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.

Joy!

Dear Old Boss At Tiny Company I Left To Come To MIT:

You, sir, sucked. Big time. You were a jerk who made me feel three inches tall and incompetent. My current boss? Similar name to yours, oddly. Different spelling. But she out-cools you by about five million times.

She got me a gift card for Woolcott & Co. as a holiday present.

SWEEEEEEEET.

Weaving in some ends

Finally, an FO! I need a picture, but I just finished it on my lunch break. Yes, the damned Knotted Openwork Scarf is finished! Yay! I finally made the decision to leave it at two balls of yarn, and bound off today. I almost wish it were a bit colder since I'd like to see how well it does at keeping me warm. It needs a bit of washing and blocking, but it looks nice! Maybe next time I have to go out twice to shovel my sidewalk (as I did last night), I'll be warmer when I do it.

I revel in Ravelry!

I got my invite!!!

I am opening up to a whole big community of knitters. This is exciting. Friends, coworkers, unknown locals...there are so many people out there. Of course, this also means I'm opening up some new issues.

Now, for a long time, I've had a personal blog wherein I keep all the stuff that I really only care to share with friends. And, though there are coworkers I like very much, I haven't alerted them as to where to find that blog, because, well, it's personal. And there are things in the blog, my profile, etc. that might raise the eyebrows of people I work with. I wouldn't want them to feel squicked. I have no problem keeping that blog separate for the most part. I do have this knitting blog with which to share my yarn-related life with my fellow knitters, whoever they are: friends, coworkers, strangers, etc. Ravelry, however...

I was poring over the groups and found several I'd like to join. Then I thought, "I'm friending coworkers on here. What would they think if they saw I was a member of X group?" In short, I'm wondering how to balance indulging my personal interests there and not freaking out my coworkers by giving them TMI about my personal life. This may take a while...

Now that the secret's out...

I can say that the ladies of the MIT Stitch 'n' Bitch and a whole lot of other people have made up a gorgeous afghan for one of our own, FemiKnitMafia, who's going through some tough life-stuff right now. I'm glad I had time to contribute a square, even if the funky mock-houndstooth slip stitch pattern I chose was utterly, utterly wrong for the yarn I chose. I was afraid of that. At least it's still a pretty colour, with the teal mohair and mohair/metallic type blend sort of mooshing together instead of making crisply separated bits of colour. Apparently, Danielle gave the afghan to her (not completed, but mostly seamed together) on the way to Rhinebeck, and it went over well. Yay. I'm hoping that when it's done, we can get some pics of it.

Tomorrow is the Day of the Gum Surgery, which means that when I get home after my 9am appointment and my quick stop to pick up soup and ice cream at the store, I will be spending the day sitting on the couch, knitting, and watching Viggo Mortensen movies. Mmmmm. Viggo. And yarn. *sigh*

YES, another pic-less post. Sue me.

The state of the knitting:

SAMUS: I need to finish the i-cord edging on one cuff, do a little cable-mistake-camouflage, and add a zipper. Jury is out on whether or not I like it. I'll decide once I see it with the zipper on. I may re-block it as a unit, too. I do indeed hate the sleeves, because they are far too big. But that's life. :( My next sweater will be better.

OPENWORK SCARF: In my knitting bag now, getting the bulk of my not-at-home knitting time. I want it finished for the cold weather. I have about 3 feet done.

LACY TRELLIS SOCKS: I have one almost done. I put it aside in favour of the scarf, because the scarf will actually be NECESSARY before too long.

BREA BAG: Still awaiting a trip to The Fabric Place for more yarn. Bah. Sometimes, I DO wish I drove.

SPINNING (ok, not knitting, really): I have a bunch of n00b yarn (i.e., fairly uneven yarn with no real gauge) in white merino that needs to have its twist set, and needs to be dyed. I have 8 oz. of lovely red merino waiting to be spun, and a wee packet (1 oz. maybe?) of rainbow merino silk that is also waiting. Shiny.

Picking up where I left off!

I am so good. I am a GOOD little knitter. This past weekend, I finally got off my butt and...WORKED ON SAMUS. Yes. You heard me. I did NOT end up re-blocking her, but I realized I didn't need to. I sewed the shoulder seams, sewed the sleeves to the body, and started the i-cord edging, which is now about half done. YES!!! When that edging is finished, all I'll need will be a zipper! I'm so excited.

Some issues:

1) My seaming sucks. I mean, it really sucks. This thing is kinda going to look like Frankensweater. But I did my best, and I'll still bloody wear it.

2) The sleeves are a little bigger than I want, considering I made the body of the cardigan a little more fitted, but that's the pattern.

Other than that, I'm really quite pleased.

Now, the state of my other projects: I am nearly done with the first of the Lacy Trellis Socks. I'm almost done with the decrease rounds after doing the heel. My Brea Bag is still languishing for lack of yarn to finish the gusset. My scarf is big, but not big enough. I will have to get cracking on that soon so I have it when the really cold weather hits.

But Samus is almost DONE!!!

Back on the wagon!

Ok, my fellow knitters. It's hard for me to admit this, but...until this past weekend, I had gone for over a month without knitting. See, I'd been working on some pretty socks. My sock yarn was wound into a center pull ball. I was pulling from the center. Then it tangled. I tried to tease out the tangled bit from the center of the ball to fix it, but once I got it out of the ball and went to work, it only got worse! It sat on my desk for weeks, a symbol of despair. Finally, I decided that I'd bite the bullet: I'd just cut out the tangled part (unfortunately, quite a lot of yardage) and get a second skein to make sure I had enough to complete a pair of socks. To celebrate this decision, I wound some Malabrigo into a ball (by hand, since the skein was too big for my crappy swift), and started up work on my scarf again. But I wanted to get back to the socks, so I hit Windsor Button to get some more sock yarn and take up work on that cute little sock again that was coming along so nicely.

Unfortunately, that backfired when Windsor Button proved to be out of that colorway.

Now, I'd have simply ordered it online or something, but I am going on vacation (starting this afternoon!) and need a small knitting project that I can bring with me for the long car ride and for any lazy time sitting and sipping coffee with friends at the campground. I didn't want to bring something big and heavy, and I REALLY WANTED some socks. So I got a skein of the same sock yarn in a different (and actually, somewhat nicer) colorway, and cast on again. I have saved my half-sock and the rest of the old yarn, and will eventually finish them. But now, I'm starting fresh. I'll have something to work on for my vacation, and most important, I am back on the knitting wagon!

Incidentally, I also pinned up the shoulders of my cardigan body so I could try it on, sort of, and it seems to fit when I wear it over a shirt. This pleases me: I was afraid it would be too big. Then again, I DID purposefully make it sort of tight when I did my calculations, figuring in the possibility of weight loss. Rock on. Now I feel more confident that I will actually finish it someday. :)

To the ladies of the MIT Stitch 'n' Bitch: I will see you all NEXT Thursday at noon! I will be starting my new position that day, so I may be a little late if training carries over a bit, but I do have that hour free in my schedule. Yay!