A Little Yarn On The Side

The good news is, I am down to 15 WIPS. YAY! The bad news is, it isn't because I finished the sweater I have been working on. By early last night, I had finished knitting all the pieces and again, I would wish to reiterate that I don't see why one would knit a yoked sweater in pieces, but I assume that designers know what they are talking about. I started diligently sewing all the dratted seams, when I thought I remembered someone mentioning on Ravelry a problem with the neck being too big. Not "someone." EVERYONE. Since the only thing worse than sewing sweater seams is ripping them out, I decided to pin mine to see what it would look like before sewing any more: Does that look big to you? How about this? (I couldn't find my ruler). Hem gauges are 6 inches long, and they're overlapping by 2 inches. Just to make sure, I tried it on, and can now state absolutely that a 20-inch "mock turtleneck" looks dreadful, or at least on me. It's in the...

They're killing me! A week ago, the new Webs yarn catalog arrived. I stood firm! I marched it directly to the recycling bin. Yesterday, the new Knit Picks yarn catalog arrived. I set it aside. I picked it up. I put it down. I sighed, picked it up again, and took it out to the recycling bin. Today, the new Patternworks yarn catalog arrived. WAAAAAHHHHHH! They have tweed yarns ON THE COVER! It's fall--it's wool! It's tweedy wool!!! It would be best to put it in the recycling bin....especially since Andy is gone for the weekend and I am home alone with a yarn sale catalog and my credit cards......and is that free shipping I see.......??????? I'm weak! Maybe if I take it up to the sewing room and look through it....it's easier to resist new yarn when surrounded by boxes and tubs of existing yarn. I'll just keep it out of the room with the credit cards...... sniff......

Argggghhhh! I ALMOST have the sleeves done. Of course, I've been engaging too much in political debates today so my gauge is probably shot to hell. I don't care whether one supports health-care or not, but I will NOT support campaigns of hate NOR "debates" staged with bumper sticker slogans. I apologize to anyone not interested in politics or not from America, but the hate groups screaming "socialism" are claiming they have a "majority" because they are yelling the loudest and I think it's time for those of us who want to have intelligent debates to stand up and be heard.

Heaven help me, this is the time of year Cold Sheeping gets really, really hard. Fall yarns are arriving. I love the colors of summer cotton yarns, but I can resist buying them because I keep reminding myself: I almost never wear the sweaters. I am sure there is an appropriate climate for cotton summer sweaters, but it isn't here. Our summers are WAY too hot for any sort of sweater--it could be made of floss and STILL be too hot. Not to mention obscene, but that's another story. I have a secret theory that walking around with the full weight of a cotton sweater on must be good exercise, but I can really only wear them for one or two months of the year and knitting is a LOT of work for a couple wearings a year. Oh--and don't even get me started on splicing a mercerized cotton. The very thought gives me all the willpower I need in the spring and summer. But it's fall. Sort of. Okay, it's 91 degrees here but it is September and it might be fall soon, so it'...

So with my birthday & Soup Night this week, we hosted 2 parties in 2 days. I may have an abnormal energy level, but even I am wiped out at this point. BUT... I did find buttons and the sweater is now washed and blocking. I'm pleased with how the buttons look. I found some I liked better, but one could only be dry cleaned and no dry cleaner is getting so much as a fingernail on one of my sweaters, and one could not be washed OR dry cleaned, which is sort of baffling. Even upholstery needs to be cleaned sometimes. Do you think there are people who would actually remove the buttons before washing something????? Some days I feel lucky just to GET things washed. I was really hoping to dazzle you with a finished WIP #2, but sleeves always take longer than I think they will. I know they're really about half of an entire front or back, so making both at the same time is actually the biggest chunk of knitting in the whole sweater as they tend to be a bit longer and also tend...

And I actually finished something. YAY!!!!!!! I need to find some buttons for it, and it needs to be washed and blocked, but the January Aran is done, steeks and all!!! And to be honest, I don't think the steeks were any big time saver--not even counting the hours of whining and whimpering. When you cut knitting, you're left with fuzzies like this which drive me crazy. So, I'm going over all the edges with a needle and thread and making the edges less "messy" which is really the same as sewing all the darn pieces together in the first place but without the psychological trauma. Still, it's a new technique and I'm glad I learned it, but I might reserve it only for fair aisle, or if I pick up a taste for self-torture. I have my FIRST WIP DONE for the Double Dog Dare Challenge, which leaves me at with 17 WIPS. The challenge, as you may remember, is to get down into the single digits on WIPS. Some would, of course, ask why not try to get down to NO WIPS,...

OK. There has been knitting. In fact, the second sleeve is almost done, and there was no way around it. The steeks were coming. I have been putting this off and putting this off. Seriously, what is more frightening to a knitter than CUTTING a sweater??? Maybe a colony of moths, but it would be a close thing. The sleeves are almost done and I could feel myself getting really nervous, and I was afraid I was going to shove this lovely sweater into the bottom of the project bin to get out of cutting steeks--which would be really unfortunate as I truly love this sweater. So, it was time. This is a cardigan, so there will be steeks for the front as well as the armholes, so first I set my sewing machine's presser foot to the lowest possible pressure, said a prayer to the knitting gods, then basted right down the center of the guide stitch I'd added I thought my hands might be shaking so badly when I did the steeks that I would need a very obvious cutting target. And alcohol. Lot...