tangled up

La La La La Lara

FO Alert -- Today I spent sewing up Lara and after a few false starts, she's finished! And she's wearing the first of the labels I ordered last month, which prove more than anything else that sewing is not my forte. This was a really fun sweater to knit, the Cash Iroha that I used worked with the pattern very well, and now that I'm finished, I'm not sure I'll make another, but it's definitely something to consider for the future.

The finishing for this was simple compared with Perkins, which is also coming along. By the end of the day, the sewing, the buttonhole band and collar should be complete with only the lace edging on the bottom to knit and attach. The end is really in sight.

Spending part of the afternoon organizing the stash that has been accumulating on my guest bed, actually, all over the guest room, so that it doesn't overwhelm my nephew when he shows up this week. Gotta finish while the daylight is still bright...

VOTE TODAY!!

I've noticed that a lot of the knitting blogs I read regularly are posting about the election tomorrow. I've been very impressed by the thoughtful nature of the postings and the strong spirit that drives people to advocate voting and voting for John Kerry. I'll be at my polling place tomorrow at 7 a.m.

When I started my blog, I had in mind to keep it to just knitting; although I live in a world that is heavily focused on politics, I think of it as really separate from my knitting world. I haven't even gotten the knitting part totally down yet, but can't help but post occasionally just pointing people to political stuff they might not see elsewhere. If you were in Cleveland tonight like my friend Eric waiting for Springsteen and Kerry to show up, you might have seen this:

I'm headed up to Boston in the morning. If Kerry wins, no, WHEN Kerry wins, I'll stay a few days to help out. Don't expect to have much time to knit, but won't travel anymore without taking a couple of different projects with me. If nothing else, I'll knit on the plane. For this trip:

(1) my current traveling project, a Koigu scarf in the (simple) alligator wrap stitch pattern

(2) a ruffled scarf from the new Scarf Style book, using Tahki Bunny in a dusty lavender color

(3) the Perkins sleeves with a needle for weaving in the ends

My accomplishment before leaving (thanks to the pre-election Sunday shows): the knitting on my Lara is complete. This picture was taken before I finished the final cuff and I didn't have time to take another, so it will have to do for now. I'm excited to block and sew her up and ship her down to Georgia for my sister.

Hopefully at my next writing, there will be a new President-elect....

If a Tree Falls...

...in the forest and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? if I knit and don't blog about it, has it really happened?

My schedule has been tough again so far this week but I have gotten some knitting done. Haven't had time to take photos so I'll have to post them next time.

(1) Perkins is almost complete. Only the bottom edging band remains, plus weaving in all the ends, plus blocking it, plus sewing. Well, I said almost. I spent the afternoon at Woolwinders at Saturday hanging out and knitting. I did purchase a pile of Koigu, which will merit a photo when I get to it.

(2) The Big Kureyon multi-directional scarf that was my project at work is finished (there have been a lot of conference calls). It just needs blocking and ends woven in.

(3) I've started a scarf out of Koigu that will be a truncated version of the Alligator Wrap. I hadn't knit Koigu on size 3 needles before (I work the Charlottes on size 6), but it's going smoothly.

(4) Lara has benefitted from the World Series and I'm down to the final ribbed cuff. It has been a breeze to do.

On Sunday, I had a family occasion in Baltimore and looking on the map, there was a yarn store on my way home open on Sundays until 5. I don't know what it is with me and yarn lately, but I stopped by and fell in love with some mohair from Wool in the Woods. The colors are luscious. Now they're mine.

Desperately Seeking Blocking

I've had some chance to knit but little chance to post, so here's a quick catch up...

The first Perkins sleeve is starting to grow; with any luck, I can finish it this weekend. I needed a quick break from all the yarn switching so I went back to the edging. Back to the beginning -- I had frogged my first couple of attempts because it's very hard to correct mistakes. This time, I completed one of the sleeve edges. It really needs a good blocking but I pinned it to the sleeve anyway in order to get a quick picture:

Thanks to numerous conference calls, my "work" project, the Lucky Brand scarf is off the needles. No picture until after it has been blocked. Right now it looks like a twisted, eight foot snake, bearing no resemblance to what I hope will be the result. My worry for it is that it folds itself in half between the decreases in the center. As I sit here, it occurs to me for the first time that I might have avoided that by keeping one regular stitch in the actual center between them (did I not look at the store model closely enough?). Well, no reason for concern until after it takes a bath and stretches out.

Finally, Lara became my "debate project," and after last night, I've just completed the right side cast off/decreases so I'm down to the final sleeve. It looks like it's going to finish just beautifully and it's such a quick knit that it's a great addition to the repertoire for presents. I'm thinking it might be fun to do as a two tone with a contrasting color for the ribbing. I did get over to Knit Happens to have a look at the Alpaca Silk and while it's very soft and seems like it would feel terrific to knit with, it's a bit too shiny for me. I'm really happy with the Cash Iroha and hope my sister will be too.

The Rebecca #27 and #28 that I had ordered from the Knitting Garden arrived yesterday. Lots of intriguing designs, but the first will definitely be the Apricot Jacket. Can't even scope it out, though, until Perkins is complete, blocked, constructed and on display at Woolwinders. But that should happen pretty soon now.

Made a fun but very expensive visit to Knit + Stitch = Bliss on Sunday (very smart of them to start having Sunday hours) before going to see a film that I loved, I Heart Huckabees. I came away with lots of Rowan Kidsilk Haze. Some of it I will use held together with Koigu for a sweater, the rest I will attempt to use on its own for some kind of lace scarf or shawl, but a couple of quick swatches have convinced me that that will be a challenge.

The week at work has been totally crazed (why am I not there now??) but I did manage to get off a second package to my Secret Pal. I have seen many more creative packages than the one I sent, but I figure that by sending yarn, I can't go wrong.

Progress Report

I feel pretty pathetic. Last night I got home from work after 10:30, got in bed with my knitting to watch Jon Stuart, and woke up this morning wrapped in yarn, with my WIP (poor Perkins) entirely off the needles, and my glasses midway across the floor of the room. Luckily, minimal damage was done and Perkins' right front is close to being finished (maybe tonight if I can stay awake). Knitting before bedtime now has to compete with Bob Dylan's autobiography. Not too much, though, I'm enjoying it so much that I'll read it very slowly to make the experience last longer.

Thanks to a series of conference calls, I've gotten to the end of the first skein of Big Kureyon on the Lucky Brand scarf. I have to take it home to get a photo.

And last but not least, I've bound off the left front of Lara so I guess I'm officially half finished. I was going to put it aside until Perkins is complete, but I need something that's easy to knit during the debate tomorrow night, so that right front just might be it.

I'd Rather Be Knitting....

It's a stressful day and I need a moment's peace, so here I am. I had a very long day yesterday and this one promises to be the same, but that doesn't mean that knitting won't get done. Thanks to conference calls and a staff meeting, the Lucky Brand scarf has now grown to three feet. There's still a good bit of yarn on the first ball of Big Kureyon so I'm thinking that 2 skeins will more than do it (as opposed to the moss stitch one I did last year that was much more dense and took 3 or 4 -- if only I could remember, those were the days before blogging). It's going to need a serious blocking when it's finished, but I'm growing very fond of it and starting to think whom it would be suited for when it's finished. (photo tk)

Late last night I did a bit more on Lara and have about 12 rows to go before the left front is finished. When that's done, I set it down to work on Perkins. I'm eager to make progress on Perkins, no, I'm eager to finish her, (1) because of the interesting challenge it will be to piece it all together and (2) beause I could a glimpse of Sheerly There last night, languishing at the bottom of the basket, and I can't wait to get back to her sometime soon.

So much knitting, so little time. With two debates this week, though, that will be three hours of relatively uninterrupted time....

Lara in the House

I've stayed in all weekend trying to nurse this cold or whatever it is. Not only have I not left the house, yesterday I mostly stayed in bed. In between napping, I got a bit of knitting done. When I work up yesterday morning, I had knit Lara up through the increases for the first sleeve. Yes, I cheated. I started on Thursday, rather than Friday. In any event, it's knitting up swiftly and easily. The slubs in the silk yarn make for an interesting texture. Generally, I prefer a flat, uniform look (I've never been too much for thick 'n' thin yarns), but I'm liking how the the Cash Iroha knits up.

By this morning, I had gotten quite a bit farther.

I've had to spend a good part of the day working and I've not had much of a chance to knit, but I'd like to get a little farther on it before I return to Perkins to finish up the right front. This second photo shows my progress, but it also shows the unevenness of my rows. I knit English on the right side and Continental on the wrong side, so that I never turn my work. I've been doing it for a very long time and thought that I had perfected my gauge, but it doesn't look like it in these photos. Hopefully, that will straighten out in the blocking. I've noticed it a little bit on Perkins, too. It looks fine to the naked eye, but the camera definitely catches something.

Lara is too big now to keep as my portable project, which means the Lucky Brand scarf will get a little more attention. The burning question with Lara is, when she is finished, should I gift her as planned or wait until the holiday? Continuing my pattern would be to gift her as soon as she's finished -- after all, why wait for an occasion? Question is, between the debates this week, can I get close to finishing the main knitting on Perkins? I'd like to have it completed, at least ready to be assembled, by mid-October, but I don't know if that's reasonable. It's good to have something to work toward, in any event.

My one regret for the weekend is that I had intended to venture down to Knit Happens on Saturday when they were giving 15% of their profits to breast cancer research. It's not like I need another skein of yarn right now, but it's a good cause and I'm really eager to see a lot of the new yarns they've gotten in, and to get a feel of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk and see what I'm missing. Maybe next weekend. In the meantime, I'll have to make that contribution myself.

Succumbing to Lara

First, here are the photos marking my progress on Perkins. The body is still almost done, with more loose ends than I can count:

I've now finished about half a dozen repeats, but this is the first repeat of the lace edging pattern:

So here goes, I've really succumbed to the Lara knitalong. The Alpaca Silk pattern book arrived last night and even though I got home from work after 2:00 a.m., I stayed up to decide on the yarn and do a swatch. This may be a mistake b/c I've never felt the Alpaca Silk, which everyone talks about as so lovely, but I love the Cash Iroha. I got enough of Dark Amythst #24 on sale to finish it. I've jumped the gun a little bit, although there are some in this knitalong who have already finished theirs. I have a good idea who this one is for and it's nice to think of her when I knjt on it. I'll wait until the Lara along starts on October 1 to post the photo. Too tired to put up the button tonight, that's a task I can do in the morniting.

Going to see if I can knit just a little before I go to sleep. Thinking the Presidential debate tomorrow will provide some uninterrupted knitting time unless I felt compelled to start hurling stuff at the TV.