Home for the Holidays

I am now happily back in Colorado until the new year, happily knitting away with my Mutti. This is just a quick post to show some pictures, but I'll write more about our adventures later.

My mom made sweaters for her three granddaughters, but I only have pictures of two of the sweaters. Maybe I can get the third one tomorrow.

For Leslie, age 4.5 (click for a close-up of the sheep and buttons):

The lamb buttons are actually sewn on over snaps so that it's easier for little hands to open them. The sheep is one in intarsia and the legs are duplicate-stitched on.

For Peyton, age 2.5 (click for a closeup of the flowers):

The flowers are buttons sewn onto the sweater. The stems and leaves were embroidered on, as was the butterfly. The back has flowers, too, and a snail (that's not quite finished yet!).

And finally, a picture of my completed Lopi Lite Pullover! I still haven't blocked it, but it's shaping out nicely with continuous wear. My mom is threatening to steal this sweater!

I appologize for the sizes of the pictures today. I'm not familiar with my mom's photo editing software and it's been giving me some trouble. Either I'll figure it out over the week or I'll have odd-sized pictures.

Happy Holidays!

Knitting, Seaming, Weaving, FINISHING!

I finished two sweaters tonight! Pictures on Monday, probably; I was too lazy to go to work to use the camera, and I don't think I'll be going tomorrow.

The Lopi Lite is now officially complete. I wove all of the ends in tonight and it looks good! It could use a little blocking, but that will have to wait until I get home. I don't want it to be wet when it's time to pack!

I also finished the Mexicali Baby Ole. I think I'll give it to my baby niece. It's too big for now, but hopefully she'll grow into it. I saw friends tonight with their 7-week old baby, and he's tiny, so this sweater seems huge. I'm sure it won't be that way for long!

So what's next? The stalled mittens don't interest me right now, and I'm getting start-itis. I have yarn for a baby blanket that I want to start, but I need garter stitch lace patterns, so that will have to wait until I can mom's collection when I get home. I have some Linet that I bought this summer for a sweater that was done in an early-90's Rowan cotton pattern. I had a hard time getting gauge in the fall and set it aside. I'm not sure I'm ready to start up with it again. I have yarn for a pair of socks, but it's kinda boring. I have three yarns that I picked up at the Knitsmith's stach exchange, but none of them excites me right now, either.

Obviously it's time to go shopping...

25 Little Things that Went Wrong Today

1. Noise from the pharmacy's construction dumpter started aroun 6:50am...
2. and continued until 8:10am, when I got up...
3. after noticing that the I'd turned the alarm on, but it was set for 11.
4. I didn't have the address for the person I wanted to send cookies to.
5. I sat at the end of the train that would be convenient for changing to the green line, but missed Park Street...
6. and went to Downtown Crossing and had to walk back the length of the train.
7. The dry cleaner told me that my (concert) skirt wouldn't be ready until 4:30 or 5pm. (Good thing I didn't have to sing the 3pm concert!)
8. I couldn't get motivated enough to get any work done.
9. No one had exactly looked at the driving directions for getting to the holiday party (but we found the right street eventually).
10. Someone left tomato sauce on the stove, on high, unattended. It boiled and splashed onto my just-completed Lopi Lite sweater. (Luckily, I could clean all of it off.)
11. I had to sing soprano when a few of us sang carols. I'm getting over being sick and it was too high.
12. Several people who wanted to hear us sing missed it.
13. When I needed to hurry to leave the party, the people I was walking with dawdled.
14. I still had to iron my (concert) blouse when I got home.
15. That took longer than I thought it would.
16. When I got on the T again, I realized I'd left my (concert) music at home.
17. When I got back to the dry cleaner just before 5, my skirt wasn't back yet and I had to wait for it. (Guess it was ok that people hadn't hurried so much earlier, or I would have waited longer.)
18. I was running late for the quasi-singing lesson I was supposed to have at 5, and I still needed to drop off the cookies I'd promised to my hair dresser, whose grandfather passed away recently and had a tough couple weeks.
19. When I got to Symphony Hall, the lesson person was nowhere to be found.
20. I found her eating dinner with my friends, but the restaurant was out of creme broule.
21. I had my quasi-lesson, but it meant skipping concert warm-up, and important announcements like changes in the sits-and-stands.
22. I didn't have time to grab music for the first half of the concert, so I sang from memory and read off of other people's scores to supplement.
23. I got music for the second half, but I forgot to bring my scarf or hat for White Christmas.
24. I never had a chance to take a picture of the Lopi Lite Pullover.
25. People were not as impressed with the sweater as I was. It's vain to expect compliments, but I was so proud of myself.

However, some things went right today.

1. People ate every last piece of the rugelach.
   
2. The Jews were especially impressed with the rugelach.
   
3. People thought we sang well at the holiday party.
   
4. I had a blast singing my last concert (ever?) with Keith Lockhart.
   
5. I got an Elvis smoothie on the way home.
   

"Marilla, isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"

It's a sweater!

The Lopi Lite is complete! Just need to graft under the arms and weave in the ends! I've been baking cookies tonight and they're not quite done, so I'll do a little weaving until bedtime. I'm tempted to do some critical weaving tonight and wear it to the office holiday party, but it would clearly benefit from a little blocking and it would be, well, more honest, to wear it after all the ends are woven.

I had a crisis of color near the end, though. There's more of the "rust" than I realized, and my substituted color is yellower and nice, but not my favorite of the colors in the sweater. Hopefully it will grow on me, or I'll like it better when it's on.

Pictures on Saturday at the latest; I can borrow work's camera by then without a problem.

Late-Night, Crappy Pictures of Great WIPs

Gotta save my writing skills for my grad school applications. Riiight...

Hello to all the people who have left comments. Thanks for reading my blog and saying hi!

#1: Lopi Lite Pullover - click for fair isle close-up (I'm ready for Chart 2). Nicki, my colors are almost exactly as called for in the pattern except for two changes: color 426 instead of the rust (rust wasn't available, this is a little yellower) and a much redder 431 instead of the cordovan. I think it will stand out better than the cordovan, which is a lovely color, but very close to the blue of the basic sweater.

#2: Flashy Lace - 6.5" and counting... It's hard to see the faux-cable pattern from the picture, but it's there!

#3: Berroco Jacket - It's almost a jacket!

P.S. I'm cuter in person. At least, I hope I'm cuter in person. We'll use the 1:30am-threw-on-these-clothes-for-the-picture excuse tonight.

P.P.S. Photos courtsey of work's digital camera, which I liberally borrow since it's rarely used at work. Hurray for tripods and being ableto find the timer on the camera!

Holy Cow, the hardest thing ever

I think the hardest thing ever is purling with the "other" hand. Row 4 in the fair isle requires me to purl with both hands. If I have to purl with just one hand, I choose the "normal" hand for that yarn and put the knit yarn in the "other" hand. (See, no right and wrong hands here!)

This is at least as hard as learning to purl was the first time. And just like that time, the yarn tension is awful and I have to reset my hand almost every stitch. Half a round took me half an hour! Is this because

1. purling is inherently more awkward than knitting?
   
2. It's always harder to do something you have less experience with?
   
3. I shouldn't be trying new techniques at 1am?
   
4. I shouldn't be so stubborn and decide I that I must conquer this row tonight?
   
5. All of the above.

But am I going to give up now and go to bed? Unh uh. 72 more stitches tonight! Stranded in the back instead of the front, with beautful purls made by wrapping with my "other" hand, until this heinous row is over and I can go back to K2 P2.

(A half hour on Flashy Lace nets me about 3 rounds of 192 stitches in 30 minutes, just for a little inter-project comparison. Back to trudging with these purls...)

Knitting on the Run

I spent three semi-lousy days in Hartford for work, but at least I had time to knit in the evenings. I even found people who have a Tuesday/Thursday lunch knitting group at the CT Department of Enviromental Protection, but I had to work through it this time. I'll have to go back anyway, so I'll try to schedule some appropriate trips!

I got the Lopi up to the Fair Isle section and got three rounds of color in last night (yes!) so I'm looking forward to progressing quickly to the end! And I took the Flashy Lace with me. I've done the ribbing and a whole pattern repeat for about 4" of progress, so I'm excited about that, too.

But now it's time to head out for the next Pops concert, and what am I going to take to knit? I need to seam the baby sweater and my Berroco jacket -- too much concentration for the T. I want to do the Lopi sweater, but it's a lot for a lap on the T and I don't want to make a mess of the balls (though I only need two right now). And I need to figure out how to purl English without twisting the stitches. There are also the fair isle mittens, which, while small, have three balls of colors. So I guess I'm left with Flashy Lace. Don't get me wrong -- I love it! -- but knitting cotton while looking at snow on the ground just feels... wrong. Mutti (German for Mommy; that's what I call her!) told me I'd want to do wool in the winter and she was right. I don't have any wintery projects to start, so I'll go with the cotton.

At home at Christmas I'll choose or order yarn for Marcel's Sweater (winter 2003 IK) and for the lingerie, so it will be new project time soon enough! I'm looking forward to finishing off the baby sweater and getting a good start on setting in the sleeves for the Berroco sweater tomorrow. I'm hoping for the finishing tiara at Knitsmiths.

Have a Holly Jolly!

Welcome back to Pops, baby!

One chorus-only rehearsal and one quick orchestra rehearsal, and already I've got the first Pops concert under my belt. Gotta love the preparation! We got some music a week or so ago, new music last night at rehearsal, and then tonight they struck a piece and replaced it with something I'd never heard before. My sight-singing has improved incredibly in this group! We got yer schmaltz, yer cheesy key change, yer swing time, and yer oooh mellow right here!

Friday night on A&E (8pm Eastern time) you can enjoy all that and more (Vince Gil and Amy Grant) on "Holiday at Pops!" I sang in that one (recorded last year and broadcast now), so you might even see me. (Note: That's an oldish photo, I have different hair at Pops, and it's even shorter now!)

But does this stop me from knitting?

No way! I knit on the way to rehearsal, on the way home from rehearsal, during break at rehearsal, and often when I should be studying my music! My Lopi Lite sweater is all in one piece now. I have about 13 rows before I get to start the colors and I'm really excited. Carrying around the whole sweater takes up most of my backpack, though! The swatch for Flashy Lace went ok, and I got a good fabric by pulling tight on US8s, so I cast on with 7s and got the ribbing and a couple rows of pattern done this afternoon. I have to go to Hartford for work for three days, so I'll take them both and see what I can get done in the evenings. Too bad I have to drive -- all that knitting time, wasted!

In finishing news, I blocked and started seaming the Mexicali Ole, but it needs more concentration than I have right now to finish, so I'm going to aim for the weekend. And hopefully then I can finish my Berroco jacket! The colors seem better again after drying, so I'm happy again. I need to check my reference books again for instructions on setting in a sleeve. Either I skimmed to quickly or it didn't tell me simple things like whether it should be RS or WS facing, so I'll save that for the weekend, too. That poor mitten is sitting on the couch looking lonely, but I can't think about its gusset yet, either, it will just have to wait.

Best Christmas Present Ever!

This summer at Tanglewood I taught a fellow chorus member to knit. We went to Colorful Stitches in Lenox, MA and picked out yarn and needles. We sat on the porch and started with casting on and then knitting. When she made a mistake, she was adamant about taking it out. If we had to take it all off and start over, she was up for that, too. Maybe a week later she was ready to purl and we figured it out over the phone. She said she was addicted. Tonight I saw her for the first time since this summer and I was so excited! She brought the scarf she'd completed and showed me her new project - an afghan! She said that she did a lot of research and then chose a book (I didn't get the title, but maybe I can on Saturday) that has a 60-odd square afghan. All the squares are different and use different techniques (mosaic, lace, cables, twisted stitches, etc.) so that by the time you finish them all you can do anything. She showed me about 10 or 12 completed squares and they were all beautiful and perfect. I'm so excited! She thinks she needs to start a sweater so that she can have a project to finish in the relatively short term.

As Monty Burns would say, "Excellent..."

Snowdrift!

Work had to get done, so I've been in the office this weekend. We have 10th floor offices and a roofdeck, and it's been quite windy. Although we got a good 20", I can see the concrete roofdeck outside my office. However, just around the corner, there are snowdrifts taller than I am!

(The left half...)

(...and the right half.)

The roofdeck is about 6" below the bottom of the windows, so add a little more to your perception of the height.

Hopefully everyone in the Northeast has gotten to curl up at home with a lot of knitting! I managed to get gauge for the lingerie, so now I need the recipient to choose a color and then I'll get started around Christmas. For the Flashy Lace, I have rough gauge by knitting tightly on US8s, so I'll probably go down to 7s for comfort and then start in on it. I made a lot of mistakes in the first go of the swatch, but now that I have the concept of the pattern in my head, it goes faster and more accurately. As soon as I have time to pick up a set of needles, I'll be ready to dive in. This week will be busy, though, so I don't know when that will be...

Warning: This Knitting has been Pre-empted

Not a lot of knitting time in the last few days. Here's why.

• I sing with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. You can read more about us in a recent feature in the Boston Globe.
• Specifically, this week we're singing All Rise by Wynton Marsalis this week. Concerts were Wednesday and Thursday evening and we'll have another on Saturday.
• It's almost time for Holiday Pops! Rehearsal starts Sunday night and the first concert is Tuesday. I'll do seven concerts before Christmas.

At last night's concert, Marcus Roberts, an old friend of Wynton Marsalis, played one of the piano solos, and Wynton and Marcus played "Embraceable You" as an encore for the performance. It was probably 15 or 20 magical minutes of watching incredible musicians -- Wynton laughed and "mm"ed and "mmph"ed when Marcus did something clever, funny, or stupendous -- from the best seats in the hall: on stage along with these masters.

No concert or rehearsal tonight, though, so I get to go hang out and knit at a friend's craft night. I have managed to start a swatch for the lingerie, and I'll get to see its recipient on Saturday (it's a post-wedding, bridal-shower gift), so we'll take measurements and start to talk color!

My Blog's First Pictures (aww, aren't they cute?)

Ta da, my WIPs, in full color!

First, the Knitter's jacket, laid out to block on the futon couch.

Body...

...and sleeves.

The color changed a bit when it was soaked for blocking -- it's much yellower, and that's not just the picture. I hope it recovers, or I'm going to be very, very unhappy. The blog background image is from the pre-washed jacket, so you can see that it used to be, well, nicer. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will fix itself as it dries...

No picture yet of the Lopi Lite pullover. It's blue. It's stockinette. It's knit in the round, and it rolls at the edges. When I get to the fair isle part I'll have something worth showing.

Next is the beginning of my mitten.

I need to do the thumb gusset and I have to figure out how to incorporate that into my pattern, but I haven't had time to sit and think about it yet.

And finally, a bit of the swatch for the Flashy Lace.

This will be a great sweater! I need to knit a bit more to be sure of the tension, but I think I might go down a needle size and see if I like the fabric better. Unfortunately, though, I need the 7's (just got them today! yay!) for the lingerie project, so there might be a delay. However, if the lingerie also needs to go down a size, I'll be all set.

Movin' Right Along

I'm very proud that I figured out how to get all those blog links into the sidebar -- all by myself!

That's about all the knitting accomplishment I managed today, though. It's concert week for Wynton Marsalis' All Rise, and I spent yesterday evening and my morning commute working on my memorization. Christmas Pops is coming up, too, and I'll need to do a little plunking on that music pretty soon. Hopefully it won't cut into my knitting time too much, and some extra time on the T might help some knitting progress on my non-Fair Isle projects. Pops has been what makes Christmas really feel like Christmas for me in the past few years, so I'm looking forward to it. (We'll see how I feel as I work my way through seven concerts!)

I did manage to start swatching Flashy Lace (now up in the WIPs) today, but I didn't get far enough to merit photography. Maybe tomorrow. Now, home to wash and block the flax and glace jacket so that this lengthy project can be complete, after three long months and completely out of season!

Getting Started...

After futzing around with the templates for the blog (thanks, Mary!) for a week, I decided that I should just start writing and I'll fix the other stuff later.

So, welcome to my blog, where I will (of course) blather on about my knitting. I'll work on getting pictures of some of my WIP and setting them up in my sidebar. I'm currently working on

1. a jacket from Knitter's Summer 2001, "On the Neutral Track" in Berroco Glace Colors and Flax. Body and both sleeves are complete and awaiting blocking.
   
2. the Lopi Lite sweater from Interweave Knits Fall 2003, in Lopi Lite. One sleeve is complete, second is up past the elbow, and the body is mostly complete.
   
3. Mexicali Baby Ole from Knitters Summer 2003, attempted in Regia Ringel 5048. I just need to finish the gigantic collar and sew it up, but I'm having second thoughts about whether it's just fugly.
   

That's not enough projects, so it's time to start something new! I'm trying to choose between a sweater in Berroco Linet from an old Rowan pattern that gave me swatching troubles in the fall and Flashy from Knitty Fall 2003, in a purple color, but I need the needles from the Lopi sleeve before I can do that. And as soon as I receive some needles in the mail, I'll start swatching for some lingerie, hoping that I can get gauge with 2 or 3 strands of Zephyr wool-silk.

In the near future, look in the sidebar for the list of blogs I read, WIPs, and a quick facts about me page that has the stuff I always want to know about other people when I find their blogs!