Indigo Frost

Pattern:  Indigo Frost by Isabell Kraemer

Yarn:  Cascade 220

Needles:  sizes 7 & 8, each in two lengths

I've had a rotten cold for days and not done a thing. The cold is better and I leave today to babysit this weekend. Thankfully this post was written earlier so I have something to share here this week.  This poncho was finished a few weeks ago, in time to take to the knitting retreat in the mountains. It's a great pattern.

I had the good fortune to try this poncho on last year at a spring knitting retreat. And it was instant love! I finished this one in time to wear to a fall knitting retreat this year. It only took a year and a half for me to get around to knitting it. Now I wish I hadn't waited so long.

It's a perfect choice for those knitters with sweater fitting phobia. (That would be me.) I've never started a sweater because I'm afraid it won't fit. But now I've made a turtleneck. I had to choose a size. And it almost has shoulders. I even made a gauge swatch and changed needles sizes from what the pattern recommended. This is a baby step in the direction of knitting a sweater. One day I'll take a deep breath and cast on a sweater. Really.

I hand wound the yarn this time. Just for fun. Hand winding can be relaxing. Daddy-O was my willing helper, holding the yarn over his wrists while I wound the yarn. It was nice to have him included in my knitting activity.

It was a fairly quick knit, but I still was pushed for time when it came time to block it. Blocking means a good soak for a gentle cleaning and it also evens out the stitches and can smooth out the garment. It's an important finishing step. I tell Daddy-O it's like ironing for hand knits. When I moaned that it might not be dry in time to pack for the retreat in the mountains, a friend said she sets her things up with a fan blowing on it to speed the process. It's so nice to have knitting friends who know more than I do. That worked like a charm.

Here is a close up of the color detail. I thought it was fair isle knitting when I saw the pattern, but it's much simpler than that. The pattern detail is created by just slipping some stitches from one needle to the other instead of knitting them. That stretches that loop of yarn out to be a little longer than ones beside it. And poof! You get a design. Those longest stitches are slipped twice, so they are stretched out even longer for a more distinctive pattern.

Again, it's good to have knitting friends. I had never heard of slipping a stitch twice without knitting it. So I checked with a friend who has made this poncho twice. She assured me that I was doing this correctly. I thanked her for her help. And she said she was happy to help "while she was on a trip to Peru." I am doubly thankful that she responded so quickly while she was traveling on what must have been a fabulous trip. Knitters are the best. If you don't have your own knitting group, join Ravelry if you aren't already on there.You can find plenty of knitters willing to help when you need it. And we all need help from time to time.

Now I'm off to babysit. Bonus is that I will be there for Baby Girl's preschool Christmas program and I'll also get to see Big Sister sing with her church choir on Sunday when they present their fabulous Christmas concert. Little Sister isn't left out—I saw her Christmas piano recital a couple of weeks ago. I wish they lived closer so I could see all of their extra activities and at the same time I'm SO glad they don't live further away. We did the 14.5 hour drive to visit for years. Three hours away is a definite improvement.