January One -- Oblique

February 04, 2008

Like A HOUSE!

Seriously - I completely peed in my pants jumping off the sofa after THE CATCH. We were taping the game and watching it on tape so we were a couple of minutes behind and I told G to pause it so I could clean myself up - best pants pee of the entire pregnancy! - and when we started the game up again we could hear the people upstairs screaming and yelling. So we knew they scored the touchdown. It was the only bummer in an all around thoroughly enjoyable game! The baby was STOKED! I swear to god - when the Pats scored their touchdown to go ahead 14-10 the baby kicked me so hard and so violently there were tears in my eyes. When the Giants won? Only lovely rolls of contentment. This baby knows where it's AT!

Anyway - enough of football. There's knitting to talk about!

Before I talk about the sweater, can we just discuss how FREAKING HUGE I am?! I must have popped or something because people keep (or kept) telling me how little I am belly-wise, but I don't think I look little in these pictures! JEEZ!

The other night I was trying to fall asleep and I kept getting this itchy tingling electric sensation along the top of my belly. I'd scratch it and tickle it and it'd go away and then just as I was falling asleep it would come back. For like an HOUR. Ann said it was my skin stretching. (Apparently "skin" is an okay word.) Anyway - so here I am. Huge. And 33 weeks.

The sweater! It looks HUGE too. Somehow it doesn't seem as big on as it looks in the pictures. I lightly blocked it by rolling it up in wet towels and laying it out hoping it wouldn't grow too much. The only thing that really changed were the sleeves and they seem to have gotten longer. I need buttons for it still. But otherwise, I really like the sweater!

Oblique
Pattern: from Knitty, by Veronik Avery.
Yarn: Beaverslide, Catbird, 90% Wool/10% Kid Mohair. I used about 6 3/4 skeins. FABULOUS YARN! ABSOLUTELY one of my favorites. I can't wait to use it again - and I will.
Needles: Addi Turbo, US size 9 (5.5 mm) and 10 (6.0 mm).
Pictures: By Georgie. I'm not sure why he puts up with my and my photographer ways. It's so hard to relinquish control!

What did I change? Well, for one thing, I did the bottom ribbing on size 10s per Emily's comments here. I used ThatLaurie's modification for the sleeves - knit them with provisional cast ons and went back and added ribbing at the end. They still turned out too long, but oh well. I made the body a bit longer and definitely made a size larger than I normally would have. (I made the 46" chest version. I most likely would've made the size smaller if I wasn't as big as a HOUSE.)

I can say nothing bad about this pattern (very well written!), the yarn (one of my all time favorites) or the sweater! SUCCESS all around!

Tomorrow - SOCKS! Or maybe the new project. No, most likely SOCKS! I have a finished pair! YAY!
Thanks for reading!
L, C

PS - Lest anyone think we've been holding out, the word her was italicized in the poem I posted on February 2nd because the poet herself italicized it - not because I'm sending out any secret sex signals. We do NOT know the baby's sex. Thank you for speculating though.

Posted by Cara at 10:11 AM | Comments (44)

January 25, 2008

Monkey Feet

Hey! Check it out! It's a SOCK!

I finished my first purple monkey last night (STR Lightweight Purple Rain.) I honestly forgot how much I absolutely adore those tiny little sock stitches. They look so perfect. I'm so glad I've remembered!

So here's the deal on why I haven't worn any monkeys until recently (although now I haven't taken them off.) I started knitting monkeys in May. The last pair I finished was in August and I started the first purple sock in August. I don't think I need to tell you that May through August equals NO WOOL SOCKS. I'm a barefoot girl in general, but I do like to wear my handknit socks. I usually wear them all winter. But I also wear these shoes most of the winter. They have a very warm fleece lining which is perfect for bare feet. (I actually really like going out in the cold with bare feet and these shoes. It's a little bit decadent and wrong.)

Also, this winter hadn't been so cold until recently and I'M PREGNANT. Which means I'm 80 million degrees most of the time. And nothing makes you hotter faster than wool on your feet. Trust me.

There's also a little secret weird thing I do with my socks. I don't weave in the ends until I'm ready to wear them. I finish the sock, I photograph it for the blog, and then I stick it in my sock drawer. When I'm ready to wear them I take them out and weave in the ends. So strange. The real truth is that anytime I reached for a sock this winter I remembered I hadn't woven in the ends and went for a Jaywalker instead. Sad but true. Now you know the whole story.

I can't wait to cast on for the second sock and I'm already planning what I'm going to knit next! Jaywalkers and Monkeys are PERFECT for my beloved STR Variegated yarn - anyone have any other pattern they've had particular success with in terms of variegated yarns? I'd love to hear about it!

I've also finished the collar on Oblique.

Which means all I have left is some quicky ribbing on the sleeves and seams. I hope to have it finished by the weekend. This thing is HUGE. But I still love it.

I've got some yarn coming to me for a very special project that I'm chomping at the bit to start. Hopefully I'll have it for next week! And I've got another project that I hope to get on the needles this weekend. At least cast on. If only I didn't have all this cleaning to do. Or taxes. Or other work stuff I'd be KNITTING KNITTING KNITTING!

I'm also planning on a major fiber sale. Time to make room for baby. Stay tuned!
Have a great weekend!
L, C

Posted by Cara at 10:44 AM | Comments (36)

January 22, 2008

Dream Baby Dream

Last night I had an awful dream - I was injecting myself with something and I knew that injecting myself with this "stuff" was going to kill me, but I did it anyway.

Yeah. Not so much fun to wake up to a suicide dream. Although, I realize, that it has nothing to do with suicide and everything to do with being pregnant. I'm thinking that the injections symbolized the fertility drugs I had to take to get pregnant and the dying wasn't so much a physical death but a METAphysical death. You know - like the death of my current identity being morphed into my NEW identity as a mother? Just my armchair psychology for the day, but it was spooky nonetheless. Took me awhile to fall back to sleep again.

I've pretty much escaped the crazy dreams of pregnancy. I have one every now and then but most of the time I'm pregnant in my "regular" dreams and I'm always telling people I can't do this or that because DUH I'm pregnant. Tellingly I wasn't pregnant in last night's dream. Georgie, my poor sweet, has been shouldering the bulk of the nightmares this pregnancy. I think because I manage to work out my anxieties while I'm awake rather than asleep.

The identity dream fits well with all the work we've been doing around the house. Sunday we needed two cars to schlep the FIFTEEN bags we had filled to the Salvation Army. FIFTEEN and yet our house is still filled with crap and looks a mess. Georgie started moving things out of the room that will eventually be the baby's which means I have to now SHARE the spaces I've called my own for the last ten years. Not too much resentment here. I walk into my closet and there's all of his STUFF.

It's okay. I'll get used to it. And it's not like we're all freaked out that the room won't be ready for the baby, per se. I mean, the furniture and stuff won't be delivered until AFTER the baby's born - it's that we have 16 years of accumulated CRAP that needs to be weeded through and thrown out and the baby is just an excuse. I keep telling myself that this is a great exercise because hopefully sometime in the next year we will be moving and there won't be as much to throw out when we do!

It is a daunting task though. Yesterday I actually got down on my hands and knees and vacuumed the base boards next to my bed and underneath my night stand. DISGUSTING. I told my sister and she said WOW - you really are nesting. Guess it's true.

I also did some knitting!

Friday - when we had no heat or hot water - it turns out a transformer blew in our building. So in order to fix it they had to turn off all of our electricity. They did this at 2PM. I thought GREAT! I'll get out my Creative (like an IPOD only BETTER) and listen to some podcasts and finish Oblique's sleeves! Only the Creative was dead. So I knit to the tune of jackhammers (they had electricity, of course) until the sun went down. Then G came home and rescued me from the cold and the dark. Sometime while we were out, the lights went back on - as well as the heat and hot water.

I did manage to finish the sleeves. And I did the button bands on the body AND I seamed the raglans. All I need to do now is the collar, finish seaming and decide what to do with the bottom of the sleeves. I sort of draped it on my shoulders and this thing is HUGE! I think, it will get a bit smaller once it's all seamed up, but still - it's like a blanket coat! Which isn't necessarily a bad thing at all. I hope to have it finished by the end of the week. There's a chance I'm going to run out of yarn, but I have an angel helping me out. Margene has the yarn in her stash and she's going to send me a skein. Although, I think, now, I might be okay. Fingers crossed!

I knit something else yesterday too!

Believe it or not, I wore my first pair of monkeys Sunday night! We had a party to go to and I wanted some fancy socks in case I took my shoes off and I pulled a pair of monkeys out of my sock drawer. I have never worn ANY of the monkey socks I knit! NONE! I mentioned that I've been thinking about socks a lot lately and wearing them was so fantastic that I took out the Purple Rain STR Monkey that I started a million years ago - actually it was back in August. Last I knit these I was on the heel flap. Yesterday I managed to finish the flap, turn the heel and knit the gusset! All night long I kept telling Georgie how good it felt to be knitting SOCKS! This was all punctuated by the fact that I went through my "pedestrian" sock drawer over the weekend and got rid of EVERYTHING. I told G - once you've gone handknit - you never go back.

Thank you all for all your encouragement and support about my last post. I'm much calmer now (although we do have childbirth class tonight) and I'm handling my fears pretty well. I've been reading some stuff - stuff that pisses me off and makes me feel VERY judged and stuff that assuages my fears and lets me know that whatever I want is truly fine. It seems to me that the baby will be coming out of my body - in some way shape or form and that's NATURAL. Nothing about this pregnancy started out conventional - so who's to say the end will be that way as well? I'm open. Truly open. And I think that can only be a good thing for my body as well as my mind. I have some very solid ideas about how I want things to go - and that really has more to do with how I want to be treated (with respect and honesty and intelligence) than the actual EVENTS that take place. I trust my husband implicitly that he will help me to have the best birth I can have. So thank you for your confidence in me. It means a lot.

Off to get rid of more stuff! It's so FREEING!
L, C

Posted by Cara at 11:20 AM | Comments (42)

January 04, 2008

Shooting the Hook

Yesterday I pretty much ignored all the things earmarked for the day and instead just knit. It was bliss.

I started the sleeves for Oblique and went on my merry way. As I mentioned the other day, I'm not doing the ribbing on the sleeves the way the pattern states - it calls for really big cuffs that roll up. If anything, I'd rather have some simple ribbing and because I've gone up a size for the body, I don't want the sleeves to be too long. So I took a page from ThatLaurie and I jumped right into the lace patterns after casting on with a provisional cast on. I haven't done that many provisional cast ons in my life, so I headed to google and found this one right at the top. Worked great! In fact, I can even vouch for how easy it was to pull out the scrap yarn because I screwed up and cast on one stitch short, so I had to start over.

I can almost TASTE the end of the sweater! I've got the lace patterns all memorized (it only took me until 3/4s of the way through the fronts!) and I just sail along. The yarn is really one of my favorites ever. Just to recap, I'm using Beaverslide in the Catbird colorway. The color photographs differently every time I take a picture, but I think the two at the top are a really good representation. My goal is to have the sleeves finished before Monday. That's the goal. I think I can do it!

Speaking of goals, I've been reading a lot about knitting resolutions and intentions and goals for the new year and I actually have a few myself. First off, finish Oblique. Next I want to start a new shawl I fell in LOVE with at Rhinebeck and would love to wrap myself in for some end of pregnancy photographs. More details on that soon. I'm also hearing the siren song of socks. Socks. I miss socks. Can you believe I haven't worn ANY of my monkeys this winter?!? NOT ONE PAIR. How pathetic is that. I've worn lots of Jaywalkers, but no monkeys. I want to finish the monkeys I have on the needles and possibly branch out into a different pattern. We'll see how that goes, but I think socks will be very nice once the baby's here. Easy to transport and not a lot of thought.

The biggest goal I would like to accomplish before the baby arrives is to seam the Miter Square Blanket. I've given myself permission to ignore all the ends until AFTER it's been seamed. So all I need to do is block the squares well and seam them up. I think about it every single day. It will get done.

So those are my short term (read before baby) knitting goals. I think they're kind of doable. I hope they are at least.
Have a great weekend!

PS - Our birthday dinner out was really quite lovely. We had a great time together and it definitely more than made up for the earlier ickyness. And while I still feel pretty nauseated a lot of the time, the puking has stopped, for now.

Posted by Cara at 02:42 PM | Comments (21)

January 02, 2008

Do-Overs

First off, let me just say THANK YOU for all the wonderful birthday wishes and belly compliments! I so appreciate you all! THANK YOU AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Now, can we do it over?

Hindsight is always 20/20 and as much as I LOVE being with the rugrats and watching the kids with G and just loving on them and having them love my baby so much, before s/he is even here - it wasn't the best idea to watch them on New Year's Eve. It was completely MY idea, so I have no one to blame for myself. It just didn't feel like my birthday. My sister and her husband spent the night out, so we had the kids for the whole night. And it was long.

The next morning I woke up and promptly threw up.

There is no good reason for puking on your birthday UNLESS you've done something so fun, so excessive, it warrants that kind of behavior. I did nothing but have the audacity to get pregnant. Silly me.

The 1st was long and while it was lovely to be with my family and I got to eat good food (read bagels and cream cheese and baked salmon) and I had my prerequisite birthday cake (Carvel Ice Cream Cake - there is no substitute) I was exhausted and felt kind of ill all day. There were tears on my birthday. There was no knitting.

Today hasn't been much better, honestly. I puked. Again. That's two days in a row. I haven't puked two days in a row in about six weeks. I am NOT happy. Honestly, I thought I was done with it. Yeah, sure, occasionally, but I feel like I'm going back to the beginning and somehow I feel like I lost all my coping skills. Or rather they shifted so I can cope with all the other stuff. Ann told me I shouldn't feel sorry for myself because there's nothing I can do about it and BUCK UP LIL' CAMPER. (I told her at least I didn't call her when I was crying - I called my sister - who was very sympathetic. She said you don't call me for sympathy and she's right.) ETA: Apparently Ann has taken great umbrage at the fact that I took poetic license in writing that she said, "BUCK UP LIL' CAMPER." She didn't say those words out loud, even though that might be what I heard.

Anyway. That's where I'm at. I'd like to do it over please. Tonight G and I are going out to dinner. I hope I can get through it. Isn't that pathetic?

There has been some good stuff too! I completely freaked out last weekend over the whole baby thing and promptly leapt into action. We've ordered furniture for the baby's room and I may have even registered! How crazy is that? It did make me feel a lot better about things though. Now the great clean-up must begin.

And there's been knitting! Lots of knitting! (I should note that I feel kind of like a fraud posting these pictures after Jen and La so generously awarded me The Picture Perfect Award. Seriously - I can do much better!)

Oblique now has two fronts! I finished them Sunday night and I'm very happy with how they turned out. It ends up, if you take good notes when you're knitting the back and making changes, the fronts go very well. Here's a picture of the fronts laid out over the back.

And here's a pattern close-up, just for the hell of it.

Still loving the yarn, the pattern, everything. I want it done NOW! I'm going to cast on for the sleeves today hopefully and I'm going to try a mod I read about on Ravelry. ThatLaurie, who knit a GORGEOUS Oblique in her own handspun, cast on the sleeves with a provisional cast on and started right away with the pattern instead of the big cuffs called for. I'm going to do the same. Basically, I'm knitting a larger size and while I like my sleeves long, I don't think they'll need to be THAT long. So I'll knit them and add some ribbing later as warranted. Now to find my favorite provisional cast on. I can never remember which one I like best.

I didn't really make any resolutions this year - other than enduring the end of my pregnancy with as much grace as I can, birthing a beautiful baby, and beginning the journey of raising a wonderful human being - but I do intend to blog on a more regular basis, whether I have knitting to show or not. Now that I'm not working like a maniac the blog is an excellent outlet for me and I miss the day to day of it. So hopefully you won't get sick of me too fast.

Thanks for reading. And thanks again for thinking of me yesterday.
L, C

Posted by Cara at 04:36 PM | Comments (35)

December 26, 2007

We're having a WHAT?!?!

Reality has set in. Now that I don't have to think about work 24 hrs a day I've realized that OH MY GOD! We're having a BABY!!! I don't need to tell you that panic is not pretty. That's pretty much what I was doing this weekend. Panicking. A BABY! That is FOREVER! AND EVER! AND EVER!

Scary stuff my friends, as I'm sure many of you know. Scary scary stuff.

I tried to assuage my fears with knitting. Selfish self-indulgent knitting. (BEWARE: Some seriously CRAPTACULAR photos to follow!)

Oblique now has my full attention. I'm loving it! I finished the back and the measurements all seem good (it's going to be big and comfy!) and I started on the fronts. I am a big fan of doing the fronts and sleeves together. It takes a bit longer, maybe - maybe not, but you can also keep better track and make sure that you do the same thing for both fronts/sleeves. I'm at the point on the sleeves where I can start the shaping decreases and that shouldn't take too long. I figure the fronts should go pretty quickly because you've got raglan decreases along with neck decreases - that's a lot of decreasing! I'm hoping, maybe, to have the fronts finished by the weekend. Ambitious, to be sure.

I've started feeling sick again. Sad, but true. And I'm tired. Things hurt. All of which makes me really nervous because I've still got 13 weeks to go.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday or day off or Tuesday. I'm trying to think up a spectacular birthday contest - something really over the top this year. We'll see how well my brain works!

Thanks for reading!

Posted by Cara at 02:21 PM | Comments (54)

December 13, 2007

Carried Away

Thank you all so much for your comments and encouragement. I made it through the test. I have no idea if I passed or not, but I'm sort of counting on failing. It's easier that way.

ETA: BRING ON THE COOKIES!! I PASSED!
The dr's office called a few minutes ago and I'm all like I failed didn't I and the nurse was like, no, you passed! You're fine! YAY! Don't think this means I'm going to overdue it or anything, I'm just relieved that I don't have to pay super microscopic attention to everything I eat. Eating continues to be a challenge for me - I still feel sick most days - and the idea that I can AT TIMES eat what I want because I want to is VERY freeing for me. Thanks again for all your support!

It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. First off, I threw up before I left the house yesterday (at 7:30 AM) and that ended up being a GOOD thing, even though I've tried very very very hard not to throw up on an empty stomach my entire pregnancy. It was good because I found out that if I had thrown up DURING the test, the test becomes null and void and I'd have to do it over again. So the goal became DO NOT THROW UP - and I didn't. The only other thing I was a bit apprehensive about was a panic attack. Not eating - low sugar - ups and downs with sugar - are a sure-fire prescription for panic in my life. It's actually one of the ways I figured out how to keep it in check. Haven't eaten? Feeling anxious? DUH. I was a little bit concerned about it and my thinking did get kind of wacky at some points, but otherwise I was okay. I got more and more tired and more and more famished as the test went on, but it was really okay.

I'll tell you, the part I'm most grateful for is that the disgusting sugar drink I had to consume was the LEMON-LIME flavor. My sister always had the ORANGE flavor and she used to joke with me that I would love it because I am a HUGE orange soda fan, something she hates. My flavor tasted like flat-ish thick Sprite and I can still taste it and think I will never drink any kind of lemon-lime soda concoction again. I would be DEVASTATED if they had given me the orange drink and somehow my beloved Fanta was forever tainted. So I'm grateful for small things.

I also got a lot of knitting done! The lab was pretty quiet so I was sitting by myself most of the three hours - perfect for knitting away!

I've gotten QUITE carried away with Oblique! As far as I can tell (and my calculations might be off) I've knit a whole five inches more than the pattern calls for. Which is kind of okay with me. I see this cardigan like a big lacy blanket to wrap myself in! I don't even care if it's HUGE post baby! I love the yarn, the color, the pattern - MORE is definitely better! I've got a couple more waist increases to do and then I start the raglan so it's all good. I'll make the back and see how it fits and if it looks completely ridiculous, well, then, I guess I'll rip it and start over. Otherwise I'll start on the fronts! I LOVE THIS SWEATER so far! YAY!

I also bought some yarn yesterday:

Ever since Margene started knitting her Bird In Hand mittens I've been pretty smitten myself! Yesterday I ran out to Patricia's and picked up some Cascade. The colors are a little bit out of my comfort zone, but I'm considering these mittens practice. I have very limited experience with color work, so we'll see how it goes. If I love them and I can knit them okay, then maybe I'll try some different colors. We'll see how it goes. For now, I'm excited to start. We're supposed to have some big storms this weekend and I think I'll be pretty much done with my work so I'm going to get all cuddly with my boy and my babe and KNIT.

And last but certainly not least, as I was heading to check out with my Cascade, what should catch my eye, but some firey red and pink KOIGU!

I ask you - what girl who just suffered through a three hour endurance test replete with vomit, starvation, exhaustion and fear DOESN'T deserve some Koigu? I thought as much. So I bought it. ;-)

Posted by Cara at 09:55 AM | Comments (41)

December 05, 2007

Knitting!

Look at me! Look what I've been doing!

KNITTING!!!!

Can you believe it?! Somehow or other I was able to knit a bunch this weekend. This picture doesn't do the time I put in justice because unfortunately there was ripping and reknitting - but I don't even mind that because I'm just so happy to be KNITTING! I'm loving the yarn, the pattern, the progress! Knitting on size 9 needles is GREAT for progress!

I love how the different patterns match up together and these pictures really show the true color of the yarn - which I love. I LOVE IT! I LOVE KNITTING!

Posted by Cara at 09:19 AM | Comments (28)

November 27, 2007

All work and no play

makes me very, very cranky.

But I did get a chance to start my Oblique. After a lot of measuring drama (imagine me yelling into the phone "I ran out of tape!" and that one totally believing me!), I settled on the size 46 - which I think is like the large. My chest is measuring 43 right now (pre-pregnancy I was a 40) and I figure when my milk comes in I'll be about a 56, but I don't have to button the sweater. In fact, I may not put buttons on it at all until, you know, next winter. I see this as a cozy big blanket of a sweater and I'm completely unconcerned about it fitting my post pregnancy body.

I got gauge with 9s (which hopefully means the sweater will go FAST!) and then I was reading over at Emily's how she was concerned about the twisted ribbing pulling in around her hips and I went up to 10s for the ribbing. I'm very pleased with how it's working out.

I actually had about ten more rows done but about two rows ahead of what you see here I added an extra yo. On the next rs row I realized it and dropped it, but it caused some stitches on the left leaning lace section to be...big. It was absolutely driving me CRAZY so I ripped back. Yes, yes. I tried to fix it without ripping back but it wasn't satisfactory to me and it's my sweater so if I feel like ripping back ten hard earned rows then I'm going to do it. I feel like I have absolutely no control over my life these days (read my body is NOT my own) and if I can have some control over my knitting I'm going to do it. ;-)

I know the last picture I posted of the yarn looked a lot bluer. This picture is much more accurate. It's gray. A very nice gray with a definite blueishness to it. I adore the yarn and I think it's perfect for this sweater. Beaverslide Catbird for the skimmers.

I'm working non-stop. I work in my sleep. My dreams are about work. It's kind of sad. But it will all be over soon and I'm meeting all my self-imposed goals. There's not much time for anything else though. This weekend I may be out of town, and if that's the case, I hope to do some knitting. I still have my birthday as a goal for this sweater - about a month. The work will end and I may just knit all day and all night and wouldn't that be FUN! We'll see.

Pregnancy news: I'm in the slog-o-rama part of it all. There's nothing really good to look forward to except the actual BIRTH. I feel the baby ALL THE TIME. All the time as in oh my god give mommy a break for three seconds PLEASE. Unless of course I realize that I haven't felt it in a little bit and then I'm all poking and prodding my belly begging the kid to move. I definitely look pregnant. I'm getting bigger by the second and now I'm obsessed with my nose. Does it look bigger? Georgie hesitated ever so slightly and I think I cried for an hour. The hormones are BACK with a vengeance thank you very much. And I still feel sick much of the time. The puking has all but stopped, but that doesn't mean I don't still feel like puking. Ah pregnancy. Hardest thing I've ever done. Ever.

Kim posted the other day that there's now some unwritten rule about not blogging knits in progress, only FOs? I am SO out of the loop. You'll get plenty of progress pictures here because honestly, that's what I want to blog about. I NEED progress pictures. And don't you know? It's all about me these days.

Posted by Cara at 09:17 AM | Comments (47)

November 16, 2007

Ain't No Stoppin' Me Now!

Well, except for the 80 million hours of work I have - but no matter! My yarn is here!

Isn't it unbelievably gorgeous?! It's Beaverslide in the Catbird colorway. And I think I may have finally gotten gauge!

It only took three tries. The top swatch is Huckleberry Heather on size 7s. I got 19 stitches to 4 inches. The second swatch is Thimbleberry on size 8s and I got 18 stitches to 4 inches. Yesterday, after I was done working for the day, I immediately wound up a skein of my new yarn and didn't go to sleep until I finished the swatch. Catbird on size 9s - and while the swatch is still drying, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get 17 stitches to 4 inches on size 9s. In moss stitch. One funny thing about this project and this yarn - when I used Beaverslide for my Central Park Hoodie the swatch was in stockinette and it bloomed with washing considerably. This time - no bloom at all. I think it has nothing to do with the yarn and everything to do with swatching in moss stitch. There's no room to bloom what with all the purls and knits snug up against each other. No biggie! Imagine how fast this sweater is going to go on 9s!

I love the color, I love the yarn, I love the pattern. I'm all about the love baby! I have no idea if I'll be able to cast on this weekend. I'm so busy I can't think straight. And I still have to measure my ginormous boobs to decide which size to make. But it's all good! If I can sneak some time, I'll try to cast on today. At least once the project is cast on - all I have to do is pick it up and knit. YAY!

Have a great weekend! I'll try to have something to show you next week!

Posted by Cara at 09:00 AM | Comments (27)

November 09, 2007

Too Legit To Quit

This is how much I love knitting again!

As soon as I hit publish on yesterday's post I went rummaging through the yarn bins to find some Cascade 220. I started a swatch immediately and knit the whole train ride to the dentist. (NO CAVITIES! NO PREGNANCY GINGIVITIS! NO ASPIRATING ON MY OWN PUKE AND DYING! Thanks guys!) On my way home, I had a conversation with Margene and she said what about Beaverslide, which I used for my CPH, and I LOVED and I said I thought about that but was thinking that the Cascade worked so well with Ariann and Oblique kind of reminds me of Ariann and she insisted that Beaverslide would be perfect. So I got home and consulted with Ann and we agreed that maybe Beaverslide was the way to go. We both consulted our colorcards and settled on THE most gorgeous smoky gray - CATBIRD - and I started a new swatch immediately using some of the leftover yarn from CPH.

Let's not discuss how I should've been working when I got home from the dentist. Let's talk about the fact that I was so excited about knitting that I totally blew off the work I needed to do. YAY!!!!!!!! Anyway, back to the swatch. We should all remember that Beaverslide blooms considerably when you wash it, so I measured the swatch (and got about 19 stitches to the inch in Moss Stitch - the pattern says 17) and washed the swatch. This morning I measured it and I don't see that big of a difference, honestly. Maybe it's because of the Moss Stitch? There isn't as much room to bloom as there is with Stockinette? The good news is I'm going to swatch AGAIN! (Who knew I'd be so excited about swatching? Things were really really bad there for awhile. One of you guys should've stepped in!) I have about two sweaters worth of Beaverslide in my stash (SHUT UP! Who cares that I just bought another sweaters worth? It's YARN. We LOVE YARN!) and I'm going to use a yarn a bit more similar to the Catbird - re: no tweed - and swatch on size 8s. I used 7s for the first swatch. I bet I get 17 stitches easy peasy. I can't WAIT for my new yarn to come!! YAY!

There was a comment concerning the yarn change and drape. Yes, the yarn called for is very drapey. It also has lots of fibers in it I won't touch - like Angora. And Mohair. Sure the Beaverslide has 10% of Kid Mohair in it, but it doesn't bother me, and I think with the open pattern and the larger needle size the Beaverslide will drape very nicely. My swatch on 7s in Moss Stitch has pretty good drape already. So I'm not considering it a problem.

Hope your weekend is FULL of wonderful knits! Thanks for reading!

Posted by Cara at 09:39 AM | Comments (49)