Bistro has survived

I decided not to frog my poor Bistro Top. Four reasons:

1. Kelly gently reminded me of seam allowance last night when I was looking at it
   
2. I looked at the pattern last night, and it's designed with quite a bit of ease
3. If it's a little big, no big deal, I'll probably wear it through the summer then either give it away or frog it, one or the other
4. I'm still on gauge, believe it or not
   

Surprisingly, the colors are coming together nicely. No pooling or striping, it just looks like what variegated yarn should look like. I'm almost through the sleeve increases on the back (it's a cap sleeve top, so it looks sort of like this:

     -------
     \     /
      |   |
      |   |
      -----

Add a collar and a V-neck to that horrid line drawing, and you pretty much have it. The comfort of sleeveless, with the shoulder-sunburn-protection of sleeves.

Dilemma

So those of you who actually come to my blog to read my entries (rather than Bloglines or my LJ feed) might have noticed a new button on my sidebar reading "a different kind of yarn diet." It was Sharon's idea to combine a yarn diet with a, well, diet-diet. That's not my dilemma. Since the yarn store moved to someplace completely inconvenient for me, I haven't had the urge to buy yarn, at least not a very strong urge. (Though I suddenly want to go to Joann's and buy every last skein of Cotton-Ease they have...I've never even used Cotton-Ease, but attach the word "discontinued" to anything and suddenly I WANT...they could discontinue raisins and I'd go buy all I could find.) So not buying yarn until I lose weight...doable.

The problem is using the yarn I have while I'm losing weight. AKA, I want to knit a couple of sweaters before the fall. (Yeah, I'm ambitious, maybe just one sweater.) If I knit it in my current size, it'll be way too big. (I'm optimistic.) If I knit it in any other size, it won't fit in some way when the weather is appropriate for it. It'll be too big, too small, or something. But the Silk Garden and the Lamb's Pride are quite loud in their desire to be knit up. What do I do? (Besides frog the current Bistro Top. Somehow even though my gauge is on, it's looking way wider than the size I'm knitting. I really should frog it and start over.)

(Non-knitting note: I'm starting to think I should go on a parentheses diet as well.)

I need ideas

Okay, folks. I have a challenge for you. I have 16 skeins of Silk Garden in color #84 that were earmarked for Rosedale, but lately that pattern isn't inspiring me. So....my question to you is, what should I do with it? I'd prefer a cardigan, but I'll consider a pullover. I'm also rather..uh, "generous" for lack of a better word, so I might need resizing help. (I hate math. How did I get into computer science?)

Here's a swatch to show you the color:


And a question since I'm at work and can't just swatch it myself right now: cables in Lamb's Pride Worsted--good idea or no?

I almost wish I liked sewing.

http://www.rjconklin.com/Fabric.htm

Words and stuff

Mostly responses to comments from the last couple of posts.

Okay, for the record, that afghan is not nearly as big as it looks in the picture. That's a 3.5x5 foot rug it's sitting on.

Suz, I swear the scarf was coming to life as I was knitting it! I wouldn't be surprised to get home one day to find it lounging in my papasan chair knitting its own scarf. (And you're not dumb. Especially if you get my posts through Bloglines. It's not like it pops up with all related posts when a new post comes up *grin*)

The Pez dispensers came from Beth at Big Geek. She posted a picture on her blog one day and I commented and begged her to send me some. I don't even particularly like Pez, but as you know, I'm obsessed with Hello Kitty. One's just plain HK, one's an Easter bunny HK.

The afghan is remaining the Afghan of DOOM. The only change in the name is the "neverending" part has been removed since, well, it finally ended.

Gina, unless you have a high threshold for boredom, don't knit an afghan unless you knit it in squares! (I'm considering the Great American Aran Afghan at some point if I ever find the book...I'm sort of halfheartedly not looking for it yet.)

The socks are the Peaks and Valleys pattern from the book Knit Socks (y'know, the cute one that's shaped like a sock!) The yarn is Plymouth Sockotta. I realized that the socks are a WEE bit too short for my monster feet, but since I (1) didn't swatch *hangs head* and thus (2) didn't have a swatch to test-wash, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping they bloom a little bit. (Incidentally, the only thing I ever swatch for is sweaters and I don't think I swatched for my chickami. I figure socks are small enough that if the gauge is way off, I won't mind ripping them.)

I tried Magic Looping the other day, and though it takes a little getting used to, it's not bad. It took me a while to get the hang of positioning the working yarn when I ended a needle so it didn't create a little extra loop over the needles, but after that it was smooth.

I'm going through dishcloths quite quickly. They're turning into my small traveling project, because I figure since I'm not going to wear socks again until October if I can help it (yes, it is once again sandal weather in Maine!), I can take my time on making more socks. Though I'd really like to get through my supply of sock yarn so I can start buying more. Maybe I will start another pair of socks tonight. (Found some good patterns written for Fixation, and I have 3 pairs worth of that.)

Okay, I've rambled enough.

Because I can't resist a knitting quiz :-)

You appear to be a Knitting Goddess.
You are constantly giving and are unconcerned with
reward, you simply want others to love knitting
as much as you do. If someone wants to knit
miles of novelty yarns, you are there for them.
If someone wants to learn short row shaping,
you can help. There are no taboos in knitting,
only opportunities to grow. Everyone should
have friend like you around if they want to
learn to knit, and there's a good chance that
your passion has rubbed off on a few others.
http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

forgot one

Pics!

I don't feel like typing anything else, so I'll actually talk about stuff later.






(in case you can't tell from the picture, which I'm sure you can't, those are Hello Kitty Pez dispensers!)

linky!

So very, very true.

I'm going to edit this entry later with actual pictures.

But, you know, I have to tease and tantalize you with thoughts of what's to come.

From the Afghan of DOOM, to the clown barf scarf, to the contents of a little package I got from Beth that made me squee (thanks so much, Beth!), to the unblocked Airy Scarf and a random little one-skein scarf I made out of Artful Yarns Celebrity...ooh, it's gonna be great!

Have I mentioned that I really can't wait for the new IK? The preview looks wonderful.

How can I design...

...when I can't draw?

I have all these ideas for things to knit, but I can't even draw them out to have an idea of what they should look like!

So frustrating.

Guess I have to just pick up the needles and go!

Lord, Blogger is slow from campus

I FINISHED THE AFGHAN OF DOOM!!!!!!!!

Okay, I'm done yelling and screaming and dancing around the room.

No, not really.

I took a picture this morning just before leaving for work. (Will post it later.) It looks a little odd..I think I knit it a bit looser than I should, because it acts more like an amorphous blob than a rectangle. (Is that a characteristic of knitting diagonally?) That's okay, it's still cozy and warm. I ended up just doing a single crochet edging...I looked at the applied icord edging again and realized that I really don't like picking up stitches all that much. The crochet edging took maybe half an hour, if that, and the last part went slowly because I was on the phone while doing it. But now I have almost 4 skeins (maybe 3 and 2/3) of Homespun left and absolutely hate hate HATE working with Homespun. Anyone want it? Please? Bueller?

Then, around 11:30 or so last night, since of course after the time change I'm having insomnia worse than ever, I had a random novelty yarn craving. I know, I know, totally not me. So I pulled out a hank of On Line Plush from the cedar chest and went to town. I wound it by hand and really should have taken a picture of the ball. It was about candlepin-bowling-ball sized and very fuzzy. I started knitting and immediately christened what I was working on as the Clown Barf Scarf. (The Roomie suggested that it looked like what would happen if you threw up after eating a bowl of Trix, but I like the rhyme of my title.) Two hours later, I had a long skinny fuzzy scarf. The colors pooled really randomly...this picture will come later too.

I got the new Knitpicks catalog today, with the knittable samples everyone's going crazy about! I haven't knit any of them up yet, but I'm already in love AND lust with the Andean Silk. SO SOFT! I must have a sweater out of that. (Must knit from stash for a while first.) Hopefully next month they'll send knittable samples of the sock yarn and the laceweights. It's a really good marketing technique I think...it's not like anyone can go to the store and fondle a ball of Knitpicks Merino Style before buying it. Without the samples it's sight-unseen, feel-unfelt, which of course was making me a little wary of buying some myself. I know people are posting reviews of it, but that doesn't really substitute well for first-hand experience. However, that won't stop me from posting reviews myself once I knit the samples.

*tries not to order entire line of KP yarn*

brilliant thought

Applied icord edging. Can't be that hard to do on a diagonally knit piece, but I suppose I should swatch just to be safe.

I also want to say how disappointed I am that two of the three Knitpicks sock yarns (and of course the ones with the colors I love the most) are NOT superwash. I am SO not going to handwash socks.

just an update

I'm wearing a pair of handknit socks today, the second pair I knit, as a matter of fact, and I'm realizing that I knit them at way too loose of a gauge. All I can feel when I walk are thousands of little purl bumps pressing into my feet, rather than a solid, cohesive fabric. Fortunately, the socks I'm working on now are at a much finer gauge (I measured them at 8.5 spi) and hopefully I will not have this problem with them. Oh well.

The knitting part of the Afghan of DOOM is done! I just need to crochet an edging (something simple, but not too simple (single crochet, bah), and manly, any suggestions?) and weave in some ends. Then I'm not sure if I'm going to send it out or hang on to it in the hopes that Boy and I head out there this summer. I should just send it to him, since it's been so long.

Another interview...

...this one from Alice.

1. you have an adagio link on your main page so i'm going to go out on a limb and assume you like tea... what's your favorite variety/flavor?
Depends on my mood. I haven't actually tried the tea I got from Adagio for putting the link up yet *blush*, but I'm mostly a green tea kind of girl.

2. what's the next project on your to-do list that you could actually see yourself wearing, not just knitting for the process?
Most likely Rosedale. I'm a sucker for cardigans. Actually, any of the sweaters I have up there. I love sweaters. I live in Maine, I have to love sweaters :-)

3. how did you learn to knit? have you always had an interest in crafty stuff?
I think originally my grandmother tried to teach me, but I didn't have that kind of patience back then. Somehow it stuck though, so I spent afternoons as I got older knitting innumerable squares with this horrible aqua colored Red Heart my mom gave me. My knitterly side disappeared when I hit high school except for an ill-conceived plan to knit my then-boyfriend a sweater. (I actually gave up on the sweater before giving up on the boyfriend.) Then it disappeared again until I was in grad school and needed something to destress. When I was younger, I also cross-stitched, but knitting appeals more to my need to be useful even when I'm doing something I enjoy.

4. how in the WORLD did you end up in a field such as yours? what lead you to that specific focus?
Funny you should ask! My undergrad degree was in English, but I decided during my last semester that it wasn't what I wanted to do. I puttered for a couple years in retail and took up computer-geekdom to keep my brain from petrifying. Then I decided to go back to school for computer science...ended up in natural language processing when my advisor, upon learning of my English background, said what amounted to "you're mine!" So, here I am :-)

5. money's not an object, space is not an object. what yarn do you IMMEDIATLY stock up on, just incase there's a sudden halt on production?
Hoo boy. Hardest. Question. Ever. Do I go for the basic I reach for time and time again, or do I go for a yarn that I would love to roll naked in, provided I had enough of it? Worsted, DK, fingering? Tough call. I'm going to have to say Koigu, because unless money is no object, I can't really afford it on a grad student's stipend! I've only worked with it once, making the ubiquitous Charlotte's Web, but watching the colors unfold was an experience to remember.