The first transport is away!

So, on Wednesday, I sent off the "She's Partial to the Periwinkle Blue" stole to M's mom (and of course a gift for his dad, too). I included a note with instructions to handwash in cool water with mild detergent and lay flat and shape to dry.

The blocking of this stole worked out PERFECTLY. I gently washed it in the sink, then I rolled it in a towel to press out excess water. I put a couple more towels on the futon in the guest room, then laid out the stole and pinned it down using T-pins. I left it for a few days, and when I unpinned it, it stayed right in place. Sweet!

I haven't touched Intolerable Cruelty in a few days. I've been busy. But on Tuesday, I did move it from the needles to a piece of scrap yarn so I could try it on. Wow! It seems to be a perfect fit! Excellent. I'm so happy. :)

Continuing cruelty

Progress is occurring! Yay! I've got a few inches done on the Intolerable Cruelty skirt now. I had finished the first batch of increase rounds, but then decided that I didn't like the increases I'd been using at all. They made me cringe. I decided to frog down to the end of the waistband again. I did that on Friday night, at a small stitch 'n' bitch I hosted at my place. Since then, I've gotten back to where I had been and then did about another 25 rounds or so. I'm pleased with myself for the all this work. Plus, the increases look SO much better! They're pretty much invisible now, and neatly paired on each side of the side seam markers. Whew.

So cruel!

Hooray! I cast on for Intolerable Cruelty on Thanksgiving night! Let me tell you right now: I think I'm falling in love with this yarn. It is smooth and comfortable to knit with, and not at all splitty. The fabric it's making is sleek and softly shiny. Gorgeous! I've gotten the waistband done, and the setup round, and am working on the increase round. I'm quite pleased with the bamboo needles. The yarn is so smooth that even with bamboo needles, it slips along very quickly.

In other news, I ended up giving my mom one of the two mini Christmas stocking ornaments I made: she picked the red, white, and green acrylic one. I've kept the red and white cotton one for my own tree.

I'm just about bouncing up and down in anticipation of the arrival of my Big Ass Cone of Bamboo Yarn from Halcyon. 1050 yards of DK bamboo for about $36 with the shipping! Unbelievable! I can't wait to get started on the skirt. I think I'm going to go with the bamboo needles for this, partly because I think they'll help me from knitting too loosely and getting a saggy skirt.

I'm also obsessed with finding another sweater to knit. A pullover this time. I'm considering Bombshell from Big Girl Knits (probably with 3/4 sleeves) and also Stephanie Japel's Simple Knitted Bodice. I know I want a low-ish neckline, some waist shaping, and a reasonably easy place to put short rows (i.e., no wacky stitch patterns or colorwork at the bust that I'd have to worry about). Those two fit the bill nicely. Looking at Ravelry, it's amazing how some people turn them out looking perfect, and others make them look awful. The garments themselves often look equally good, but it's the FIT that makes the difference. I will not be lazy with fitting. I will NOT. I will be very careful and do my math. I will try on as I go. I'll be a good knitting doobie. :)

Project!

So. On Saturday, I placed an order for a one-pound cone of this gorgeous stuff, in color #12, "Lipstick". That will be used to make this!

See, shortly after making that last poll, I had a brilliant idea. I will start Intolerable Cruelty. If all that stockinette gets intolerably boring, I will take a break and start working on a Dalek. Then I'll go back to the skirt. I think this says about me that I am neither entirely a project knitter nor entirely a process knitter. Generally, I do pick things to knit that I simply want to have as an FO. This is "project knitter" style. But I also like a bit of a challenge in the work, and if I'm working on something very simple for a long time, I get bored and want to do something different. This is "process knitter" style.

I took my measurements today. 39-28-37. Huh. Not too bad considering I've been feeling bigger than usual lately. I'd like that middle number to drop a little, but I think that might have to wait until after the holidays. Anyway, this means that the small size IC will probably be just right for me. That's not a typical thing for me, with knitting patterns (either the "small" part OR the "just right" part). It also means I really do need to get a book that will teach me sweater alteration and design tricks. Or, you know, maybe more than one. Why limit myself to one? I'm thinking Big Girl Knits and some other book. Or maybe BGK and a whole bunch of web-based articles. We'll see.

Ooh. I also need a 24" size 4 circular, since that's one size that is NOT in my Denise Interchangeables. What works best with a smooth bamboo yarn? Are metal needles too slippery, and would bamboo be better? Or are they good and fast? I'm thinking of actually buying a pair of Addi Turbos. Zut alors! :)

Presents

I want to make a hat for my friend. Said friend has a large, bald head. I imagine it gets rather cold in the winter. I would LIKE to knit from my stash on this, but I don't know if I have any yarn that is both warm enough to keep his head from getting cold in the winter, and soft enough not to be scratchy on his shaved head. Meh.

There's also the issue that I don't know how big his head is. If I ask him, he'll know I'm knitting him a hat. I could ask his girlfriend, but the relationship issues are a bit...complicated at the moment. Not bad--she and I like each other just fine--but complicated.

I'm contemplating Knitty's Halfdome, but knit at a bulkier gauge for more warmth. We'll see.

In the meantime, I might knit up a hat or two for charity. I need to bust some stash, and damn it, I want to knit SOMETHING.

Rant

You know what I wish?

I wish that every knitting pattern would say, "This is how much ease is at the bust, waist, and hip (or whatever's appropriate) for the model in the picture." Then you know, "Oh, if I want it to fit like that, I should probably have about that much ease, so I should make this size." That would make life so very much easier. Or at least put, "This item is designed to have X, Y, and Z ease at these points." This is why I e-mailed about half a dozen people on Ravelry to ask them about how much ease they had at the hip in their Intolerable Cruelty skirts. I went through EVERY PICTURE, and picked out the ones whose fit I liked the best, usually on people whose bodies were at least somewhat similar to mine in general shape (not too skinny but not too big in the hips). But I don't want to have to do that with everything I make. I might, though, since it doesn't look like putting ease in the pattern is going to be the standard any time soon.

I want to make another, cuter sweater. A pullover, this time, not a cardi. And I want it to be fitted but flattering, and CUTE. I like the look of the Bombshell sweater in the Big Girl Knits book, which I don't actually own. I am thinking about getting it because I hear their design instructions are really great. I'd probably have to scale the pattern down a bit, but hopefully the design instructions would help me figure out how to do that while still keeping the shape I want. If you've seen the pattern for Bombshell, I'm thinking a little negative ease at the ribbing under the bustline, short rows above the ribbing to help shape the bust, and maybe a bit smaller at the hip proportionally than it's designed. Or I might make something else entirely.

In other news: I have finished the Brea Bag, at last! I finally said "f*** it" to the lining and just finished it. It's actually quite cute! I'm reasonably happy with it. I am now working on another little in-between project: a bag for my zills (belly dance finger cymbals). It's in a pale pink cotton/viscose/silk blend I got in a Yankee swap. Svale, it's called. I don't much like the yarn for knitting. It loses its twist very quickly when I knit, and as a result, it splits very easily. Still, it's looking rather nice in a simple seed stitch on size 5 needles. I'm just doing a rectangle with a row of eyelets at the top and bottom. Then I'll fold it in half so the two eyelet bands match up, seam the sides, and make a little i-cord (possibly with some beads) to close the bag.

The FO, modeled

Remember back when I knit that sweater for a coworker's baby? Well, now she's big enough to wear it, and it's cute as anything. :)

Here is the lovely Baby J, modeling the Super-Natural Stripes cardi!

Successes of the day

1. First, and biggest, we had the first meeting of MIT Stitch 'n' Bitch West, which I formed to augment the MIT Stitch 'n' Bitch in a place where those of us out in the west end of campus could easily attend. Two other women showed up. Another had intended to, but forgot her knitting due to forgetting what day it was (darn holiday weeks). Another woman saw us working and decided to come sometime, even though she hadn't responded to my feeler e-mail. Others were too busy. Still, success!

2. I ordered a handle for my Brea Bag, at last. I had frogged and redone the gusset, but it ended up too long. I am now finishing it again. I should be able to start sewing it together soon. First, though, I'll have to trace the pieces onto the liner fabric, sew the liner pieces together, and then I can sew them to the inside of the bag.

3. Realized that--duh! There are groups specifically for busty knitters on Ravelry. WHY I never thought to look for some is beyond me. I will have to join at least one of them.

Yay for productive knittitude!

Do I hear croaking?

Yeah, I do. I am THIS CLOSE (holds hands about an inch apart) to finishing the She's Partial to the Periwinkle Blue Stole, aka the Voyager Lace Stole. In fact, I only have a few more stitches to cast off on the bottom edge picot bind-off. See, you do a provisional cast-on, leaving a ball of about 10 yards of yarn to knit the edging, you knit the stole, you do the picot bind-off, and then you go back to the bottom, unravel the PCO, and use that ball to do the picot bind-off on that edge. Unfortunately, I seem to have needed more yarn than I balled up. Oh balls. I'm going to undo the bind-off I've done so far, clip that ball of yarn off, and attach a new strand, since I have PLENTY of yarn left. Then I'll re-do it, and THEN I will have to figure out how to block that big mother. I really need my friend to give me the blocking board materials she got for me. GAH. I've never blocked lace before. This should be...interesting. It really needs it, too, in order to be as wide as it's supposed to be. But...it's COTTON. How the hell do you successfully block cotton? ARGH. I maybe should have made this out of wool, but I wanted it to be more summery. And the original pattern called for cotton! Now they have one with alpaca, but before, in Vogue Knitting, it was cotton.

And then I can start something new. A Dalek? Kilt hose for the boy? Intolerable Cruelty? More than one of those? We'll see.

And I have to investigate these Addi Click needles!

I'm a busy little knitter!

I've been working on the "She's Partial to the Periwinkle Blue" stole, aka the "Sucking Up to the Future Mother-in-Law" stole, aka Elann's Voyager Stole. I'm on the second ball of yarn, and it's looking lovely! See?

I added that image to Ravelry. I also added a couple pictures of the cardigan I knit for my coworker N's baby. Here they are, for any non-Ravelry users.


I've also put in all my needles on the chart on Ravelry to keep track of them. No more buying extra needles by mistake! It was a pain adding in all the sizes that can be made from my Denise set. Oy vey. Still, I'm glad I did it. I still haven't gotten around to uploading my stash, and I'm honestly not sure I will. I'm not a huge stasher, and I doubt I'll really ever need this.

Now, to go check on the homemade yogurt that I have culturing in a tightly covered bowl, wrapped in a towel in my nice sunny garden. Yay for lactobacillus!

Ok, FINALLY I have figured out the proper way to do the YOs on the Voyager Lace Stole (aka the "She's Partial to the Periwinkle Blue" Stole). Now I'm making progress. Yay! I got to indulge in one of my favourite nice-weather pastimes this weekend: knitting outside in the sunshine! There's just something about the warm sun, the light breeze, and a lapful of knitting that makes me bliss out. :)

The Who Knits group on Ravelry is doing a charity afghan, and while I'd like to contribute a square, they're doing sock yarn squares, and I don't really have time with everything else I'm doing right now. If it were worsted, I'd go for it, but I'm sick of itty-bitty sock yarn. Pity--one idea they have is to do two identical afghans: one for auction for a charity (Doctors Without Borders, natch!) and one to send to David Tennant. I like that idea, even if I'm not as fangirly about him as I am about the last Doctor.

OK, work time now. Meh. So tired today...

Back in the saddle again

Hey, suddenly I'm really ENJOYING knitting again! It's amazing what going from socks on size 1 metal DPNs to worsted cotton on bamboo size 9s can do for me!

Yesterday, in a bar in Cambridge, I cast on for the Voyager Lace Stole from Elann.com. I'm using Blue Sky Alpaca dyed cotton in Periwinkle. I hope to complete it in time to send it to my boyfriend's mom for Christmas, and that shouldn't be a problem. On Ravelry, I'm calling it the "She's Partial to the Periwinkle Blue" Stole. After all, it's for his ma. Anyone who's seen Snatch should get it. :) If you haven't, see it! Very funny.

An amusing note: I was watching Doctor Who reruns (Series 3) the other day, and in the episode "Gridlock", where flying cars are locked in perpetual traffic jams, there are these two ladies on the motorway--the Cassini "sisters" (they're actually married)--and one of them is driving while the other sits in the back and knits. I thought, "If I were stuck in a traffic jam for 23 years, that's EXACTLY what I'd be doing. It's the only thing that might keep me sane." :)

Webs

Are any of you folks out there planning on going to the Webs tent sale this weekend? Is it worthwhile to go?

A quick, pic-less update

So, I don't know how many of my readers have heard me whining about this, but I'm getting damned sick of socks. This pair is taking me forever because I keep stopping! Fortunately, I have turned the heel of Lacy Trellis Sock #2, and am working the decreases for the instep. Hooray! Progress! Maybe now I can feel justified in doing something else for a bit. I've bought a skein of the right color of Cascade 220 to finish my Brea Bag. I think I'm going to frog the gusset, even though it's mostly knit already, because it looks horribly shapeless. I'll start over. I have a gorgeous fabric for the lining for the bag: a black cotton with a print of autumn leaves all over it.

Before I get to that, though, I should finalize plans for the shawl for M's mother. I already have a lovely yarn for the Future Mother-In-Law Shawl (or FMILS): the blue and purple variegated boucle that I got at the MITSnB Yankee Swap. I'm thinking, however, that maybe a little more subdued shade might be better for her. I want something in the light blue color family, for sure, since it'll bring out J's eyes nicely. I really need to decide on a pattern, though. Print o' the Wave is lovely, but I'm not sure I have the patience for it right now. Maybe the Voyager Lace Stole from Elann? We'll see.

I also really, really, really, really need to combine my love of knitting with my extreme fascination with Doctor Who and make a Dalek. Or two. EXTERMINATE!

It's been a while

And I really don't have much to update. I finished the cardi for N's baby, but with this odd little knitted button loop instead of the crocheted one called for, since I didn't have my hook on me. Well, I didn't like it. I took it out, but have yet to replace it with a crocheted loop, even though that will take about three minutes. Soon. I just need to get up the gumption to hunt down my crochet hooks. I have, however, been getting work done on the second of the Lacy Trellis Socks again. I'm about 1/3 done.

Hmm. What else is new? BostonWorkerBee is leaving the office! Sad. First HelloMittens and now her. Now, my office no longer owns the MIT SnB by virtue of having the largest number of people from a single office there. Ah well. I hope they're going to be very happy in their new jobs!

I haven't been to SnB in ages, speaking of that. Events have conspired against me in that regard. Actually, it's mostly my body that's conspired against me by being sick. Meh. This week, I should be able to go. Yay!

And now, it's time to get that leftover pizza for lunch, and get back to work.

Oh, and hey: when the heck is the new Knitty coming out? I'm DYIN' over here!

If at first you don't succeed

I'm nearly done with the Super-Natural Stripes cardigan. I finished the main body and sleeves, and was actually working the button band, when...uh-oh, I don't have enough of the main colour yarn! Oops! I thought, "Well, I COULD do it in a contrasting colour, but then it would look weird with the bottom of the cardigan in the main colour." I didn't want to do a half-assed job on this. I decided to frog what I'd done of the button band, and then frog the hem of the cardigan. This was the first time I've frogged something after binding off. I'm reworking the hem in a contrasting colour and will do the same colour for the button band. Then I need to decide if I want to do the same thing for the cuffs, or leave them in the main colour. I'll see how it looks when I'm done.

No bitching, but some stitching today.

I skipped Stitch 'n' Bitch today just so I could have a quiet light lunch. I also knit, though! I did a ton of work on the sweater at Arisia this past weekend. I knit at parties, even. Sheesh. I'm a geek. But I guess that's ok at a sci-fi convention. Now, I've bound off on the body of the Super-Natural Stripes baby cardi, and have begun to weave in ends. I need to get some size 7 DPNs to do the main part of the sleeves. When I was shopping for materials for this sweater, I thought I had a set, but apparently I don't. Oops. I have sixes and eights, but not sevens. Magic loop is out because I don't have flexible enough cables on my circular needles. Oh well, I'll get some tomorrow. I really need to do a needle inventory and put it up on Ravelry. I might be able to take some pictures of the cardi in progress tonight. Also, maybe my hat. I need a shot of Coronet for Ravelry.

Edit: OMG OMG OMG!!! Knitty has a Bloody Stupid Johnson hat on their site now! Squee! I LOVE Discworld knitting! :D

Yarrrrrrn!

I've got a cold today--it hit yesterday--and I'm feeling kinda crappy. This means that tonight, I'm skipping dance class and doing laundry instead. This is a good thing for two reasons. One, I would not otherwise be able to do it until next week (and I'm running out of socks and underwear), and two, it gives me time to knit!

I went out on my lunch break today to get some gorgeous Blue Sky Organic Cotton to make the baby sweater for my coworker. I'm going to swatch it tonight, I think, and hopefully also cast on.

Wee'uns!

A woman I know just announced that she's pregnant and due in early May. I'd like to make her a simple baby sweater that would be good for a boy or girl. I was thinking of making a very simple striped cardi or raglan pullover in Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton yarn, because the neutral shades are great for any kid, cotton is hypoallergenic, and it's amazingly soft and squishy. Unfortunately, a quick look at the website told me that it's hand wash or dry clean only, and I'm not doing that to a new mom. Now, I've verified that my LYS carries Mission Falls 1824 Cotton. That looks to be about the same gauge, it has some nice soft neutrals, and it's machine washable AND dryable. Does anyone know if it's as soft and squishy as the Blue Sky organic? Would it be nice and snuggly for a baby? I'm thinking that if the kid's born in May, it'll start being able to wear a six months size sweater right about when it starts getting cool. :)

Crowning myself queen

I've been working on those damn lacy trellis socks for so long that I needed a break. I wanted to work with a thicker yarn and bigger needles, and I was getting a hankering for some cables. Couple that with the fact that I've been borrowing my boyfriend's hat since I lost mine, and the fact that I had a skein of Malabrigo left over from making the Knotted Openwork Scarf, and you get...Coronet! Yep, I'm making the Coronet hat from Knitty. I started it the day before New Year's Eve after winding the yarn into a ball the night before. I've been plugging away at it and am already about half done. I somehow managed to pick the stitches up from the band wrong first time around so that I had it backwards. It's not that I didn't know the band needed to be inside out--I did that--I just picked the stitches up backwards somehow. Anyway, that got fixed quickly enough. The variegated yarn looks surprisingly nice in the cable. It stands out more than I imagined it would. When this is done, I'll have a hat to match my scarf, and it will be utterly cute. I'm excited! I have a very small head, but to my surprise, the medium on this seems to be the best fit for me. It's not big enough to slip down (I don't think), but it's also not so small that it needs to stretch--and therefore get thinner and less warm--to fit over my head. It should be very cozy, what with the double layer of the band and the cable.