Despite not having much time to blog, I have managed to do quite a bit of knitting the past month.  I finished a skirt for Emma (hopefully to be blogged soon) and am zipping along on a cardigan for Leah.

This photo shows my progress at two weeks:  I have knit about 11″ of the body (which is knit in one piece, so that represents the back and both fronts – a good portion of the sweater).  Here you can see the piece unfolded:

The little stitch markers, by the way, indicate increase and decrease rows (in this case, the decrease rows are marked with green and the increase rows are marked with orange).  I always mark my increases and decreases this way; it means I don’t have to bother writing everything down while I am knitting, especially when I am deviating from the pattern.  I can note it all down at the end, before washing and blocking when I take out the markers.  This also makes it very easy to duplicate the shapings on a matching piece – a second sleeve, for example.  (For those curious readers who are wondering about the sweater I am wearing in the above photo, please stay tuned for my next Wearability Wednesday post.)

As you can see from the top photo, I am also making very fast progress on a sleeve, which I started yesterday.  I have often bemoaned knitting sleeves on this blog – in fact I once wrote a post entitled Do you love your husband enough to knit the sleeves?.  I find them to be endless and fiddly and annoying.  If this sleeve is any indication, however, I should be ready to start the yoke by the weekend.

I can’t wait to get to the yoke because that is the fun part of the pattern.  The cardigan is designed by Sandi Rosner and called Peloponnese.  It can be found in the Winter 2013 Twist Collection.  Here is a pattern photo:

This is my first time knitting with Madelinetosh Merino DK.  It is a very soft wool, with beautiful drape, and the colours are very rich.  It is, however, a bit splitty and I worry that it may pill.  I chose it for two reasons: first because I have long wanted to knit with these two colours – Composition Book Grey and Candlewick (even though it never occurred to me to put them together until I started thinking about this sweater).  Secondly, Leah has trouble with itchy wools so I need to be very careful when selecting for her.  I’ve knit for her before with Madelinetosh Pashmina to great success. This wool will definitely win points on the softness front.

For some reason, I imagined that Peloponesse would be a slower knit.  In fact, it is practically jumping off my needles.  At this rate, I may just manage my goal of finishing it before Leah returns to Canada later this month.