize that what I have made is a shawlette.

Totally covers your shoulders

But don't try to fasten it in front

It was fun to knit, though, and I'm still so touched by Teresa's enthusiasm at being a contributor to the Silent Auction, so rather than rack my brain for another design, I'm going to knit Wings for Nightbird (link) again, this time in this lovely dark blue cotton yarn that I bought for Marly's continuous cable sweater (almost done, really).

The front's nearly done, too.

I've been working on this sweater since Spring, and though every time I have to make five stitches with the not-nearly-as-stretchy-as-animal-fiber cotton yarn, it's a nasty struggle, I have come to love the pattern overall,

and since I wasn't really (at all) knitting to the suggested gauge, it should fit her for a few years to come. I've made Ian a sweater from Continuous Cables, too, and I love the wayMelissa Leapman designs and combines cables. The necks, not so much, but I think now that I've had two necks go awry I'm thinking it might have something to do with the sweater design. Yes, beginnings and endings are always the trickiest part.
A little more detail: I knitted both sleeves at once, and stopped around where I thought the saddle would start. Then I knitted the back, and then I knitted the front way with a 20-row frogging session when I misremembered the armhole shaping point. Then, I went back to the sleeves, bound off, and started the piecing together, at which point I found that the back was about 10 rows too short. Knowing that, I unbound the binding off for the back and am adding those rows, then I'll do both sleeve saddles, sewing one down as I go so that I get the correct length, and then I'll fix the front.
Oh yeah, totally almost done.