I finished something

It's a day off for me, which means that I have spent the day hanging out with a 4 year old, and also finishing up knitting Sprout. Technically it's not quite complete. I ended up knitting buttonholes and then deciding I would never wear it buttoned, as I was intentionally playing with ease on this one, and have knit a size which has too much negative ease for me to dream of ever buttoning. Despite that, I think it's kind of cute, it knit up very quickly, and it didn't use much yarn. I'll probably make something like this again, to test out how best I can use short rows, and to better determine what ease and styles really work on me.





Sorry for the not so hot headless photos. I took a nap, and my hair is doing something that would have been fascinating in the 80's, and is frightening me right now. I also need to give this a bath to even out the stitches - it's fresh off the needles, with ends woven in.

So what did I learn? Well, the 36" is just too small. Although it fits me through the back and the waist, there's just no way it's ever going around my bust. For a fitted garment, going up to 38" would be better, but I need short rows. Anything larger, and I definitely need waist shaping so I don't look thicker and stockier than I already am. I think the cropped length is cute, but I would be happier with another 1-2 inches of sweater (around 14-15"). I am short-waisted, and this length hits just above my hipbone. Oh, and if I were to knit this again, I would make the sleeves a little bit longer - about an inch, just to break up the lines a little bit.

Anybody else have any opinions?

I also started a mindless sock when I should have been studying to prepare for TAing a lab tomorrow. Whoops.

Note to self - cast on 56 stitches. Heel flap inexplicably worked over 23 stitches, 5 stitches for heel turn. Decrease to 12 stitches per gusset.

In search of a knitting renaissance.

I think I've gotten stuck in a knitting rut. I knit socks almost exclusively last year, or at least for several months worth. It got a bit dull. I'm midway through 3 socks right now, and I'm not especially excited about any of them. The one that's getting the most attention is a simple striped sock in Trekking, but only because I knit round and round on it while reading or watching TV.

Exciting, isn't it? I feel the same way. Actually, I like the sock, and I'll happily wear a mismatched stripy pair pretty happily, but it's not mind-altering knitting.

Cat Bordhi's new book is pretty cool though, speaking of mind-altering. I'll go back to her patterns, and I even knit one of the sample socks, but I forgot to take a photo. Plus I want to make a second one, as a baby gift for an unknown recipient. I do think the letter stitchmarkers she suggests are a good idea, as she structures her patterns in kind of a bizarre way.

I've moved on to working on sweaters, primarily cardigans. Here's where things get tricky. I know that a plain sweater is something I'm most likely to wear, and will be the most flattering on me. And I love cardigans, especially in this climate. But I have a tendency to stall out.
See?



All I have to do is knit that last button band, with buttonholes, sew up the underarms, and presto change-o, I'll have a finished sweater. It will need blocking, but that's not an issue. Not even an evening worth of knitting (ok, planning the buttonholes might be a bit of an adventure, but even so... And Tangled Yoke, which last looked like this:


Still essentially looks the same, as long as you imagine a longer plain knit section. At some point I need to start the sleeves, but I can't find my dpns right now. Whoops.

I'm thinking a lace project is in order. I have a giant hank of multi-colored Helen's Lace that's been marinating in stash for a while. Juno Regina looks like a nice project to use it on, even though I know it's going to flash and pool, especially in the straight portion. However, I think I can deal with it, as the final product looks like something I might actually consider wearing over a black shirt with jeans.

In other news, I had a horrible day in the lab today. Anything that might conceivably go wrong went wrong, but on the bright side, I didn't tell anyone off. Small victories.

I'm either going to go knit or wind yarn, I haven't decided which. I ordered some lace Addi's recently, and I'm holding off on starting knitting lace until I get them in. After which, I think it's going to be Juno Regia and then Ene's Scarf, maybe Trellis (attempt number 1000) later. Who knows. Tomorrow is another day. One can only hope it's a better one.