Manifesto.

I mean, this country elects its first black president, Wesley and I find a new apartment, and I'm actually knitting on schedule. :)

I took a bit of a hiatus for a little while, but churning out gift knitting tends to do that to me:

The little elephant on the right is, of course, the Bella-phant, finished in plenty of time to give to Rosa to keep in trust until Miss Isabella arrives to claim her. And everyone was quite taken with her cuteness. I finished her during the VP debates, and the group of folks we were with were happy to have a representative Republican in the crowd. ;) I wound up just re-purchasing the pattern (for another $7 USD. Ouch!) to make sure I would have things done in time, and seeing as I had to make another one (you'll meet him in a minute), I guess it was worth it.

The gloves on the left are a pair of Broad Street Mittens that I made for my friend Nicole. She has moved up to Buffalo for school, and requested I make her some "purple gloves" to help her keep warm. I subbed the yarn recommended for some purple Koigu PPM, and some of the leftovers from the MissMatched socks. The result is both purple and glovelike. With some mitten thrown in. ;) Here they are again, modeled so casually by Abima and BB, two of Ji Tan's toys:

So, as might be expected, knitting a pair of glittens in a week and an elephant in two kind of sated the knitting urge for a bit. Then it dawned on me that Christmas is fast approaching, and I have a lot of work to do. But first...

This is Charlie, the other elephant. After Mom saw how cute the Bella turned out, she commissioned one for her friends Jake and Raven, who just welcomed their own baby girl into the world. Hence, Charlie. He is a testament to the magic of gauge. Bella was knit in a geniune DK yarn on the recommended needles and turned out to be about 8" tall. Charlie was knit in Greenland, an aran-weight yarn, on the same needles, and is probably about 10 1/2-11" tall. Wow. But they're both super-cute and cuddly. So who really cares?

As for Christmas knitting, I did the smart thing this year and limited myself to about two really time-consuming projects: finishing the Peacock for Mom and another lace stole for my Granny. The next biggest projects down the line are a garter-stitch scarf for my Pappy and a Clapotis for my friend Lis. Then, my genius: the ladies are all getting hand-knit washcloths and nice soaps from either Sabon or Lush, and everyone else is getting tawashi and some kind of alcohol. :) The washcloths are cute, stash-busting, and I can finish two on a good day. I've only got eight to make, and I have four done. I hope to be done with all of them by Sunday. Then straight into tawashi and Clapotis, hopefully another week for those. Then scarf. Then stole. And Peacock can be worked on during Christmas while the Banana is here. For everyone else on the list, I'm buying things... namely books and other items of entertainment.

The only wrench in this Christmas knitting plan is the time that will have to be sacrificed to packing, moving, painting, and unpacking. I did mention that Wes and I got a new apartment, no? :D It's a great place, but since we have yet to give them the deposit, I don't want to talk about it too much and risk spoiling things. But suffice it to say I'm trying my hardest to get as much gift knitting done now before the apartment is a reality and I'm obligated to start moving my whole life from one place to another. Ugh. So wish us luck, in any case, and the next time you read this blog, I might be posting from a brand new IP! :)

I leave you with a picture of the washcloths done as of yesterday morning. Happy fast-approaching holidays!

Posted by MissAudrey at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As the title would suggest, this post is being written entirely for her benefit...

Oh, Aimee. You are finally finished. With the exception of the ribbon for the bottom and the tag, of course. Am I the only person who absolutely hates finishing sweaters? The seaming of the lace parts of this sweater nearly did me in, I confess. And the weaving in of ends would have driven me round the bend had I not hit upon the trick of using the longest of them to whipstitch all the rest to the seam allowance, and sort of trading up for a longer thread whenever I needed to. That did makes things quicker. But otherwise? Oy vey. I'm glad it's over.

I can't give too thorough of a report on her just yet either, since neither the weather nor my motivation to wear her have been in the proper place to ensure a proper outing. But she is very pretty. :) First try-on shows that she is perhaps looser than the design would have called for... I echo the Yarn Harlot's wish that they tell you outright what size it is on the model, as well as the size of the model, before you cast on. It would have been most helpful, because I think I would have preferred even the extra-small in terms of ease, but I have a mental block when it comes to thinking of myself as anything less than a medium. Ah, how the feminist in me screams in outrage at internalized body dysmorphia, however mild.

Also finished are the infamous Spring Break kneesocks:

Finally the same height. I determined after beating my brains in for a considerable period of time that I had indeed started the increases in the right place, and that settled, proceeded to knit on, muttering darkly to myself that I would simply stretch them to fit if they still came out too short. Upon finishing the increase rounds, they were again (gasp!) too short. That's when I remembered vaguely that I had worked another pattern repeat or so even before starting the ribbing.

Never underestimate the holes in the young mind, my friends. I both sighed with relief that my gauge had not drastically rearranged itself overnight, and mentally slapped myself for my outright forgetfulness and idiocy. You really ought to write things down when you're slogging through untried territory, no? It would really save a ton of time. Ahem.

Now with two things finished (three, including the Bella), I am free to cast on for new things. My cheater's scarf, which I referred to last post, will unfortunately have to be started over. At some point, my actress began knitting with the cast-on tail, a good ten rows in. Who knows. So I cut my losses, literally, and will be starting it all over soon. The Peacock is still on the needles, of course, and now that the aforementioned Harlot is working on one as well, I feel an unwarranted competitive urge to see if I can beat her to blocking. This is unlikely to happen, however, as I have another half-cocked experiment on the needles at the moment:

This is the ubiquitous Central Park Hoodie, or my version of it, at least. I'm honestly not a big one for viral knits, but this particular garment just seems too utilitarian, and too much like something I would really like and use, not to knit. I've substituted the aran wool suggested with a DK weight undyed alpaca I got from a Ravelry swap, and (thank you, Lisl) was able to do some magical gauge math to determine which size to make. Some additional research on the tendency of alpaca to "grow" up to 2.5" also led into the decision to knit the 36" size. The real trick is whether I will have enough yarn to make the hood or not. There are some very interesting suggestions on Ravelry about making Excel tables to help you predict such things, but I don't think I've really got the itch to do that at the moment. Right now, I just want to knit.

Also waiting in the wings is this:

Uh, swatches! I'm trying to plan out a cardigan, my own design, to be made with that shiny skinny green cotton, with deep ribbing at the sleeves and hem, and a body knit loose, with some nice short row shaping at bust and collar, and ribbon facing on the button plackets... you can see I've spent a lot of thought on the details. I finally swatched and blocked the other day, and as soon as I get some good gauge numbers, I'll start doing some math. I hope to get it going soon.

I'm also waiting rather impatiently to sort through some online mess with a pattern I've purchased... I want to make Rosa a stuffed elephant for her baby shower (or, more accurately, I want to make the elephant for Isabella Rose for her baby shower), but I have been thwarted by silly internets. So hopefully that bruhaha will get taken care of soon so that I may have said heffalump finished in time for the big day... October 25 at last reckoning.

And did I mention I'm basically in charge of planning the shower too? Anyone have a good idea of where I can get 30+ people together in New York, and feed them too?

Posted by MissAudrey at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

So I have, as you might have noticed, taken a rather extended break from the blog, and at a time when there was so much drama happening in my knitting life (Ravelypmics! The Peacock! Baby Shower Presents!). But, as I was spending all that time NOT at home, blogging would have been a pretty incredible feat. I barely managed to keep up my reading, let alone posting.

And how did I spend this little sabbatical, you ask? Doing this.

Fresh peaches from the farmer's market in Kentucky. In Kentucky, I also did this:

My Bella Blouse, by Norah Gaughan. Also, the one and only Ravelympics project that saw the finish line. I rushed to get it all sewn up and blocked while staying with the Banana... then promptly realized that I'd been knitting it for her all along. I do that a lot, actually. I pick out a pattern I like, some nice yarn, and hop to it, only to discover after completion that my lovely creation suits my mother's frame and coloring far better than it suits me. Such is life. But at least the Banana had some hand-knitting for her birthday. Have yet to see a picture of her wearing it, though (ahem!). For those interested parties, the mods I made to the pattern were to sub RYC Cotton Jeans for the Berocco yarn called for, and thus to go down a needle size in order to maintain gauge. The result was a much heavier but still drapey sweater than what Interweave published, but I more or less like the way it turned out. And I'm ecstatic to have it off the needles. Should I choose to make it again, I will probably use a yarn more similar to the one in the pattern (like a bamboo... oh yes), and modify the arm insets so that they actually taper in the same way the neck insets do, rather than flap about. Additionally, the finishing instructions for this sweater leave a lot to the imagination... and there are a TON of ends to weave in. So be warned.

Now on to Vancouver, where we did this:

Those are the Boy's (from left to right) step-niece, nephew, and step-nephew, on nephew's 2nd birthday rehearsal cake. :) And the little doll on the bottom is Boy's nearly brand new niece, who is only two months old, and possibly the most serious baby I have ever encountered. In the three hours we spent in her company, she only laughed once. But she is sweet, no? We had a pretty good time with the Boy's parents out west, and I took a side trip up to Seattle for a couple days to breathe the air and see my Maggie. The Boy also managed to do this on his trip:

He tore the ligament in his right shoulder that connects the clavicle to the scapula (collarbone to shoulderblade, you laypeople) while showing off some of his stunt tricks for his cousins. Well done. :) So yes, what you are seeing is not actually his clavicle sticking up, but the rest of his shoulder hanging down. As a result of this trickery, he's spending the next three weeks in a sling (minus three weeks of time already served) while the ligament heals itself. So I've been getting to play Florence Nightingale and help my honey take care of himself.

I did manage to get a little knitting done on that trip:

On Aimee. These are the front and back, steam-blocked together while I knit up the sleeves. Truthfully, this much was done before we left for Pacific time (from which my sleep schedule still hasn't returned), but I've been too busy now that we're back to take pictures of sleeves, or even work on them that much. Also, the pattern lied to me. I'm making the 36" size, which called for 100g of Rowan Kid Silk Haze. I dutifully purchased the required amount, and then, over a year later, a third of the way through sleeve #2 with the seaming and collar also left to be done,

I RUN OUT OF YARN. They could probably have heard the cursing at Niagara Falls. Thankfully, they couldn't recognize it as such over all that water.

So Thursday, I traipsed over to the LYS where I got the stuff originally (again, over a year ago) on the slim hope that they might have a ball rolling around in the same dyelot. This was made especially difficult because I had, in my blind trust of knitting patterns, apparently thrown out all the ball bands from the original batch. I'm a smart one sometimes, let me tell you. So after twisting and turning a new ball of Meadow with its stringy remnant brother and its twisty sleeve cousin, I decided close was not only good enough for horseshoes and hand grenades. And, new ball in hand, I'm powering through this sleeve as best I can with what little free time I have while the show's running. Oddly enough, it matches quite well. And I vaguely remember the number "157." Maybe they are the same lot, after all? But what are the chances of that, honestly?

While Aimee is taking up much of the knitting life of late, so is the Spring Forward knee sock. I magically was able to knit the second an inch or so shorter than the first on the plane back to Newark. I've ripped back to before the calf increases, but I can't for the life of me figure out where my math went wrong. It looks as though I ought to begin increasing now, it feels as though I ought. But apparently, I don't. Could my row gauge have really been that different without my stitch gauge changing a bit? Ugh. I'm channeling Archimedes. Or trying to.

Also on the radar are a garter-stitch scarf for my grandfather for Christmas on which I'm cheating terribly: we needed prop knitting for my show, so I brought it in, in the hopes that an inch or two might get knit on it without my lifting a finger... shame. :) I've also cast on for a Central Park Hoodie. But we're not talking about that, yet. I haven't even told Ravelry about that yet. But soon, my pets, soon. once I clear Aimee and the socks off the table, I promise I will be more open and honest... and share with you the travails of knitting the cutest thing EVER, which will be cast on very, very soon. Until then, let's hope that this heat, humidity, and tropical-storm nonsense clears, and we can get to the business of having a lovely, proper autumn.

Posted by MissAudrey at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)