I feel like this League SSKAL 2019 project is finally well underway after flip-flopping about my colors on the front end. The back is complete and blocked. I’m trying to block pieces as I finish because my blocking board only has room for a back and two sleeves, or both body pieces at once.

The front is also finished, due to the lag in time between me taking photos and getting around to blogging. It’s currently blocking, but I didn’t get as forceful with the pins and blocking wires because one of my kittens, Marshmallow, was trying to pull out the blocking pins with his teeth and I feared he would be successful. I haven’t had to deal with cat interference in blocking for years, so I’ve forgotten how to deal with it. You can see some oily looking spots on the blocking board from me spraying a eucalyptus spray next to the sweater as a deterrent. It’s sometimes equally difficult to keep the kids off my sweater. We live in a pretty tiny house (slightly under 900 square feet) with four humans and two cats, so there are not many places to put a giant blocking board. I dream of a craft room, or even a separate laundry room, someday. But for now, I’ll keep fending off the kids and cats.

These colors are Miss Babs Keira French Marigold (orange) and Quicksilver. I did prewash the orange and it didn’t really bleed at all, so I feel good about the finished piece being secure from color bleeding. I used this citric acid soak recommended by The Knitmore Girls to make sure the dye was set. I did this with the Juniper as well. This yarn gets very nicely softened with washing. I felt like it was soft to begin with and it’s even better when washed.

I’m really enjoying this project. I have only done smatterings of intarsia here and there. I love the neatness of the back as well as the front.

Next up are the sleeves in Miss Babs Keira in Juniper. I’ll keep you posted.