FO: Thermal

Well, I'm all moved... mostly. Let's just say that I'm here, I'm registered for classes, I'm studying my butt off for my entrance exam on Thursday, and I'm practicing hard for my auditions on Thursday and Friday. The rest is just frosting.

Speaking of frosting... or not... here's Thermal!

Love, love, love the fit. The sleeves really are the same length, in spite of what you might assume based on this pic and my whining. I promise.

The one thing I would have changed would be to make the armholes shallower. There's a kind of bat-wing thing happening.

See? But it's also not blocked yet.

Thermal by Laura Chau
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss in Woodland Sage
Needles: US 3
Modifications: Added 2 inches to the length. Haha, can you imagine what it would look like if I'd made it 2 inches shorter? It's barely long enough now. Would maybe add another inch next time. Decided against making buttonholes for the buttons since they aren't buttons anyone would actually use anyway, plus I wanted to minimize any pulling at the placket. I just sewed them through both layers.

And, hey, I've got 2 3/4 skeins left. Socks, I'm thinking. I've also got about 3/4 of a skein of the burgundy left from my mom's Christmas socks last year (before I had the blog.) So, I don't know, stripes or colorwork or something. Mittens might work, but I'm not sure a silk blend is really the ideal thing for mittens...

Moving right ahead, here's Dashing for my brother, just missing a thumb off the left mit. You know, I just typed "mit" and it makes perfect sense when I say it, but no sense when I type it. I mean mit, like as in one mitten. "Hey guys, do you know what happened to my other mit? I just have the one." I'm really not sure that's a word. Maybe it's "mitt?"

And I got my shipment from Webs.
I thought the black was dark heathered grey when I bought it, but oh well. Black will work just as well for my $1.50 Cardigan. I'm dying to swatch but my patterns are in a box that's still out in my car, and besides, I really should finish Dashing. And yet....

Grrr!

I've been trying to upload these pics for days. I had this cute blog all planned out. It was going to go something like this:

Look! The second sleeve is done! My Thermal now has two sleeves of the same length!

And a body! (Insert picture of the body of the sweater in between the sleeves, which blogger refused to upload.)

And edging! Now all I have to do is tie in the ends, sew it up, and find some buttons.

But that was days ago, and the post isn't so cute anymore. Stupid blogger. Why won't it let me upload photos? And why, when it finally deigns to let me do it, does it take FOREVER? Boo hiss.

And while blogger wasn't letting me upload pics, I finished Thermal. It fits just the way I hoped it would. You'll have to wait a bit for FO pics and pattern specs though. I'm moving on Monday! Wish me luck!

In the absence of significant knitting progress, I bring you some visual distraction.

These little babies were bought in Todi, Italy, where I spent the past 2 weeks. They're tiny - about the size of the tip of my pinky finger - and check it out. They're playing clarinets!

About that knitting progress.... I have a fairly severe case of SSS. Second Sleeve Syndrome. Thermal used to be my escape. Now it's my nemesis. I'm too stubborn (or stupid?) to start a new project right now, so I'm knitting that second sleeve. Dammit.
But my knitting boredom is providing a nice excuse for exploring the range of my camera...
Do you think anyone would notice if one sleeve was full length and the other was 3/4?

Good Eats

Every time I have to buy my dad a gift, I flounder. For one, he's a guy, which means that his likes (shooting sports, fly fishing, and woodworking) and my likes (music, books, and knitting) are vastly, hugely different. For another, he tends to buy just what he likes, when he likes, whenever he likes, leaving the rest of us to scramble when it comes time to give him something. Since I found out his love for handknit socks, I've been home free. But Father's Day? Not so much a handknit socks kind of holiday. Especially if you live in Southeast Michigan, where it's been 90+ for most of this week.

So this year, I'm giving him Hermits. No, not smelly, uncommunicative cave dwellers. Cookies!

These happen to be my dad's favorite cookies. I found the recipe a few years back while browsing a Good Housekeeping and waiting for Tae Kwon Do to start. I thought they sounded like a kind of cookie my grandma gets from the local bakery which are sort of fruit cake-y with citron in it. (I know. Citron. Don't cringe. We like it in this family. We've been exposed since birth.) These are more like molasses cookies with raisins. The recipe says that they're called Hermits because back in the day wives used to make them for their sea-faring husbands who said they "kept like hermits."

They don't keep very long in this house. I'm making 2 batches (One, Classic Hermits - raisins only. Two, Berryful Hermits - changing it up with dried cranberries, blueberries, and currants.) and freezing them.

What's this you say? More yarn? Yes, yes indeed. Impulse buy from Michael's. I went looking for a 16" US6 needle for my brother's hat, and they didn't have it. They seem to never have what I need at Michael's. I'm not looking there for needles ever again. I miss AC Moore. Anyway, I passed the display of cotton, and suddenly decided that I needed some to make the Retro Redux Shrug from Lace Style. Because, you see, there's this dress... this dress the absolutely NEEDS a sweater or shrug of some kind. I have no idea whether or not the yarn's going to work. Swatching tonight.

And lest you think I'm abandoning Thermal, I'm not. Here's one sleeve done.
I'll leave you to argue about whether it's the left or the right.

Valiant Return!

I am back, and I couldn't be happier about my decision to stay for 2 weeks in Ithaca. Sarah, whose futon I had been co-opting, might disagree with you, but for me, nothing could have possibly been more regenerative after a hellish year than spending time doing nothing with people I have missed desperately.

Ithaca, for those of you who are not familiar, is in the Finger Lakes region of central New York. It is an idyllic place in the middle of nowhere which is home to Cornell University and Ithaca College. Because of this, it is a very cosmopolitan place (if you could call hippies cosmopolitan) in the middle of very rural New York. Most people when I told them I went to school in New York immediately assume New York City. What other reason would one go to New York anyway? After I explain about not being in the city, their next question is inevitably, "Why?"

Well, folks, here's your "why":

Watkins Glen State Park

My question is, "Why not?" And, frankly, I'd take this view over New York City any day of the week. This is just one of the hundreds of incredible waterfalls I've seen in my 4 years in Ithaca. I went to Ithaca College and graduated with a degree in music. The campus is up on South Hill and overlooks Lake Cayuga. You can hardly be anywhere on campus without seeing the lake. My apartment last year had a lake view. It was on the top floor, and was also on the top of a hill, so we tore the curtains off the windows so we could see the lake 24 hours a day. At night, the lights snaking around the lake look like a swan.

Before I left, I asked my friend Sarah if her new cat, Maverick, knew how to behave around yarn. You know I wasn't about to spend 2 weeks without some yarn and needles, especially with my LYS within walking distance. She said she thought he did, and that she had yarn out around the house and that he didn't bother it. Well, here's my first attemt to photograph the ball of Moutain Colors Bearfoot that I wound:

And the second:


Notice the intent look on his face, and the way his paw is ever so delicately placed near the free end. We had words, he and I. It turns out that he does know how to behave around yarn, as long as it's not moving. If it's moving and attached to 4 dpns, well, it's nearly irresistable. We finally reached an agreement. When I was knitting, he pretended not to notice, and Sarah's Jaywalkers got finished with only minor incidents along the way. I don't have a pic of the finished Jaywalkers. Whoops. Here's what I remember.

Jaywalkers by Grumperina

Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot (I forget the colorway)

Needles: size 0 dpns

Mods: Just shortened the top of the sock by about an inch. This would have been perfect for me and my voluptuous calves, but could have probably followed the pattern for Sarah.

And that stash that I swore I didn't have?

Um, yeah, about that.... I seem to be developing a little yarn stash. Sock yarn stash to be exact. My LYS, Homespun, was having a sale because of the Ithaca Festival. Everything was 20% off. I decided that this would be a good time to do my Christmas shopping.

3 skeins Brown Sheep Wildfoote in Camel.

Destined to become a pair of Gentleman's Shooting Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush for my Dad

1 ball Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran in #416 to become Dashing for my brother

1 skein Moutain Colors Bearfoot in Rosehip to become (probably) another pair of Jaywalkers for my mom (since the last pair were so cool)

This last skein of Moutain Colors Bearfoot in Mountain Twilight is mine, all mine, you can't have it, my precious.

I had to show you that last skein because you absolutely cannot beat the colors and feel of this yarn. My pics do not do it justice. Someday I'm going to be able to take non-crappy photos. They are so rich and saturated. The colors have this amazing blend - subtle but unmistakable. And the yarn is soft enough to make you want to sleep with it at night.

The rest of the yarn is not earmarked yet, and that's ok. I'll save it for when I'm between projects and in need of some palate cleansing.

And for those of you who were wondering how Thermal is going? I finished the body before I left, and I tried it on. It's going to fit like a dream.

Now if I can only lose the 7 pounds I put on with all the celebrating that's been going on lately...

In which our heroine is distracted

The back of Thermal is finished. It was a lot more work than I was expecting, because you do the thermal stitch starting on the wrong side, so the "bump" rows are purled instead of knitted, making it a longer process. I started the left front yesterday evening but in all the excitement of the Ugly Betty season finale and the Grey's Anatomy season finale, I screwed up. Can you blame me? Lexie Grey?! Priceless! So, I had to frog a couple of inches and I decided that maybe I should watch the TV or knit, not both. TV won.

In other news, I'm wearing the Ballet Camisole for the first time today, and my reservations about size are confirmed. It's now officially almost too big - and it's growing as I wear it, so things are just getting bigger. It's not that I can't wear it. It's just bigger than I'd like, and when you're wearing something with a low front, too big means gappy providing more opportunties for inadvertantly displaying your... goods... for the whole world.

I think this is happened because a) I didn't choose the right size and b) because of the gauge. I had to use a bigger needle size than I'd have liked to get the correct gauge, which means there's just more expansion of the garment. If I were to knit it again (and I would, because it was a fun knit, the shaping is great, and the yarn washes like a dream) I would use a needle one size smaller and knit the next smaller size.

But really, can you beat a machine washable and dryable knit? Didn't think so.

Thermal

Thermal, she grows! I'm really enjoying this knit. It's actually going very fast, considering the US3 needles. I'm finding the pattern very theraputic. I have to get a few rows done each day, even if I have to stay up late to do it. Unlike other knits, it's not about finishing but about doing. I have to knit a few rows because I need to do it. What with all the stuff going on around here - the little job I picked up, the moving (not me, my brother but I was very important in the planning), the vacationing, 3 days worth of Mother's Day celebrating - I've really needed the escape. I'm a person who needs time by herself in relative quiet to think and unwind every day. Thermal is my meditation.

May Day

Or M'aidez! Because, dudes, it's hailing.

But the Ballet Camisole is done! This pic makes it look really pretty.

Pattern: Ballet Camisole by Alexandra Virgiel

Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in Coral

Needles: US 6

Modifications: Used only the larger needles (not smaller for the ribbing) because I didn't have the correct size.

I'm not sold entirely on this pattern. It's on the verge of being too big. I washed a swatch in the hopes that it would shrink a little. It didn't. In any case, the fit is not horrible, just not perfect. So I'm washing it today instead of blocking it, and I hope everything falls into place.

Incidentally, does anyone know how to make blogger not skip a line when you press enter? Because the whole pattern notes thing all spread out is getting on my nerves.

And let me apologize in advance for the crappiness of this next pic. See comments above about hail. This is my newest project: Thermal from Knitty Winter 2006. Yes, I know that sweater weather is (mostly) over, but I don't care. I don't have much else lined up (except finishing Ms. Marigold, which is taking a really long time) and this yarn and the pattern have been in the queue since this winter. The yarn is Knit Picks Gloss in Woodland Sage. It's a fingering weight yarn and US3 needles, so it's not like it's going to be a real quick knit, but that's fine with me. I'm really enjoying the process of this sweater. With the others that I've made since starting this blog, I've felt really pressured to finish, because I needed something to keep me warm or I needed the distraction. Now, since I don't need wool to keep me warm, it's all about the process, and I couldn't be happier. It's a very stretchy fabric, so it should fit wonderfully.

In other news, I'm going to be radio silent for the next week or so. I'm headed on a family vacation to Santa Fe, and I'm so excited. I've never been to the southwest. I'm looking forward to experiencing a totally different landscape and everything that goes with it.