Houston, We Have a Problem...

Well, I finished my second sleeve last night halfway through The Forty Year Old Virgin. (Great movie, the dialogue was really hilarious - My Pilot had to pause the DVD and laugh several times.) Soaked the sweater in the tub for a while, rinsed, squeezed, rolled in towels, and then laid out to block. The yarn softened up nicely in its bath, and my stitches look nice and even and pretty. I went to bed, and when I checked on the sweater this morning, this is what I found:



Hmm - looks like the back is a full TWO INCHES LONGER THAN THE FRONT!! Oh. My. Gosh. I can't believe it. I think the only thing I can do is simply reknit the front. Fortunately, I do have plenty of yarn left over - about 6 skeins of the original 14 I bought. The front will only take 2 or 3 of those.

And I'm not sure about the sleeves, either:



Uh, yeah. They do look like panties pinned out like that. But they're sleeves - I swear! I did lengthen them a bit - by about 2 inches at the cuff, so maybe that's why they look so pantie-like to me right now. Even so, I'm not entirely sure about how they'll fit into the long and graceful armscye.

Sigh. I really really really really love this sweater. In the picture. It's beautiful, vintagey, drapey, sort of 30s-40s looking to me (but I'm no fashion historian - please do educate me if you know better!). But right now it's just sort of vexing. Fortunately, the front knits up quickly - perhaps 3 or 4 evenings (I'm still a slow knitter).

Grrr. On an up note, though, Jeni sent me her lovely measurements and a request for Knitty's Soleil, in white. I'm really looking forward to working this one up! Now, to find just the right yarn for it. I've got some good ideas already, just need to double check the specified gauge. Maybe a nice silk and cotton blend, something with a little bit of sheen. It will be beautiful against Jeni's pale golden skin and hair. I love my sister in law.

Small Diversion

So, I'm so close to finishing the last sleeve on my sweater, and I get all procrastination-diversionized. Found this fun bit on Amy's blog at Cats in my Craftbasket.

Your Brain's Pattern

Your mind is a multi dimensional wonderland, with many layers. You're the type that always has multiple streams of though going. And you can keep these thoughts going at any time. You're very likely to be engaged in deep thought - and deep conversation.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

More Yarny Goodness

My Pilot went down to the shop this morning to retrieve a box for me - from One Fine Yarn. Inside were 10 balls each of Adriafil Match in Spice and Roses. I really like the Hippy pattern on the site, and had actually sourced that directly from Adriafil a few weeks ago. When I found it on sale for just $2.49 a ball, I grabbed it up, thinking I could make something for myself, and something for someone else, too. The yarn is a very soft cotton and acrylic blend, so it's easy care, and the colors are nicely variegated. I'm envisioning summer tanks or tees, or a lovely swingy cardi as well as the Hippy top.

Here's the yarn in my own home, in natural overcast light:


It's very pretty, and that Spice color is so right up my alley - great with black, chocolate, khaki, white, denim - all the summer basics. I'm looking forward to playing with this! After the solids I've been working with, a little bit of color play will be quite fun!

Jeni's sweater

So, I asked my beautiful sister in law what sort of sweater she'd like, and she said she'd love a purple tank! I'm so happy to have her answer, and really pleased that I wasn't far off from her wish in my initial sweater knitting plan. Plus, since she asked for purple, and that's a color I've not knit with yet, I've been looking at all manner of purple yarns. I even found
Berroco Gems on sale at WEBS for just $4.99 a ball instead of the $12.00 srp. So I gathered enough for two sweaters one in Carnelian



and one in Alexandrite.




I rather fancy these sweaters from Berroco, too:







Anyway, I sent some tank pictures to Jeni, so she can narrow down the rather broad field of "purple tank" to something more specific. Hopefully I'll hear from her soon. I'll finish the last sleeve on my orange sweater this afternoon and get to blocking and seaming, and then I'll be all set to go full steam ahead on my Somewhat Cowl knitalong with the Sexy Knitters Club as well as the purple tank of Jeni's dreams.

Saxony Teal Somewhat Cowl

Well, I finally pushed the button on the yarn order for my Somewhat Cowl knitalong. I went with the Peruvian Collection Quechua alpaca and tencel blend in the color Saxony Teal. I hope it turns out ok - some shades of teal just remind me too much of the scrubs my dental hygienist wears. It's a very pretty shade, but I just feel like I'm in a uniform when I wear it. I suppose even if the color is not "just so" it will still be fine, and I can always continue my search for the penultimate Somewhat Cowl yarn and do a second one, if I love the pattern and the style so much.

I also picked up some more of Elann's Endless Summer Luna in Silken Damask, a super pretty warm pink rose color, and the Zen Red. I'll do a summer top for my daughter (or someone) in the red - perhaps a Picovoli - and something from the Damask for myself.

I had a moment yesterday that made me realize again what a terrific husband I have. My Pilot and I were getting ready to leave the house to head to work. I stopped in the middle of getting dressed to quickly wind a hank of that coppery cotton for my sweater. It's stringy, tangly stuff, and I don't yet have an umbrella swift, so I tend to drape it around the back of the biggest office chair and try to untangle, maintain even tension and wind all at the same time. No big deal, just not the smoothest operation in the world.

My husband was gathering the documents he needed to complete the orders for our kitchen remodel - he was busy and hurrying. He passed the office and saw me winding yarn, put down all his papers, picked up the hank, strung it between his hands and said, "You should have called me - I need to help you with this."

I fell in love with him all over again!

My First Knit Along

Well, since I've such an aversion to knitting with proximate people, and since even so I get lonely for the company of other knitters, I am participating in my first ever Knit Along. I stumbled across the
Sexy Knitters Club just in time to join and participate in their April Knitalong. The patterns chosen were Glampyre's Orangina and the Somewhat Cowl. I chose the Somewhat Cowl. It's flirty, sexy, covered up, and something I can wear for more months up here in Montana.

Now, though, the issue is, of what yarn will I knit this beauty? The style calls for something with a bit of bounce and elasticity, so no cotton or linen for me. Rayon and viscose are lovely and drapey, and I fear they won't be elastic enough, as well. A wool and silk blend would be nice, but where to find one that firstly won't break the bank since I need about 1400 yards to knit a longer sleeved version, and secondly comes in a color I'd both enjoy knitting AND enjoy wearing?

So much obsessive searching has ensued. For about 5 days now I've been combing the 'net looking for something under $8 a ball. Elann has some really nice wool and silk and an alpaca and tencel, both for under $4 a ball, but the colors in there swatches on screen are uninspiring to me. Ditto for KnitPicks...Been to Webs, yarnstore.com, eBay and so on, and still coming up short. At least coming up uninspired.

I think my big problem is choosing the color. I'm knitting a sweater for my MIL in a beautiful cadet blue, and I just finished my daughter's sweater in a luscious pale robin's egg shade. Got some SWTC Bamboo in a pretty periwinkle/lilac/aqua variegated colorway for something intended for my sister in law. So much blue! And then I'm close to finishing my coppery/saffrony cotton sweater, too. So I don't want to replicate the orange tones. My closet is pretty well filled with orange and green, anyway, and I don't want to fall back to my chartreuse rut. So what does that leave me? Reds - but not blue reds as I need more warmth to them. Orange reds, or brown reds are fine. Purples? I've never in my life successfully worn anything in any commercially produced shade of purple. At least I've not felt comfortable in purple. Pink? Same thing - I've got an aversion to pink against my skin, it makes me itchy. Yellow? Hmmm - orangey shades are better than straw or gold ones, and I think Somewhat Cowl, with its retro sexiness, really wants something sort of retro and bold and pencil-skirt appropriate. How about a neutral? Black - always a safe choice, but rather dreary to knit. Beige, tan, stone...boring.

And so, on I struggle, trying in vain to settle upon a yarn, not even certain which color I want to use. And my deadline for acquiring materials is next week, April 1, to be exact.

I need to just buckle down, pick some yarn, and go for it. Keep searching for the perfect one, too, to do a second sweater with, but really just get off my duff and pick something already. With my 6 pages of handwritten notes on suppliers, websites, color numbers, yardage, and average cost, I certainly have all the info I need. But you know how obsession is - ever tried to find the perfect rosy brown lipstick, something different than the 30 already in your drawer? The perfect one that makes you look rested and fresh and polished and pretty and sophisticated? And you know that really, they're all the same, and nobody can tell the difference between any of the 30 you already have, and there isn't any miracle lipstick out there anyway, and it's all just an exercise in futility and frustration. And still you look.

That's me with yarn. And patterns. What's an otherwise non-obsessive girl to do?

A New Plan

Well, after spending the entire of my Saturday combing the web for just the right pattern for my sister in law Jeni and still coming up empty handed, I decided to go to plan B.

I just asked her what sort of sweater she wants. I mean, really - while the idea of a lovingly crafted and beautifully made sweater arriving on her doorstep as a surprise in time for her birthday is truly a lovely one, there are practical matters to consider. Such as, what if despite my exquisite good taste and fashion sense, the sweater I choose for her isn't one that really works for her lifestyle, her schedule, her laundry needs, her taste in fashion, or her wardrobe colors? What an immense disappointment! For both of us! With so much time and love and care invested in the creation, and not to mention the yarn costs, how sad to gift her with something that is simply unsuitable. And then, there is the issue of fit - what if I am wrong on her measurements? What if I knit a sweater that is meant to be waist length and fitted, and it fits her like those boxy, oversized 80s sweaters that are so abundant in the super-mega thrift shops around here? I don't think I'd be quite that far off, but it could happen.

So I asked her - the surprise has lost it's edge, but I think the present itself will gain in the thought and consideration areas, not to mention the wearability of the final garment.

Big sigh of relief - now I can continue to work on my own sweater - got the left front and the back complete, starting the right front today, hope to finish it by Monday evening. Then just a quick try on to determine how much I want to lengthen the little sleeves, a quick turn on the needles for said sleeves, and I'll be ready to wash, block and seam. So quickly - my fastest sweater yet!

Go me.

Straight out departure on 33

This evening, while waiting for our humble frozen pizza to finish cooking, the cats became very agitated and ran to the living room window, which overlooks the grass airstrip we live on.

A small flock of Juncos were pecking at the fallen thistle seeds I put on the railings.

A beautiful woodpecker with a red face sat on the edge of our fence, calling out to his mate.

And a BALD EAGLE made a straight out departure on runway 33, to the north. He flew about 25 feet about ground, level, just easily and casually flying along. The setting sun was diffused by low clouds, and the entire scene was breathtakingly beautiful in the soft light.

Spring is just around the corner. The robins have returned, hawks are circling, Osprey are beginning to rebuild their nests. I can see the tips of daffodils just breaking through the top of the soil. We're having more sunshine than clouds.

Life is good, here in this postcard of a paradise.

Sweater for Jeni

Ok - the yarn I chose for my sister in law's sweater arrived two days ago. Southwest Trading Co's Bamboo, in the Intensity colorway. Such a pretty blend of periwinkle, lilac and aqua, and so perfect for her.

I had wanted to do a simple spring/summer sweater she could get lots of wear out of - something that would look good with shorts, jeans, over her running top to pick up the kids from school, with a little skirt for a trip into town or dinner with her hubby. I thought Sally Melville's Body Hugger might be The One. It's a simple little raglan done in a 3x2 rib. Sadly, I've heard not such good reviews about this one...Hard to fit. And since Jeni is 3000 miles away, and about as opposite my body type as a girl could get, I didn't want to risk it.

So now, I'm feverishly searching for a pattern for this wonderful yarn. It's a light worsted, a #3, and SWTC recommends a size 6 needle, which ought to yield 20 sts/32 rows to 4 inches. I'm swatching now on size 7s, because I'm a tight knitter, and I don't like the way it's looking - too loopy. I'll swatch on size 5s next, as my 6s are currently occupied. Not sure what my gauge will end up being...

So, in searching for the right pattern, I've pulled ALL my knitting books and magazines and have been scouring the net for a pattern that sings to me. It's tough going.

But I have discovered some great sites - ever hear of the http://www.sexyknittersclub.com ? I've emailed to join, as they do knit-alongs for all sorts of wonderful, figure conscious knits.

The one troubling aspect of conducting such an in depth search is that there are so many distractions - I've spent 4 hours looking for a pattern, and therefore have neither been working on my own sweater (the left front and most of the back is done - going quickly) OR on swatching to find the proper needle size for the Bamboo yarn, which of course will ultimately determine the proper pattern to noodle around with. It's not so much the World Wide Web, as it is a massive black hole into which one gets sucked.

BUT one of the cool things I found is this:

Your Birthdate: May 16

You're incredibly introverted and introspective. You live inside your head. You spend a lot of alone time meditating and thinking.People see you as withdrawn, and at times they are right.You are caring and deep, but it may be difficult for you to show this side of yourself. Your strength: Your original approach to thinking Your weakness: You tend to shy away from others Your power color: Pale blue Your power symbol: Wavy line Your power month: July

href="http://www.blogger.com/
20href="" What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Play with it - is it true for you? It is for me.

Many thanks!

Well, thank you all for your kind comments! Somehow I haven't received notification of them through my email, AND I cannot for the life of me figure out how to actually post a REPLY to your comments on the blog.

Blah - techno-challenged I am. (I can't even retrieve voicemail on my cell-phone).

So apologies ot you all - I'm NOT ungrateful, nor am I ignoring you!

And thank you for your kindness.

Finished!

Well, after quite literally an entire day of seaming, my daughter's sweater is complete.

It's quite pretty, actually - even looks ok on short and stumpy me. On my daughter, I think it will look beautiful, in a casually elegant sort of way. I hope she wears it every which way - over a slim tank and jeans, with a little summer dress, over her workout clothes after running, with her pajamas in the evening just 'cause she's chilly, first thing Sunday morning over a t-shirt and shorts to run out and grab coffee and sweet rolls. Whenever.

The sleeves are a nice length, not too long. The mesh lattice pattern looks pretty. And the wool is so soft - super soft, really. Nashua Creative Focus worsted, 75% wool, 25% alpaca. The color is called Mint, but it's really a very soft robin's egg blue to me. The pattern is from Vogue Knitting Summer '05. If I were to do this one again, I'd look for another lace pattern for the panel, lengthen the body, make the sleeves narrower, and add some significant waist shaping. Oh, and knit it in the round as much as possible. The seaming went well for really my first time doing it, but I have to say, I did not love the process.

So, it is ready to go, just needs wrapping. And into the mail it will be tomorrow with another little something I have for her.

Her main present hasn't arrived yet - so that will be late. But she'll at least have her sweater on her birthday.

I am so happy it is done! As soon as my back unkinks I'll have to start knitting a tiny red sweater for a baby or two...

Repent, Ye....

Alright - so My Pilot and I went into town this afternoon. I had to meet with the DA regarding a murder trial, but that's another story altogether. My Pilot and I stopped at Mickey D's for lunch. As we pulled in to the parking lot, My Pilot discovered that his favorite end parking spot was occupied. By a big, white, late-model pickup truck emblazoned with a passage from Psalms - something about the wicked being cast into hell. The tailgate boasted letters at leas a full foot tall - REPENT in red writing. The driver's side had much smaller script with the name and address of the church with which the vehicle was associated. Advertising, I suppose. Well, ok. I tend to hold my faith a bit closer to my heart, but whatever. If a person has that sort of conviction and strength of belief, that's fine.

I said to My Pilot, "I bet you ten dollars I can guess who belongs to that truck." "OK," he said.

We entered the McDonald's - there were the usual mid-day moms of toddlers, a few construction worker types in line, and one old crotchety-looking guy in a khaki parka, plaid shirt and Lee jeans. I nudged My Pilot - that must be him. He agreed.

We ordered, got our goodies, sat down and at. The suspected owner of the Repent-mobile was seated in the same section. When he finished his Daily Bread, he rose from the table, turned, and troddled off to the men's room. He left his tray. Well, ok. Maybe he'll clear his debris when he returns from the bathroom. I nudged My Pilot and said, "I bet you five dollars he leaves it all sitting right there."

"I bet you're right."

"What would Jesus do?"

"Huh?"

"I dare you to say that to him. I believe in my heart Jesus would not leave his garbage behind for someone else to clean up."

My Pilot rolled his eyes and sipped the last bits of soda from the cup.

Crotchety man emerged from the bathroom. He stopped at his table, picked up some wrappers that had fallen from the tray. Then he picked up his cup. The holier-than-everyone son of a gun was going to leave his litter behind!

He took three steps toward the door.
"Jesus would have taken his tray," My pilot said, barely above regular speaking level.

"He didn't hear you," I whispered.

But wait...Mr. Crotchety halted in his tracks, stepped backward three steps, picked up the tray and proceeded to the waste bin.

I about fell out of my chair.

He dumped his tray, turned toward the door, and fixed My Pilot and me with a distinctly MENACING GAZE.

Then into his Repent-mobile and off he drove. To continue spreading his unsolicited message to all he passes on the road. And the wicked shall be cast into hell.

But I bet the next time he stops for lunch, he clears his tray without being reminded.

High fives all around.

And another thing - I am quite certain that the Jesus I know not only would always clear his own debris, but also would not drive a two-ton four wheel drive pickup truck with REPENT stenciled across the back. I suppose I could be wrong- but I doubt it.

Sometimes you just know...

It's Sunday - a beautiful, crystalline, cold Sunday. We woke up early today - for us, anyway, and it was easy to rise from our warm bed. The dogs and cats were all well and happy, eager to get outside of the hut (the cats) and the house (the dogs). The sun is high, a sure sign of Spring on its way, but still delicate with the thin quality that comes with Northern winters.

My Pilot made coffee, I updated my iPod quickly, brushed my teeth, tied up my hair, put on my running shoes, and hit the elliptical.

Listening to Brenda Daynes' http://www.cast-on.com podcast, all was right. As I strode, my shoulders were down, my back straight. Tension-free but still supported. I looked out the front window past our deck, and a small herd of deer trotted past. All was right. I glanced around our little livingroom, freshly dusted, vacuumed and fluffed after having My Pilot's brother and his wife for supper two evenings ago. Everything was tidy and clean, everything was humming along, not effortlessly, but well. All was right.

I finished my fifteen minutes in record time (ha!) and decided to continue, just to see what might happen. I didn't feel as though I'd pass out, or collapse under my own weight, legs screaming for relief at any cost. I kept going. All was right.

I kept on for more than twenty five minutes - a new record. Sure, I know many of you do this every day, and some do far more than this every day. I'm a realist. But your steady achievements by no means diminish my own sporadic and meager ones. I am in awe of you - and I am pleased with myself. All is right.

And sometimes, when everything is right, when the mechanics of a morning or a day just seem to hum along, well oiled and optimally functioning, you just know that a window has been opened. A portal to creativity and freedom and a fullness of the soul. Today is one of those days.

All is right.

Something for my 7 year old niece

While at my LYS a couple of weeks ago, I rummaged through her quite extensive half-off basket and found this:



I think it will make a charming cardi/jacket/shrug for my 7 year old niece Naomi! Soft, fluffy, and rainbow hued - looks almost like one of those clown wigs, don't you think? How cute would this be done up in a knit in the round coccoon shrug like the one Annie Modesitt designed for Interweave Knits last year? Could I modify the pattern to accomplish this? We'll have to see...

Almost time work on MY sweater!

Well, after doing so many things for other people, and especially after knitting so much in blue and variants of blues, I am incredibly ready to do something different. Something for myself. Something the opposite of blue...


Here it is - Berroco's SofTwist cotton and rayon yarn in Sensei. So pretty, lustrous, with sheen and drape. It will be fun to swatch this yarn.

I worked with SofTwist, the wool and rayon yarn, in a previous sweater for my mother in law. It was a dream to work with, but between the size of the sweater jacket, the needle size and the garter stitch, the whole thing just grew and grew. So poor thing has a knitted bathrobe rather than a smart little sweater jacket to wear out and about. And she's so gracious, she insisted on the phone that it was just lovely.

Anyway, Cinxia will turn out more size appropriate for her. And I get to play with this coppery dream and a few more days!

SIde to Side Garter Stitch Gloves

So, I finally have some photos of the gloves I worked on in my first ever knitting class. The yarn is wonderful to work with, and the pattern is quite fun - these are languishing until I finish up a few other projects, though - perhaps I'll be able to wear them next winter. Oh well.

The color is really lovely - all those blues, greens and teals with flashes of auburn. And the yarn is so soft. I imagine socks from the Bearfoot yarn would be quite luxurious indeed!

Cinxia for my exquisite MIL!

So, this is the wip pic of the gorgeous Cinxia sweater on Knitty.com I am doing for my mother in law. Her birthday is in July, so I've got some time left, thank goodness. With 2 babies on the way, suddenly there are lots of tiny projects in the cue.

Anyway, I'm working up Cinxia in a really beautiful blue Plymouth Indiecita Alpaca. I'ts what I'd call a French blue, or a cadet blue (if you remember your old 64 Color Crayola set). So soft, and it's showing the twisted stockinette stitch nicely, too. I feel that when I send the sweater off to Wisconsin I'll need to make a note that the stitches are twisted on purpose - since Deone is a wonderful knitter herself. It's been a while since she's picked up the needles, though.

My Daughter's Sweater: Part II

I am officially more than half completed with the front - and since the back and sleeves are already completed, as well, I am so close to finishing, I can taste it. Then it's time to wash, block, and seam.


I am actually looking forward to seaming everything together. I'm not a good seamer, I've never used kitchener stitch, or grafting, or mattress stitch, or anything other than a clumsy backstitch. And I am really looking forward to making this one nice and neat and perfect.

I traded out the frost flowers design for a very simple mesh lattice lace pattern - and I'm really happy I did. It made the knitting so much smoother and more meditative, and I think the mesh panels look rather pretty. They remind me of wicker or rattan or something vaguely Japanese. The frost flowers pattern is beautiful, but it is 34 stitches wide, 32 rows long, no repeats and no "free" rows of just knit or purl. So quite challenging to do for someone with wandering attention and interruptions. I'm very glad I changed the pattern!

Once this piece is off the needles I can start swatching for MY sweater - the twisted front short sleeve top, #5 from Vogue Knitting Summer 2005. I've chosen Berocco Cotton Twist in the color Sensei, a luscious saffrony-coppery shade that will be lovely with black, brown, khaki and denim (since that's all I wear, apparently). I think I'll lengthen the sleeves a bit, maybe even make them long sleeves, if I can get the tapering ok. But at least elbow length, I think.

Also in the queue are my mother in law's Cinzia sweater from Knitty.com
and some baby things since both my husband's nephews are expecting babies. One in June, one in September. What fun to knit little sweaters and tiny hats, and perhaps a blankie or two. In fact, I just orderd some Shine from KnitPicks for some baby things, as well as some sock yarn to whip up a couple of little pullover sweaters. Also on order from Elann are two shades of Endless Summer Collection Luna (DK weight) in Zen Red and Silken Damask for the Daisy sweater from Knitty.com. Hope we get at least one girl!