Catching up

I missed blogging last week because we were on vacation in New Mexico, and, even though I had internet and a camera, I didn't bring any means of transferring pictures from camera to computer. Which is probably just as well, because the ol' laptop is slow, anyway, and it doesn't react well to large photo files.

We had a relaxing time, though, and I got a lot of knitting done. I had planned on taking the spinning wheel, but we decided to bring the dogs along rather than board them, and to take the truck instead of the Jeep, and in the end, the spinning wheel wasn't practical to bring along. I think the dogs had a good time, though, and we enjoyed having them with us. They especially liked feeling the wind in their faces as we drove around some National Forest roads.

You may notice on the sidebar that a lot of things are getting completed, or close to it, around here. I'm knitting much faster than I can blog, and the UFOs are turning into FOs at a pleasant rate. In the interest of accountability, I've even dug up all of the UFOs that I've tucked away here and there and added them to Ravelry, so that I won't forget to finish them while I'm on this mad knitting kick. The sheer length of that WIP list would drive me batty if so many of them weren't finished and awaiting a good blogging, or close to it.

Speaking of FOs awaiting their blog time, let's get to it. Before I left, I had unearthed and finished Laminaria (Ravelry, my project details).

I made the full-size shawl, as I felt that the only other triangular shawl I've ever made was a bit on the small side. Or, I should say, the only other shawl I've ever completed, because I've knit 95% of a massively huge one that I know now I will never bother to finish, since this one is a bit on the large side.

The yarn itself, Valley Yarns 2/14 Alpaca Silk, has a rustic quality to it that I like. It's a cabled yarn, meaning in this case that it's two two-ply yarns plied loosely together. While knitting, the plied yarns sometimes wanted to split, and when you're doing, say, a three into nine increase, that can be a little annoying, but I lived through it. I chose the color to be more informal, and I think I achieved that, but I still don't know if I'll ever wear it.

I did make one small change to the pattern, adding an extra eyelet to the edging chart to avoid the alien head effect. Of course, now I just see an alien with a hole between its eyes.

All in all, it's a pretty object, it was a delightful pattern to knit, and I'm proud of myself for making it, whether I wear it or not.

Now, if you'll excuse me, the city has spent the last several minutes moving lots of heavy equipment onto our street, and I must go investigate what they're up to. And it's been hours since I have watched CNN.

Look who's blocking

I pulled this out of the closet on Saturday, and I have been obsessed from then until I cast off the last stitch this afternoon.

Done!

This may be a new record for me -- start to finish sweater in two weeks? It helps that it's a cropped sweater with elbow-length sleeves.

Only for you, dear readers, will I take a picture of myself from behind.

Pattern: Ballet Wrap, by Norah Gaughan, Interweave Knits, available at the Knitting Daily store
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Suri Merino in Crimson, from the stash
Needles: US 6 for the body, US 5 for the ribbing
Mods: No tie sash and therefore no split back, shortened sleeves to elbow length

Overall I'm pretty happy with it. It's a little big in the shoulders, but that's what happens when I knit to my bust size, and I honestly didn't know how to modify it without rewriting the whole pattern, so I'm just going to live with it. Right now it kind of balances out my belly instead of showing it off, but by the time I'm ready to wear it I'll probably appreciate that.

Ugh, no more pictures of me for a while. I'm giving myself a complex.

Change of Plans

Remember last week how I was all gung-ho to knit the February Lady Sweater? Well, I pulled up the pattern, got out the needles and yarn, and changed my mind. The featured photo on the Ravelry pattern page with the pregnant belly poking out is just adorable, but I had to face facts and realize it won't look like that on me. I was already going to do a round yoke instead of a raglan, but I'd also have to change where the yoke transitioned to the lace pattern, or it would make the girls look huge and saggy.

So I started looking around at other patterns that might accommodate a pregnant belly (maternity sweaters suck!) and I went to the Knitting Daily site to see if the Mommy Snug was available for purchase. It's not, and I had actually purchased The Best of Interweave Knits thinking it was in there, and it's not there either. But I did come across Norah Gaughan's Ballet Wrap and thought maybe it had potential. It still risked putting undue emphasis on certain things I'd rather not draw more attention to, but it also is open over the belly, meaning there might be a chance that I could wear it during pregnancy and beyond.

Oh, the joys of the 'pregnant or just round?' stage. Hopefully I'll be decidedly pregnant-looking by the time it's cold enough to wear this sweater.

So I've been working away at knitting the back and fronts, which went pretty fast, and the long noodle of ribbing, which went pretty slow. Actually, in the original pattern, the noodle is supposed to be even longer, to wrap around and tie in front. I took out the split in the back (which allows the sash to cross over and continue around) and started and ended the noodle under the left arm, finishing with a half-graft for a near-seamless look. I worked all afternoon on sewing all those pieces together to see (breath held) if it was going to fit, and it does!

I don't have a picture (doing the mirror-shot of the front was pain enough), but the back is kind of rounded on the bottom and comes down to about my waist.

Now for sleeves. I'm thinking about making them short, because the alpaca is warm. I think it would look cute over long-sleeved tees. What do you think?

First Cool Morning

I reluctantly rolled out of bed this morning to let the insistent dogs out, only to be greeted by the most wonderful cool autumn-like morning. I made coffee to celebrate, and the urge to knit got stronger. I've really been wanting to cast on for the February Lady Sweater (hasn't everyone?) for a little while now. I think it will be a good use of the Suri Merino that didn't work out in the High Neck Cable.

Only problem? I really feel like I should be finishing up old projects. The more I think "this is what I should be knitting," the more I don't want to knit at all, and the more I don't knit at all, the deeper these things fall into their UFO black hole and the guiltier I feel about them. I've especially been thinking that I should push through on Mom's cardi and get it finished for her birthday (in, um, a week), but I'm just getting over a bad case of hives and that alpaca yarn makes me itch. The Suri Merino is alpaca, too, but I don't remember it making me itch. Someone tell me it's ok to start a new project for me, please. I'm feeling guilty, but it's not getting me anywhere.

Hot weather and procrastination haven't been the only things keeping me away from the needles, though. We're expecting our first child in March!

9 weeks 5 days and 12 weeks and change
I'm 14 weeks 5 days now (Second Trimester, 4th month).

Crazy, huh? Anyway, I spent my entire first trimester feeling basically hungover, and knitting was pretty much the last thing I wanted to do. And spinning. When your nauseous, watching something spinning around very quickly isn't exactly fun. I got through spinning for the HHHH swap by forcing myself to do 10-15 minutes at a time until it was done. I was going to take it easy on myself and aim for a DK weight, but it came out fingering, anyway. Ha! Anyway, just when I started feeling better, I broke out in hives from some unknown irritant and was even more miserable for several days. But that's all over now, knock on wood :)

I have done a little crafting for kiddo. I knit and felted a bunny toy that still needs a face embroidered on and stuffing. I also started a sweater for the bunny, but it probably needs to be frogged. And I cross-stitched a little Peter Rabbit scene that needs to be washed, blocked, and framed. No pics of those yet.

I am planning to use cloth diapers, so I have crafted a little bit toward that end. Namely, some awesome wooly soakers (pattern from Buttknits.com), and some cloth wipes.

I am 3 or 4 half-finished wipes away from having about 2 dozen (in three different prints). They're kind of addictive. I think I could get into this sewing thing, even if I did have to youtube how to get the bobbin case thingy to go in.

That's probably all I'll do until we find out the gender in about a month. In the meantime, I've got just enough time to knit myself a sweater, no?