knitting in the dark

We had quite a steamy weekend here in Brooklyn… in fact, ConEdison called thousands of customers, including me, yesterday morning (at 7:30! *grumble grumble*) asking us to turn off and unplug all non-essential items, but specifically mentioned that we could keep our refrigerators plugged in. Gee - thanks! I complied and kept my air-conditioner and computer and things off almost all day. It gave me an excellent excuse to go browsing around the neighborhood shops (free AC!) and to buy a pint of my newest favorite dessert: yes, that does say “grapefruit campari” sorbet! Delicious!

When I plugged the AC back in last night and my apartment cooled down a bit (I usually set it at 78 degrees - just low enough to take the edge off), I finished seaming and weaving in the ends on my Tour de France Knitalong project: Thermal! She’s done! And I dare not go outside to take action shots of the sweater because it’s supposed to feel like 100 degrees out there today (for the fourth day in a row *grumble grumble*). Maybe - hopefully - soon it will cool down just a bit…?

pattern: Thermal (Ravelry pattern link) from Knitty Winter 2006, size B (with ribbing unstretched it’s about 32″ around, but after a wash it should relax some)
yarn: less than 4 skeins of Araucania Ranco Solid in Teal
needles: 24″ 2.5mm Addi Turbo and INOX 2.25mm dpns for sleeves
modifications: The front pieces after the neck split are one repeat narrower than designed to try to prevent the shoulder seams falling off my shoulders. What else…? Oh right, I’m skipping the buttons in favor of an open V - and if I hate it I can always sew it shut and put some non-functioning buttons on there.

notes: Alternated between 2 skeins changing each row - what a pain! And I don’t love the semi-solid look anyway, so I probably won’t be doing that again anytime soon! I do, however, love the lack of seaming created by knitting both body and sleeves in the round.

And then I started swatching for my next project!

Also, thank you to everyone who either commented or emailed me relationship condolences; it has really been very nice to hear from you. As I said in a reply email to Opal (who just opened an etsy shop with her handspun - go check it out), “relationships come and go, but knitting is forever.” And knitting (and blogging and Ravelry) has definitely been very helpful keeping my mind off the sad stuff; and so again - thanks.

Unfortunately for my brother, he got stuck overnight while flying through JFK on his way from Seattle to DC. Fortunately for my brother, I live in Brooklyn and he was able to take a taxi over and we pulled out the inflatable mattress and he was able to sleep in a bed with clean sheets rather than on an airport bench and take a shower in the morning before going to the rescheduled flight and then directly to work. And his unexpected visit prompted me to do some apartment cleaning (and believe you me, the place needed it desperately after breaking up with The Boy last week). I did the dishes and picked up my floor and did a load of laundry and cleaned the toilet and bathroom sink - hooray!

To catch up on other matters, the Tour de France is happening right now (and, therefore, the fantastic annual Tour de France knitalong), and I haven’t been able to watch ANY of the coverage due to my work schedule - but I have been getting some good knitting time in during my reverse-commute to Connecticut on Metro-North every day. And now that job is over so I may actually get to watch a little of the Tour if my internet connection continues to work smoothly (I don’t own a TV)…

I started Thermal (from Knitty Winter 2006) back towards the end of May and flew through the body and the first sleeve in just over a week, but hadn’t started the second sleeve yet. I’d heard some pretty sad stories of never-ending Thermal projects because the whole thing’s knit in the round in fingering weight in a sort of ribbed/waffle pattern and I didn’t want mine to become another long-lingering work-in-progress. So on July 5th, when le Tour started in France, I started the last major piece of the sweater. There is a bit of a tighter-tension issue from the knitting I did the day after the break-up, but it’s not too bad - not at all noticeable while on my arm - and a wash should help to further even it out.

And I’m already working on the cap! I should definitely be able to finish the sweater in the next week. (Isn’t that when the race is over? I’m so out of touch… oh nevermind, it looks like it ends the 27th - PLENTY of time!)

And to keep the good vibes going around here - a macro shot of the stitch pattern then I’m off to ride my bike around Prospect Park a few times!

The person who would have taken pictures of this sweater has been forcibly ejected from my life… he didn’t really want to be in a relationship anymore and I wasn’t feeling valued in that relationship (big surprise considering his feelings, right?); it was very mutual, but not so amicable. I’m angry and hurt, but slowly coming out of the immediate post-breakup funk.

Fortunately, I had a little free time in the park two days ago in Westport, CT, between rehearsal and preview for the show I’ve been working on all month to take some pictures using my camera’s lovely shutter-timer feature. It’s one of the best-fitting sweaters I’ve made myself and should see a lot of use, though it’s a little warm in Brooklyn for wool right now! It’s definitely coming with me to Seattle in two weeks when I visit my parents.

pattern: Penny from Debbie Bliss Summer Essentials (Ravelry links)
yarn: O-Wool Classic 2-Ply (delicious!)

started: 5 April 2008
completed: 26 May 2008 (the knitting was much faster than this, but it took me a long time to sew the ribbons on)

notes: shortened both the body and sleeves