Hems and Stash

I finished and hemmed the left front of the SCJ, and am now just barely into the raglan decreases on the back. I could not figure out how to (neatly) knit down the curved hem, so I sewed it, but it went very well considering this was my first hem and I sort of made up the process and went with it. By made up I of course mean that I just didn't have instructions on how to do it, not that everyone else in the entire knitting culture hasn't probably already done it before, and isn't thinking, well, duh.





























Mmm, seaming.

Of course now that I am halfway through this project I am looking for something else to do. I've been on a stashing binge lately, which is new for me, and I'm feeling real guilt about all this unincorporated yarn all over the place. I have plans for it all. At least, vague plans. Like my Tahki Cotton Classic, I mean, I already know I'm going to make, er, something out of it...right.















This, and I apologize for the crappy nighttime/flash from as far away as possible/ultra zoom on a 4-year old camera photo, is my lace stash. I've got about 1000 yards of Austermann Pharao in bright orange, 100% cotton, just waiting for a great funky lace project. Then I've got this 1500-yard ball o' merino, which is either called FA-RE, Baruffa, Vallemosso, or Decatito. I'm going to go with Baruffa, since it's the only word on the label that's in a different color. It's quite a bit more pink than this photo shows. A very pink lavender. It needs, well, a freaking fantastic lace pattern. I've got my eye on Marianne Kinzel's books of modern lace knitting. Doesn't the cover photo on the second one kind of make you drool? Imagine that in lavender merino:


























aaaaand...I'm drooling.

Big Ole Update

Well, I finished ZigZag, and this is what I had to spare, out of 8 skeins of Merino Style:















Danger's my...middle name.

Unfortunately the sleeves are just a bit too short for my taste, so I'm going to have to undo the shoulder seams (argh!), frog the sleeve caps (ugh!), knit another 2" or so on each sleeve (gah!), and reknit the caps and reseam the shoulders (&!*@&#!!!). Such is life.

I also started the Sunrise Circle Jacket, finally.
























I knitted the sleeve end hem in instead of sewing it, and it looks great, but I just couldn't figure out how to knit in the hem at the circle edge, so I'm seaming it but it' s very easy to do and it's coming out really nice. I've gotten some good advice over at the knitalong.















The red thing in this photo is the left front semicircle of the jacket, so pretty. I love how this pattern is coming together, and it's very easy to follow. Hats off to Kate Gilbert for another great pattern. The yarn, from left to right, is what I received from knitpicks today: 1 skein Merino Style in vanilla to finish my ZigZag (grumble!), 2 skeins MS in nutmeg to finish my bro's Christmas sweater, and 5 hanks of Sock Landscape in Mesa for a little pressie for my mom. It's not like she desperately needs wool items, she lives in Los Angeles, but this colorway just reminded me of her total love of New Mexico so I had to order it. I hope she likes what I make with it. She doesn't wear a lot of blue, but I think it will look really good with the browns and black, and totally blend in with what she normally wears.

Also, amazon just shipped my First Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker, so I should get it any day now! YAY! I love lace!!!

Frankensleeve

I'm not sure why I couldn't get a better angle; it's so hard to take photos of oneself. I look bony and mannequin-like -- I promise I'm nice and fleshy in real life. I quickly sewed my first sleeve to the body of ZigZag to see if I'd made it long enough, and I had, so now I can finish the second sleeve (almost there!) and do some real seaming. I love the finishing on the neck/shoulders. It's so smooth and, well, finished looking. I used seaming techniques from the back of Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, wisely recommended to me by a very valued member of my Stitch n Bitch. ZigZag is coming to a close! My goal is to have it finished by this weekend, so I can wear it to whatever we do for my brother's birthday celebration. (Too bad I can't finish his CHRISTMAS sweater by his birthday - ran out of yarn!)














Since I haven't cast on for my Sunrise Circle Jacket yet, I thought I'd post a photo of the amazing and weird bell peppers I bought this weekend to further my project spectrum participation. They were striped with black! I guess the striping isn't too apparent in the photo, but let me tell you, there was a lot of dark blackish red on these babies.












Yes, I cook, too. I'm the complete package.

TTTK

Too Tired To Knit.

Well, I was last night; today's a bit better. Between (among?) my paper, a problem set for my environmental problem solving class, and the recruitment program I run, I've been wiped out this week. The recruitment thing is three nights a week for two weeks in a row, with a new batch of prospective freshmen coming to campus each night. That means I have to be peppy and welcoming and organized to the same degree every night. The hours are long and crises abound. We get through, though, and then we knit. Or, I knit. Unless I'm TTTK.

I can't seem to get any good photos, what with the craptitude of my digital camera and the shininess of the yarn, but I do have another project (actually I have a few) besides ZigZag (second sleeve: begun!) One is a One Skein Wonder, OTN since about last November or something, done in Louisa Harding Impression. In my mind it's gone through a number of modification schemes so far, but in reality progress is so slow that it's still the basic OSW. I think I've decided on something, though, and now with renewed vigor I make my return, hopefully to finish it rather soon (honestly, it should not be a big project). I bought 2 balls of the Impression, in the colorway I can only seem to find described as "1", but I now doubt I will need all of that yarn. I'm almost done with the bulk of the project and my first ball is still going strong. At 154yds per, these balls turned out to be an even better deal than I thought when I bought them (at about $10/ball - this was a bargain for me because, I confess, this was originally going to be a gift for a friend; we decided not to do gifts this year after I'd cast on.)

I love. this. yarn. This shrug is not going to be an everyday item, though, probably something to wear to snazzy happenings in the summer when I need a little extra layer. Photos will follow when I can take them in natural light!

Red!

I just realized that the Sunrise Circle Jacket, my planned spring break project, is red! I mean, duh, I just posted about it, but the significance is that spring break is still in March, and red is the Project Spectrum color, so I accidentally qualified myself without thinking about it, and now I get to participate (without dishing out any extra $). I may have missed the Knitting Olympics but by god, I will not be missing this.

Oh, and the paper is DONE!

Delivery!

I got a lovely box full of yarn this morning from elann. Didn't I tell you? I went with the red. It's the Peruvian Collection Sierra Aran in Autumn Maple. It's much more red than I had expected, and at first I was disappointed, but when I opened my curtains to check it out in natural light, I fell completely in love.

It's this great tomato soup red with tiny gold and fuchsia tones throughout, very awesome in the sunlight. I think it will be perfect for my Sunrise Circle Jacket (see link above, or two posts below). I ordered 11 balls, and now I'm wondering if I'll need one more. I might order more of this in the Damson colorway though, if it knits up nicely. It seems soft (but not too soft...I really wanted a jacket, not a sweater) and the depth of color is striking.

More gratuitous yarnudity:

And if you're wondering, it's lying atop the course reader for the class whose paper is due, say it with me, Tomorrow.

Remembered Search Terms

This is what's currently in my drop-down list of remembered terms on google.com:

compounding
george bush
integrals
knit lace


and i need to stop knitting until my paper is done.

i HATE my LLLIFE