Trials

My first sweater has been an interesting experience. Thank god for Elizabeth Zimmermann and the helpful folks on Ravelry. They've all kept my spirits up and my damned determination (perfectionism) has kept me trying.

Incarnation #1 left me with no blood getting to my fingers. Tight, tight shoulder caps. No problem - I frogged the whole yoke back, and then back to the elbows on both sleeves. I then began again, and added more increases in hopes of increased circulation.

Incarnation #2 left me with lumpy wrinkles at my armpits. Ugh! Turns out when I increased the number of stitches at the sleeve, I was also supposed to increase the number of stitches put on hold at the armpits. Grr.


This is incarnation #2. It doesn't look too terrible, but that's only because the picture is horribly dark and I have the wrinkles stretched out. Tricksy me.

Incarnation #3 is still in progress. I'm hoping that I have all the info I need this time and have done all my math properly. I guess we'll see.

It's also worth noting that the Beaverslide yarn is holding up admirably despite all my frogging and cursing. I actually think it gets better every time.. And the color has completely won me over. How did I ever think it was too blue??

All Beaverslided out. (In a good way.)

(That's my Beaverslide Zeebee making a cameo above.)

Oh! More good news! We've been approved by Greyhound Welfare as suitable foster parents! I'm not sure when we get our first dog, but am positive the blog will be full of grey pictures as soon as we get one. I can't wait to go tromping around Patapsco with a pooch!

Gaagaa

I love me some Radiohead. And of course The Smiths and New Order...

So these are pure happiness:

Radiohead - Ceremony

Radiohead - The Headmaster Ritual

On swatching. And ponies.

Just as I was lamenting the demise of my knitting mojo, I was inspired. This is what my very blue, very not Central Park Hoodie, Beaverslide worsted weight yarn wants to be. The knitting is plain and simple, letting the yarn do the work.

So I eagerly cast on for my swatches, growing ever increasingly dismayed as I realize I just can't get gauge. As in, if I knit this patten in the smallest size, with yarn the recommended weight, and needles *4* sizes down, my cardigan will still be *6 inches* too big. Something was majorly wrong.

And yeah, it was.


See the problem? (I cast on the same # of stitches, but knit only as many rows as I had to on the blue.)

While supposedly these two yarns are exactly the same except for color, the red is obviously not worsted weight. Maybe it got mislabeled?

Whatever the problem, I no longer care.. my blue swatched perfectly. I'm in love, and my mojo's back.


The body is done up to the yoke thus far. And I got most of the first sleeve done yesterday when the power was out. Unfortunately, while a wide sleeve might look good in yarn with some drape in it, it definitely does *not* look good in a relatively stiff wool. Especially one someone with toothpick arms. (cough, cough) So I frogged the darn thing, calculated and recalculated #s, and cast on again.

And since I haven't posted any pony pictures lately, here are a few I dug up from the files.


Dragon's Lair Bogart, Welsh Cob (Shenandoah Ensign x DL Uppercrust, Bristol Valiant), with an itchy hock. Yes.. he's the dreaded D x B cross! Fear not - he's a gelding and is embarking on a promising dressage career.

And here is the little Ferrari - DL Pjoey (Bristol Valiant x Arabian mare). Valiant's kids are known for being smart and sensitive.. not unlike Arabians. So you can imagine this guy...


Word is that this flashy fellow is going to kick butt in upper level dressage someday. He's not a kids pony, and not a training level pony either. But he sure is fun!

I love Craigslist

I've been searching for a hutch.. something solid wood, clean lines, lots of storage space. Nothing new would work, since everything's made out of particleboard, is too froofy, or is too expensive. So Craigslist it was.

And after weeks of weeding through ads, I finally found it. It's older than I am, solid wood, the right size, and beautifully designed. Plus the wonderful woman who was selling it wasn't asking much and even offered to deliver it. Doesn't get much better than that.

I'm one happy Emily.



(The top doors on the hutch slide, and they're actually backwards as they are now. The other side is a woven wicker kinda thing, and I'm more partial to plainness.)

Blargh

I've lost my knitting mojo.

I have 5 projects on the needles, which is quite a lot for me.. I'm more of a monogamous knitter. Three of the projects are actually all incarnations of the same thing. I just can't seem to get yarn and a pattern and my fingers to work with me. Augh.

Perhaps the worst part is that I finally splurged for enough Beaverslide for a Central Park Hoodie, but I can't make myself cast on. The color, while beautiful, is not what I wanted. And I'm now thinking that I want something a little more grownup than the CPH. I just can't find a pattern that I like.

Ick. Are we there yet?

Places to go...

Swallow Falls in Western MD

Crown Fountain, Millennium Park, Chicago

Every year I talk about places I want to go. Rarely do I ever make it to most of them. Half the time I forget until the timing is all wrong. So.. this year I've made a list of places I think I can make it to in '08. And I'm putting it up here, because this little yellow sticky on my desk is losing its stickiness.

Chicago, IL
Richmond, VA
Lancaster County, PA
Philadelphia, PA
West Virginia
Western Maryland
Louisville, KY
Florida
some part of the Appalachian Trail - perhaps NH?

Now, I guess that's a rather funny list, since I've already been to over half of the places on it, and many could be just day/weekend trips because they're so close. But since we just bought a house, and since we want to explore every bit of the US, it seems like a good start to me.

on top of Spruce Knob, WV

part of the Japanese garden at Maymont, in Richmond, VA

Zeebee #3!

I can't decide if I love winter or hate it. The cold, crispy days make me almost feel it'd be okay for winter to be the only season - days with snowball fights and hot cocoa. But then, most winter days, at least in Baltimore, aren't like that. They're drippy, soggy, icky days where you feel far colder than the thermometer says you should feel.

Today is drippy. But that's okay, because I have a goofy pony to keep me company, and a Zeebee to keep my head warm.



That's my Zeebee in action.. knit up in one night with Beaverslide's fisherman weight wool, it's the friendliest of hats. Everyone should have one.


And a trio of hats.. since '08 thus far is the year of the hat. The Zeebee's on top, followed by my Koolhaas (I swear the Koolhaas wasn't intended for me - it just fit!), and a Cap Karma hat for a friend.

Koolhaas, by Jared Flood
Interweave Knits Holiday '08 issue
Dream in Color Classy, "cocoa kiss"

This hat, thanks to both the yarn and the pattern, is subtle and sophisticated. It's also just damn cool. I plan on making another for myself in some unruly color of Malabrigo when I get a chance.

The Cap Karma is done in Manos del Uruguay, in "olive." I'm happy with how it turned out, and love the color.. but was less-than-thrilled with the yarn (which is rough and doesn't show the cable pattern well). Oh well, time to move on!