Until The Deathly Hallows arrives...

... I might as well knit. Here's the latest project -- and the first one for just me in a long time. I know, I know, Arwen is still languishing on the needles with unfinished arms. I just can't take too much straight-up stockinette at one time. So I cast on a complicated project in hopes of getting sick of fiddly fair isle and retreating to the oasis of Arwen sleeves. So far, I haven't felt the need to retreat, and with Saturday's book release nearing, I have a feeling I won't be retreating anywhere but Hogwart's for at least a week...

This is the yoke of a fair-isle yoke cardigan in Brown Sheep Naturespun fingering, design put together by me but based on patterns in Sheila MacGregor's Traditional Fair Isle Knitting. When I started out I was concerned that the blue was too bright to blend with the rest of the colors, but now I am glad I kept at it. And now my only concern is that the yoke is going to look weird with the short-row extra length I put in the back to raise the back part of the collar up. Knitting this has made me remember why I love stranded knitting best of all: though the color changes do take more time than just straight stockinette, they don't seem as time-consuming as cables to me, and the change in the pattern as I knit up row after row is so compelling that it has me saying "just one more row" all evening.

Also blog-worthy are these shots of a finished project modeled by its adorable recipient, Andrew, in the arms of Auntie Jen:

Here he's grabbing his ear and making a face because he's sleepy, and here he is ten minutes later: