Progress is Being Made

So it looks like my unfortunate brush with Fate did not permanently ruin Christmas and I am happy to announce that all of my urgent gift knitting is finished and ready to ship.

I am having a really really really hard time letting this one go.  But you know, it's a bit ornate for my personal taste, so I should just get over it already.

I've said it before and I'm sure you'll hear me say it again: lace knitting is magical.  While you're knitting, it feels like you're handling a pile of cooked noodles, but once you soak that sucker in warm water and pin the shit out of it, it transforms into the most amazing fabric you'll ever see or feel.  This is alpaca and silk, so you can just imagine...  Delicious.  And I still have a ball and a quarter of it left, so mama's getting a new scarf!  (I mean ME, of course.  My mother is already getting this shawl, so she's not getting a new scarf.)

I should probably mention (this will go in my Ravelry notes, too) that if you have never knit lace, this is NOT the type of project to start with.  I attended a lace knitting class a couple of months ago and I am not sure I could have made this shawl without having learned some very crucial points from the teacher.  Even just reading the chart takes some getting used to, never mind all the new types of decreases/double decreases.  If you're interested in lace, start small and work your way up.  And don't use lace weight yarn on your first time out of the gate.  Fingering is thin enough to get the effect and is much easier on the hands, not to mention the eyes.  And acrylic is a no-no.  Lace must be blocked and acrylic doesn't really block.

This type of lace knitting isn't really done for enjoyment or entertainment - it's actually kind of gruelling.  I must have gotten lost and/or missed stitches at least 25 times.  It takes a lot of concentration and vigilance.  The teacher told us this at the seminar and I didn't believe her until I tried it.  She was totally right - my neck and shoulder muscles are screaming at me.

Having said that, this pattern is incredibly beautiful (am still totally shocked that I have created something so stunning) and very well-written.  I don't know how the designer did it, but it's perfect.  I am in total awe. 

And the softness and sheen of the yarn is gorgeous beyond description.  I can't wait to make myself that scarf. 

My mom is going to totally love this thing.

No News is Good News

I know, it's been real quiet around here.  But, in my defense, it's not just me.  I would say that this is the case for most of the knitting blogs I read.

Why?  Christmas Knitting.

We're all working on stuff we can't show you.

But there are actually a couple of things I can share:

This is a cowl that I knitted up from stash yarn (some O-Wool balance - which I'm not super fond of, btw - and some grey mixed wool from BMM, with a SUPER GORGEOUS cashmere (!) blend fingering weight - also from BMM - on the inside, as a liner).  The buttons are vintage, from a variety of garage sale/flea market sources.

This is actually a gift for someone, but she doesn't even know about the blog, so I'm safe. 

{Um, so crazy story: I am estranged from my biological father.  It's a long, sordid story.  Haven't seen or heard from him since I was in kindergarten, which was...um...almost 30 years ago...yikes.  He never made any effort to be in my life and it was extremely traumatic.  Anyway, last year I decided that I had spent enough time living with this dark cloud of ancient sadness/anger/stress over my head and I contacted him.  We've been corresponding for a little over a year and it's been ok.  I haven't met with him in person yet - we live half a continent apart - but I feel liberated, in a lot of ways.  I found out that he and his wife adopted two kids who are biological siblings and I've been corresponding with the daughter, who is 14 years old.  This cowl is for her.}

And here is an awfully-posed photo of me wearing it (yikes with the white hair...not that I plan on doing anything about it- I just don't usually get such a good view of it):



And I made another Tomten:

I just remembered that I need to add the zipper.  Oops.

This guy is for the cutest, fattest, yummiest baby I know: Fatty D.  Here is the most recent photo I have of him, wearing the legwarmers I knit for him when he was still a bun in my cousin's oven:

And the last wip that I can safely show you is this:

I know.  Fascinating, right?  Ok, keep your panties on.  Here's a better shot of it (draped across the corner of my mattress - lace doesn't photograph well until it's block so cut me a break, would ya?):

This is a Dew Drops Shawl (free pattern!) and I'm using yarn that I bought with my mom in Ottawa, on Canada Day.  She ok'd the colour, so I know I'm safe in that respect and I think she'll like the pattern.

(Knitting notes: do not try this as your first lace pattern.  This is definitely not for the faint-of-heart or the short-of-temper.  I have gotten lost more times than I can count.)

My mom has started to - ahem - go through "The Change" and her hot flashes are epic.  She isn't used to this - we're both wool-sock-wearing, flannel-nightgown-sporting, duvet-covered, hot-water-bottle-toting shiverers.  Once I get warm I stay that way and I can tolerate low temps easily, but let's just say that I don't have the luxury of walking around outside in winter in high heels.  My toes might not actually freeze off, but I'd be miserable.  And she is - or WAS - the same.  We dress warmly and stay happy.  Except that now, she cranks the windows down on her car in the middle of March.  And she can't live without air conditioning (in winter).  It's confusing for me.  And for her too, I suppose.

So that's why I chose a shawl.  I wanted to knit her something pretty and useful (she taught me to knit and really appreciates handknits, so I have deemed her an Approved Handknit Recipient), but it couldn't be too warm.  Enter lace.

{She just moved to Kamloops, BC (that's on the other side of North America from me) so we're 4 time zones apart now.  I, for one, find it hard having her so far away and I think she's going to start feeling it soon, if she hasn't already.  The rest of our family is right smack in the middle - in Winnipeg.  I'm hoping this shawl acts as a virtual hug.}

Anyway, so that's it for the wips for now.  I'll keep you posted on progress and anything else that comes up.  Happy knitting!

The next time you see that hand-spun skein and you think to yourself "Geez, that's expensive." ...

creating yarn from sprb on Vimeo.

Sweet Inspiration

Wool Sock from Wei Wong on Vimeo.

Clapotis

You guys know Clapotis, right?  It was published on Knitty.com in 2004 (I actually remember the first time I saw it - Knitty used to rock my world) and it kind of took the knitting world by storm.

As of this very moment, Clapotis is the most-knitted pattern on Ravelry (ever), with a project count of 19,635.  

In case you weren't sure, let me assure you that that is Crazy Town.

Thing is, I've never felt compelled to knit it.  Wasn't even sure I liked it (which I realize makes me sound more than somewhat delusional, but whatever).

Then I bought this silk yarn from the Mill (aka: my LYS) and I really wasn't sure what to do with it.  I bought it as a gift for someone and then when my trip got cancelled and I was really upset, I decided to make myself something with it, instead ('cause I'm supposed to avoid chocolate and the situation was dire).  I just didn't know what, yet.  I only had the one skein...

So while I was in Ottawa, I visited a neat little shop on Wellington called Wabi Sabi and the lady there was a dear.  She helped me find a coordinating skein of a lovely merino hand-dyed on Salt Spring Island (and I was supposed to visit Salt Spring Island on my trip...oh, the irony) called Kattikloo.

{Canada has a lot of (what the uneducated would call "funny-sounding") Native place names...like Gichigami and Nackawic and Kouchibouguac and Winnipegosis and Kejimkujik and Mactaquac.  These Cree/Ojibwe/Mi'kmaq/etc. names are imbued with ancient history and, at the risk of sounding like a crack-pot, a deep spiritual affinity that I think many Canadians - regardless of their ethnicity - feel towards their country's geography.  These names pay homage to our Native roots and make our country what it is.  All this to say that I'm not sure what "Kattikloo" means, but it sounds Native and if that is the case, I'm sure it was chosen for a very good reason.  I think I'll e-mail the dyer to ask...}

ANYWAY, as I was saying, I bought a coordinating skein of merino and I pored over the pattern possibilities in Ravelry and came up with this:

Um, yeah.  I love it.  Can't wait until Fall (*gasp*!) so I can wear it every day.

Caller Herrin

It's gettin' there.

Things I have learned (the hard way, naturally) about Fair Isle knitting:

1. It must be good and blocked.  After a good soaking.  No cheating allowed.
2. Fair Isle swatches lie.  The little guy at the top of this post is a liar liar pants on fire.  It still worked out, but I've got my eye on him...
3. The end-of-round jog isn't as noticeable as I thought it would be.
4. Surprisingly, I really enjoy it.

Busy Bee

Before:

After:

A Post For Helena

Don't mind me, I just need a place to post a diagram and notes I'm helping a (Portugese!) friend out with.  I'm too cheap to pay $5 so that I can upload photos to Ravelry's forums.  We're designing Seamless Hybrid Sweaters for ourselves and this is her first time, so this is for her:

Does this make sense, Helena (click on it to see it bigger)?  When you send me the other measurements I need (see my notes on Ravelry), I'll add them to this.

Sweater Progress

Yo, what up.

I have good news: my front darts turned out perfectly.

Onwards!

SWAG!

Ok, so mentioned this on Ravelry (to my peeps), but it bears repeating:

I love Elizabeth Zimmermann. 

I recently bought two of her books, The Opinionated Knitter and The Knitter's Almanac Commemorative Edition when KnitPicks had them on a deep discount for their February book sale.  They arrived about a week ago and my brain has been completely blindsided by the awesomeness.  Holy crap.  I'm getting the shivers, just thinking about how awesome these books are.  For reals.  Go and buy them now.

Also, I bought some yarn.  You have to understand something about this yarn, before I show it to you.  I have been lusting after this particular yarn in this particular colour for over a year.  Jenny posted it in January of 2011 (second photo from the top) and when I saw it, I fainted and then, when I regained consciousness, I fainted again.

We were talking about yarn/pattern obsessions on Ravelry and I remembered it and posted it and then smacked myself in the head for not just buying it already and then I went and found it online and paid for it and waited an eternity for it to arrive and then fell on the parcel like a pack of rabid hyenas when it arrived.

And then I fainted.  And then I fainted again.

The wool is so smooth and even that it almost feels like silk.  And I think this yarn contains every single one of my favourite colours ever and I am totally in love with it.  In kind of an illogical and irrational way.

Oh crap, what am I going to make with it?

Progress has been made

This is going to be another long-winded knitting blog, so if you couldn't care less and would rather go and watch paint dry than hear me blather on for an age on this, know that I won't be offended if you bugger off for a while.  I'll let you know when it's safe to return.

I've been diligently working away on my Seamless Hybrid and have made a couple of important discoveries:

1. You are never ever so good at something that you stop making mistakes.
2. The mistakes just get more "interesting" (read: frustrating).
3. As I would have known, had I taken the time to figure it out, performing a short row doesn't add ONE row to your knitting, it adds TWO.

To demonstrate:

The blue lines represent the regular, in-the-round knitting that form the body of my sweater.  The orange lines represent the short rows.  So when you do a short row, you're adding two rows to the section you're working on.  Right.  Lesson learned.

Apparently, I am also not past the point of accidentally twisting my knitting when I join to knit in the round.   I wasn't in the mood to knit a Moebius sweater, so I ripped it all back (2" worth of sweater) and started over.  Grrrr.

But who cares about all that?  I have some progress to show you.  First, I should probably tell you that I decided to make this sweater in a funny way.  My main area of concern was the bust area, so I decided to start with that.  It's not a top-down sweater, though, so I had to get creative.  I have no idea if this was a good idea or not, but I started with a provisional cast on at the armpit mark and started working down from there.  When I'm done with the body of the sweater, I'll pick up the yoke stitches and work up to the collar.  Smart?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I'm sort of channelling EZ on this one and have taken on a devil-may-care attitude.  We'll see if it works: you'll be the first to know (well, after me, of course).

Admittedly, I have a bit of an advantage with this whole design-as-you-go process: I have a custom body form/mannequin to use as a reference:

The top edge is the provisional cast-on.  The bottom edge contains my needle cable (with the nifty little end caps that come with KnitPicks interchangeable needles).  The markers are helping me keep track of the sides of the sweater and the location of the back darts:

No, it isn't perfect.  I think I need to add some darts below the bust on the front (I pinned it there for these photos) and that means ripping back 2" of work to put them in.  I'm not worried about that, though: it goes quickly.  I'm so used to knitting with fingering weight that this worsted feels like rope.

But the short rows did the trick!  I'm not sure why I'm surprised because I've heard it from enough knitters to know that it SHOULD work.  Still, I'm pleased.

You can just barely make the ends of the short rows out in this photo (sorry, but I am kind of addicted to my iPod's camera at the moment and didn't feel like dragging out my behemoth Canon 40D for one picture).

To recap:

1. This mannequin represents the best $200 I ever spent.
2. I am going to rip back to insert some darts in the front.
3. I adjusted my scheme for inserting short rows because I figured out that each one adds 2 rows of knitting, not just 1.  I knew I needed 9 extra rows (maximum) in the bust area.  I ended up putting in 10 (5 short rows), because the math worked out really well, but it was probably overkill.  I could have stopped at 8 (4 short rows).  Maybe when I rip back to put in the darts, I'll take out that last short row.
4. The back darts are beautiful.

Mama bought herself a new iPod Touch

...'cause the old one completely died today. Anyone who knows me knows that I have trouble living without music and I just couldn't face a future without it.

So what does that mean? Instagram!

Also, as you can see, I got my shipment of KnitPicks yarn, so I think I finally have the right colour combination for my Caller Herrin.

Seamless Hybrid Part I (Planning)

As I mentioned in my recent posts, I'm attempting a Seamless Hybrid sweater.  My Ravelry peeps are kind of following along, so I'm going to post my steps so that they can a) follow along or b) watch the train wreck as it unfolds.  If you're not here for the knitting, feel free to come back in a few days.

So here goes (please note: I have no idea what I'm doing - copy me at your own risk):

Planning Stage:

Using my yarn and a circular needle, I knit up some swatches until I got the right fabric density/softness/etc and blocked my swatch.  I got: 18.5 sts/4" and 28 rows/4".

(Helena, if you need metric, let me know... I'm horrible for flipping back and forth between metric and imperial.  The blame can be laid entirely at the feet of those pesky Americans - they refuse to switch over to SI and they're kind of the boss of us, so we have to learn both.)

(Americans: you're not pesky.  I'm just kidding.)(Also, you're not really the boss of us.  So don't get any ideas.)

Sorry, where was I?  Oh yes.  I took out my measuring tape and measured a few things:

• My upper bust circumference (at armpit height)
• My bust circumference (fullest part of the bust)
• My ribcage circumference just under my bust
• The vertical distances between all of these imaginary horizontal lines on my torso
• The circumference of my upper arms (at armpit height)
• The circumference of my arm at the elbow
• The circumference of my wrist
• The vertical distance between wrist and elbow and then from elbow to armpit

I drew myself a little diagram of my body, showing all of these things.  Note: these are called ACTUAL BODY DIMENSIONS.  If you need a starting point, you can borrow this image from my Magic Raglan pattern (don't worry about the raglan length or collarbone - they don't apply, here):

Then, I drew up a little sketch of how I want my sweater to look.  I know that I want to make a jacket-style sweater and that it needs to have positive ease (meaning: I want it to be loose so I can wear a couple of layers underneath). To do that, I added 2" to each of my actual circumference measurements and wrote them down on a sketch of my sweater.  Note: these are called FINISHED DIMENSIONS.  I also wrote down the vertical distances (in inches) between each of those important points on the sweater (armpit, bust, ribcage, etc).

Here's the key part of your design: shaping.  If you want a non-manly sweater, you need to look at a few things.  One of them is shaping.  It is not easy to figure out how shaping works, so don't expect a magic formula that will make it all just come together for you.  (Also, I'm not a fashion designer, so I'm just fumbling around in the dark here, myself.)  Here are some key areas where you can place shaping:

• Some increases/decreases along the side "seams" of the sweater body (because this is a seamless, there are no actual side seams, but you get the idea)
• Some short rows at the bust area
• Some increases/decreases to form darts at the back, under your shoulder blades
• Some increases/decreases in the sleeves, so that they fit more snugly.  Bell sleeves can also be very feminine...
• Some ribbing along the side seams to "snug" everything in
• Some ribbing just under the bust, so you get an empire waist effect
• Look through some of your favourite patterns to see where they have placed some shaping to see if you get any other ideas.

One of the problems I ALWAYS run across is that if I choose a sweater size based on my bust dimension, the sweater is too big.  My bust is 38" around, so I fall in the "Medium/Large" range.  Trouble is, my ribcage is only 32.5" around.  That's a big difference.  When I try shirts on in the store, I almost always end up buying a Small (Medium at the very biggest).  So I am going to try something with my sweater: I'm going to design it so it fits above and below the bust and the fullest part of my bust is going to get some extra fabric in the form of short rows.  I am going to ignore the measurement of my bust at its fullest point.

I'm going to try my best to explain this in writing:

I know what my upper bust measurement is and I know what the ribcage dimension is.  I've figured out that if I measure between those two lines perfectly vertically (I measure this by standing in front of a mirror and holding the tape up in my armpit so that it can hang down straight along my side), I get 6".  BUT, if I measure the distance between those SAME POINTS down the front of my *ahem* boobies, across the fullest part of my bust, that measurement becomes 7.5".   

Right.  So what? you ask.  Ok well, I know that I need to vertically add 1.5" of fabric in the front of my sweater, between my armpit line and my ribcage line.  The goal is that there will some extra fabric there to go around my boobs - this will look like a bulge when the sweater is laid flat. 

What was my row gauge again?  Right, it was 7 rows/1".   So that means that between those two points, I will have something like 42 rows of knitting I don't do any shaping.  And it means that I need to add 7 or 9 short rows in that area (for the sake of simplicity and in the spirit of not overdoing things, I'm going to stick with 7) in order to get some extra space for the girls.  One short row will go right at the fullest point of my bust.  There will be 3 above that, evenly spaced between my armpit line and my fullest bust line (one per inch)(in other words: one for every 7 regular rows). {ETA: I revised this later on, when I made a discovery about short rows: every time you perform a short row, you're actually adding TWO rows of knitting into your fabric...click here for more info.}  Make sense?  Short rows are basically partial rows - they do not go all the way around the sweater body.  You sneak them in wherever you want them.  In my case, I'm going to make them run from armpit to armpit, across my bust.

Are you even still with me?

Other shaping I'm contemplating:

• Two vertical darts in the back, starting under my shoulder blades.  I need to take it in a bit back there - all my sweaters always gape in that area.  I need to go from 176 stitches (armpit height) to 162 sts (ribcage height), so I'm going to try and take it out of the body in the back, as opposed to just on the sides.  (Kate Davies did something similar in this most amazing dress she made herself - only it is very fitted and she calls it an arse-accommodator.)  Mine is much less exaggerated - just a little taking in.
• Some increases in the body (along the side seams), below the ribcage line, so it forms a slight A-line.

Feel free to step in here, Chris, if you think I'm barking up the wrong tree.

Decorative Stitches:

Another way to inject a feminine touch in to your sweater is to use decorative stitches (lace, cables, twisted stitches, etc) in various areas.  There are entire books dedicated to this sort of thing, so I won't get into details here.  Suffice it to say that if you want something to look more girly, it's easy to find a nice simple lace pattern that you can slip into the side "seam" area or in a panel up the middle of the back.  My yarn is variegated and has a beautiful sheen, so I think I'm going to leave it alone and just use stockinette stitch.  If you have an idea and you aren't sure how to implement it, let me know and I'll help you out.

Knitting, Phase I: Sleeves

Sleeves are a major component of the design.  Do you want bell sleeves, fitted sleeves, 3/4 sleeves?  This is something you'll have to decide (along with how many stitches you want to start with.  The Seamless Hybrid is a hem-up sweater, so you start with the cuff measurement, but you'll want to figure out how big around that upper arm needs to be and how often/where you're going to increase to get there.  EZ gives some guidelines in the form of percentages, but I've learned that these have been modified over the years to suit evolving fashions and are really just meant as a guideline.  I'm kind of ignoring them, myself.

I want long sleeves for this jacket.  I am notorious for underestimating how cold it is outside and I want to be able to pull the cuffs down over my hands if the steering wheel is cold.  I don't want any special shaping, though - just simple and easy.  In my particular case, that means casting on 42 sts (I figured that out by doing some math with my gauge and sweater schematic) with my 4.0mm needles and knitting in 2x1 rib for 4" (ALWAYS GO DOWN A NEEDLE SIZE OR TWO WHEN RIBBING - otherwise your ribbing is going to be schlumpy).  Then, switching to 5.0mm needles and knitting in stockinette, increasing every 5 or 6 rows as EZ describes in the Seamless Hybrid pattern (except I'm so lazy, I didn't even count the rows) until I got to 66 sts (which is 14" - that's the measurement I wanted for the upper arm).  Then I stopped increasing and just knit straight until the sleeve measured 22.5" in length (total).  Easy peasy.  My sleeves aren't *exactly* the same (see reference to laziness above), but you can't tell.

And guess what?  I knit the sleeves first so that they act as insurance gauge swatches.  Turns out I got just a *little* tighter when I knit them up (it didn't affect the size of the sleeves, really) and I was able to adjust my gauge number as a result.  It means that I had to go back and adjust my numbers for the body of the sweater, but I'm fine with that.  Better safe than sorry.

(to be continued...)

The Principles of Knitting

Have you guys heard any of the buzz surrounding The Principles of Knitting?  I had never heard of this book until a few days ago, when all of the sudden, it seems to be getting attention from all over the place.  Apparently, it's quite the thing.

Have any of you bought it?  If so, what did you think?  Overrated or the new knitting bible?

Eeek, it's a steek!

One of my unofficial New Year's resolutions was to refrain from buying more yarn until I work through half of my stash (my stash isn't very big: "half" constitutes 2 sweaters' worth).  I also had a couple of hibernating WIP's that I new needed to go.  I decided that the first contestant would be my poorly-conceived tunic (seen here).  The problem with the whole thing is that the yarn is so damn itchy.  It needs to be worn as outerwear and I can tell that the tunic is going to be too warm for me.  So I frogged it and started some sleeves for a Seamless Hybrid (women's version).  It's going to be a jacket with long and roomy sleeves and buttons.  Maybe some patch pockets?  I'm not sure.  All I know is it's going to be WARM.  Phew, this yarn is a workhorse (Lamb's Pride, by the by).  Last week, I showed you sleeve #1:

I experienced something with this yarn that I had not yet come across: there are dramatic variations within the different balls (all the same dye lot and batch).  This sleeve has nice dark low lights and a few strands of light beige high lights.  The other sleeve (a different ball of yarn) has much less contrast.  Oh well.  I'm not a perfectionist and besides, if I chuck that ball, I won't have enough yarn.  No-one will notice, right?  Right.

For the body of the sweater, I'm going to attempt, for the first time EVER, a steek.  I've been doing research all week and found Eunny Jang's tutorial series here, which is really well executed and full of crucial information, which I so appreciate.  I decided to do up a little steek swatch:

My knitted tube with one row of crochet stitches along the steek line (I didn't actually mark the steek line - it wasn't crucial).

The tube with both rows of crochet, ready for cutting.

Do you see the ladders I've circled in grey?  Those ladders are what I'm about to cut.  (Please forgive the deplorable state of my thumbnail and cuticle.  February is doing its best to kill me and I tend to take that kind of thing out on my nails.  My name is dw and I'm a nail biter.)

Steeking in progress.

 

Wrong side view of the steek in progress.

 

Isn't it strange how there are no little yarn ends?  The snipped threads almost seem to shrink back into the crochet stitches.

The steek edged (notice how short those snipped threads are?  I'm highlighting them with arrows...)

The wrong side view of the steeked edge.  So neat and tidy...

...and the right side view (with an arrow pointing at a little snipped end).

I took the opportunity to pick up and knit along the edge to practice making the button placket.

Result: nice, crisp and tidy.  The seam allowance on the wrong side was surprizingly not at all bulky.  And it lies flat against the fabric - no wrestling into place involved.

I tacked down the edge with some scrap yarn (in orange, so you could see it).

And this is the final product.  

So what do I think?  Ah yeah, me likey.  I have a feeling I'm about to embark on an adventure that will change my knitting forever.

I complained that this winter was lame and the Universe heard me.

We got slammed by a nasty storm last Sunday.  Wicked nasty.  Like hurricane-y winds and freezing rain nasty.

Naturally, it caused a 24-hour long power outage - which is actually kind of par for the course in these parts.  We're in a rural area and we get hit with atrocious Weather all the time.  It doesn't really phase us anymore (since we got our wood stove).

Only.... I'm a dummy and didn't fill the bathtub with water on Saturday night.  Nor did I finish the laundry.

So we spent the day on Sunday melting snow on the wood stove so that we could flush the toilet (in case you're an urbanite and aren't familiar with the realities of a rural existence, allow me to illustrate: country living + power outage = no water) and give the dogs something to drink.  And figuring out what to eat without opening the fridge for any reason (I cheated and got out some eggs and made french toast on the wood stove...yum!).  And trying to stay clean and trying to figure out what to wear on Monday, as there was no bathing and no clean laundry.

I've decided that I can do without power outages, thank you very much.

But, on the bright side, I did lots of knitting (and reading, but mostly knitting).  It's the perfect excuse to spend 7 hours straight with needles and yarn.  You can't work up a sweat knitting.  So that reduces the chances that you'll need to bathe.  Can't very well do any chores when you have no running water or electricity to run the washing machine or vacuum cleaner, can you?

Meet Sleeve 2 of my new Seamless Hybrid cardigan/jacket thingy.  I'm designing it as I go.  'Cause I'm a rebel like dat.  Word.

(Sleeve 1 is just as awesome, I promise.)

The dogs have no concept of electricity, so they were happy just to sit in front of wrapped around the wood stove which I kept going full blast all day.  Notice how madame crosses her legs as she lounges by the hearth.  How demure.  Too bad we know better.

Dress Rehearsal

I'm (im)patiently waiting for KnitPicks to receive some colours in Palette so I can order it and finish start my Caller Herrin.  To date, I've done three different swatches and I'm still not 100% convinced that I have the right colour combo.   So for now, I've contented myself with practicing my technique.  Sort of like a dress rehearsal.  And sort of not.

Enter: Entomology Mitts

Verdict: meh.

As you can see, I didn't make it all the way to the final act.  I didn't see any reason to.  The floats in this pattern are pretty darn long (which I could have figured out before trying to tackle it, had I had half a brain).  Unfortunately, my abilities are still not up to snuff, so the floats make this entire thing pucker six ways from Sunday.

Still, who doesn't love a beetle?

Anyway, back to the grind for me.