what to do?

The body is finished - but none of the edges are and it's starting to drive me a little crazy. The original plan was to do hems like this one, but when I made the first hem on the sleeve I hated it. It's too thick and it makes a weird line where it's connected to the sleeve. It looks cool on Jared's sweater, but not mine.



So, I tried 2x1 ribbing, an idea I got from a sweater I bought this weekend. I hated it. Then I tried a hem again, hated it, then 2x1 ribbing again tonight and remembered that I hated it. So, you can see the hem I tried again in this picture, the white, but it's just pretty awful. I don't know what to do with all of the edges now, and I think the sleeve I've been experimenting on is starting to look tortured. I don't like rolled edges, so I can't just leave it as it is and cast off. I like the edges on this sweater, but that means hems again, and I think this yarn is just too bulky for hems. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

For Alice:

Not complete, but at least it fits.

random bits about nothing

I'm getting there. This picture is before about 3 hours more of knitting. The first saddle is done now and I'm working on the second one. It's a lot of fun, back and forth, back and forth, taking up one stitch for each row. It reminds me of knitting a border on a piece of lace, except it's all stockinette.

I got a haircut on Saturday morning, and feel compelled to share some pictures with the five people who read this. The curls are natural, though possibly enhanced a bit that day by the very fine Elie. He is the only person in 23 years who has given me a hair cut that I like. (Besides maybe when I was a baby - some of those hair cuts were super cute.) Also, apparently people fly from all over the country to see him.

The picture on the right was taken at 1 am, so I'm sorry for the bad lighting and tired eyes.



I came home on Monday from Florida and found my brother now has a beard. And it's red, which I don't understand and it creeps me out a little bit. He's still cute, though.




I love the fall.

the fun part

I finally finished the sleeves to the red sweater. I kept wanting to wear them while I was knitting them, so sometimes it was hard to keep knitting.

The body and sleeves are all connected now:



I wish I had a better daytime photo, but it's 11:30 at night, so that's not going to happen anytime soon.

The weather is so nice up here (in Virginia). It's such a great change from 85 degrees and super humidity. My hair doesn't know what to do with itself, so it's just fallen down limp. Usually in Florida it's big and poufy all the time. :) I have been trying to get some good pictures of the trees, these are the best so far:





My favorite season. I got here right on time.

alexander, where are you?

Hmm.. not so sure about this one. We'll see.

Tonight I found out that I can watch the recent episodes of Grey's Anatomy on abc.com. It's great because I am never home on Thursday nights to watch it. Well, some Thursday nights I'm home on time, but I'm not very good at keeping a TV watching schedule.

slow hands

I have been super busy lately, home around 11 every night last week until last night, when I started the second sleeve:



I won't be done by next Sunday, but that's okay. Maybe I can finish this sleeve by then at least.

I was hoping to do some Christmas knitting, but I haven't figured any of that out yet, and it's almost November. Maybe some small gifts or something. I'm not really sure yet, but I know it's getting pretty late for it. If anything, I want to make something for my mom. She hasn't gotten anything knitted from me in a long time.

On Friday night, my friends suckered me into watching the stupidest movie ever made - Employee of the Month. They were all excited because it had Dane Cook in it and they told me he was really funny, etc. I didn't know what the movie was called until we got there. I just wish we saw The Departed instead. I'm making them go to that this Friday night, I can't wait!

nice day for a sulk

The body of the sweater is done to the place where the arms are attached. So I started an arm:



This is the third try. First one was too small, then on the second one I realized that I didn't like the cast-on. So I ripped them both and started this one with a provisional cast-on. I'm going to make a hem, but I want the fabric to just fold in without different stitches on the edge, like this:



The cream cashmere will be in the inside of the hems. I can't wait to do that part, but I'm saving it for last. Once the sleeves are done, this sweater will be a lot more fun. I can't wait to make the shaping and saddles on the top. I have something I want to wear this to in two weeks, so that's my target finish date. We'll see if that really happens. Maybe in two weeks it might be cooler outside and I can actually wear this outside instead of only inside.

This morning I went for a walk to Starbucks and it was cool enough that I walked up the hill and didn't break a sweat. By the time I was walking back it was warming up and getting uncomfortable. I can't wait to go home to Virginia and see the fall and wear a sweater outside!

wander the halls

13 inches - need three more and then I can start the arms. This is turning out to be a 34-inch sweater instead of 36 inches, with a 29-inch waist. It fit me quite well after dinner tonight, so I'm doing alright, but it probably won't look good with too many layers underneath. It looks extra fuzzy in the dark blurry photo (it's a light cashmere halo, ahh softness).

I went out for sushi tonight for the second time in the last few days. I have always thought that I didn't like it, but recently found out that it's pretty good. I can eat a lot of it and it doesn't make me tired at all. Most other food makes me very sleepy unless I only eat salad or fruit. Anyway, I have some new friends who are sushi chefs.

I think one of the only things I really like about Florida are the skies. They are always beautiful, especially the sunsets. This was the sky when I got home tonight:

miles of stockinette

It's a beautiful Sunday again. Most Sundays here are beautiful days. Yahoo tricked me this morning - the weather said it was 68° outside and I was all excited until I realized that it was set to Virginia, not Florida. It's 86° today, as usual. The humidity isn't so bad, so that means it must be fall.

Some sweater progress:



I've got about 8 inches done so far, which is nearly halfway until I join body and sleeves. There are some decreases in there for waist shaping (that's what all the stitch markers are about). I've tried it on a few times so far and it seems to fit pretty well. EZ doesn't really give shaping instructions, so I made something up. I measured myself to find out where to start decreasing (my current favorite sweater doesn't have any waist shaping, so I didn't have anything to compare to), and it's working well so far. It's very stretchy, too!

This one is much nicer than the first sweater I made in the round. About five years ago I made a raglan sweater and it ended up quite stiff and very uncomfortable. I never wore it for more than fifteen minutes. It's in England somewhere, maybe in a landfill by now, I'm not really sure. I only have one picture of it and it's a really crappy webcam picture, so I won't put it up here.

I finished the knee-sock and really didn't like it at all. So I took the second skein and tried something out.




The colors are gorgeous and the way the stripes are coming out are really lovely. I like this much better than the stockinette tiger stripes. The two pictures are the two different sides. The purple runs throughout and the green and rust sort of pool on the different sides. The Jaywalker pattern is a really nice showcase for this colorway. It's been quite neglected since the red sweater started, though. I'll get these done someday.

fiery red

Look at that lovely fuzzy cashmere. It feels like ... cashmere. There are no other words to describe it.

his name is colin

The new baby was born on Wednesday! He was 6lbs 7oz and very tiny indeed. His sweater won't fit him for awhile, I'm sure. He is super cute, and his mommy has really taken to him. It is her first baby and a year ago she was sure she wouldn't be having any babies for a long time. She told me tonight that she already can't imagine not being a mommy.

They asked me to be his godmother! I am so excited about it - it is such an honor. Just having that job has made me feel much more attached to him - it's really neat. I love holding him, he's so aware and alive, but he's this little 7lb person. AH! I can't wait to help teach him to walk and read and drive a car (I'll be so old by then).

I have decided to make a baby blanket for him, and I have to somehow incorporate the Steelers logo (baby's mommy is a HUGE fan):



I have seen a baby blanket pattern that had star shapes similar to those in the pattern, so I'll probably do something like it. Of course I can't remember who's site I saw them on, but I think it was in one of the popular baby books. He's got plenty of blankets and toys for now, so I'll probably make this for Christmas.

The red sweater was started Sunday, but somehow my gauge was way off and it turned into a 44-inch sweater - way too big. So I re-measured and took it from 248 sts down to 200. This should technically produce a 36-inch sweater, so we'll see. In the sample stitch counts Elizabeth Zimmerman uses for the hybrid sweater, she uses 200 stitches, so it must be kismet.

I'll get some pictures taken after I have more than 1 1/2 rows done. :-)

flying in airplanes part 2

I went back to Virginia last weekend and just got back to Florida today. What a crazy couple of weeks!

I'm going in a different direction altogether with the socks - when I get some sunshine I'll put a picture up. The picture explains it all.

I joined Zimmermania! It's madness. I was going to make a seamless hybrid out of my denim blue yorkshire felted tweed (which was originally intended for Salina, but nevermind for now). I was really looking forward to using it up since it has been sitting around here since February. I went into Knit Happens on Sunday to find a contrasting yarn to use for the hems, and some stripes. There is a pretty gold color sprinkled around in that denim yarn, and I thought that color would complement the blue nicely. They didn't have anything in the whole store that looked good with the denim yarn, except for some silk, but that wasn't going to work. Then I found the red cashmere. It looked so nice next to the denim felted tweed.

Then I thought about a whole sweater in red cashmere. Real gorgeous red. Then she tells me it's 40% off. I thought about it for about 20 minutes while the two sales ladies looked through two different pattern books with me.

:-D



This picture was the closest I could get to the right color. 1800 yards of yumminess.

So, now a seamless hybrid in red cashmere, but with waist shaping of course. I have been sorting out the measurements and shaping, so hopefully it will work out well. I have left over cream colored cashmere to use for the inside of the hems. I think it will be nice.

Sunday:





Mmmm, Virginia food. I have yet to find decent lox in Florida and I can't find babka anywhere. It was damn good food this week, that's for sure.

flying in airplanes

There has been little knitting action around here for the last few weeks. It all feels very stale (which means it's time for something new, anything).

The sock is growing, with a new heel which I like much better.



Just a backwards heel flap heel. I sort of made up the short row heel turn numbers, but it worked out fine. The calf shaping worked out well, too, except I decreased about two inches too early, so I have to rip a few inches out and re-do it. The idea worked out fine though. I increased every few rows and then every other row and every row for a few and then every other row for a few more. When it seemed to be wide enough, I knit straight for awhile (though not long enough) and then started decreasing every other row, like you would for a gusset. I sort of wish I was using the magic loop method for this sock, though. Every time I want to try it on I have to transfer it to a circular needle and it's a bit of a pain. The size 1 Lantern Moons are 2.25 mm and the size 1 addis are 2.5, so it's too late to switch. When I do the ribbing at the top I will use size 0 addis. I always like dpns better, but next time I make toe-up knee socks I will definitely use magic loop.

This weekend I went home to visit my family. I got to see one of my oldest friends who has been away for years. He went to school in Oregon and then lived in LA for awhile, but now he's back home for a bit. It was great to see him again - we've always been really good friends.

I played pool with my brother and I beat him! That is amazing because he is killer at pool.

I am kind of sad that the Skins lost their first game of the season, but it was cool to see that Tom Cruise and Katie were at the game. Next week they play the Cowboys. Normally I would hope they beat the Cowboys (there is a huge rivalry), but though I feel like a traitor, I hope they lose. My boss is going to the game in Dallas with his brother and they are HUGE Cowboys fans and absolutely hate the Redskins, so I want the Cowboys to win so their trip is fun. We'll see what happens. I will be watching the game at a friend's condo upstairs in HD on the big screen. :)

At the office there is always talk about football. Always. I am not a very big football fan, but I decided that this year I am going to at least pay attention to what happens with the Skins.


One of my random pictures from home. That is one of the statues on the DC side of the Memorial Bridge. I've always had a fascination with those statues. This picture makes me want to go back (I haven't even been gone a day). It was cool outside and it wasn't humid and I needed a sweater. I miss seeing my family everyday, too. I am too old for this homesick stuff.

these are o.r. scrubs. oh, are they?

Satin Coat, Versace, $2143. I should take my mom's advice and marry a doctor. There were a few comments about that coat - yes, it's way too expensive, and yes I love it. I would almost spend my savings for that coat, that's pretty bad. It's my favorite color, too.

Anyway, enough about that. I have been working on my forever unfinished sweater. I was a wondering if it was going to be the right size, and I couldn't tell if it was too big or too small, but it seems to be just right.

I am getting near the last repeat of the pattern. Then there are just a bunch of eyelets and ribbing to the collar. I hope that part of it goes faster. Knitting cables and ribbing on size 2 needles seems like it's taking forever. It looks pretty, though. It will be nice when it's finished.

I got a lot done while I watched Rusmore on Sunday afternoon. Rushmore is one of my favorite movies - it brings back lots of memories. When I was 15, I went to see it with all of my friends and they all hated it and I was in heaven because it's awesome. It also has Luke Wilson in it and he's pretty yummy.

The poor sock has been abandoned for now. It has been left to the size of my bed, waiting to be ripped. I figured out what I'm going to do about the heel - I'll do what Cara did here, make a regular heel flap, just backwards. It should make it a bit less plain and hopefully fit better. I think I'll leave the rest of the sock in plain stockinette, the colors make a nice enough pattern.

I haven't done much knitting this weekend. My mom's in town for the week, so I've spent a lot of time with her. It's so nice to see my mommy everyday, especially at night before bed. It makes me really happy. She's also been feeding me - I haven't had Cheerios once for dinner since she's been here. She bought me some sleepy vitamins to help me sleep better, too. I love my mommy.

Since this post is about all kinds of crap, there's one more thing. I bought Push Barman to Open Old Wounds by Belle & Sebastian. It's a collection of songs from different EPs they did. I have some of the EPs already, so disc 1 is pretty useless, but I don't have any of the songs from disc 2, so it's like getting a new B&S cd. It's very cool. I'm pretty sure that mostly no one that will read this will know what I'm talking about, but that's okay.

i love september

Trees change color, leaves fall, lovely deep blue skies, Thanksgiving, cold air, sweaters, that smell... my favorite smell of fall.

And the new season comes out!



There were only three good magazines at the store last night, so that's all I got. I flipped through for about two seconds and found that bright blue coat. I want that coat. There is also an article in In Style about cabled knitted bags. I thought that was kind of cool. I have been planning on making a cabled purse for awhile now. Maybe this fall, since apparently it is in style.

This is one I found months ago, but I don't remember what the pattern was or what site I found it on. I saved the picture just for an idea - it looks pretty easy to figure out how they did that. It is really cute, so I might do something similar.

This is kind of sad. Poor Pluto, I always liked that planet. I guess there's some arguing over it though. I don't really know enough about the solar system to completely understand it. I guess I never paid enough attention.

I am having serious doubts about the knee-highs. I don't really like the short-row heel and I think they are a little too plain for me. Even if they had some arch shaping or something, it would be much better. I'm giving the sock a little time to grow on me before I rip it. I do like the colors a lot, so I'll have to figure something out.

colors

Lately I've noticed that my inspiration comes from strange places. There was a dress in the window of Jessica McClintock in the mall this past weekend in a silky deep green and I thought that might be the color for my Frost Flowers and Leaves.

Then I went to Banana Republic and found the most gorgeous raspberry color sweater (of course I bought it), but thought that might be the right color.

I also found some gorgeous blues at JCrew and now I think my color choices are too bright and too deep for this shawl. If I could get the silk in deep green it would be perfect, but that won't happen.

So I will have to just keep my eye out for more inspiration. That teal wool looks a lot like the color I'm using for my rib & cable pullover (it is one of my favorite colors, but more like the shade of the dress). With all the time I'm going to spend making this thing, I want to have a color I will actually like in the end.

Later in the day - I've found this great shade of Zephyr called "Chanel". It's that last one of the pictures, the fuschia-ish color. Maybe that will be it, though it is approaching being a bit too tacky. I've also discovered Helen's Lace, but that may be out of my price range. Then there is this stuff, Grignasco MerinoSilk that looks nice. This is probably the most work I've ever done finding the right yarn for something - and I've hardly spent any time so far. I guess there's no rush. The hard part of all of this is possibly spending $100 on wool I can't see or feel before I buy it. I don't like that idea very much. I will just have to find out what other people like to use for lace.

hazey jane

A new sock. Destined to be knee-high (if the 215 yards will make it so).



That is my first (second really, i ripped the first one) short-row heel. I haven't decided on it yet. I do like making heel flaps, picking up stitches and decreasing, and doing that in reverse for toe-up. The short-row heels are sort of low key, which is nice. It adds to the plainness of the stockinette.

This yarn has interesting pooling. I'm not sure it would be called pooling, but it's sort of got tiger stripes. They're kind of pretty I guess. I thought about doing a leaf lace pattern of some sort, but sometimes the lace gets lost in all that color, so I thought stockinette would do. It's doing alright for now, but I'll probably have to elastify the ribbing in the tops when they are done.

Maybe these socks will be a good excuse to buy a new skirt for fall. :) And maybe some new shoes, too!

say hello to the angels

It came out very pretty! My favorite parts of triangular shawls are the very tips of the triangle. The yarn over patterns are so cool. It's also not too small:





Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark (from Fall 2006 Interweave)
Misti Alpaca Lace, 1 skein
Size 2 Addi Naturas
Finished size: 42x21"
August 12-16, 2006

I was concerned about the size when it was finished, but it blocked out large enough to wear. Since I used smaller needles (size 2 instead of 4), it came out smaller, but it's still okay. It actually warmed me up a bit while I was wearing it, which I found very strange because of how light it is. I am definitely going to make another black shawl - next time much bigger, though. Black is so elegant and really brings out the pattern in a way that sometimes colored yarn doesn't.

I want blocking wires! The whole string business still doesn't make a straight enough edge for me. It is better than just pins - I can't seem to get a straight edge at all with that method. Maybe I'll slip some in my next yarn purchase. :-)

Next on the list is Frost Flowers & Leaves from A Gathering of Lace. I would love to use the Jade Sapphire cashmere for it, but I need over 3000 yards. That would be over $300! AH. I will definitely have to find something else to use. I would love to use the same silk that Eunny used, but that would cost about $200. I was thinking of maybe Merino Oro, or I could use the yarn recommended by the pattern, Jamieson & Smith, though maybe in cobweb weight. That would fulfill my dream of making a proper huge shawl with shetland wool. I've wanted to do that since I was 17 and read about shetland lace from a big needlepoint book I got from the Texere mill in Bradford. I should have made one that summer - I had all the time in the world.

mini

Hmm... it might be a little small.





If Bear can wear it as a large shawl, there could be a problem - he is only 15 inches tall. The unstretched measurements are 29x12, but it feels like it might stretch a lot when I block it. It's in the sink right now having a bath, so we'll see.

That unblocked black lace is damn ugly, that's for sure. Bear does makes it glamorous, though (even with his shredded feet).