There's good news and bad news

The good news is that Rusted Root is off the needles.

The bad news is it doesn't fit. Sigh. All of that trying on, all of the sensitive alterations, all of those hopes, all of the WORK! It doesn't fit. The armholes are too big. The sleeves aren't even puffy, just huge. And in spite of the trying on and the addition of shaping, I look like a sausage in a watermelon colored casing. The only good thing is the yarn, and that it's just the right length. A quick go round with the measuring tape brought some light to the matter.

My gauge is spot on. Let's just get that out there first. I knit the size with the 40-43 inch bust range. The finished bust measurement? 36 inches. 36 inches! I mean, I like negative ease, but honestly, who with a 43" bust is going to want to knit something 36" around? I have a 42" bust, and generally I make the 39" or 40" of a pattern and things work out. So I was feeling pretty good about my size choice. I considered the fact (in retrospect) that I eliminated the lace panel, which may have added a bit to the overall measurements, but even if it had increased the circumfrence by 2", I still wouldn't have been able to wear it. Here's the thing. I ran into these same problems on Ms. Marigold, as you might recall. The size ranges did not produce a garment with anything like the measurements they lead you to expect. Size discrepancies aside, I just don't have the body for trendy knits.

Of course, let's not overlook the fact that I am also dumb for not having seen these potential problems before binding off. In my defense, this was my first finished top-down garment, so I really didn't know what to expect. Now I do.

So, moral of the story, while I really like Zephyr Style patterns, they are not for me. Also, I'm not feeling the love for Rusted Root as a garment right now. Shortly after my rant about the weather, it got quite chilly and suddenly my Dollar and a Half Cardigan is looking like just the thing. I'm going to let Rusted Root chill in my closet until maybe February or March, when I'm desperate for a spring-y knit. Then I'll rip it and completely redo the pattern to fit my body. Unless I find another use for the yarn before then...

This is an accurate color representation, by the way. I guess there's nothing for a girl to do but go onward with my Socktoberfest knitting!

Enough already

I am wearing jean shorts and a white tank top that is so brief I wouldn't have even worn it today except I knew I wasn't going to be leaving the apartment. I tell you this because it was 88 degrees today. Tomorrow isn't looking much cooler. Let's have a date check for a second. Ah yes, October 7th. And so I say again: ENOUGH ALREADY!

It looks like fall, if you don't go outside. The leaves are falling off the trees. The acorns are littering the ground. The squirrels are freaking out. And it's 88 degrees. We have NAKED TREES, people. NAKED.

I will not speculate as to why it was snowing on Easter and now it's blistering in October. That will just upset me more, but I have given serious consideration to the idea that Daylight Saving time has somehow messed with our seasons, skewing the seasons over time so now all of the seasons start later than they "should." Or maybe we missed a couple of Leap Years. Come to think of it, we haven't had one in a while, have we?

Well, if fall won't come to me, I must come to fall. Baked apples:

Pumpkin bread with raisins and a shmear of butter and hot spiced cider:
Butternut and Shiitake Ragu and an oatmeal stout:
Although, instead of making me feel all fall-y and stuff, all this fall inspired cooking is just making me sweaty.

Rusted Root is coming along nicely. This was the progress last night before my evening knitting session so it's a few inches longer now. Thank you Sense and Sensibility. This picture is crappy, and I wouldn't have even put it up, except that I've been putting up so many pictures of food lately, you'd think this was turning into a food blog! So, crappy, unfocused pic of me in my bathroom mirror, wearing a half-finished sweater. The color is nothing like this, by the way. It's not orange at all, but a pink-y orange-y red. Watermelon, just like the color is named. This is after I finished the waist shaping, so I'm pretty pleased with the fit so far. The only thing is that the sleeves are quite big. Luckily they don't look it in the pic. I think it will all work out. I may try to do some more decreases before I finish the ribbing on them, but I don't want the sleeves to be too long. The length looks good right now, so maybe not. We'll have to wait and see.

FO: Rib and Cable Socks

Remember how I said last week was pretty rough, and I was going to get to a more regular posting schedule this week? Um, I kind of forgot that when you have one really hellish week (followed by another only slightly less hellish one) there are generally a whole lot of things that you let slip which are suddenly about to fall into the looming abyss. There are others who are also feeling the pressure of being back in school. I'm still knitting, just not blogging. It's hard to get pictures of your knits when you leave before the sun comes up and don't get back until after the sun goes down! I may have to invest in a set up like Lolly's.

And actually, I haven't been knitting as much as usual, because I've been having some hand problems. A clarinetist always has problems with the right hand - we support the entire weight of the instrument (about 3 pounds) on the end of our thumb, not to mention the physical act of moving our fingers. Things like playing the contra bass (the action of which is stiffer than a regular clarinet), lots of extra rehearsals (three concerts in the last two weeks, plus all the dress rehearsals), and all the little daily things you don't think about until it hurts, like opening doors, and lifting groceries, and even gripping the steering wheel. I'm taking a bit of time off this weekend, so hopefully I'll heal.

Anyway, I finished mom's socks!

Rib and Cable Socks
By Nancy Bush: IK Fall 2005
Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Rosehip
Needles: US1

You can't really see the cables until you put the socks on, and then they're subtle and gorgeous. That's my hand in that sock. I'd have put them on for you, but my mom wears a size 6 1/2 and I wear a size 9, so that really wasn't an option. The yarn is incredible. I've got a bunch left over, too, from this and from Sarah's Jaywalkers. Anybody know what to do with one sock's worth of red and one sock's worth of blue-green? I'm thinking I might just go with Dobby socks. Or, wait until I've made socks out of the Bearfoot I'm saving for myself and then I'll have red, blue-green, and purple. Which still leaves me nowhere...

Rusted Root is chugging along. I'll be past the armholes tonight, and then probably racing to the finish. At this point it seems like every row takes forever because there are so many stitches! Dollar and a Half and I are taking a little break, just until I finish Rusted Root.

I'm going camping with the family this weekend, so hopefully there will be some great pictures to see next week!

Unblocked

I blocked the fronts and back of $1.50. Actually, it didn't take all that long after I last posted for me to get out my water bottle and pins. Apparently I just needed to whine about it.

It's an interesting thing, this $1.50.... I followed the advice on the KAL and knit the reverse stockinette stripes in a needle 2 sizes smaller than the lace, and it blocked flat, but the lace didn't open up the way it should have according to the pictures. It was pretty much exactly the right size already, which brings into question my gauge. But also, in the pattern writing and copy-editing. Because if you look at the schematic, you'll see that for the 40" finished size (which is supposed to be the finished measurment), the blocking measurements add up to 42". None of the sizes match the blocking measurements, in fact. I think it will all be ok. It's not going to be as fitted as I wanted, but maybe the extra will come in handy, because I often have trouble with buttons across the chestular area...

Also, I started Rusted Root. This is Knit Picks Shine Worsted in Watermelon. I'm doing mine like the brown sheep, that's without the lace panel and instead a swiss dot pattern. I'm super excited because I think this is going to be a fantastically wearable knit. I could have worn it to an audition today, in fact. I think the swiss dot pattern is going to make it much more versatile, and less young-looking.

Also, I bought the Patton's book I was lusting over from Lolly's blog and enough yarn in a dark olive color to make this vest, Aran Accent. It's going to have to get in line behind Rusted Root, Dollar and a Half, and mom's Christmas socks, but I'm seriously looking forward to it. I haven't done any serious cabelling on a sweater yet!

It's been a crazy week around here, and it's not quite over yet, but I hope to get back into the posting groove next week when things start to settle down. Have a great weekend!