I tried really hard to be good. I tried not to buy yarn. But, yeah, didn’t work.
Here’s what I’ve bought lately:
- Berroco Comfort DK: destined to become an Odessa for me
- Cascade Eco Wool: will be turned into as many hats as I can for classmates and friends
- Tahki Tinki: Mittens for me
- Debbie Bliss Fez: Not sure yet, maybe mittens for a friend
One day, when we were busy working on statistics homework, Leah asked me to make her a hat (or did I offer?). Being wool-allergic, the Dark Horse Fantasy was the perfect choice and, hey, I had it in one of her favorite colors. I started making it Sunday night and finished it this afternoon. I’m certainly going to make the pattern again, it’s the perfect combination of simplicity and complexity.
No, normalcy is probably not a word but I simply do not care. I’m back to my old self today, having fully adjusted to the quietness of the house without Matt. I’ve taken to 1) eating junk food and 2) watching lots of TV online. It’s really helping to keep me distracted. Plus, hey, I’ve gotten tons more knitting done than I would have usually (no one other than the cats to ignore).
Progress shot (not really exciting) of the lavendar sweater. I’ve only got about six inches to go on the body (don’t worry, will try on before deeming it complete) then the horribly boring bit of the sleeves. I’m not going to have any problem getting it finished this month. Woohoo! (Beth and Rosemary – how are you sweaters coming along?)
Then, a new project, a hat for my friend, Leah. It’s the Odessa pattern by Grumperina in leftovers from Maegan’s gray sweater which I will eventually blog about (when Matt’s back with the good camera).
I barely left the house today – only long enough to pick up breakfast. Between having the smoker on in the backyard and the guys from the gas company replacing our gas meter, we couldn’t really leave the house. I probably would have gone to the knitting shop except Matt’s leaving tomorrow on business so I’m in the treasure-every-moment phase of preparing for him to leave.
Oh, and here’s how far I’ve gotten on the sweater.
Welcome to my post of random photos. There’s nothing tying any of this together. Really.
1. My old blog writing location: Messy desk in our upstairs office. Surrounded by not only yarn but dead computers, rarely used TV, and school stuff
2. My new blog writing location: Living room, using new PC with easy access to Diet Coke, snacks, and bad TV. Much preferred.
3. Shoes my Mom bought me – aren’t they awesome?
4. Yarn Beth got me as a thank you (against my wishes). The blue/green is from Saarbrucken, the town we almost wound up in after mis-reading a train station sign in Meinz, Germany the April before last.
I did wind up starting a new sweater, after all. I blame Beth and Rosemary and their NaKniSweMo efforts. While I’m not going to be making the same pattern as them, I am joining them in spirit. I decided on the Sage Blouse (Rav Link).
The pattern actually calls for the Rowan Cashcotton DK so, hey, I know it’ll work. I really love the sleeve detail and the sort of, kind of lace pattern at the yoke. I haven’t gotten very far, as you can see, but that’s not surprising as my main knitting days are weekend days. Matt’s gone next week for work so I expect to do even more knitting in the evening.
No time to really write today. So, instead, here’s a picture of the sky as seen on my walk from my car to campus this afternoon. Pretty, eh?
Here’s what my sweater looked like before I frogged it:
Yes. Before I frogged it. The reason is two-fold: 1) the yarn makes me itch like no tomorrow and 2) the pattern was needlessly confusing. I could probably have really focused my energy on ignoring the yarn itchiness and figuring out the pattern but, really, I just don’t feel like it.
Will I start another sweater? Maybe. I don’t really have any other projects in projects that I’m too thrilled with. I have a bunch of Rowan CashCotton I could use and there’s a million patterns out there for DK weight yarn. For now, though, I’m putting the whole idea of knitting a sweater this month aside.
Check with me in an hour when I’ve already changed my mind and am swatching CashCotton for something. If I do, you’ll hear about it tomorrow.
(Oh, this is my first post on my pretty new computer. Er, Matt and I’s pretty new computer. It’s a Mac, my first since I was little. I sort of kind of know how to use it but, really, I’m mostly going to use it to surf the web/blog.)
NaKniSweMo – or, National Knit a Sweater Month – is my latest crazy attempt to knit something with a deadline. While two adult sweaters I’ve made previously took less than a month each, I am worried this one will take far longer because I’ll get distracted. Yes, setting a deadline may distract me from accomplishing this. When it comes to school and work, deadlines rule – knitting, forget it. I’ll try to post some progress photos every few days (yes – instant blog fodder!) but don’t be surprised if they all wind up being iPhone photos.
So, what am I knitting? Trellis and Vine Pullover from the Fall 2009 issue of Interweave Knits. It’s a simple raglan sweater with great cable and lace details. Most of it’ll be miles of stockinette, perfect for bus rides, TV knitting, and talking to Matt while he makes dinner. I’m using the 8 balls of deep red Ella Rae Classic I got to make Matt a sweater (before he shifted my priorities for him to knitted ski accessories). It’s not a wool I can wear right next to my skin but I should be fine wearing a long sleeve shirt underneath.
I just started this afternoon after swatching this morning. It’s worsted where the pattern calls for DK. With my gauge, I’ll be knitting the 32″ pattern to wind up with my size (35″). This is a bit of an experiment but it should work out fine. (Or so I keep telling myself.)
(Close your eyes and pretend it’s yesterday. You’ve just checked your feed reader and see this wonderful post. I was not feeling well at all yesterday except for the few hours in the afternoon so, blogging just did not happen. I put that under “extenuating circumstances.” Today will have two blog posts separated by 12 or so hours. In short, it’s NaBloPoMo which means I’m going to try to blog daily. Hopefully I’ll last longer than my 14 day streak last year.)
About a month ago, we went apple picking just north of my in-laws, at Brown’s Orchards. It took me a good two weeks to get a chance to use Matt’s computer to pull them off the camera and edit them and another two to finally getting around to posting them here. I am a wee bit slow, sometimes.
There’s a few things you should know about apple picking:
1. 2 baskets of apples is about 20 pounds worth
2. 20 pounds of apples makes at least 20 jars of apple sauce, two apple tarts, and two apple pies
3. Apples last forever if you store them in paper bags in the fridge
4. It’s harder than you think to tell which apples are ripe and which are not (while still on the tree)
5. Only having four teeth (and none of them in the front of your mouth) does not prevent you from being an apple seller – though you will force customers to question your penchant for “bitin’ into one to see how good it tastes”
