"Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder"

[x-posted at Two Pointy Sticks]

That's Swedish for "there is no bad weather, only bad clothes".**

Not a bad aphorism for today's forecast. And after weeks and weeks of 60 degree weather we're finally having a proper winter. From every window here, the world looks like this:





New Sweater: VERONIKA

If I wasn't in such a lazy-Sunday mood, I'd be outside wearing this recently-finished fitted cashmere deep V-neck pullover. It insists on being called Veronika.



I know. A clothes horse with no shoulders doesn't carry it off quite as well as a real person, but that's the best I can do for now.

Veronika was knit in a size 38, using 8 skeins of Mont Blanc in six colourways: Grape, Tender is the Night, Etro Shirt, Hill of Tara, Paddock Brown and Perry Winkel. There was even enough left over for a matching ribbed long skinny scarf. Here are a couple of close-ups:

Sleeve detail:



Companion scarf detail:




Break-Up SOX II

Thanks to all of you who left compliments on the Break-Up Sox! I'm wearing them now, in fact, and it's amazing how much cozier they feel while lounging here at the window where we can see the neighbourhood kids, hooting and hollering, as they slide down the snow-covered street on sleds.

Some of you expressed an interest in the deviation from Cat Bordhi's Simple Sock pattern. The modification is really simple. I substituted the 2x2 rib for the following stitch pattern:

Round 1: [K2, sl1, k1, yo, psso (by this I mean: pass slipped st over both the knitted st and the yo)] to end.
Round 2: Knit
Repeat these two rounds.

And to begin the heel flap, I worked the stitches on the first needle and worked the heel flap using the stitches on the second needle. Whether you start the heel flap on the first or second set of needles doesn't really matter; all I wanted was to resume knitting the front of the leg with a "K2..." rather than the "sl1, k1, yo" portion of the rib. But it's up to you to do what you prefer. I also made the leg 7" (as opposed to 6"), so it sits better on and hugs a wee bit more between ankle and calf -- believe me when I say that that one inch can make a huge difference under jeans on blustery days.

Now, my dears, off screen, there is an entire colourworks studio filled with fiber processing, and beside me there is some piping hot cocoa, knitting, and a shiny new novel to sink into.

Speaking of which: Veronika knit up in just a little over a week while I was reading Isabel Allende's Zorro. If you can manage to knit without looking, in a position where it's easy for you to page-turn without much trouble, I recommend Zorro as excellent, highly entertaining white noise for your knitting. Somewhere amid all the banditos, pirates, and swashbuckling adventure and romance, you'll find that your garment has pretty much knit itself!

Do any of you read while you knit? And if so, can you recommend any well-written page-turners? (So far I have lined up: Brokeback Mountain, which shouldn't last longer than even half a skein as it's 64 pages, Donna Tartt's The Little Friend and The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova.)

____________________________
** This, according to this web page, where, incidentally, there are also listed a few phrases you might not find in the run-of-the-mill Swedish phrase book, such as...

-- morgonpigg - (expression used to describe early-morning-shiny-happy-people)
-- ...och det spelar ingen roll ändå om hon ser ganska tjock ut, eller hur? - and it doesn't matter anyway if she looks fat, does it?
-- och vilket språk använder ni i sängkammaren? - and what language do you use in bed?

(Honestly, it never ceases to amaze me what sorts of information one can find on the internet.)