Off to a great start

Photo copyright: Cascade Yarns

The Quilt and Cable blanket is off to a great start on Ravelry!  After 24 hours, it's been faved 250 times, it's in 76 ques, and it was downloaded 87 times today.  That's saying something, lol.  I felt pretty good about this project and it looks like some other people do too.  I can't wait to start seeing the projects popping up on Ravelry, and seeing how other people interpret the pattern (different colors, different yarns, smaller sizes, etc). 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I've been happily knitting along on my Owls pullover.  I just finished the body and set it aside to start on the sleeves.  Right now it looks like it'll fit Alex, but the Eco wool grows a good amount after blocking so I know it will fit perfectly once it hits the bath and gets a good stretching.  I've wanted to knit this sweater for a long, long time and I've wanted an Eco Wool sweater for my own ever since I knit The Request for a friend's husband.  This is killing two birds with one stone, as they say.  Oh, and in case that wasn't enough, I've started knitting other designs again.

I've got the yarn from Cascade all wound and sitting in it's own special plastic zipper bag, ready to become what ever it is that I end up making with it.  I think I know what I want it to be, but once I start knitting...sometimes things don't end up like I thought they would at the start.  Take the chemo cap I knit for my mom's friend.  I thought about some simple fair isle inspired by a favorite pullover vest, but once I started the diamond section, I really liked how that looked so I just kept repeating it, striping the colors like a rainbow as I went.  When I was finished, I wasn't sure about the final result and I was ready to write it off as a dud, but everyone who saw it today loved it and insisted that I write up the pattern.  So, I'll be making a few adjustments so it can be worn as a beanie or a slouchy hat, and the pattern will be available shortly.  I also got some sample balls from the shop to work on a helmet liner style baby bonnet in four different gauges.  I think that I was able to figure out the porportions, which will allow me to easily scale the pattern up to a larger size.  I tried this pattern once before, based on an actual helmet liner that a customer brought into the shop, but the yarns were so different that even though we knit exactly the same number of stitches and rows...the fit was way off.  That was a year ago and things seem to have clicked because now I know what was wrong and how to fix it.  I'll be working on one in the smallest size, and when the new fall yarns come in, we'll knit up some of the others. 

Well, I guess my small period of not knowing what to knit next is over :)  Looks like I'm going to be busy for a little while.