Aran Accent

You know how when you're about to leave town, suddenly there are a thousand little things to do, like organize your receipts and buy granola bars and charge your ipod and decide what to pack to be: 1) compact. 2) warm. 3) appropriately dressed for situations ranging from long bus rides to dinner cruises including shoes (which may be the million dollar question at this point considering the storm we got this weekend.)

Well, at least one thing got done. May I present Aran Accent?

Pattern: Aran Accent from Patons Cables
Yarn: 3 1/2 balls Patons Classic Wool in Deep Olive
Needles: US 5 and 7
Mods: Well, more in the planning stage than the actual garment. I decided after a few inches in the large size to move down to the medium even though I was purposely getting a smaller gauge. This was a crucial (and very good) decision. This sweater is very stretchy due to the nature of the stitch patterns, and though the unblocked sweater was around 36" in the bust, it easily blocked out to 38" and continued to grow as I wore it yesterday. I kind of misread the pattern and ended up knitting the neck edge and sleeve edges in the round. Also, I cast off the neck in rib as the pattern said, but it was very loose and gappy, so I went back and ribbed 5, k2tog, which helped a lot, but if I were to to it again, I would maybe to rib 4, k2tog, since it's not as neat as I would like.

I'm off to Chicago tomorrow for the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. Why, yes, this is a week out of my precious, precious winter break, which is contributing significantly to both my level of packing stress, and my lack of enthusiasm for the whole thing, especially considering the miniscule amount of time to devote to H&M. I am, however looking forward to the bus ride. I have a tiny, perfect baby sweater on the needles (and also on a bit of a deadline since the baby was a surprise. More on that later.) as well as a by-the-seat-of-my-pants creation of my own. Oh, and Meg Cabot's Jinx downloaded onto my ipod.

I hope you all enjoy this last week leading up to Christmas!

P.S. Yes, those are otters on my pants. With all the snow, my pants are constantly soaked from the knees down, so I generally keep a dry pair of pj pants near the door so I can drop trou the second I get in. Dear Santa, I would like a pair of snow boots that will keep my pants dry. Thanks, Meg

It's that time of year

Yeah, the time of year to curl up with a book full of handwritten notes (only partially decipherable) a study guide and a pile of blank paper (with which to rewrite said notes in a decipherable manner) and ignore all the holiday cheer in favor of passing exams.

Well, at least there are leftover gum drops from the gingerbread decorating party I had on Friday. And leftover gingerbread, come to that. Not to mention another little pair of instant gratification cuties. Want to see them up close? Ok.
Pattern: Jacob's Ladder Miniature Mittens from Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss in...um....Red (burgundy?) and blue/green (woodland sage?)
Needles: US 1
Mods: Just as before. Tied together cast on strings instead of the finger knitted cord.

They make me ridiculous happy. I love the pattern a lot more than I thought I would. It's just so smooth and even and the bit of silk in the yarn gives it a nice sheen. Check out brainylady's Manly Mittens for a quasi full-scale version. I love those mittens too. Now if only I knew a guy who would actually wear them...

Speaking of mittens, guess what my finals week treat to myself is? I'm swatching and casting on for Bird in Hand tonight with the yarn from Taos. That's after I block Aran Accent, because, dudes, the front and back are done!

The view from my window

Snow. Real snow this afternoon. The kind of wet, slushy snow that makes you want to curl up in your apartment with a blanket and a book and some tea and listen to the snow fall. Alas, I trudged on to campus and arrived mightly wet only to find that my pianist did not come to rehearsal, so I trudged back out again and strapped myself to my computer to continue working on a term paper.

But tonight I'm decorating my apartment. Which will probably take all of 20 minutes since my Christmas tree is about 18 inches high. But I have some other holiday goodies to spread around all courtesty of my Gramma. The most recent addition are some holiday placemats for my dining table. Nevermind that I don't actually use my dining table (a currently useless birthday present from last year.) As a single person eating alone without anyone to talk to over dinner, I usually eat on the couch. Don't tell my dad. He'd be horrified.

I finished the front of my Aran Accent Vest. It's so pretty! I can't wait to finish the back. It's a quite entertaining knit. I had a few false starts and miscrossed cables, but all the ripping back was worth it. It looks a little bit small right now. I'm knitting the Medium size (the measurements for which I don't currently have in front of me) on slightly smaller needles, so the current measurements are probably about 36". Now, I would NEVER wear a meduim in real life, but after casting on for the large and doing some highly scientific eyeballing, I decided that medium was the way to go. I also read on Ravelry that the one person who has managed to finish this suggests knitting it small. It's very stretchy, so it will be easy to block out slightly and will no doubt grow with wear.

It should all work out in the end. I think. I hope.

Quiet

It's been pretty quiet around the blog lately. I've been working incredibly hard and doing a lot of thinking. Dangerous thing, thinking. Last week was horrible, and I didn't feel like touching anything that I might possibly break, which includes the blog. It was just one of those weeks where even though you're keeping a good attitude, things just keep blowing up in your face, and there's nothing you can do about it. This week has been better.

I've been knitting though. Here's the sleeves for $1.50, 2/3 of the way done. It's kind of a slog to knit these both together. Now that I've finished the increases, the stitch total is more than for the back, but I thought doing them both together was a good idea for two reasons. One, no second sleeve syndrome. Two, increases and decreases in the lace pattern are hard to keep track of, so if I do them together and have to make stuff up, at least both sleeves are the same.

That other little curl at the top is the beginnings of a swatch for my Aran Accent vest, which is up next after $1.50, if some socks don't sneak in there first. I'm trying to do some swatch magic to make the vest fit better. I want something between the Medium and Large sizes (39 and 44 1/2). Preferrably something around 40" or 41". Also, the total length of the vest is supposed to be 24 or 24 1/2 inches. I'd prefer something a little bit shorter, but in order to preserve the cable pattern, I'm hoping to do this with the swatch.

I've been coveting Kara's Gretel. I've got a couple of skeins left over from Arwen which might be perfect. But then I've been doing a lot of thinking about designing my own sweaters lately. Maybe something along the lines of brainylady's BOB cardigan or maybe just a Elizabeth Zimmermann special. Also, I saw a pair of gloves on the bus the other day that are just bouncing around in my head, dying to become mittens or fingerless mitts, but first I've got to get my hands on a stitch dictionary...

Like I said. Lots of thinking.

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!