knitting in the dark

I have a good feeling about this year. *knock on wood* If history is any indication of future performance: the “odd” ages seem to be better than the “evens” (especially if one ignores my 19th year). I had a bit of a tough 26… with the car accident and resulting depression and subsequent falling out of shape, but I’m back on track! My birthday was actually almost three weeks ago now (August 16). My parents bought me some nice curtains, but my mother also sent me a surprise gift:

my first ever (I know - blasphemous!) skein of Socks that Rock! It’s the lightweight version in color Lagoon and it will probably just sit here on my desk for a bit while I figure out what exactly to make. Yes, probably socks, but which pattern?

And as a gift to myself I ordered some dark red Ultra Alpaca from WEBS to make myself a Notre Dame de Grace - hopefully the pictures on Ravelry are close to color-accurate. Some bright orange Trekking XXL also fell into my cart when I realized it would put me over the “discountable” minimum and the skein would therefore cost less than $7. That’s probably destined to become socks for a friend whose favorite color is orange and is moving from Portland Oregon to Brisbane Australia in about two months.

Does shipping from WEBS take a long time? I’ve been spoiled by The Loopy Ewe’s nearly instant gratification online shopping.

I’m going away for the weekend again. This time to Cape Cod with some theatre friends. I was supposed to be loading-in to the theatre for Godspell on the Great White Way right now (there are still posters up all over Times Square and the LES) but that’s been put on hold, so I’m filling time and designing a few shows of my own instead of assisting for the next two months. If you know anyone who needs some good lighting…

Okay, okay, I confess: I’ve been out of town avoiding my life, but I’m back in Brooklyn and feeling pretty good (helpfully, I have a really busy fall coming up). I visited my parents in Seattle for a week and my brother in DC for a long weekend. And I finished a sweater that was started pre-blog in 2005…! When I left for Seattle I needed to seam a sleeve and up one side and sew on the buttons. Coming from steamy NYC I didn’t realize I would want to wear that sweater while in Seattle (it was awfully cold there for the end of July and I didn’t take anything other long-sleeved clothing items), so I promptly finished up and wore it the rest of the week and conned my mother into taking some photos - so much easier than self-portraits!

pattern: Moonlight from Rowan 34 (ravelry link to my project page)
yarn: Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair, color: Raven
needles: US 8
started: July 2005 (!!!)
completed: 29 July 2008

modifications: None; I started this sweater before I felt comfortable enough with my abilities to alter much. I don’t think I did a gauge swatch, but it fits pretty well (I could lose a few pounds around the middle right now, though), so I’m not complaining about knitting blindly from the directions, except maybe about seaming the reverse stockinette - it would be easy to convert to a no-seam knit.

Ah… sunbathing in Seattle in July apparently requires a heavy wool sweater!

I purchased the buttons before I left New York at M&J because if anyone anywhere had a better selection it would make my head explode:

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

I can knit again! The orthopedist gave me permission to take the splint off while at home and said that exercising the hand would be good (she suggested typing, but I’m sure knitting is good too). So I have a new project: “Penny” from the Debbie Bliss Summer Essentials book. Over at Ravelry I am the only person who is knitting or has knit it - and, annoyingly, the pattern is now available for free (and apparently called “wrap cardigan with ribbon”) though I bought the book last summer shortly after it came out. I am flying right through the sweater, too - I swatched Saturday and started knitting Monday night after procuring the proper needles; this is the progress after watching Brokeback Mountain that evening:

Then I was able to knit quite a bit Tuesday as I didn’t have work:

And I finished both the back and the left front yesterday, but they don’t line up perfectly - I think I forgot a set of increases on the front, so I’m going to have to rip it back out to the start of the raglan shaping:

This color is proving difficult to photograph; I don’t even have this much trouble with reds! The second photo seems the most accurate on my screen. The yarn is new to me and fantastic - it’s Vermont Organic Fiber Company O-Wool Classic 2-Ply in color 2012 and it is delicious! Hopefully I will finish before it gets too warm here in the city - it was about 70 degrees here today and so spring-y.

While I did finish these socks in January as promised - I am an entire month late posting about them! I’ve been out of town for the last five weeks for work; first in San Diego at the La Jolla Playhouse and then in Connecticut at the Westport Country Playhouse. So a big thank you to February for the extra day this year; and why isn’t February 29th a holiday? Anyone?

pattern: my own

yarn: Regia Kaffe Fassett Landscape Storm from The Loopy Ewe

needles: 4x my favorite 2mm dpns

started: 3rd week of November 2007

finished: 17 January 2008

They are, happily, fraternal instead of identical twins; and I used every last bit of yarn in the two skeins:

Skeins Her Way has a brilliant contest going on right now… it’s the January Finish a UFO Contest 2008!

I haven’t worked on a sock since Thanksgiving weekend… which, for me, is shocking since I tend to always have a sock going for subway knitting or whatever. Thanksgiving weekend I finished the first of (what will be) a pair of ribbed knee-highs out of Kaffe Fassett Regia.

I had originally thought I wanted to make a pair of Rainbow Socks from the yarn, but I didn’t like the way the long stripes of color were (or weren’t, as the case may be) working with the pattern:

So I ripped it all out and decided to knit it up in vanilla-style 3×1 ribbing:

With a little bit of TV time in the hotel room I completed the first of the pair, but since then I have been completely engrossed in holiday knitting and gifts and time with my parents and brother and one other project (FO post to follow soon). According to the rules of the contest, I have until February 7 to complete its mate. I think I should be able to accomplish that without too much heartache, so…

I’m giving myself an extra-credit assignment - for the Yankee Swap that my friends do here in Brooklyn I promised to make a pair of hand-knit socks or fingerless mitts out of this lovely Lisa Souza:

Our friend James walked away with that gift (he seemed pleased but was a little confused as to why they weren’t already made… silly!) and I still haven’t even taken measurements so I can start! He’s decided on socks instead of mitts - so if I measure this week I should be able to whip out another pair of socks in the next four weeks.

You know what makes writer’s block worse? When you accidentally delete the post you’re working on after you’ve been writing for a while. Oh well! This is me remaining calm…

After being unbelievably busy with work since July and then with the holidays (and, therefore, not posting as frequently as one might like), there’s A LOT to show and tell. In order to not feel entirely overwhelmed and thus never begin, I am going to start 2008 with a simple finished object post and not do a recap of my last 5 months because that would be crazy and potentially (definitely) long and boring.

So without further ado, may I present the fingerless mitts I made for my best friend for Christmas; please excuse the cell phone photos as I forgot to bring my camera when we took her to the train station for her return trip to Portland.

pattern: none

yarn: Koigu in… um… greens? (top photo is accurate colors)

needles: Prym 6” 2mm dpns (which I previously thought were INOX)

started: December 5^th (maybe)

finished: December 24^th (just in the nick of time to be unwrapped the next morning)

notes: They’re pretty much a tube with a few increases before the thumb. What else? Single-round stripes and twisted ribbing…

Happy New Year everyone!

As tomorrow is the beginning of December and the questions regarding what I want for Christmas are starting to come in from the extended family, I thought I’d post some ideas here for reference (my family doesn’t “do” gift certificates - no matter how brilliant a gift “free” yarn at the LYS may be). There are a good number of knitting books I’d like to own (rather than borrowing from the library, which is what I usually do) - some of these are already classics and some will surely become classics - and books are some of my favorite things to receive as gifts (if I can’t pick out my own yarn).

1. A collection of stitch patterns, either Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (and Volumes 2, 3, and 4)

or the new Harmony Guides (Knit & Purl, Lace & Eyelets, Cables & Arans)

2. The Knitter’s Book of Yarn to go with my newly found obsession with designing my own patterns

3. These beautiful pattern books that I’ve had the time to browse but not yet the money to buy

4. And one that I have not yet been able to see in person

If you have either the Barbara Walker or Harmony stitch guides (or Vogue, I suppose), would you recommend the collection you own or do you want a different set?