Not much has gotten done this week, I’m afraid. We heard back on the house, and they went with someone else.I was afraid of that, since one of the other people looking at the place seemed to know the landlord really well, and if I were in her shoes I’d go with my friend over a stranger. So, we begin the house hunting again.

My knitting has hit that awkward in-between stage where one project is done before another has quite taken off. (I seem to run into this problem a lot lately. Need to work on planning for the next project sooner.)

I’ve been swatching happily away for the past couple of weeks, using this as my bus knitting. It’s made great progress, and I’m excited about the stitches I’ve been coming up with.

But then, last Sunday, I finished one swatch and just couldn’t figure out where to start looking for another. I’m working on “plain weave” textures right now, feeling my way through two-color linen stitch variations. I’ve tried quite a few, but haven’t found what I want just yet. I thought I had it two or three times this week, knit a few rows, and then realized that no, that still wasn’t it. There’s a lot of one step forward and two steps back in this project right now. I think it’s getting closer, but it isn’t moving yet.

The Namaste scarf has met a similar fate. I had swatched two different stitch patterns that I really liked in a similar yarn, and then bought this yarn to make the actual piece. I was home sick from work one day about three weeks ago, and I managed to get half a skein knit up. Yes, I have been that behind in blogging. I could have sworn that I’d taken pictures and blogged about it weeks ago, but can find evidence of neither. So, belatedly, here is the scarf I started:

The problem is that I don’t like the stitch in this yarn. I love the yarn, and I like the stitch, but the two aren’t playing together well. I think the silk and the tencel together give the yarn a little too much drape where the stitch requires bounce. I knit as far as I did hoping that I’d suddenly like it once the fabric got to a size where I could really see how it hangs, but the next day I looked at it again and had to admit that it’s just not there yet. I like it, but it just doesn’t “pop.”

So, the scarf requires some more tinkering with stitch patterns and swatches. It’s amazing how hard it is to come up with interesting stitch patterns in fully reversible lace with simple repeats. I had fallen into two in a row almost by accident, but now it’s looking like others may be harder to find. That’s not a problem, but it requires time and brainspace to find what I want, and I’ve been rather short on both lately. And so, the Namaste scarf has also been put aside to ripen.

Unfortunately, nothing else has really been stepping forward to be knit, and so I have had an almost entirely knit-less week. I’m hoping to cast on for something this afternoon, or else it will be another week before I have time to figure out what’s next. (And it will be another week before I can get into the stash closet, since we have a houseguest coming tonight and there is now a twin bed set up in front of the closet door.)

So, here’s hoping for more knitting next week!