WIP Wednesday + Yarn Along | June 3

I'm sharing more progress pictures of what I've been working on this week. Lots of knitting, so I'm linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along!

I've been on a big knitting kick lately...browsing Ravelry for patterns, linking yarn with said patterns in a queue, and starting new projects. Usually I only like to have two projects on the needles, one that I'm working on and socks for mindless knitting (and on-the-go knitting). Since I worked on Courtney's sweater exclusively for so long, I got sick of it and put it aside. Intending to take a one project break, it quickly turned into casting on for multiple projects. It went from a Koigu triangle shawl to the Melodia KAL, to the Tales from the Isle of Purbeck MKAL, to a Ludlow. Although, I think the break worked because I'm felling the sweater's pull again. Yesterday, in my June Goals post, I vowed to finish that sweater this month!

Anyway, I finished both clue 1 and 2 from the Tales of Purbeck MKAL last Friday. It was such a nice, easy knit that I flew through it and was waiting impatiently for today for the next clue. Happily enough the 3rd clue was released early and I was able to work on it last night.

I have to say, I love the yarn (O-Wool Local) I'm working with. It's a bit more rustic than I'm used to, but it softens up as you work with it. I can't wait to soak it in some Eucalan, block it, and see how it responds.

The first picture shows my shawl after clue 1. While the rest were taken this morning.

I've had 1600 yards of 100% alpaca yarn sitting in my stash for a few years because I couldn't find a pattern that was 'special' enough. I bought it at Stitches West is 2013 from Alpacas by the Sea and it came with information on the exact alpaca the fiber came from, so I thought it was deserving of some special treatment. Not wanting to knit a sweater out of alpaca (too hot and it tends to sag) and loving Ludlow since I first saw it, I combined the two.

It called for two strands of Brooklyn Tweed Loft held together knit on size 9 (5.5 mm) needles. Since my yarn is about a sport weight, I went with size 6 (4.0 mm) needles. It was too loose and too fuzzy, so I went down to size 4 (3.5 mm) needles and it's working out much better. I'm not very far because it requires some concentration and I typically do my knitting in front of the TV.

The yarn itself is a bit fuzzy, so the pattern isn't as crisp as I'd like, but the fabric is soft and dense. It will make a very nice scarf on the days I walk to school in the snow. 

Lastly, I'm still plugging away on my Melodia. I really only work on it with the group at my LYS on Sundays, but it's still growing quite quickly!

// Lauren