Finished: Central Park Hoodie

I really wanted to do an outdoor photo shoot for this FO, but I couldn't wait any longer. You'll just have to deal with my parents' living room as the backdrop.

Pattern: Central Park Hoodie by Heather Lodinsky (Knitscene, fall 2006)
Size: 36"
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers (100% Peruvian highland wool), color 9461/Lime Heather, five skeins (including swatch and seaming)
Needles: US 8 (5 mm) and US 6 (4 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: September 5/November 6

I am absolutely in love with this sweater. I think it says a lot about a pattern that as soon as I was finished I wanted to knit it again.

There are several things I'd change if I knit this sweater again, however. The first thing would be to knit the next larger size. I knew that others who'd knit this sweater had found it to run small, but I wanted a fitted sweater, so I knit my normal size. It fits perfectly, for the most part, but as you can see in the photo below, the lower arms are a little snug. I have the pull the sleeves on, but once they're on, they're not uncomfortable. I wore this sweater all day and didn't really notice. Still, it would be nice to be able to wear a looser shirt underneath the sweater and to have a little more room.

The other thing I'd change is the decreases on the hood. It bothers me that they're not centered, and that's a little apparent because of the fact that I grafted the hood stitches instead of binding off and seaming it. Next time, I'll adjust the decreases so that they are actually in the center of the hood.

I used almost every bit of five skeins of Cascade, which was really quite amazing, in my opinion. That included a swatch (which thankfully gave me spot-on gauge on the first attempt) and yarn for seaming; there's a little left over for repairs or reinforcement if needed in the future. Once again, it proved to be the perfect yarn -- great color, great yardage, great stitch definition. I still have five more skeins of this same color in my stash, along with five skeins of a shocking pink that was in the same WEBS order.

I used six buttons, all sewn on with sewing thread and then covered with a bit of yarn (somehow I must've had the subconscious foresight to buy buttons with extra-large holes).

This sweater marks an important step in my sweater-knitting career: With this sweater, I officially conquered my fear of the set-in sleeve. These sleeves were the easiest to sew in of all the sweaters I've knit so far, but getting them in perfectly on the first try was a huge confidence boost. I swear that from this moment forward, I will not be scared of sweaters with set-in sleeves!

Now that this is finished, I will turn my attention to The Mister's sweater, which has been languishing for quite some time. It might not be as fun a knit as the CPH, but at least there will be no seaming to deal with at the end. And finishing his sweater means I'll allow myself to cast on for the next sweater for me!

Enhancements

First things first: Jenn and I both wore our recently completed Central Park Hoodies to the meeting of the Hurricane Knitters last night, and we took the requisite shot of each other:

We had our usual good time, and towards the end of the evening we got a bit punchy. But it was just what I needed to cheer me up after a stressful day at work. What also helped were the packages waiting for me at home.

Remember the test knitting I did back when I was fresh out of the hospital? Well the designer sent me a package of goodies as a thank you. There was a gorgeous skein of yarn, some edible treats (pumpkin seeds and hot cider mix), and a beautiful wood inlay box that will serve perfectly to hold these gorgeous stitch markers:

My less-than-stellar photography skills have failed to capture the real color of the beads -- a beautiful indigo with an underlying silvery sparkle.

The other package was a shipment from Knit Picks. The original reason for the order was to get the book (you know, since I had the stitch markers all ready) and some navy sock yarn for the socks my father requested. Then I decided I really wanted to try some Felici, and then I noticed that there was some Shine Sport on clearance (for less than $10, it'll make another Pea Pod set!). At that point I was so close to the free shipping, I threw in a skein of Telemark with no particular project in mind. I'm sure I can find some use for it -- suggestions, anyone?

I got a surprise package in the mail today, from Miriam. Inside was my Adamas, which she'd borrowed to photograph. As a thank you, she sent me two jars of homemade jam. Yummy! Thanks, Mim!

Now that the CPH is done (and I promise a full write-up with photos will be up in the next day or two), I'm not feeling the same sense of urgency to knit any particular project. I resurrected a very old UFO for knit night last night; I'm hoping to have it finished for my mom before it's a full year old. I did work a little on The Mister's sweater when I got home last night, but I'll spare you the picture of dark brown stockinette. Then there are the socks I started for my mother-in-law:

More no-purl Monkeys, in Lorna's Laces. Would you believe this is the very first Lorna's I ever bought? It's been living in the stash for a couple years now; I thought it was about time I used it.

'Tis Done

My Central Park Hoodie is finished! Unfortunately, it's a tad bit tight, especially in the lower arms, so I'm going to have to try some serious blocking. I'm also sorry to tell you that you're going to have to wait a couple days to see it; this sweater really deserves a proper photo shoot, and these days all the natural light is during the day when I'm at work. So I'll have to wait until Saturday for the full write-up.

For those of you who can't wait to see the finished sweater, I'll be giving a little preview of it tonight at the meeting of the Hurricane Knitters, Waterworks Barnes & Noble, 7 p.m. Hope to see you there!

Loose Ends

The saga of my Central Park Hoodie continues ...

On Saturday, I convinced The Mister to let me make a stop at Parker Button on the South Side so I could find the perfect fasteners for my sweater. I'd pretty much decided to go with toggles for my closures -- until I discovered that the only toggles to be had were pretty much hideous. So, buttons it was. Here are the ones I picked out:

They're a little on the square side, which I really like, and what you can't see from the picture is that they're pretty three-dimensional. I bought all seven buttons that were left in the box, although there will only be six on the sweater.

Last night I finished the second button band, so tonight the Adventures in Seaming begin!

In other news, I won a blog contest! Devorah and her family are avid bikers, and months ago she held a contest in which all entrants had to guess how many miles they would log on their bikes by October 31. I wound up being a mere four miles off, so she will be sending me some sock yarn and some chocolate for my lucky guess. I somehow managed to not check my e-mail at all over the weekend, so it was a nice surprise when I checked this morning.

Other knitting news? I know this will a huge shocker (can you sense the sarcasm in my voice?), but I started another sock. It's the first of a pair of Monkeys for my mother-in-law for the holidays. Not much is done other than a cuff, so I won't bore you with a picture of ribbing.

Sorry for the short post; it's been all CPH all the time here, and I am determined not to show you another picture of the darn thing until it's done! Let the seaming commence!

Finished: Lenore, and Details on My Sock Obsession

Lookie here! I finally managed to finish a pair of STR sock club socks before Pat!

Pattern: Lenore by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (October 2007 Rockin' Sock Club shipment)
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight (100% superwash merino), colorway Lenore, one skein
Needles: one 32" US 1 (2.5 mm) Knit Picks circular
Started/Completed: October 26/November 4

I absolutely love these socks, even though they're a bit on the snug side (they're 60 stitches around as opposed to my standard 64). This was the first shipment in the sock club where I loved both the yarn and the pattern. It was easy and fast, and I really only had to pay attention to the first 22 rows.

Did I mention that I re-upped for next year for the sock club? I wasn't going to -- not because I didn't want to, but in an effort to save some more money -- but then The Mister offered to get me my membership as my Hannukah/birthday gift. You can imagine how quickly I said yes.

As long as we're discussing socks, Amy tagged me for a socky meme, so here goes:

1. What’s your favorite sock yarn? (please note that the word “yarn” is singular. Just pick one. I know it’s hard.)

Thanks to the sock club, I'm going to have to say Socks That Rock. It's soft, it holds up well (or it has so far), and the colorways are always gorgeous.

2. What’s your favorite type and brand of sock needle?

My most-loved needles are my 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circulars. I've used them so much, the silver finish has worn off in several places. Lately, though, I've been quite enamored of my 32" US 1 Knit Picks circular for magic loop.

3. Do you knit your socks toe up, cuff down or sideways?

Most of the time cuff down. I see the appeal of knitting toe up to maximize yarn usage, but the cuff is never comfortable and the socks never fit quite as well as cuff-down socks.

4. Do you knit both socks at once or just one at a time?

One at a time. I knit one pair both socks at once and hated how un-portable they were and how much time I spent detangling the yarn.

5. What’s your favorite toe and why?

Just the standard wedge/wide toe, for the simple reason that it fits my toes the best.

6. Favorite heel?

I'm a heel flap and gusset kind of girl. It may take longer than a short-row heel, but it fits oh so nicely.

7. Do you prefer plain or patterned socks?

Depends on the yarn. For a really busy variegated yarn, a simple stockinette is usually my preferred pattern. But patterned socks can be such fun to knit, as long as the colorway doesn't compete with the pattern.

8. Who do you knit the most socks for?

I'll admit it: I'm a selfish sock knitter. Most of the socks I knit are for me. But I knit a fair amount for The Mister as well.

9. Do you darn your socks? If not, what do you do with them?

So far, not yet. I've only had one pair wear out thus far, and I just haven't gotten around to darning the holes yet.

10. Do you only wear handknit socks?

In the winter, mostly. It does depend on what type of shoes I'll be wearing -- handknit socks just don't go well with tennis shoes. Considering how many socks I've knit in the past year, I'm hopeful that this winter I'll be able to wear handknit socks pretty much any day I want to.


Bonus Question: What pattern, if any, is your basic “I-just-need-a-pair-of-socks” sock pattern based on? Do you keep it written down or memorized?

Although it's almost identical to the Yarn Harlot's basic sock recipe, I perfected my own standard stockinette pattern way before I read Knitting Rules. Mine is 64 stitches, all stockinette with a 2x2 ribbed cuff and a wide toe. Easy peasy and fits my foot perfectly.

I'm sure this has worked its way around to most of the sock knitters I know by now, so if you want to do this meme and haven't yet, consider yourself tagged! Just leave me a comment about it so I can read your responses!

Alright, Already!

You all gave me a hard time*, so I put down the baby sweater and got back to work on the CPH. And do you know what this is?

It's a nearly complete hood. I'm hoping to finish it tonight, which will leave only button bands and seaming. There's still one major decision to make: button or toggles? What do you think?

It's still supposed to be pretty chilly tomorrow (and my office is still frigid), so guess what I'm wearing for the first time?



*You know I'm only kidding, right? I actually do appreciate the kick in the pants I needed to finish this sweater. My love for it has come back to me and I'm actually even looking forward to seaming it now.

Ooops, I Did It Again

Last night, the back and fronts of my Central Park Hoodie were all nicely blocked and ready for a bit of seaming before I could start the hood ...

But did I do that little bit of seaming so I could start the hood? Nope. Instead I cast on for something new:

This is the beginning of Trellis in Cotton Ease for a little boy who is due to arrive in mid-January (but, if he's anything like his two older sisters, is likely to arrive a month early). I think the knitty karma was working against me, though, because I had to rip and re-cast on three or four times before I was satisfied.

The good news is that my sock mojo was not affected. Look, I finished my first Lenore!

Did you know mostly black yarn is difficult to photograph accurately, especially when there's no natural light to be had?

Tonight I'm going to be brave and tackle the seaming so that I can start the hood, and I'm going to block the sleeves as well. I am so close to finishing this sweater that I have no good excuse not to work on it. I could use it to keep me warm, too, since temps have gone down to freezing the past couple of nights. Sweater weather has arrived!

How many of you, dear readers, are knitting sweaters right now? What sweaters are you knitting?

Being Good and Being Bad

We did make it to our dinner party Friday night and had a great time, but I think I overdid it a bit because I did not feel so well yesterday. So after venturing out to meet my parents for lunch and running a few errands, we came home and spent a quiet afternoon and evening that included plenty of knitting time. Although I was very tempted to work on my new STR socks (cast on Friday afternoon), I decided I would be good and work on finishing my Central Park Hoodie, which has been on the needles for nearly two months.

Actually, that's not entirely true. I did work on the CPH, but first I made some stitch markers that will be used if I ever get around to buying Cat Bordhi's new book:

These are very light, as they're made of thin coated wire. The hardest part about putting these together was trying to crimp the crimp beads; I think maybe my cheap miniature pliers are not the best for this task.

I did eventually settle down with my CPH sleeves and got as far as completing the increases and getting ready to start the sleeve cap. I'm now just a handful of rows away from finishing, so this week the CPH will see some blocking and perhaps even some seaming, if I feel brave enough to try to conquer the set-in sleeve again.

So that was my being good. As to my being bad? Let's just say I had a bit of a falling down at Michael's. For some reason, even though I was longing to get home and lie down, I felt compelled to go and buy some yarn (and, in all honesty, it did make me feel a little better!). I bought some non-yarn items as well, namely the beads and wire to make the stitch markers and some more tapestry needles (my spare package seems to have wandered off). But mostly there was yarn: three skeins of Cotton Ease to make this sweater for a new "cousin"-to-be, two skeins of Patons Classic Merino to make my father a scarf for Hannukah, and another three skeins to make this adorable little guy for ... me? a baby? We shall see. I guess the splurge wasn't that bad, considering the Patons was on sale for $4 a skein and more than half the yarn was specifically for gifts. I really really wanted to cast on for that bear right away, but as I said, I was good! I'm sure that when I have my CPH done to keep me warm (we have a frost advisory tonight!), I'll be happy I was good and stuck to my plan.

Tomorrow I go back to work, although I'll be leaving early to go to my follow-up appointment with my surgeon. I'm hoping that will be the end of the appendix story, as I'm tired of dealing with it and I'm sure you're all tired of hearing about it!

Finished: Intercontinental Socks

This surgery thing has done wonders for my finishing of WIPs, let me tell you!

Pattern: basic stockinette with 2x2 ribbed cuff and slip-stitch heel
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential (75% superwash wool, 25% nylon), colorway Dusk, two skeins
Needles: two 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: October 6/October 26
Recipient: my FIL, for Christmas

There's not much to say about these socks, as they are very plain and were a very straightforward (albeit somewhat boring) knit. They were cast on our first afternoon in Venice on our honeymoon and traveled with us to Greece, Turkey, and Croatia. The only thing really noteworthy about these socks is that the legs are an unusual length. Somehow I managed to pack stitch markers, thread scissors, and even tapestry needles with my yarn, but I completely forgot to throw in a tape measure. Without any way to accurately measure length, I relied on what I thought my row gauge was with this yarn (I figured roughly 11 rows/inch) and counted rows. So the cuff is 22 rows long and the rest of the leg is 55. I thought the 77 total rows would be about the 7 inches I normally use for my basic sock pattern; in reality, it's a little less. As I highly doubt my FIL will know this is the case, and I know he'll be thrilled with these socks anyway (he specifically requested "heathered blue" socks a while ago), I'm not sweating it. You can bet I always check to make sure I've got a tape measure now, though!

Now that these are done, I can finally cast on for my new Rockin' Sock Club shipment. I think this may be the first time I've actually started the shipment in the same month in which is was shipped.

Yarn Stockpiling

It appears I may have been a little clairvoyant this past weekend. Saturday afternoon, just hours before the appendicitis reared its ugly head, I made a stop at Knit One to finally use the gift card my bridesmaids gave me. It's almost as if I knew I'd be home for a week and would need some pretty wool to keep me company.

My acquisitions weren't altogether selfish. My main reason for stopping by was to find some good, washable yarn suitable for baby sweaters. This stuff fit the bill perfectly:

Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in natural green. Dreamy stuff. Someday I'd like a sweater for myself out of this stuff.

I couldn't leave without some treats for myself, especially as it was all free to me. I picked up a couple skeins of Reynold's Soft Sea Wool, which I so enjoyed working with in Aidan's Red Sox sweater (which I certainly hope he's wearing for the World Series!) and the Canada socks. These particular skeins are intended for a pair of Denmark socks (inspired by Pat's).

My real splurge was my very first Claudia Hand Paint, in a gorgeous colorway called Teal Party:

I think this will make a beautiful pair of simple stockinette socks.

If I'm feeling up to it tomorrow, I will get out the swift and wind all of this as well as the new Socks That Rock (which you can see here; I think most people have received their kits by now, but I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone who hasn't).

Today was a better day. I was able to get out of bed (and actually stay out of bed), put on real clothes, and even make dinner. I spent the better part of the day test knitting a sock pattern. I can't show you pictures or give you any details until the pattern is done, but I can tell you it's knit with worsted weight yarn and thus goes very quickly. I'm also close to finishing the socks for my FIL, and then I will turn my attention back to the sweaters. Trust me when I say I'm making the most of my knitting time!

Finished: Little Monkey Foo Foo

Thank you for all of your good wishes for my speedy recovery! I think the positive thoughts of knitters are starting to pay off, because I'm feeling much better. I'm still nowhere near back to my old self (I'm still sore, tire easily, and have a bit of a buddha belly from the swelling), but tomorrow I should be able to spend the day out of bed and do things like get/cook food for myself. Today's big accomplishment was making it through the day without needing a nap. Granted, I did get 9 1/2 hours of sleep last night and spent pretty much the whole day in bed, but when you consider I needed a nap after a trip to the bathroom a couple of days ago, you can see what a big improvement that is.

If there's a plus side to being in the hospital and being (for lack of a better word) an invalid, it's that there's plenty of time to knit. This morning I finished up a pair of socks:

(Apologies for the crappy photos in this post; there's only so much I can do from bed with no natural light and very little flexibility.)

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A. (winter '06 Knitty)
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight (100% superwash merino), colorway Little Bunny Foo Foo, one skein
Needles: one 36" US 1 (2.5 mm) Knit Picks circular, magic loop
Started/Completed: October 1/October 24
Mods: changed all the purls to knits in the stitch pattern and substituted a slip-stitch heel

Here's a closeup of the no-purl pattern that works so well with this yarn:

There's not much to say about this pattern that hasn't already been said. I'd been intending this colorway of STR specifically for this pattern; something about the name of the colorway asked to be knit into a pattern with an animal name, I guess. In any case, making these no purl was a great tactic for making this pattern an even faster knit. In truth, these did not take as long as it seems, because they were started just before we left for the trip and picked up again when we returned -- and I really wasn't able to knit until the end of my stay in the hospital. So these went quite quickly, and now that the weather has gotten a little cooler and more seasonal, I'm looking forward to wearing them.

Tomorrow I hope to be out of bed, albeit still home-bound. We are supposed to be going to a dinner party Friday night, so I'm using that as my goal for the initial stage of recuperation. Keep those positive thoughts coming!

P.S. Forgot to mention the surprise that made my day -- I made my first trip downstairs since getting home to pick up the package the mailman left in the door, which turned out to be my October Rockin' Sock Club shipment! I won't post any spoilers just yet; suffice it to say I hope I'm feeling well enough to get out my swift and ball winder tomorrow so I can get to knitting!

My Mysterious Disappearance

Have you been wondering where the promised honeymoon post was the past few days? I know sometimes I can be a little lazy and let things like the blog fall by the wayside when things get crazy, but this time I have a good excuse. Ready for it? I was in the hospital recovering from surgery.

I've just gotten home this afternoon and apparently the car ride and the walk up one flight of steps were so exhausting that I passed out for three hours this afternoon. So because my strength and stamina are clearly not where they should be, I'll give you the abbreviated version of the story.

The Mister was out of town last week, so I spent Saturday getting all the errands and cleaning done around the house so that we could relax when he got home Saturday night. At around 5:30 Saturday evening, while I was watching TV and working on his Seamless Hybrid, I started getting a weird sensation in my lower abdomen and some cramping in my lower back. By the time he got home at 10:45, I was in horrible pain. We finally went to the emergency room about two hours later. They ran blood tests and did a CT scan, but all they could find was that my white blood cell count was up, indicating some sort of infection. They weren't sure what was wrong with me, so they sent me home at about 6 in the morning. Neither of us had really slept, so we both fell immediately into bed -- only to be woken about two hours later by the phone ringing. It was a doctor at the ER; apparently another radiologist had looked at the CT and determined that, although it was hard to see, there was an issue with my appendix and I needed to get back to the ER right away.

We actually wound up going to a different hospital, as a good family friend of ours (a doctor) had called a surgeon he knew and arranged for him to meet us in the emergency room. Within an hour of arriving at the second ER, I was whisked off to surgery for an emergency appendectomy.

The surgery went really well and was done laparoscopically (is that a word?), so I only have three small incisions. I am, however, sore and get tired really easily, so I will likely be taking the rest of the week off from work. The Mister has been wonderful about helping me get around and helping out around the house. I've been able to move from the percocet they were giving me in the hospital to some extra-strength Tylenol, so I'm actually able to stay awake for longer periods of time, and I've even been able to get some knitting done in the last day. (I knew I was really sick on Saturday night when I actually put down my knitting midway through a row.)

I'll be doing my best to keep up with e-mail and blog reading in the next few days, but it all depends on how much strength I have and how long it lasts. I promise I will not forget about the promised honeymoon post; maybe now that I'm sitting in bed all day, I'll have the time to go through and label all the photos and upload them to Flickr.

So that's where I've been, and I hope you'll bear with me while I get back to normal!

Getting Back to the Grind

Things are now relatively back to normal (that is, after leaving work midway through yesterday to spend the better part of the afternoon horizontal on the couch and then getting to bed at 9 p.m.). In an effort to get the blog up to date, I'm going to go with a list format for this entry. Knitting content will be at the end, for those of you who wish to skip over the other stuff.

The Honeymoon
Thank you to all of you who left comments wishing us a good trip. We did have a fantastic time and saw some pretty amazing sights. I am planning a post or two on the trip soon in which I'll post some of my pictures; The Mister is leaving me again tomorrow for several days to attend a leadership conference in Virginia, so that might be a good opportunity for me to sit down and spend some quality time with my laptop. Stay tuned.

Blog Reading
I am finally caught up on my blog reading, which was quite a feat considering I had 120+ posts to get through. If I'm being completely honest, I will admit that I skimmed a lot of entries and made very few comments in the interest of getting up to date. Generally I make a concerted effort to comment on blogs I visit, because I do believe in the karma of blogging -- I enjoy getting comments, and I assume other bloggers do as well, so if I comment on other blogs I should get comments on my blog in return. Please know that if I visit your blog regularly, I've probably read what you wrote, but please don't take it personally if I didn't have any response to your post(s). Trust me, if you'd seen how what I was thinking was manifested in my typing yesterday, you probably would have thought it was spam because frankly it made no sense. Now that I'm all caught up, I will resume my regular commenting!

Pay It Forward
About a week before we left for the trip, I read a post on Octopus Knits about a new kind of exchange she was participating in and decided to sign up. It uses the concept of taking a random act of kindness and paying it forward. Here's how it works: The participant offers to send a handmade item to three people, and in return those three people make the same offer on their blogs. So I'm on board. I will make three handmade items (most likely knitting related) and send them to the first three people who e-mail me with their contact info. In return, all you have to do is post this same offer to your own blog and send out three handmade items of your own. Interested? Send me an e-mail at paknitwit AT gmail DOT com with your name, mailing address, and blog URL; I'll send the items to the first three people who respond. I won't be sending out the items immediately, but let's say within the next six months. So think of it as a surprise to look forward to when you least expect it.

Stash Enhancement
I also neglected to mention that about two days before we left, I received a Knit Picks order in the mail. Now before the alarm bells start ringing for breaking my yarn diet (really only self-imposed to save some money), I must note that the package contained primarily needles. Most needed were some 16" circs that were desperately needed to knit the sleeves and collar of The Mister's Seamless Hybrid. I also found I needed some other circs for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan after swatching, and since everyone was raving about them, I picked up some of new Harmony wood dpns. All that was left in stock that I was interested in were the US 1 (2.25 mm), which are a little smaller than the US 1 1/2 (2.5 mm) needles I usually use, so I'll have to do a little swatching and see what they do to my gauge. I did order just a little bit of sock yarn, just to get to the free shipping threshold: two skeins of Essential in the colorway Carbon Twist (a black plied with a gray) for socks for The Mister and two skeins of Gloss in Woodland Sage for me.

and finally:
Knitting: An Update on the WIPs
Let's do a number list for this one, shall we?

• The Central Park Hoodie: The back and both fronts are done, and I am knitting both sleeves at once to ensure that they match (there was a little tinking and reknitting on the second front section, so I've learned my lesson by now). Now that I am into the cabled portion, the sleeves should move along swiftly. I just have to make sure that I keep my counting straight to ensure that increases fall where they are supposed to and cables cross at the correct intervals. There are a lot of tally marks on scraps of paper for this one (I'm really high-tech like that). (*Note: Blogger is not letting me upload a picture; see it here.)
  
• The Seamless Hybrid: I'm still chugging along on the body, which is now about 9 inches long. Now that the KP circs have arrived, I can cast on for the sleeves as well. As there is no shaping whatsoever in the body, it makes for very mindless (read: boring) knitting, so it will likely see action mostly when I want to pay attention to something else -- say, all the DVRed shows we have to catch up on from the past week and a half. (*Note: Same picture issue; go here to see it.)
  
• Socks for My FIL: I'm calling these the Intercontinental Socks because they were cast on in Venice and went with me on all our excursions on the trip -- which means they were in Europe (Venice; Katakolon/Olympia, Greece; Istanbul, Turkey; and Dubrovnik, Croatia), Asia (Izmir/Ephesus, Turkey), and now have come home to North America to be finished. I'm hoping that creation history makes them more interesting than they look, since they're just plain stockinette worked in a solid color of Knit Picks Essential. (My FIL is not a fancy guy, so these should be right up his alley.)

• Little Monkey Foo Foo: Did I ever mention these socks? I cast them on right after finishing the Love Lace socks, as I was still feeling the need for some STR. They're no-purl Monkeys, in the colorway Little Bunny Foo Foo -- hence my name for them. The first sock is almost done and I have no doubt the second soon will follow. The pattern is really fast to begin with, but taking out the purling? Superfast.

Still with me? Well thanks for sticking around! I'll try to be less verbose now that I'm back to normal blogging. Now, time to wolf down some dinner and head out to meet up with the Hurricane Knitters!

What Day Is It?

We're back! And we're quite a bit jetlagged. We got home at around 1 a.m. this morning, promptly rolled into bed, and passed out. We spent much of today running errands (grocery shopping, bank, etc.) and doing laundry (load three of four is in the dryer). I have a feeling we'll be getting to bed early again tonight.

All in all, we had a fantastic time. We're in the process of going through all of our pictures (The Mister alone took more than 1,200!); I'll post the best to my Flickr account later in the week, once I have time and energy to put in all the information so you'll know what you're looking at.

Lest you think I left all my knitting at home, here is some proof that wool did make the trip with us in the form of some simple stockinette socks for my father in law. First they saw the port of Katakolon in Greece (they only came out on the bus as it was pouring at Olympia):


Then they did a little sightseeing at the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey:

They admired the view from the ship at the port in Istanbul (not Constantinople!) and spied one of the many mosques:

They also traveled to Dubrovnik, Croatia, where this knitter was so enthralled she forgot to take a picture.

I am way behind in my blog reading and my e-mailing, so I hope you'll forgive me if I've been lax in responding to your e-mail or commenting. I hope I'll be caught up in a few days, but frankly right now sleep is more important than anything! Bear with me!

Bon Voyage!

Well, we are almost ready to leave. As it turns out, our flight schedule changed and we're now leaving a little earlier than originally planned. The good news is, we'll have a few hours in Boston between flights, so maybe I'll be able to get some chowdah!

After many hours of consideration, I have decided not to try to take knitting on the plane with me. I don't think I'd have an issue on the domestic flight, but a number of threads on the Ravelry forums led me to believe I might have a problem with European security. I didn't think German security would buy the argument that my German-made Addis were perfectly safe, so rather than risk losing them, they'll be making the trip in my checked baggage. Instead, I'll have some podcasts to keep me company, as well as a teach-yourself Italian book to jog my memory (only a few years ago, I was "proficient"; I'm hoping it'll all come back to me).

We'll be arriving in Venice midday Saturday and the cruise departs Sunday evening. If you're interested, you can follow our progress and see the ship's webcam here.

Pictures when we return!

Finished: Summer of Love Lace Socks

Just in time for the start of Socktoberfest ...

Pattern: Summer of Love Lace by JC Briar (August Rockin' Sock Club shipment)
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight (100% superwash merino), colorway Flower Power, one skein
Needles: two US 1 (2.5 mm) 32" Knit Picks circs (worked both at the same time, magic loop)
Started/Completed: September 23/October 1
Mods: None

These socks worked up incredibly quickly, which was a good thing, as I felt really bad for neglecting them for about a month. The only "complicated" part of the pattern was the cuff, which has a four-row repeat (two of which are purled across). What you can't see when the socks are worn is that there is an inch and a half of ribbing underneath the folded-down cuff. This was a design feature I was happy to discover.

My favorite part of the pattern, though? The Eye of Partridge heel -- I just love what it does with a bright, varied colorway like this:

This is not a colorway I would have picked out on my own; it's probably a tad bit loud for my taste. But it does work exceptionally well with this pattern and makes for some very happy socks. I am definitely going to knit this pattern again, although next time I will try it in a more subdued colorway. I'd like to see what happens to the lace cuff when it's paired with a semisolid.

Yesterday I spent part of the day at a baby shower, where I was finally able to present the Pea Pod Cardigan to its recipient (well, to the mother of the recipient, as he's not born yet). As you can see, it was a big hit:

The mom-to-be received a lot of very nice gifts, including a great many very adorable baby outfits, but the women at the shower just could not get over the sweater. It was literally passed around the room so every attendee could examine it for herself. This is certainly validation of one's knitting, is it not? It's settled -- I'm knitting this sweater again!

The Mister and I are getting ready for our honeymoon; we leave Friday. Blogging may be a bit spotty before we leave, and for that I hope you'll forgive me. I will be knitting with the Hurricane Knitters this Wednesday, so if you're in the area I hope to see you there!

Can I Cast On Yet?

So, I swatched again for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, this time on US 4s. I'm still not perfect, but I'm much closer. My gauge over four inches was 23 stitches and 33 rows; the pattern gauge is 24 stitches and 36 rows. The row gauge doesn't bother me much. As to stitch gauge, I am going to use that quarter of a stitch to my advantage. I know that this sweater is designed to have negative ease. I am smack dab between the two sizes, so I am going to knit the smaller of the two and allow those extra stitches to get me to a slightly larger real-life size.

But, I'm not allowing myself to cast on just yet, as much as I want to. I am still working on the two other sweaters, and they're taking enough time without adding a third into the mix.

One thing that's not taking a lot of time is the most recent Rockin' Sock Club socks. I cast on for both at the same time, but I've only been taking one to work with me to knit on during my lunch hour. That first sock was finished last night:


Trust me when I tell you this sock is absolutely adorable on, and the colors are much more vibrant in person. Granted this is not a colorway I would have selected on my own, but it works very well with this pattern and is behaving itself (no unsightly pooling!). The pattern itself is very quick: a lace cuff (20 rows) followed by an inch and a half of ribbing and an inch of stockinette for the rest of the leg portion, an eye-of-partridge heel, and easy-peasy stockinette foot. Although I only picked up the second sock -- for reals -- last night, I'm already into the gusset. This pair should be done by the end of the weekend, or at the very first for the beginning of Socktoberfest!

Next?

Thanks for all your compliments on the Canada socks. I'm quite pleased with my first "real" stranded colorwork, and I've certainly been bitten by that bug. I'm not sure the Soft Sea Wool was the best yarn to use; it has a rather bumpy texture, and I think because of that the colorwork portions aren't as smooth or distinct as they could be. But the socks are incredibly squishy and comfortable, and I know come winter I'll be glad to have them.

Knitting continues apace on the two sweaters. The Seamless Hybrid isn't moving very quickly; to be honest, I haven't given it much attention the past few days. The CPH is coming along faster (as you would expect for something at a larger gauge). The back was complete last Thursday night, and now I'm about halfway through the left front. Seeing as we're still experiencing highs in the 80s, I'm in no hurry to finish a hoodie at the moment.

While I'm far from completing either of the two sweaters on the needles, I'm already thinking of what's next -- the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I bought the yarn for it back in July, and last night I swatched on US 5 needles. I bought the yarn primarily because it was so incredibly soft (although it's being on sale didn't hurt!) and I suspected it would work well with the cables. I was very pleased at the remarkable stitch definition that resulted, even after blocking:


Unfortunately, my gauge is way off. I'm getting about five stitches to the inch, and I need to be getting six. So tonight I'm knitting another swatch (going down a size) and hoping for the best. I'll be okay if I'm off by a stitch or two, as I'm between the sizes given in the pattern and can use it to my advantage, but being this far off makes my head hurt to even begin to think of the math involved!

Finished: Modified Canada Socks

From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!

Pattern: based on Canada from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Reynolds Soft Sea Wool (100% wool), color 0569/dark blue, two skeins, and color 0263/off white, approx. 1/4 skein
Needles: two US 1 (2.5 mm) 12" Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: August 26/September 22

Mods: For one thing, I decided to stick with two colors for the colorwork (the pattern called for three). I also completely switched out the cuff, opting for a simple 2x2 rib with a couple purl bands for texture. I shortened the leg by an inch or so and subbed my standard wide toe.

These were such fun to knit and are quite squishy and warm. They will be great once sandal weather is over. I'm thoroughly addicted to colorwork now and am already plotting my next stranded project.

Meanwhile, I finished the back of the CPH and cast on for one of the fronts, put in another inch or so on The Mister's sweater, and finally cast on for the Summer of Love Lace socks (they were the August BFMA shipment -- better late than never, right?). My mojo is back!

I tried to come up with a clever title for this post ...

but I couldn't. Will you settle for some knitting content instead?

Last night I decided on my Central Park Hoodie for my Hurricane Knitters knit night project. I felt like I'd been neglecting it; I hadn't touched it in a week, not since I cast on for the Seamless Hybrid. After knitting Cascade 220 on US 5s, I realized how much faster the knitting grows when you knit Cascade 220 on US 8s. Here's the back, approximately 3/4 complete:

I just love this yarn. It's a heathered shade, so there are subtle color changes that in no way approach pooling:

Knit night was a blast. I think Roaming Tigger (or, as we're now calling him, Taliban Tigger) had the best time. We had a big crowd -- so big that we added a table not once but twice to our original grouping. So big that those of us at one end didn't really get to talk to the people at the other end because they were too far away. We're all hoping the newcomers join us again.

I am anxious to finish the back to the CPH, but first Kenny tagged me for a meme. It's the Eight Random Things About Me meme (stop me if you've heard this one):

1. For a period of about six years (middle and high school), I refused to wear pink. My mother was shocked when I came home for Thanksgiving my freshman year of college with a pink sweater.
2. For many years, when I was sick or couldn't sleep, I'd watch Little Women -- on VHS.
3. I have a birthmark on the inside of my right calf. It's a little red rectangle.
4. I minored in art history and classics in college; my last class for the classics minor was an introductory course in ancient Greek.
5. I've had two articles published in scholarly journals.
6. I'm still bitter than I never had a sister.
7. I love Indian food, but The Mister won't go near it.
8. The one book I can read over and over again? Pride and Prejudice.

Technically I'm supposed to tag eight people for this meme, but I'm going to buck the trend. Instead, why not leave me a comment with a random fact about you?

Oh Canada (Socks)

I am crusing along on the second Canada sock -- colorwork is done, heel flap is nearly complete. It's all smooth sailing from here.

(Remember these socks? You may have seen the first one featured in the Daily Chum a few weeks ago.)

I think I'm getting better at this stranding thing. Although the stitches are still a little wonky, I'm getting faster and it's feeling more natural to knit with both hands. Plus, I think that wonkiness will even out with blocking. Here's tonight's artsy-fartsy shot:

On tonight's agenda? Finally winding my August STR and the Zen Yarn Garden that arrived last week and turning the heel of this baby. Then sweater? shawl? sleep? I'm saving my knitting energy for tomorrow night.

It Was the Sock That Never Ends ...

Or so it seemed. But over the weekend, thanks to some seriously determined knitting, the second sock was finished.

Pattern: Garter Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: Brown Sheep Co. Wildfoote (75% superwash wool, 25% nylon), colorway Blue Blood Red (yes, I assure you these socks are bright red!), two skeins
Needles: one US 1 (2.5 mm) 32" Knit Picks circular, magic loop
Started/Completed: August 26/September 15
Recipient: The Mister

I still can't believe how long these socks took me to knit. Yes, I was knitting other things at the same time (including another pair of socks and two sweaters). Yes, there was ribbing involved all the way down the [very long] length of the foot. But it was a simple pattern and these were my traveling socks. Never before -- or at least not since I became a sock addict -- has it taken me so long to finish a pair.

My excuse? Well boredom, for one. Although I love the texture of garter rib when it's on the foot, it's hard to get excited about it while knitting. But ultimately the real time-sucking culprit of these socks was the yarn. In terms of it look, feel, and fiber content, it's not much different from Knit Picks Essential, which surely you know by now is my favorite all-around heavy-duty sock yarn. The experience, however, was entirely different. I did not like this yarn. It was extremely splitty and annoying thin -- not that I'm so particular about the width of a strand of yarn, but this yarn's thinness drastically affected my row gauge. So much so that I made the legs of these socks a full inch shorter than I normally do and still cut it close on yarn. I bought this yarn solely because it was the right shade of bright red, a shade that just is not available in Essential, but I won't be buying it again.

Fortunately, there's a happy ending to the story of these socks. The Mister loves them. They're just the right color, and he says they fit perfectly. So while they were a pain to knit, I'm happy in knowing that they'll keep his feet warm (and pretty!) this fall and winter.

Meanwhile, I got such a high from finishing these that I cast on for the second Canada sock last night and have been breezing through it. I'm halfway through the main color chart. If I finish that part tonight, I could theoretically finish the rest of the sock by the end of the week. And then I can finally give my full attention to our sweaters.

The real question is, which project will come with me to meet with the Hurricane Knitters this week? You'll have to show up to find out!

You Ask Questions, I Have Answers

I'm glad you all enjoyed my shots modeling the French Market Bag. It now seems to be dry (three days later!), so now I can start using it to actually hold some yarn. Like, perhaps, the yarn for The Mister's Seamless Hybrid.

Kenny wanted to know some more details about this sweater, probably because he's been doing extensive research and experimentation on his own seamless sweater. So here are the specs, as requested.

This is the Seamless Hybrid sweater from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears. It's an entirely seamless sweater, knit from the bottom up in simple yet elegant stockinette, and called a hybrid because it's a combination of several seamless sweaters. I was inspired by the version Jared knit -- in truth, I'm inspired by just about everything he knits! The yarn is Cascade 220 (my stand-by), knit on size 5 needles at a gauge of 5 stitches to the inch.

Although the mister is a very plain-and-simple kind of guy and would only agree to a muted solid shade, I had to add a little excitement to the sweater with the contrasting facings on the hem. And in true Brooklyn Tweed fashion, I made the hem truly seamless by knitting it into the fabric of the body, rather than sewing up the cast-on edge after the sweater was finished.

To do this, I provisionally cast on 90% of the total body stitches (in this case 180) with the purple acrylic you saw in the last picture; I used a crochet cast on for ease of undoing later. Then I knit one row with the main color -- this is so that the contrasting color doesn't show through in the seaming row. I then switched to the contrasting color (gray) and knit eight rows, and on the ninth row I increased evenly across the row to get to 100% of the total body stitches (an increase of 20 stitches to a total of 200). I kept this final row in the gray to have that little bit showing at the hem. Then I switched to the main color and knit 10 rows, so that this portion was equal to the length of the facing. To join the two sections, I undid the provisional cast on and knit the resulting live stitches together with the stitches on the needle, knitting one stitch on the needle alone every 10 stitches or so to account for the difference in the number of stitches.

It's really quite cool how this works. There's a neat row of purls along the bottom of the hem and a cushy double thickness around. I'll do the same hem for the sleeves.

Any more questions?

Finally, since it's Friday, and all the cool kids are doing it, here's a little yarn pr0n:

This is 280 yards/4 ouncesof handpainted superwash merino from Zen Yarn Garden, received as a prize for SAM3. I'm not normally an orange girl, but this skein is especially yummy. It's aptly named Orange Creamsicle; were it not for the furriness, I might just lick it!

Got Felt?

Today I'd like to present (for your reading and viewing pleasure) a demonstration of the ability of wool to felt when exposed to heat and agitation. The pink blob you saw resting on/taking over my couch Monday night was indeed finished. It was huge. For scale, here it is on my head:

(Personally I think I look rather like the character from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids who always wore a stocking cap over his entire head.)

I decided to live on the edge and threw it in the washing machine, with a couple towels for agitation, in hot water and on the highest/longest wash setting. Roughly forty minutes later, I had a normally sized bag (although I bet I could still get it on my head if I tried). Here it is with a skein of STR for scale:

Pattern: French Market Bag by Polly Outhwaite (winter '03 Knitty)
Yarn: Patons SWS (70% wool, 30% soy), colorway 70530/Natural Geranium, six skeins
Needles: US 9 (5.5 mm) dpns and 32" circs
Started/Completed: July 17?/September 11
Mods: lengthened the body and made the handles longer

I really felted the heck out of this bag, which is just fine by me. It turned out a little smaller than I'd expected or intended, but the resulting fabric is nice and stiff, meaning this will actually sit open and I can use it to hold my working yarn. Mostly I'm just happy to have this off the needles.

You know what makes me even more excited, though? Once I finished this bag, I let myself cast on for The Mister's Seamless Hybrid:

Disregard the purple; that's just my provisional cast on (you know he wouldn't wear any color that outrageous anyway!). This is all Cascade 220 wool. The facings are leftover silvery gray from his Cambridge Jacket; the main color is a slightly heathered, muted charcoal-y brown. A tiny bit of the gray will peek out at the bottom of the hem for a bit of contrast, but otherwise this will be a very sedate sweater. And once I get past the hem, this will take the place of the French Market Bag as my mindless stockinette project. So far, it seems to have brought my mojo back to me.


(Psssst! The fall Knitty is up! I'm off to go peruse the offerings.)

Big Pink Blob

For most of the weekend, I knit diligently on the growing French Market Bag. It's now close to being finished, with two of the four handle sections left to be knit and ends to be woven in. I don't think I realized just how large it was until I laid it out on the couch to take this picture:

Yup, it covers pretty much all of one of the couch cushions. I wanted this bag to be bigger than the first one I knit, but I think I may have gotten a little carried away. Tonight I will be finishing it, and depending on how long that takes me I may throw it in the wash as well to begin the felting fun. Look for a finished bag in the next couple of days.

My other knitting is a little boring at the moment. I've got a few cable crosses done on the back of my Central Park Hoodie and about three inches done on the second red garter rib sock. I'm in a bit of a funk, as I just can't get too excited about any particular project. Since lack of knitting progress makes for boring blog posts, I'll do my best to get into one project or another -- perhaps the Seamless Hybrid I'll finally allow myself to cast on for once the bag is off the needles? We shall see ...

In the meantime, I must admit that I've been seriously remiss in noting that Jess, Octopus Knits, and Yvonne have all nominated me a

Thanks, gals! Since I've taken so long to publicly acknowledge this honor, just about every other female blogger in the universe has already been nominated, so might I suggest you check out my blogroll? There are plenty of Rockin' Girl Bloggers there -- not to mention a few rockin' guy bloggers as well!

Return of the Wool

The Mister and I would like to thank all of you who have congratulated us on our marriage. You kind words mean a lot to us!

I am now going to stop hijacking my knitting blog with talk of the wedding and get back to the actual knitting content. Some of you have asked to see more wedding pictures, so I'll post some to my Flickr stream for those of you who care to have a gander. For those of you who are here for the knitting, read on -- wool is ahead!

In the past couple of days, it's suddenly hit me that it's September -- meaning fall is right around the corner and the holidays aren't far behind. Thus, it's about time for me to get a move on with the fall projects that have long been in the queue.

First up is finishing the socks currently on the needles -- or, more specifically, finishing the first socks that are on the needles. I feel like I have been knitting these forever, but I think it's only been about two weeks. As of today, both first socks are to the beginning of the toe decreases:

I am anxious to finish these so that I can start on the August STR club socks, which some people finished within a few days of receiving their shipment. I have no such ambitions; I'll be happy if I can get them done before the next shipment arrives.

The coming of fall also means the beginning of sweater-knitting season for me. Last night I cast on for my Central Park Hoodie at knit night and managed to get a good chunk of the ribbing done for the back before I left:

I am absolutely in love with this colorway. The yarn is my old standby, Cascade 220; this shade is a heathered limey green with flecks of yellow and blue. Just gorgeous. Although ideally I would have finished up a WIP before casting on for this sweater (such as my French Market Bag), a certain someone -- with whom I'm doing a mini-KAL -- started her sweater, and I couldn't be left behind in her dust.

Next on the needles? The Mister's Seamless Hybrid -- but that really will have to wait until I finish up the French Market Bag. I've heard of startitis, but this is getting ridiculous! What has gotten into me, do you think?

I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do!

We're married! J (henceforth to be known as The Mister) and I went back to work today, so we've been forced to get back to our normal schedules, although we're still doing wedding-related things like writing lots and lots of thank-you notes. We'd like to thank all of you who commented and e-mailed for you good wishes and congratulations!

I'm still waiting for one of our many camera-happy friends to send us pictures, but I thought I'd share the few pictures I had my maid of honor snap with my camera. Here's proof for all of you that I did indeed use my wedding shawl! Although it was about 80 and sunny outside, the thermostat in the room in which the bridesmaids and I got ready was set at about 60 and I was freezing! A little alpaca to wrap around my shoulders was just what I needed.

I'm under all that tulle somewhere ...

I'm clutching my stomach to see if it's still there under that corset of an undergarment I'm wearing.

See the flower baskets now?

On Hiatus

We are officially in the middle of wedding weekend. I only have a minute, but I did want to post a quick note to let you all know that everything is going well so far and we're looking forward to tomorrow. Thank you especially to those of you who've e-mailed your good wishes for us (I've read them but haven't had time to respond).

Regular blogging will resume after the holiday weekend. Enjoy your weekend!