Weather, Languor, and Felines

This blog has been too long without knitting content, and the time has arrived to remedy that fault...

First of all, I finished the white turtleneck, over a year after I began it.

  The specs...

Pattern: Leo from Knitty
Yarn: Nova Sari 100% cotton from Knitwerx
Modifications: front & back worked together in the round until armhole; turtleneck substituted for rollneck
Verdict: The pattern is good, the yarn is nice, it fits fine, and it was completely not worth it. I'll wear it, sure, but the whole point is that it looks like one I bought at a store, and I should have just bought a new one. Maybe if I really wanted to make a sweater for someone who insisted on a very plain one, I'd make this, but I'd rather spend my time making something unique. (Again, this is not a reflection on the pattern itself, which is well-written and accurate. I just should have spent my time making something else.)

I don't think I showed this one before, though I've now worn it twice. Begun a little before the white turtleneck.

Pattern: Ribbing Is No Yoke by Charlotte Quiggle from Knitters Magazine Fall 2000.
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Cotton
No modifications.
Verdict: I really like this. When the sleeves & torso were joined it was awkward to schlep around, and I should have used the wool and not the cotton (and I should have checked dyelots... Duh...). But it's very wearable. I'm thinking about sewing in a label just to make it easier to tell the front from the back.

Now in process, the Short-Row Striped Pullover by Fiona Ellis from Interweave Knits, Fall 2003. Kim and I have been meaning to knit this for the better part of a year, and we've finally started it. I'm making progress, though it is tricky. Using Louet Gems Opal instead of the specified Heilo.

First photo shows progress as of Thursday night; second photo shows progress as of 4 pm today. Third photo shows the real sticking point of this pattern... Check out the number of ends to weave in. Though this isn't steeked, I'm thinking of using Eunny's braiding method to deal with them when it's all done. I had to go down 2 needle sizes to get gauge and a fabric that I liked, though if I get tighter I may have to rely on blocking a little bit. 

Out of the knitting sphere, here's a bracelet I finished, a square-stitched cuff made with 3 colors of 3mm cube beads, trimmed with triangle beads. No idea why, but I had a sudden inclination to square stitch. Earlier today I was rearranging my bead stash, which is growing, and realized I have a whole lot more beading to do! Next plan is to peyote weave an iPod case from cube beads, to protect it from being crushed when I throw it in my bag, which I often do.

The weather this weekend is glorious. This really is what the sky looked like yesterday (well, less the crud on the lens...), though it's cloudier today. The trees have definitelky turned and are falling, a lot loke a New England autumn. I'm sensing the onset of a cold, so I've spent a lot of the weekend sleeping in hopes of heading it off. (This has meant skipping church and WW, which I'll probably regret in the long run.) Instead I've been knitting and spending time with my boys, while listening to Mansfield Park on tape. It's one of those classics I really ought to have read by now, and as a result my internal monologue (and probably my blog post) has taken on a somewhat arch tone. I should take my arch self for an easy run and thence to the grocery store.

Orville is a silly boy.

 

Comments

[kate]

Love that bracelet. Too cool. Can't you weave in your ends as you knit?

[Nancy]

um, how productive are you?! wow! the white sweater is beautiful and professional, and the other is a total dream-- I love the neckline and the shape etc, so chic and unusual & lovely.

i'm wild about the colors for the pullover, and the bracelet is beautiful (totally goes with the chic black sweater).

And Mansfield Park was never my favorite Austen. I'm interested to hear what you think. There's something empty about it. My favorite is Persuasion.

[Kim]

I'm with Nancy--PERSUASION is the best of the Austen novels. But I'll read her sly wit in anything.

Short Rows looks beautiful! The colors are great, and I see you've also found how fast it progresses and how the despair of the ends makes you forget that fact. I'll jump right back in so I can keep up. (But I'm having fun knitting gift bulky cashmere scarves, she wails.)

[naomi]

I like the colors you picked for Short Rows. And that's a very cute pic of Orville.

[kate]

its nice when you post FOs in one fell swoop. makes me think you are incredibly prolific. (nice work!) word to the wise: i have peyote stitched glass beads (miyuki delicas) over hard surfaces (caboschons, etc) and if they drop or hit any other hard surface, they break. many a ruined necklace. the big guys may work better, but its something to think about when you want to protect you little ipod.

i can't wait to see the short row FO. i have no idea what that pattern looks like so it is very interesting!
and we'll talk about your lace on fri -- i am bad for not emailing you back for real, but the only emailing and blogging i do these days is when i procrasitnate on lab reports... (knitting? hah!)

[AuntieAnn]

Emma is my favorite Austen novel, although I love most of them -- Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility -- sigh. Northanger Abbey -- bah. Mansfield Park is OK. Some people really dislike the main character because she's a bit wimpy, but I don't. And did you catch the Harry Potter tie-in from Mansfield Park?

[colleen]

I like that turtleneck.