An Arne and Carlos Butterfly

 Arne and Carlos, Norwegian knitters and designers, have enriched my life.  I enjoy their tutorial videos.  I enjoyed their Quarantine Knitting Podcast.  Now I am enjoying their "Sit and Knit for a Bit" podcast. 

Sometime between their first episode and their second episode I latched onto the idea of knitting each of the blocks they give us.  Since they give us a new pattern every week, I thought I should be able to knit up one block each week and use it to make a blanket.  Eventually.

The second week came and went before I cast on for the Butterfly (second pattern) block. Anything butterfly or heart is something I love.  Well, I finished the block halfway through the third week, and decided I have to change my mind.  There are too many things to focus on SO I think I will focus on something of eternal value.  Sadly, knitting is not that.  I will still knit, but more of my energy needs to go to:

•  Genealogy
•  FamilySearch Indexing
•  Getting our home in order (I don't want to cash it in and leave a scummy house for someone else to organize...not that I think I am close to cashing it in but you never know.)
•  Getting our food in order and consistent
•  Getting my body in order so I have energy to focus on other things
• Working on greeting cards for the young singles at Church who need contacts

That is enough to focus on.  Well, it is impossible to actually focus on that many things, but those are going to rise to the top of the list. At least that is my current hope/dream.

My goodness!  Every time I look at this butterfly I see even more errors!  I am going to stop looking.  I DO have a very high tolerance for errors in knitting, especially when no one is going to wear the item, but this is rather ridiculous.  I do think you can tell it is supposed to be a butterfly. (Arne and Carlos, I am so sorry.  Your pattern is fine.  I was not paying enough attention...)

Possible New Knitting Project

Recently I have been enjoying Arne and Carlos and their Daily Quarantine Knitting KAL.  (They also have a great YouTube channel). Some years ago I found their book 55 Christmas Balls.  It is filled with beautiful Christmas balls.  I think I started to knit a ball at one point. Well, now I have thought about that again.  I ordered some white and some red yarn online.

This is the ball I knit this week.  It is ready to duplicate stitch a design in red onto the ball. You can also actually knit in the design, which I would probably do the next time... The ball is way bigger than I imagined. I used worsted weight yarn and US 4 double pointed needles.  I have to say that I will not be making these balls.

 

As you can tell, this is a VERY large ball.  That is one reason I won't be knitting a ton of them.  The  other reason I won't be knitting these balls, or at least, not with this yarn, is I don't like the way the yarn feels on my fingers.  I will need the actual wool that Arne and Carlos recommend.  I have not found the yarn they suggest.  However, I should be able to find a similar yarn. I believe it is a fingering weight.  Well, it seems to be a 4-ply European wool.   

 Maybe someone knows a shop that sells this kind of yarn.  If so, I would like the information.  I expect it will be pricey so I want to see it in person before laying down the cash!