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Posts Tagged ‘project progress’

High maintenance

15 Aug

As I get older, it seems that everything is about maintenance. (Not one of my strong suits.) From changing the oil in my car, to weeding the garden, to updating blog software … so little is new and exciting, but it requires just as much work. I’m not sure why I don’t like this. Probably because I enjoy New and Exciting!

So. I’ve spent quite a bit of time this weekend taking pictures of yarn and knitted objects, maintaining my Ravelry notebook, backing up my PC, documenting code written this week for work, et cetera. Maintenance stuff. The good news is that

knitting + photography = WendyHAPPY

Happy as a clam, padding around, making a lightbox, propping up tiny white reflector cards, connecting cords, evaluating exposures. Nothing I shot is earth-shattering, or even an original composition. Just a [fairly] color-accurate journal of what I’ve been doing.

Aran cardigan, from an old Sirdar leaflet (Ravelry link). Knit from Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran, which is absolutely wonderful yarn. It has great texture when knitted up with cables. The cardi will have a deep V neck and drop shoulders. It’ll be perfect for the office next winter.

Hazelknits sock in "Chocolatier" Brown socks, plain vanilla 1×1 rib, top down. The yarn is from Wendee at Hazelknits, and it is by far my all time favorite sock yarn. Squooshier than Cherry Tree Hill, prettier colors (and more colorfast) than Lorna’s Laces, and bigger skeins than STR. Win win win. This colorway is called Chocolatier (click for big and delicious version). Wendee also runs a Sock of the Month club, which I have gotten in the past – so there are several more skeins, well aged, in my stash. I’ll not want for sock yarn this year. Or maybe even next year.

Boho Beret in Noro Kocheron This is a Boho Beret knit from Noro Kocheron – a soft spun single of wool, silk and angora. The beret is extra-large, so I can stuff all my hair into it. I sewed a round of 1/2″ elastic into the brim, so it keeps its shape even though the Noro yarn is very drape-y. The hat used just over 1 skein of Kocheron, so I’ve got nearly two skeins left. There’ll be a matching scarf in my near-future knitting.

Here’s to maturity – defined today as Embracing Maintenance.

 
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Posted in Knitting

 

So long, January

01 Feb

It was tougher than most. Seems like I got the worst of both cities’ weather, wherever I was. I’m glad to be shut of it.

Winter knitting continues. The traveling cables sweater is two-fronts-and-a-sleeve from finishing. (Sounds better when I say it that way, instead of “The back and one sleeve are done.”) I forgot to take a picture today while the sun shone (Yes, the sun made a rare January appearance again today) but maybe next week.

Except that I’ll be away next week, on an island where they have no sheep. And I’ve decided not to bring any knitting.* There won’t be much time when we’re not on the beach, or exploring, or swimming, or ??

That’s it for this quick drive-by. Sorry Mom, I’ll try to be more regular about posting! Enjoy the Superbowl tonight, if you are so inclined. And think of Lisa and Adam, down in the midst of the festivities.

*It almost hurts to type that

 
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Posted in Knitting

 

You probably thought work was keeping me from blogging

03 Aug

Fooled ya! No more work for me (not me, not now, at least for a while). The breakup is over, we’re all still friends (geez, one of the worse things about working with women – we need to be BFF) and now I can get my head together. Fortunately, I can take a week or two to get my head together before starting a new job search.

And what does any fiberholic do when she needs to get her head together? KNIT! And spin, too, of course.

reclining_deepblue_bfl.jpg

This is last week’s BFL from Gales Art, exactly 56 ounces, almost 175 yds. The colors are exquisite, with one of the kelp-y greens exactly matching this seedum in my front yard.

halfdone-bfl.jpg I obesssively split the roving (with three color repeats) in half, then quarters, and put together the quarters by weight so there’d be half the yarn in each skein. This is what’s left, or, what went into the first skein – it’s exactly the same, see? So I’ll get matchy-matchy socks from it. (Crossing fingers.)

And then there’s CeCe. No pictures, because she’s a big mess of unblocked lace, all bunched up on a too-short circular needle. Not that there hasn’t been any excitement. Let me count the ways:

  1. Misreading the part about where to “mark the pattern” to match the lace across the raglans, once the pieces were joined together
  2. Completely forgetting rows 1 & 2 of the pattern, for much of the body and nearly all of one sleeve
  3. Changing the center st in the pattern from sl1,k2tog,psso to sl2tog,k1,p2sso – which sticks out like a sore thumb
  4. Realizing that I’m knitting cotton – and my row gauge after blocking is quite a bit different than pre-blocking. So add on another 15 body rows, and 25 rounds on each sleeve.

Sigh.

No pictures, because we’re not on the best of terms. It will never be “perfect”, but I corrected many many problems yesterday, and worked all the way back to the “join pieces together” section. Now that we’re decreasing 4-6 sts every RS row, it’s going faster and faster… my favorite part of any project! So look for pix soon.

 
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Posted in Knitting, Spinning

 

Northern cotton

30 Mar

northern-cotton.jpg A couple inches of thick, heavy, wet snow coated everything Friday morning, and made me glad I live here. So beautiful! By Saturday afternoon, most of the snow coating the trees had blown off. But these bushes (in Meridian Park, down by the canal) look just much like cotton ready to be picked.

We had a great walk yesterday, through woods & fields, on paths we’d never seen before. The sun was shining in a deep blue sky, and it felt much warmer than it actually was. We walked for an hour, then stopped for hot subs on the way home. My favorite kind of day.

Some progress made on CeCe … It’s been frogged twice, once because I cast on too many sts, once because I misread my gauge swatch. I’m knitting in Cascade Sierra, 80% cotton/20% wool, and I machine-washed and -dried my swatch. As I expected, there was significant shrinkage in the length, but not much in width, so my gauge is 5% small length-wise. I could block it to gauge, but then I’d have to block it every time I washed it. Which would never happen, of course. I’ll add a half-inch before shaping for the neckline, and call it done.

Progress on the Kauni, too. The sleeve and neck steeks are crocheted and cut; sleeves are picked up; and I’m knitting both sleeves at the same time, split at the center underarm, and steeked between them. It was tough to manipulate the circular needle for the first 2 inches or so, but now it’s coming along quite well. And the sleeves will match!

I stopped knitting last night, because the sleeve decrease rate seemed way too shallow. But now that I look at some FO sleeves more closely, I can see that it’s a wide sleeve, gathered sharply at the cuff. I like the look.

sam-bird.jpg A rare picture of Samwich, our shrinking violet. Usually she hears the camera turn on, and she’s off like a shot. But yesterday afternoon she spent hours at the window, watching this mourning dove as it sat on the roof. It finally flew away about dusk, and we could all get some rest. Soon spring will be here, the window will be open, and she can watch birds from the roof – instead of watching birds on the roof.

 
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Posted in Blather

 

Glad Påsk!

22 Mar

(Happy Easter!)

So, the relief from overwork was temporary. I enjoyed the respite, and return to workaholism with some new coping tools (most notably Gail, my administrative assistant). So the blog posts may be a bit sporadic again, until I hire another sysadmin.

I’m still knitting, though. I think the fiber drought was more depression than busy-ness: my zest for knitting/spinning/weaving – and living! – has returned. I’m back to multiple projects, I’ve completed two cardigans in the last eight weeks, and a third is growing.

img_0940.JPGThe Kauni yarn is shetland-like: fine gauge, slightly scratchy. Watching the colors is fun, but makes me anxious – did I start in the right place? Are they coming out right? I started by combining complementary colors – yellow/purple, red/green, blue/orange – so everything looks a bit dull to me, almost brownish. Then I pulled out part of a section of purple, so the combinations are changing to triadic: orange/purple, blue/yellow, green/ orange, etc. I don’t know what this will do. I have only a dim understanding of color theory. But looking at Kauni’s on Ravelry, I can see that either a) the starting point makes a huge difference, or b) the dye lots are vastly different. I think it’s more a) than b).

Anyway. Two more pattern repeats, then I start the sleeve steeks. I’m trying to imagine knitting steeked sleeves, too, picked up and knit from the top down, both at the same time. Would it be possible? The idea of making the sleeves identical pleases me. I could knit them together, but not picked up from the body of the sweater, then sew them in (a la the Snowflake cardigan). I don’t know yet what I’ll do.

 
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Posted in Knitting