skip to main |
skip to sidebar
It's been awhile, so I'm going to make a chronological list of the things I was going to blog about but didn't, if that's okay.1) The epic hike up Mount Si on 8.23.08 - Dave and I headed out to Mt. Si because although I've hiked it several times, he has not. It's 8 miles roundtrip, with 3200 feet of elevation gain. We made it up in 1:25 and down in 1:22. This is a new record for me (by 5 minutes) and I think I could've gone faster without Dave holding me back :) There aren't any photos because, well, they all turned out pretty badly, but trust that it was a nice day and there were abundant good vistas.2) The conclusion of the Olympic knitting on 8.24.08 - Even though I abandoned all hope of finishing Bayu during the Olympics with over a week to go, I still ended up rushing to finish my other projects because the Ravelympics deadline was 9:00am PST on Sunday, about 15 hours earlier than I expected. Thankfully Anne-Marie had alerted me to this fact on Saturday, so I had time to "finish" Anais once and hopefully for all. The secret gift project was actually finished on Thursday, with plenty of time to spare (pat on back). As for Anais, well, let's just say I don't think it'll be getting that much wear. 
The color is off here - it's actually bright blue (better photo here) but in this one you can see the lace detail better. I haven't taken any photos wearing it yet, but it's not much better now than it was when I modeled it here (although the lace panel is much better now that it's sewn in properly). I did knit the little sleeves, and I tried to attach them, but they looked ridiculous so I took them off and I'm leaving it sleeveless (although my mother has pointed out that I could knit different sleeves, which may not be a bad idea). More about why I don't know about this garment when I have modeled photos so I can really show you what I'm talking about when I mention the problems (mainly that I look like a stubby linebacker).3) I met Kristen's baby Alex, who is quite cute and does an adorable forehead furrow. He peed all over me, which I have to assume is a sign of affection. I believe she has photos of this (the meeting, not the peeing) but I don't have any to post. Her and Chad are both doing great and seem to be adjusting to life with a little one quite well!4) Later that same day (8.24.08), fresh off my Olympic victories, I started a new project, the Estes Vest from the newest Interweave Knits. 
So far I'm just past the armhole shaping on the back and it's moving along rapidly. Funny thing about bulky yarn and size 10.5 needles!5) Last Sunday Anne-Marie, Deidre, and I took the ferry to Churchmouse Yarns and Teas over on Bainbridge Island. I was the only Churchmouse virgin, and I was not disappointed. It's a very nice shop, and I got some lovely Misti Alpaca Handpainted laceweight:
I'm already turning this into a wide stockinette stole. I also got a Habu kit for the Kusha Kusha scarf, which is merino and stainless steel yarn (yes, stainless steel). I'd been looking for this kit for ages so I was really happy to find it. I also got some PG Tips, which is only slightly less exciting as I love nothing more than sitting around on weekend mornings with my giant London mug of PG Tips with two Splendas and milk. The milk and pseudo-sugar are key - this is some strong tea.I guess that's really it. Since the vest is moving along quickly, hopefully I'll continue to blog about it. That's been part of the problem with the blogging this summer. I've been knitting a fair bit but there have been a lot of gifts and the things I was knitting for myself were either slow or not progressing at all. So I haven't really had that much to talk about, knitting-wise, and this being a knitting blog I figure that's what I should focus on.
After a fairly concerted effort (well, not really, but it sounds good) I've finished the Montego Bay Scarf up to the fringing.
I realize you can't really see the thing in that photo, but it's not an easy item to photograph. Perhaps if I wore it, but it's not finished yet, so it's early for that. The little balls are the fringe waiting to be attached. I did four of them yesterday after I took this photo, and I really think they're a bit short. The fringe is supposed to be braided, which sucks up some of the length, and they're only 12" so the fringe is pretty short. I've seen several on Ravelry with unbraided fringe and I might try some of that for a comparison. I suppose short fringe will be alright, but the scarf is drapey and graceful so stingy fringe seems like a mistake. I don't know. The yarn is cut already so there's nothing to be done but figure out the best solution!Hope all is well with everyone. Sorry to have not been blogging but I've had little to say. I did finish Anais but I'm not happy with it, so there hasn't been a photo shoot. I tried really hard to find a way to wear it yesterday but frankly it doesn't look good. I didn't knit the sleeves because I didn't really like the way the lace inset worked and doubted the sleeves would be better, but without them I'm looking like a linebacker in the thing because it's too big and too straight up and down. Not enough shaping apparently - I wanted it fitted and I think I'd need to be about 2" bigger everywhere for that. And, yes, I swatched, and I got gauge, and I made the right size. Maybe I'm smaller than I think. Anyway, I'll take some photos of it to show you and we can discuss it. I think I'm going to do the sleeves as a test - it can't take long and perhaps it'll save the whole thing? Oh, and in case you're curious about my problem with the lace insert? This is the problem. It's the SAME for all the sizes. Now, think about this. I made the 34" size, but the pattern goes up to 54". But, my lace insert is, at least in theory, the same size as the 54" one would be, which means that in my shirt it doesn't need to be stretched at all to fit in its space. So, it looks a bit sloppy. And, I knit it on much smaller needles than were called for, and it's still too big. Granted maybe I should have sewed it further up the neckline to stretch it, but I'm not sure that would have helped much. I just think it's an odd part of the design, to not compensate for the fact that the sizes will be different in inset size and the amount of stretching that will and won't be happening. Then again, looking at the ones on Ravelry it doesn't seem like other people had as much trouble with this, so perhaps it's just me?
Pardon the 12:15am hair-do, but here is what I've accomplished on Anais:
The reason for the late night photo shoot is that, after not working on Anais for quite a few days I became obsessed with finishing the front piece. At about 9:00 I got it out of the bag and got to it. I hadn't been working on it because I was at the armhole shaping + neck shaping part, and I thought that might be tough to keep track of, but it really wasn't that bad. In the photo it's only pinned loosely under the armpit and at the bottom, but I think it's going to fit well. Oh, and the lace inset is just flopped on. I'm wondering how it's going to fit in there, it seems like the right size now and it's not blocked yet, so I'm worried it's going to be too large. I might have to rip it out and reknit on smaller needles, but we'll see. I'm hoping to get the sides seamed tonight and then I'll deal with the lace. The shirt is a bit shorter than I hoped, but I'll probably wear something under it anyway. Having a white tank sticking out the bottom will be a cute look. Oh, I might be on TV! I was stopped by the King 5 news folks this morning on my way to work and interviewed about bike commuting. I'm sure I wasn't the only person they talked to, but maybe I'll be on! We're Tivoing all the news today just in case...ETA: I was on TV! Friday morning, and it will probably rerun in the evening as well. Or, you can find me online here, at least for the moment. I'm a little ways into the story...how exciting!
Is anyone writing this blog? You know, after I posted last week about not having much to post about, I thought, Emily, you must get on with starting something new so you have something to post. So I did. Last Tuesday night I swatched for Anais, even going so far as to wash wet my swatch and pin it out, and then I got a bit excited and knit the lace inset: 
I thought, aha! I can blog about this on Thursday, but then Oliver got into something and we were in a panic about him on Thursday night and Friday (he's fine), so I didn't post, and then it was the weekend (the Fiber Gallery anniversary sale was great as always), and then I had to finish up a news story on the potential environmental disaster about to be wrought by our current biofuel strategy, due today, and so on. But, since the story is done and the back of Anais is almost complete as well, I guess this post is overdue.I am tempted to hold forth on the biofuel issue, but I will restrain myself and talk about Anais instead, this being a knitting blog. I am loving it so far. The Shine Sport is wonderful yarn to knit - very smooth. It makes a fairly dense fabric that still drapes, so I think it was a good choice for Anais, which is a relatively close-fitting (hopefully) top. My row gauge is 7 st/inch instead of 8, so I've been having to modify things a bit. I had to space out my decrease and increase rounds a bit more and then had to do fewer of them to compensate, but I think that will be okay. The overall length will remain the same but it won't nip in quite as much at the waist, which is fine. I'm at the neck shaping on the back piece, which I'm going to do using short-rows so I can graft live stitches at the shoulder seams like I did for the Drops Swing Cardigan. I think that will look neater. I was tempted to knit this in the round but decided not to so I would have the stability of side seams. I've been slipping the first stitch of every row and that will make the seaming a breeze.Oh, the Tuxedo Top is finished, and I wore it yesterday. It's great, I love it, the fit is perfect, etc. I'll post the report about it as soon as I have modeled photos!
