Fibery goodness

I have been working on a new project... it is going to take a long time:

 (please forgive the shadow from the railing)

This is the first of 4 panels for the world, plus I have matching yarn to make a map of the US.

I bought the yarn for this afghan more than a year ago, and it has been sitting in my workroom since then, waiting for me to get the courage to try intarsia knitting. My mom knit a cardigan for my dad many, many years ago, with a golfer on the back in intarsia, and I was awed at the time. That type of knitting seemed to me to be the pinnacle of knitting perfection, and of course, I would never be able to reach that level. It has taken me more than 50 years to try!

I am enjoying the knitting, even with having to stop every couple of rows to untangle my yarn. I am using a Cascade simple spun wool, so the yarn is quite fragile; if I pull on it too hard it breaks. The only problem is, I didn't think it would take this long. I am already thinking longingly of some of the other projects I have lined up... but I will at least finish this panel before I start something else (big).

This doesn't count:



It took me an afternoon; it is a 4 inch teddy bear that I think is simple enough for the new knitters in the class I am teaching. They got all excited when they saw it, and 2 of the 4 cast on right away. We will see on Wednesday how they did.