It's OK, Nancy! It's done!

During my long blog hiatus this fall, a picture of the baby bunny sweater (looking a little demonic with pink cheeks that, at the time, seemed like eyes). Nancy complained (and rightfully so!) that she was sick of seeing that bunny when she check for a new entry. And so, Nancy, I hope you'll forgive me for posting...

the finished product!

Click for big, and really cute!

Here are some stats:

• Lanet pattern (details to be inserted here soon)
• Lang Bebe, 100% superwash wool in fingering weight from theknitter.com (it's not on the website, but these colors (and a few more) are in stock and are available by request)
• but the carrot tops are in some leftover sock yarn (probably Lang Jawoll)
• Body knit in the round to the armholes, then flat with intarsia bunny. Sleeves knit in the round. (The green-and-white fair isle pattern is at the top of the sleeves, too, but putting the sleeves out straight would have put them through the shadow from the window panes.)
• Size zero needles! Love those little needles!
• There might have been more pictures, but the camera battery ran out of juice after just two shots.
• For Jake, born in August, son of a postdoc in our lab. They've been living in California but are slated to move to Boulder in the next couple months.

And more finishing!

I also finished my second alpaca hat, adding in about 8 rows in total. Everyone says it looks a lot better than the old one, and hoepfully I can show you tomorrow after the battery recharges. That old one is going to the orphanage in Kazakhstan where my friends will be adopting the baby that gets the castle sweater. I started a fair isle hat in Classic Elite Bazic (once destined for girly fair isle mittens, now ripped for a new lease on life) for the orphanage and probably have enough of that yarn to squeeze out another after that. At knitting group on Saturday I gave some of that yarn to Debbie, who has been knitting a crazy number of hats for Kazakhstan. She hadn't planned on staying at knitting very long, so she didn't bring a lot to do. So when she ran out but wasn't ready to go home, I offered yarn, Nancy had the right size needle, and another hat was born. I'm sure you can read about it and see it in a couple days over at Debbie's blog.

Upcoming Angst

I've seen posts for a number of teams for the Knitting Olympics. I thought about joining in (maybe a fancy lace shawl? the Dale sweater I'm going to make for my mom?) but I'm facing...

Me in a room with three professors who can ask me whatever they want. The exam is usually focused on general chemistry knowledge and the student's thesis proposal, while making them think on their feet about something they don't quite know. (Fun, huh?) My exam will likely be the week of February 20, so I need to write that proposal and figure out how to read these prof's minds so that I know what to study without studying everything in the world. This does not seem like the time to train for the Olympics! I'll also be going to Mexico City for a week for a research campaign (much like Riverside last summer, but dirtier, and only for one week) around March 4, but I'll be expected to work data during the full campaign for the entire month of March. So those are all of my excuses. I'm out.

Maybe I'll be ready for the next go in four years, if I'm not too old, haven't grown too tall, lost my girlish figure, pulled a muscle, etc. Of course, that may be the time to write my thesis...

Baby Sweater Blocking!

Here's a gingerbread castle sweater, all knit and blocking! This sweater is for that baby that should be coming from Kazakhstan in about two months. I'd always loved this castle (from Barbara Walker's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns) when I was growing up and I wanted it on a sweater. Since I never managed one for myself, I decided that someone was going to get one!

Here's a close-up of the front. The ribbing pattern is from Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge. The lower border is 3x3 check, and it took a bit of experimentation to find something with the right size and texture and to work a big enough section. The castle is from the Barbara Walker book. I added the beads (strung on, so they shouldn't come off, even with little fingers), omitted a yo in the tower (it looked like a mistake), and left off the flat at the top of the pole. I'm going to sew in some ribbon streamers instead.

The back and sleeves have the same ribbing and 3x3 check. The sleeves also have a column of faggotting, the same stitch as the windows on the castle. I'll use the holes to weave ribbons (the same colors as the streamers) up the sleeves.

It feels like the bulk of the work on this sweater is done, but I think doing the ribbon part will be a little tedious. Experiments have shown that the ribbon is a smidge too wide to fit though the lace holes effortlessly, and I don't have a firm plan for how (or perhaps, where) to attach the ribbons on the sleeves so that they'll be secure against little fingers. That will be Phase 2, probably sometime next week.

Hat Comments
Thanks for the many compliments on my hat! My mom has plenty of natural alpaca leftover from her mittens, so I can make another one. The ear flap idea is a good one, but I just don't think I'm an ear flap kinda girl. Maybe I'm too old. Maybe I'm too stodgy.

Maybe I could have earflaps if I was going to learn to snowboard... :) But then I'd need a really silly hat and I'd have an excuse to make one of Anna Zilboorg's beutiful but funky hats that I would never wear otherwise!

On a Snowy Evening

(Click for very big.)

New Hat!

It's snowing a little today, so I decided it would be a good time to show off my new hat.

(Self-photography while hiding braces is not my forte. This is why I'm a scientist.)

You may recall an entry from last spring in which I declared that I look like a dork in all hats. I think that this hat is a vast improvement over the green one in that entry, so I'm no longer embarrassed to go out in public when it's cold out.

This pattern is called "Swirls Hat", and I got it from my mom. I don't think the pattern's on the website yet, but she does have it. I knit it in Indiecita alpaca so it's warm and soft.

The only bad thing is that it could be just a tough longer to really cover my ears. I was so excited to do the first braid that I left out two rows of dark grey below it, so that would add a little bit. I'd also like to add two rounds of purple before and after the swirl band between the braids. I'd rather knit a whole new one than rip this one out to lengthen it, but I think I'll be a little short on the natural and we're all out. Maybe if Mom finishes her alpaca mittens I can use her leftovers. Hurry up, Mom! :)

Coming Soon... In Stereo*
The baby sweater for my friends who are adopting from Kazakhstan is almost knit! I should be able to block the pieces in a day or two and I'll take pictures. Then I need to assemble, add the ribbons (this will be darling, but possibly tedious) and then just wait for that baby to come home! I think this is the first sweater I've really designed, and it's been fun and challenging. But more about that next time...

*(Ok, so almost no one will get that, but that's ok.)

A Gallery of Projects

Here's the first installment in my catching-up photos.

Merry Christmas!

First, sweaters my mom made for my nieces.

On the left, Leslie (age 7), with a Dale patterned sweater knit in Cleckheaton Country 8-ply, a great-feeling, DK superwash that's great for kids stuff.

On the right, Peyton (age 5), in a sweater my mom designed for her, knit in Plymouth's Dream Baby, an extremely nice acrylic yarn she has on hand at the store. The ruffle and collar were both from Nicki Epstein's Knitting on the Edge. The flowers are crocheted and attached with beads in the center. Peyton's a girly-girl, and she wore her sweater all day long. (You can click the picture to see the back.)

The week before Christmas we got some new colors of Trekking and every time we passed one color, Mom said, "I want socks made out of that!" So even though it was a little less than ethical, I swiped a ball and knit in secret all week long. And here they are, in Trekking 133...

And speaking of socks, here are the bat socks I was talking about in the last entry. I had enough yarn left over at the end of the first one that I decided to add a second set of off-set bats in the leg. I didn't quite make Halloween, but I'm sure they'll get a lot of good wear before that!

That's it for today. Next time should have my new hat, and hopefully I'll manage to add some sweaters soon, too!

The Blog's Not Dead, I'm Just Dead Tired

Kinda sounds like the title of a bad country song, and it was more appropriate when I thought of it in November. Well, time flies when you're in school and then again when you're trying to recuperate from school, so now it's a new year and I hope to do a better job of posting.

I haven't done enough photography to do pictures yet, so I'll just itemize some things I've finished (and will photograph) and the WIPs, of which there are many.

Items Finished, Since Last We Spoke

• the Rowan sampler sweater
  
• Rogue (hadn't even gotten it onto the WIPs list!)
  
• an alpaca hat for me (much less dorky than the old one)
  
• Socks for mom for Christmas
  
• Koigu meeting socks
  
• Bat Belfrey socks, a sock of the month kit from theknitter.com
  

Items Begun but not finished, Since Last We Spoke

• jacket in Rainbow (just needs a zipper!)
  
• sweater copied from one someone was wearing in the student center on Halloween
  
• yet another baby sweater, this one for a baby coming from Kazakhstan!
  
• seems like there should be more...
  

Items Which Continue to Languish (and Accompaning Excuses)

• High Tide. It's for summer, so it won't be out anytime soon.
  
• The Red and Black Sweater, which is in a miserable intarsia-in-the-round stage. Following the chart takes attention, which I haven't had time for, or I'd rather watch TV.
  
• the Baby Surprise sweater. I discovered some miscrossed cables several rows back and rrrripped. Back in the bottom of the bag it went. The baby's born, but the sweater will be 5-yr old size, so I've got plenty of time, right? Right??
  
• the baby bunny sweater. It has sleeves now (they're attached) and a button placket. I just need button loops, sewing the buttons on, and knitting the collar. This baby is supposed to be moving to Colorado from California this month, so maybe when I see the daddy again I'll get my motivation back.
  
• That doily. It's not so much languishing anymore, because now it's rrrripped. I needed the needles! It had inherrant problems with double yarn overs and I was pretty sure there were mistakes somewhere, so out it went. I'll try it again someday, I'm sure.
  
• Mitered square socks that my mom and I were working on together, but have set aside, and another pair of my own, which need the heel construction sorted out.
  

So it's not like I've been sitting idle all these months, despite classes, exams, concerts, opera, tutoring, getting my Lendurm finally (yay!), holidays, and such. I just haven't written about it. But now I hope to change my ways, have a little fun with the camera, and show you all of this new stuff.

Happy new year! (I'm even a bit late for that, I guess...)