on the needles: the never-ending hoodie

Hello there!  It has been an awfully long time since I posted – but so much has been going on!

By way of a brief catch-up, here’s what I’ve been up to:

  • Ten amazing and inspiring days in Japan. Photos, stories, and stash enhancements will be appearing on the blog in the upcoming weeks, plus a contest!
  • Dyeing, balling, and shipping a bazillion kits for Bifrost. Thanks to everyone who ordered this kit!
  • Dyeing up a new mohair base which I'm almost ready to share with you.
  • Working with the lovely Alex of Dull Roar to bring you a very cool new hat kit for Boundless.

What I have not been up to:

  • working on my own projects.

The horrible irony of running a yarn-based business is that you end up doing very little actual knitting for yourself.

During the Japan trip, I spent quite a bit of time of trains. I thought I'd be able to finish (no joke – finish) either one or both of the sweaters I’m currently working on. Oh, the folly.

One of these sweaters is painfully close to done. The body and sleeves are made, blocked, and sewn up. I even have the zipper in. It fits like a dream. All that’s missing is the hood – and the hood is taking forever.

What's the lesson here? Knitting science has yet to explain why, but hoods, like collars and button bands, affect knitting time like a black hole: the closer you get to done, the longer each row takes.

To make matters worse, as I have kvetched about before, chocolate brown is not compatible with knitting at night, and frankly, all my daylight hours (and then some) are spoken for. 

My new plan is to take 20 minutes each day on my newly-scheduled lunch break to make some progress on this project. 

What's on your needles this week?