First, thanks to everyone who sent get well wishes -- it was a real pick-me-up. I'm doing great, back at work more than half-time, slowly getting my energy back and learning new habits for eating and exercising that are somewhat different (on the eating side) than any diet I had been on before, but it's all an adventure. And I've lost about 40 pounds in the six weeks since the surgery so I can see the results, which helps a lot.
I've been meaning to start posting again on this blog for a couple of weeks now, but get stuck thinking about what I want to post -- (1) everything I knit while recuperating -- several small, fun pieces; (2) a new photo album organizing the photos of everything I knit in 2004; (3) my knitting goals for 2005; etc., etc. Each of those topics, for some reason, just reaches beyond my current capacity, so to get beyond my blogging block, I'm starting my new blogging year with a new WIP, and all that other stuff will appear sometime later.
My friend MT asked for an Sally Melville Einstein Coat for Christmas. Laurie Gonyea, a mutual friend of ours who has her own knitting business, had knit one for a friend of hers and MT had fallen in love with it. Not hard to see why -- here's a photo from The Knit Stitch book:
It's an interesting construction, all garter stitch, made essentially in one piece. For yarn, I chose Jamieson's Chunky in Mirrydancers (1400). It's a near black with wisps of yellow, red, blue and green running through it. Here's an extreme close-up of the yarn:
The first piece knitted is the lower body. I've been following the pattern for a medium, the size Laurie made for her friend, which seemed to fit nicely on MT. I carefully counted the ridges, and sized it against the completed sweater, which I had at my house for a while. But when I tried it on MT this morning, she was absolutely swimming in it. I pinned it back to where it was generously large, but not overly so and it came to fewer ridges than the small even calls for (just a bit more than I had done in this photo).
I need to go back and check my length gauge again (the width gauge is correct). It's also possible that it stretched as I was working on it. Have decided that I'm going to try to follow the inches rather than the stitches and move forward that way. Big decision now is how to work the buttonholes. Do I work them all in the same direction, which means two different kinds of buttonholes because of how the pattern is worked, or do I work them the same way and have the upper buttonholes horizontal while the lower buttonholes are vertical? decisions, decisions....
Almost quit without mentioning my other WIP, a modified Clapotis. It's so much fun to make!!! More about that next time....
Welcome Back, darlin'!
Posted by: elisabeth | January 28, 2005 at 09:34 PM
Ooooops! I got carried away with thinking about buttonholes and forgot to welcome you back to blogging! So-glad to have you back!
Posted by: Teresa C | January 26, 2005 at 03:47 PM
Well now you've gone and piqued my curiosity. How would you do those buttonholes? I would definitely want them going the same way. What does Sally say on the subject in the pattern? Hmmmm.........seems like an issue to ponder.
Posted by: Teresa C | January 26, 2005 at 03:46 PM