Isitt's Kittens again

You seemed to enjoy the baby pictures so here are a few more from abouta week later.

We're thinking they'll be Bella, Job, and Arya (left to right). It's funny that those names all have resonance with my pop culture in take over the past few months but that's not the reason for the names (New Moon, Arrested Development, and Game of Thrones). The names just sort of happened. And they do tie together although it's not a clear tie like Berrie Bear's kittens who were all named "something" bear.




Of course The Boss can and probably will veto them but for now that's how I'm thinking of them.


The Boyfriend met them and worked hard not to show that he liked them. I think he is afraid we'll have three new cats for Linus to deal with if he's not careful. I'd be happy with just Arya.... no no no more kittens for us.

Perhaps less with the blocking?

I’m just saying, perhaps I over blocked the lace!

When I finished I had sleeves an acceptable length and the body was just hitting at my natural waist. About 4” shorter than I wanted. Please excuse the crazy weekend hair.


After blocking it hard I now have a sweater below my bum with interesting side seams that are so stiff they stand up on their own.

I think I’ll need to block this again before I wear it. At least the 4” or so along the hem. Next up, ribbon and buttons!

FLS day 14 Part 2

Finished the sleeves and woven in the edges.

Knitting is done!

Hurrah!

In just two weeks.

Now onto blocking and then sewing ribbon edging and buttons.

I love this sweater and my **THREE QUARTER LENGTH SLEEVES**

FLS day 14

FLS day 14, Ravelry tells me so. I have a completed body and thanks to Margot’s help I have procured some beautiful buttons. Overall the sweater is about 3” shorter than I intended but I believe this lace would benefit immensely from some blocking. The more that I look at the sweater in the pattern it’s clear that the lace has been blocked. Currently the sweater hits me at my natural waist. Not my preferred location, but respectable if it doesn’t stretch with the blocking.

I have 90grams about 200 yards left for the sleeves. I am confident that this will be enough to get me to elbow length sleeves, if not three quarter length.

I too have been Persuaded. I have about two hours to go on Jane Austen’s Persuasion. I am surprised to say that I do love this story! I shouldn’t be since it falls squarely in the classification of early 19^th century literature which The Boyfriend would be the first to tell you is my favorite. Usually I think of Sci-Fi Fantasy as my favorite but I don’t get the same rich over indulgent feeling I do from Dickens, Bronte, Wilde, Stoker, Shelley, or Austen. Although the plot of Persuasion is predictable, Austen draws out the inevitable conclusion and expertly builds the anticipation. Small wonder this book is a book club favorite. Picture is from the 1995 version staring Amanda Root & Cianran Hinds (Cesar in the HBO series Rome, which you know I adore).

I hope that by the time I finish the story and my coffee I’ll have finished a sleeve. The Boyfriend and I will be running off to B&N to pick up a new knitting magazine that Lucy taunted me with on Friday night. Something German and full of sweaters I must have. Don’t be surprised if I fall victim to my Sunday addiction again this week. I’m sure it’s fine, as long as I continue to finish what I start! And I won’t hear otherwise!

Isitt's Kittens

They’ve arrived. Isitt has three adorable kittens. A chubby white kitten who reminds me of a snowman with his big round belly. A Lavender girl who is as sweet as Isitt. And a Tortie girl who has her mother’s silent meow. So Cute!

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Isitt is a wonderful mother and playground. Look at those cuties! What an adorable pair of ladies.

February Lady Sweater angst

It must be day 12 or 13 on the February Lady Sweater (FLS). I have officially finished the third skein of yarn. 10” of lace on the body have been completed and I want another 4” (only 16 more rows). Followed by 16 rows of garter edging. Each row takes an obscene amount of yarn. Are you as nervous about finishing the body and two sleeves?

I have the afternoon off today and intend to make a dent in those 16 rows if not finish them. So all my worrying about having enough yarn may be a moot point by tomorrow.

Never-the-less, I couldn’t help worrying about it at five this morning. So I did some searching for advice on Ravelry.com and found that as a general rule, the front takes a third, the back take another third and long sleeves take the final third of the yarn required for a sweater. I only want elbow length sleeves so perhaps it’s closer to a quarter of the yarn for the sleeves, definitely not the full third.

I weighed what I’ve used and what I have left. Thus far, the sweater has used 715 yards. I had 1,100 yards to begin with. Already I’ve used 2/3rds of the yarn. Long sleeves are clearly not an option when the body needs another 4” of lace and then 2” of garter. The guess of a quarter of the yarn for elbow length would leave 110 yards to finish the body, exactly a half skein. I doubt that will be enough but it is lacey so perhaps. It’s so close I want to close my eyes and look away until the scary part is over. Who knows I could have cap sleeves!!!

But at least I will have used every ounce of this yarn up. Remnants make me sad. They make me think of students who are held back in school. That yarn wasn’t quiet up to par and didn’t make it into the finished object. Poor little remnants.

Later:

On the way home I stopped to pickup some ribbon to line the neck and button band with. It took entirely too long and I wasn't happy with the ribbon from either place I stopped. I settled on this one which matches pretty well and is contrasting which is what I had in mind. Now if only I could find buttons...

Traversing a weird tulip

Another Sunday afternoon, another new sweater. I remember the day I bought this yarn; it can hardly have been 2 years ago! But I found the receipt in with the yarn. Classic Elite Four Seasons Cotton Print in a sale basket outside of Northampton Wool in late September. I found enough of the natural with brown flecked colorway for a sweater. At $4 a skein it was a steal even though I had no idea what to do with it.

This morning I was reading the Spring Interweave Knits while I worked on the FLS (to the left, look at all that progress and it's only day 8!). While reading I saw the Transverse Cardigan. It looks like a perfect summer sweater. I'll be knitting the sleeves in the round (making it a tube and thus making it more like a sock!). Not certain how the "print" will look but it is stockinett so nothing to detract from. The yarn is 70% cotton and 30% wool but not bad on the hands. I’m intrigued by the side to side construction. So far so good.

And here are our Wedding Daffodils on year three. They’re multiplying each year and looks like a breath of fresh air every spring. And this is our first Tulip. I’m hoping the chipmunks didn’t eat them all this winter.

FLS day 7

After a sip of coffee I began working on the February Lady Sweater again. I Split off the arms and worked two rows, there stable. I ran to the bathroom to try it on. Mac & Linus insisted that they must have treats first. I can see what is shaping up to be a great sweater. I’m so excited to try it when there is more lace and I can really see how it will look since the lace is ¾ of the sweater. Plus it'll be much less daunting to complete a 211st row vs a 339st row. Next the pattern says “Knit to 2” less than the desired length” But what IS 2" less than my desired length? As I said I'm sort on yarn so the question is; is it more important to have long enough sleeves or body? I'm think body since neither short sleeves nor 3/4 length sleeves jump out as something I 'have' to have. The Placed Aran Sweater was 16” from hem to armholes and I like the length of it. I guess I’m going knitting Gull Lace for 14”. That’ll make for great car knitting as VS and I go wedding shoe shopping! And then watching wedding themed movies while we address invitations and construct some ribbon flower decorations.

FLS day 6

The February Lady Sweater continues to fly along. Yes I am addicted but I’ve been knitting the Sideways Lace at work during lunch so no worries that I might have forgotten it. I’m about 3” into the back panel. I'm making progress there as well.

But the real evidence of progress is the FLS.

Instead of Yarn Overs I did Knit F&B. I left the increases off the sleeves. The first round of Gull lace was atrocious. I had to rip it back twice because my ending stitch count was off. The third time I wised up and placed preemptive stitch markers. You heard me, PRE-Emptive Stitch Markers similar to a Preemptive strike. Yes it is somewhat like an attack when you've already ripped back 700 stitches and your fed up with mistakes that end up on the front panels. I used the locking kind so I could sneak them in between the stitches of the last row already knit and back on the needle. I made certain both front panels would be perfect. I discovered that 339 is not divisible by 7 (the stitch repeat). There were 3 extra sititches, no wonder this wasn’t working. It had nothing to do with the fact that it was 11pm and I was knitting the setup round for a lace sweater. I took care of the extra stitches at the back armhole (Knit a half a repeat so it's still balanced) and placed them where they would not be seen, almost in the armpit of the sweater. Good enough.

The Newest New Sweater

Finished the first skein in the February Lady Sweater while visiting with Mum, Dad, Gerri & Claudia. Can’t believe I forgot to bring more yarn with me!

Sunny Sweater Sunday

Yesterday was a marvelous sunny day here. A typically summer day lodged in early spring and it goes from typical to remarkable. Put a pair of them together and it makes for a heavenly weekend in New England. I puttered around, gardening, reading, knitting, and cooking. I made spanakopita for the first time on Saturday. It was for a dinner party that night with The Boyfriend’s BU & BC counterparts. Here’s a hint, spanakopita sans onion and garlic is not to good. Also I wonder if it’s usually made with frozen rather than fresh spinach. Regardless, the combination of a sunny day and spanakopita made me anxious for the Greek festivals to start. Last year was the first year in decade that I miss the Greek Festival in my parent’s town. I just love the food and the music.

But Greek Festivals are not what I sat down to tell you about. Sunny Sunday, the second in a row. I spent the better part of 4 days this week working on the Sideways Lace Vest. I’ve finished a front panel, an armhole, and about an inch of the back panel. That’s about 30% of the garment in a week which means a lot of monogamous knitting. By Sunday I needed a break. I’m still feeling rebellious against socks. The color work was more of a commitment than I wanted to take out to the sunlit patio.

So I spent an hour searching and landed on using the Cascade 220 Superwash that I over-dyed last summer. I have 1,100 yards of it which means it needed to be a short sleeve sweater. By 2pm I was casting on a February Lady Sweater. I never thought I’d knit one of these since everyone else already did but it just looks too perfect for me. Button closure at the chest, large open lace work (makes the yardage go farther), a swing bottom, three-quarter length sleeves and a good chuck of garter stitch.

I stayed up entirely too late last night watching Arrested Development so I could knit just one more row on this. I found myself walking the corridors at work today dreaming of an evening with The Boyfriend and the needles flying on this sweater. I’m 6” along and can’t wait to get to the point where the armholes split off. I hope the lace is as much fun to knit as the first part. The teal color is a bit bright to wear as a garment but it’s a beautiful color. I’m thinking I’ll wear it a few times as is, and if I feel like it’s still too bright I’ll over-dye it again with navy. Now back to knitting!!!

Oh and AP you should check out the Persuasion link on the side. Jane Austin book podcast that’s very interesting. You might enjoy it.

Granite State of Mind