The Gyre Cardigan is done! I am soaking it (and rinsing and soaking and rinsing…) to get the excess dye out of the yarn. I suspected it was over-dyed and, yup, sure enough it is. I will block it this afternoon and it should be ready to travel to New York City on Sunday.
Among the projects I am taking on our trip is the Artesian (a shawl designed by Rosemary Hill). I am using Freia Ombré (sport weight wool hand-painted single-ply) — it shades from a rich brown through gold and ecru to light blue ending in a pretty delft blue. I have 3 balls — so my shawl will go: brown to blue, blue to brown, brown to blue!
I had to jump up my needle size to an 8 (the pattern calls for a 5) and even so I was a little worried about the open-work being not-so-open. It stretches out nicely, but will it stay? (kinda kicking myself for not blocking my swatch…) So, I did as Sarah has taught me and checked out projects in this yarn on Ravelry. The lace pieces block beautifully! So, no worries there — and I press on.
The piece is worked with short rows — and the designer has you put 20 markers as reference points. It is all very civilized. She also recommends using numbered markers and refers the knitter to a site that sells some really lovely ones (abitofspark.com). After working the piece for a while, I could see the merit of her suggestion (I spent a lot of time counting and re-counting markers to make sure I was at the right spot!), but decided against the lovely ones because 1) they are a bit pricey (tho lovely and certainly worth the money) and 2) they were not here where I could use them immediately (and would probably not arrive before my trip to NYC even if I did break down and order them — they really are lovely…).
But I figured, heck, I can make a set of numbered markers! And I was right, I could. So, onward with the Artesian! New York, here we come!