Here I Am

Oh my gosh, two months? I'm so very sorry. I do have a good excuse, however: constant nausea and fatigue. Yes, Andrew and I are expecting again.

We are very excited, and as I move into my second trimester, I really, really hope (please God!) that I will start feeling better. It's not so much that I've been throwing up, because, thankfully, I haven't been. It's just that with a two-year-old (oh my gosh, she's three now!) -- a three-year-old in the house, my little remaining energy goes toward her, and not toward knitting, web-surfing, or blogging. When she's asleep, or when Andy gets home, I'm much more likely to assume a horizontal position somewhere than to knit.

I just haven't wanted to knit. At all. And I know that will change soon -- at least it did when I was expecting Rose. I didn't even want to touch yarn until I was around 5 months along. So I'm hopeful. In the meantime, this is how I've been and what I've been doing, and when knitting resumes, so will more regular blogging.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year!

Real Life

There has been a lot going on around here. Sometimes real life gets in the way of internet life, but you know, that's how it's supposed to be. And I know the four of you who check in to my blog understand that. :)

Our parish has been celebrating its 150th Anniversary this year.

The big culmination of the year was over the weekend of the 27th and 28th. We had a big dinner dance on Saturday night.
The next day, we had a big Mass at noon, with the cardinal celebrating.

The choir did very well; I was very proud of how all their hard work turned out.

Then I had jury duty the next day. Thankfully, I was dismissed shortly after noon.

Hallowe'en was also this week. Rose wanted to be "a black kitty." My mom recycled a skunk costume that her cousin (Rose's, not my mom's) had worn a couple of years earlier. She looked a little like a Monchichi. :)

I have also been knitting -- I decided to start the Tilted Duster. After a lot of swatching and many false starts, I finally started the back on the 31st. I just finished the first sleeve last night, and hope to have the second sleeve done soon. I'm washing and blocking each piece as I finish it, and so far it looks like it's going to work out.

See, I'm using Cascade 220, and it's my first time using it. Now, since the Tilted Duster should not be overly baggy, I wanted to make sure I was getting gauge (I've learned my lesson). I knit my first swatch on size 9 needles, and got 17 st./in., as the pattern calls for. Perfect, right? Well, no. I washed and blocked that swatch. I did not stretch it in any way, shape, or form, and it measured 15 st./in. after washing. Ah HA! See, I would have knit another baggy, unflattering sweater, and there would have been much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Unfortunately, it didn't bloom as much on size 8s, and I was having a really hard time getting stitch gauge before or after washing, and row gauge was way off. So I ended up sticking with the 9s, but knitting the 36" size. The fronts and backs blocked out perfectly to fit my 38" bust with just about 1" of ease. Which is exactly what I was looking for, yay swatching!

Another silly internet quiz

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Literate Good Citizen
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

ARGH!

I tried to sew the zipper in. I used a sewing machine. It's JUST AWFUL!!! :(

The top of the zipper is sticking up above the knit fabric at the collar. At the hem, one side of the cardigan is at least an inch lower than the other. None of the colorwork is lining up.

Now I have to take all these blasted machine stitches out with a seam ripper and it's taking FOREVER!! I may throw myself bonelessly to the floor like a two-year-old and scream.

I've moved Samus to the VERY BOTTOM of my queue now, because it has a ZIPPER!!

breathe
breathe
breathe

Okay. Okay. It really is not the end of the world. I finished the pair of mittens, and they look great. I've cast on for a mindless little scarf for Rose, and I'm still considering recreating the J.C. Penney sweater, though I may do the Tilted Duster instead. I'll eventually get the zipper out of the little cardigan, and it will go back in better.

Sorry about that tantrum. I feel better now.

Sweater ideas

So I was at J.C. Penney the other evening, picking up a packet of Rose's photos from their portait studio, and I saw this sweater:

And I loved it right away.

So did I buy it?

No. I picked it up, laid it out, noticed the set-in sleeves and the ribbing across the bust area, the angle of the a-line as it increased from the empire waist, and said those famous words: "I could totally knit this."

Now, Knitty's Rosebud is very much like this (although a pullover instead of a cardigan), but I'm not as crazy about it. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I'll use Rosebud as a jumping-off point for re-creating this sweater.

P.S. The first mitten is done, and it fits!

This yarn hates me

I don't know why. I like it an awful lot.The background:

• I cast on, using the same needles I used for the hat I made with the same yarn. Knowing the troubles I had had with the hat, I very carefully checked gauge in several places. I cast on for a women's size medium, the same size I knitted my first mittens. Which fit.


• I started noticing almost immediately that the cuff seemed "a little loose," yet I kept knitting until I was past the thumb gusset, when I realized that I could probably manage to get both my hands in the mitten.


• Frogged and cast on again, this time in the women's size small. Decided to do a twisted rib for the cuff. Hated how it looked in this yarn and frogged it.


• Cast on again, and had a fantastic gap in the join which I could not fix. Frogged.


• Cast on again, and managed to twist the cast on round when I joined, which of course I didn't notice for 2 1/2 rounds. Threw the mitten in the knitting bag for a long time out.

Anyhow, now I've calmed down and started over again. Fifth time's the charm, I guess, or maybe it learned it's lesson from the time-out because now it's going swimmingly and I think I'm going to end up liking these mittens very much. Good thing I'm stubborn.

Also, I got the zipper pinned to the little Norwegian sweater. I'm not much of a seamstress, but with the help of this post and this post, I feel that I may be able to fumble my way through this one. Next I will baste the zipper and take the pins out and turn it right side out to see how it looks from that side, then sew it in for good. I might even use a sewing machine (no!).

Amazed at myself

Dear Rachel,

When you taught me how to knit and purl 4(5?) years ago, I don't think either of us ever expected I'd try colorwork, let alone steeking it.


Here is the little sweater as a pullover. The steek is a bridge of 5 extra stitches, marked by stripes where there is colorwork.
The crocheted reinforcement "ties" one leg of the center steek stitch to the leg of the stitch next to it, from the hem all the way up to the neckline.
One side done.

Then the other leg of the center stitch is crocheted to the stitch on the other side, from the neck back down to the hem.
Both sides done.
Between the legs of the crocheted center stitch is a ladder of horizontal purl stitches.

Those are the stitches that are very carefully, one at a time, snipped.

After a lot of breath-holding...

Viola! (Again, I must thank Eunny Jang for her exhaustive steeking tutorials, especially part 5.)

Now I just have to sew the edges under neatly and find a zipper that separates at the bottom! Then I will have a pretty little FO to show you!