Happy Easter!

We interrupt your frenzied jelly bean consumption to bring you this message (oh, wait, that's my frenzied jelly bean consumption):

Dear Mother Nature/owners of gas guzzlers,

Last Tuesday it was 85 degrees. This week, it has been in the 20s and snowing every day. I woke up to this view only with more snow on this fine Easter morning:

This is not cool. Please do something about it.

Sincerely, Meg

However, some of the flowers my mom got for her birthday are finally in bloom, so I will pretend that this gorgeous tulip is outside in the sunlight instead of sitting on the table in the dining room.

And speaking of mom's birthday, I finished her Trellis just in time. And by finished, I mean I knit like the wind the morning of her birthday, and just managed to get it off the needles and into a bag with hours to spare, unblocked of course. Luckily, lace dries fast (something about all those holes.... ha!) so she has been wearing it constantly for the past couple of days. It looks particularly nice against this pink shirt.

Pattern: Trellis Scarf, IK Spring 06

Yarn: Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Midnight

Needles: US 4

I will say that this picture really doesn't do the color justice. It just looks black. Actually, it's navy with a bit of blue-green (like the color of my Trellis) running through it.

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter, and that it is not snowing where ever you are!

Chicago Minibreak

Well, I have returned from the Windy City refreshed and relaxed, with pitifully few pictures to show you. I'm not used to taking a lot of pictures, which I always regret. It's a vicious cycle that I am working on breaking. So I will share what little I have.

This is a view from Millenium Park facing the Michigan Ave. skyline. You can see that lump of polished stainless steele slightly to the right of middle. That's the Bean, or the Cloudscape, depending on whether or not you are the residents of Chicago or the artist.

This is also Millenuim Park. This is the coolest ampitheater I have ever seen. It opens up when it's not the end of March, and they have concerts there. You can sort of see this at the top, but it looks like the music is literally blowing open the front and the steel is peeling back. Behind it is an underground theater specifically designed for chamber music. They take their music seriously in this town. So why am I not living there, again?

I went to see the Chicago Symphony and saw one of my musical idols Hilary Hahn. The whole concert was amazing, starting the the overture to the Flying Dutchman moving through the Goldmark violin concerto, and ending with Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 6. Plus I got my CD signed Hilary.

I went to the Shedd Aquarium, which was super cool. I didn't take any pics, unfortunately. I say Pacifc White-Sided Dolphins, Belgua whales, sea otters, sea horses, penguings, live coral, and hundreds of fish. My favorite was a sea horse called a Weedy Sea Dragon. Here's a link to some pictures, but the pics don't really do this cool animal justice.

Another favorite of this trip was visiting my cousin out in Glen Ellyn, a short Metra ride away. Got to see his apartment, and we had dinner at the most amazing restaurant, Mykha. It's technically Vietnamese food (which I'd never had before, but has become my favorite) but there's some Mexican flavor thrown in. And the presentation! Here's my (slightly overexposed) dinner. Note how my salad looks like a tropical bouquet.

And it tasted just as good as it looked.

In knitting news, I have only 4 1/2 repeats plus the ending border left on mom's Trellis. Still probably not going to finish by Wednesday, but I should have it done by Saturday, which is the big family party. The Ballet Camisole is started, and Ms. Marigold, sadly, has been frogged. I finished the body only to have my fears realized. It was too small. I wondered as I saw how tight it was on my 32" needles. I have cast on again for the one that's 2 sizes up. The difference in sizes is a matter of stitches, so I don't know that it will be significantly larger. I'm making gauge, so the whole thing is a mystery to me. I'm going to have to do some modifications on the armholes and the depth of the V too, in order for it to (hopefully) fit. We'll see

Look out Chicago!

I'm leaving for Chicago at the butt crack of dawn tomorrow, and I'm so excited. A little CSO, a little shopping, a little museum-going, and a whole lot of spoiling myself. Here's a preview of my plans for the train ride:

That's mom's Trellis, Knit Picks Shine Sport for the ballet camisole, my iPod (on which I have 2 new CDs and 2 new audiobooks), and Meg Cabot's Size 14 is not Fat Either. I have been very good about this book. I bought it last week, and I've been saving it. It has not been easy. Add the fact that it's a sequel (to Size 12 is not Fat) to the fact that I love Meg Cabot and have since before the Princess Diaries was a movie, and you have one very, very good girl. Well all that goodness is about to be rewarded.

I think I'll make Meg Cabot an honorary Double G Knitster. Not only is she awesome, but our names both have 2 G's in them! Which just ups her coolness quotient.

All I have to say about the next pic is "addictive."

Ms. Marigold has been incredibly addictive for the past week. It's flying off my needles and I'm not even trying that hard! Plus I love the yarn. I love the color, I love the feel of it in my fingers, and I hope I'll love the feel of it when I wear it. I'm slightly concerned about size, but I think that once I finish up the ribbing at the neck and arms (I've elected against the ruffle. I have rather manly shoulders to begin with, so adding a ruffle on top is like icing a 2x4) and block it, it won't look so small. Once I get an idea of how the yarn will wear, I'd really like to knit something else out of it. A cardi, perhaps?

Adding greatly to the speediness of this project were two excellent movies - Proof and Casino Royale. Go rent them now.

Teary

Yeah, I'm crying. I chopped up some onions for dinner later tonight, and I'm still crying an hour later. Damn onions....

I'm also crying (inside) because I had to frog the bottom to Butterfly. After casting off, it became painfully obvious that although I was making gauge, the thing was about 10 inches bigger around than it was supposed to be. Why? I have no idea. Actually I do have a theory, and it's based on the problems that I have had both on Butterfly and on Rambling Rose. I'm guessing that no one bothers to check whether or not the directions for the larger sizes work. They work in theory, but the ones made for the photo shoots are invariably the smallest size. Who check to make sure that the larger sizes work? Um, that would be me, the person who is the larger size.

Anyway, I have cast on again for the bottom of Butterfly using the second smallest size, and I am consciously knitting tighter than I was before. Hopefully, this will work out in the end. It will be a couple more days before I can tell for sure.

In other news, mom's Trellis is coming along nicely. Still probably won't finish it by her b-day. But I am going to Chicago next weekend on the train, so it's very possible I'll get some intense quality knitting time. The thing about this scarf is that I tend to burn out after one repeat. Each repeat takes about forty-five minutes to an hour. So we'll just have to wait and see.

Here's a pic of mom's unfinished and un-blocked Trellis next to mine:


And a close up of the lovely lace pattern after blocking:

I like this pattern because neither my mom nor I are "flowery" kind of people, which lace tends to cater to. We like flowers when they're in the ground, or maybe a vase, but for the most part the angularity of the diamonds suits us. Plus it's such a lovely, light yarn. Perfect for accenting an outfit, or wearing with a denim jacket in the fall or spring. Oh, Trellis, I heart thee....

C'est fini

And it fits, thank God. Because if it didn't, I'm not sure what I'd do. It would probably involve a lot of screaming and stomping and general temper tantruming. It's actually getting bigger and more stretched out as I wear it, which isn't cool, strictly speaking, but it's not unexpected. I find that if I make clothes to fit my acutal measurements (i.e. making the 43 inch sweater for a 42 inch bust) they are too big. Maybe I just like my clothes too tight. But whatever the case, I have found that to be true whether I'm knitting or sewing (or more accurately, having my mom sew for me.)

Rambling Rose Cardigan by Laura Zukaite

IK Winter 06

Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style in Asparagus and Moss

Needles: US 6

Modifications:

- Added waist shaping, which, considering the way it's getting bigger as I wear it, was probably a stroke of genius.

- Shortened the sleeves by 1/2 inch, which I shouldn't have done. They actually fit, which is not how I'm used to wearing my sweaters.

- Completely made up the yoke pattern.

Things that were not fun:

1. Frogging the yoke and re-knitting it, obviously, although the re-knit went much faster than I anticipated - probably because it was 4 inches less to knit.

2. Knitting the edgings. Yeah. That was a giant mess. Not to mention the pattern wasn't exactly over-explicated.

3. Knitting the yoke with all of those balls of yarn. Another giant mess.

This is the actual Classic Elite Bam Boo for Butterfly. It came yesterday, thank goodness. I was getting kind of worried. This is the same color as in the pattern. I do that a lot. I guess I'm kind of unimaginative. But, hey, if I like the color, why change it? I finished swatching last night, and I just started the right front.

I'm also knitting a scarf - the Trellis Scarf from IK Spring 06 - for my mom's birthday. I made one for myself last year and I love it. I made mine in Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Tidepool. I'm making mom's in the same yarn but in Midnight. Chances are it will not be finished by her birthday. I have to do it on the sly, since I'm currently living at home, plus the last Trellis took me, oh, 9 months to complete. Let's just say there was no knitting over the summer.