Joy and Pain

I hope you had a good holiday weekend. Mr. Penney and I did, though I can’t say that we did anything out of the ordinary. I did get baby sweater number two completed:

It is about to get shipped off to my friend Kelly, who gave birth to her daughter Regina back in January. Hopefully, it will fit her this coming fall and winter.

Now for baby sweater number three:

The yarn is RYC Cashsoft Baby DK. It is 50% merino, 40% acrylic, and 10% cashmere. It is supposed to be machine washable. Even though it is only 10%, I can really tell that the cashmere is in there. Unfortunately, I can also tell that the acrylic is in there because of the sheen that it has. Sorry, but I am a yarn-snob.

I am trying out different stitch patterns to see what I like, because unlike the other two sweaters, I have no pattern in mind for this third one, and I don’t like to repeat myself. So far, the top stitch pattern, Little Arrowhead Lace, seems to be the one that I am going toward; but I am not set just yet.

And finally, a source of frustration:

Even though I did that swatch (though knitting it back and forth rather than in the round,) this sock has not been working out for me. Working the toe was fine, because it is completely in stockinette stitch, but trying to do a basketweave for the pattern on the same size needles (1US [2.5mm]) made the thing grow in width like crazy because the yarn has no elasticity. I have tried doing the pattern stitches on smaller needles than the st st (0US [2mm],) but that was causing the sole to because longer than the instep, which would cause problems with my big feet. I haven’t ripped it out just yet because I am trying other stitches to see how they work, since I have it knitting in the round already. AAARRRGGGHHH!