No, You Won't.

I saw this meme going around and decided to look mine up just for fun.

Here are the "rules"
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five people to do the same.


"I wonder if I'll be done with Mariah in time?" (to start the Lucky Clover Along on March 1, 2005).

HA! Good one.

Anybody want it? You're it!

Overwhelmed

Wow.

I wasn't expecting so many positive and kind comments on Mariah! You all really know how to make a girl feel good and validate her sweater. ha! Seriously, it's been so fun to read each of your comments as they come in. I've worn Mariah a couple of times in the past week and love that it's warm and cozy without being big and bulky. A winning combination, in my book.

Some of you also left comments on my glasses. My other pair, a gorgeous and hip tortoiseshell frame with lavender on the inside, are so cute and are by La Font. Oui, tres Fronch (Better Off Dead). I never thought I'd find a pair that I liked as much. Mr. Goodkarma helped to pick these out; they're by prodesign and are that browny coppery titanium color with purple arms. They seem to fit my face even better than my other hip pair. Yay!

I'm not only overwhelmed by the kindness of your comments, I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed with work. I've taught 1st or 2nd grade for the past 6 years, and when the opportunity came up to work with the 4th grade team, I thought, you know, I'm ready for a professional challenge. I love my teammates, but learning all the curriculum has been like that nightmare when you take a bite of something and it never gets smaller, no matter how long you chew. Sometimes, it even gets bigger.

Enter Marilyn's Not-So-Shrunken Cardigan. Here she is, resting on my planbook. This is my first top-down sweater and I'm really enjoying it. See, I needed something to knit on these weeknights when I'm pretty wiped but want to wind-down and not have to think too much. So far, the yoke on this baby is just what the doctor ordered. Jody and I have been corresponding about the yarn (I'm using Silky Wool and she's using Silky Tweed for a different project) and how unusual it is to work with. Slubby and soft, yet it does split if you're not being careful. It's different from any fiber I've used so far.

To top it all off, do you see that cat in the corner of the photo? Lennon needed surgery on Saturday, out of the blue. I won't go into too many details, but this is the first time I've ever had to learn about anal glands. Poor guy had to be put out for the surgery, so he also had his teeth cleaned, and ended up having a tooth extracted. So he's been sore on both ends, taking antibiotics and pain meds. Fortunately, the pain meds were liquid in little syringes that I just squirted down his throat... naturally the antibiotics need to be taken for a longer number of days and are PILLS. That's just mean.

So yeah, overwhelmed, but not out for the count. Still keeping my head above water. (Making a wave when you can.) Good times!

Happiness Is a Warm Girl

Presenting Mariah!

According to my notes, I started this sweater back in February. I remember casting on when I was doing jury duty. In between then and now, I started other projects, made baby gifties, etc. I had the whole sweater finished, seamed, and one half of the zipper installed in the spring. Then I got sick of wool and feeling sweaty when I handled Mariah, so I foolishly set her down on my dresser for MONTHS. Last night I finally decided that it was time to install the last half of the zipper and wear M-m-m-m-my-my-my-woo!-My Mariah!

This is one of the first things I've made for myself that fits and actually looks good. I think that's part of why I take forever to finish things and would rather start new ones... that fear of failure or fear that whatever it is that I'm making is not going to fit. Thank goodness this worked well. I haven't even blocked it yet and it looks great, except for the rolly-inny hood. I'll give it a good steaming before I wear it out.

Mariah, from Knitty.com
designed by the goddess herself, Jodi Green
Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool, Chocolate Truffle
Addi Turbo #6 needles
zipper courtesy of my new best friends at Zipper Stop

What do I like? What did I change? What would I do differently next time?
I like the fit. I'm always looking for something with waist shaping, because you might not be able to see it in this picture, but I am a pretty medium sized girl who has an hourglass shape. I have a waist and I have a big bust. So I need waist shaping or else things look pretty frumpy on me. This sweater doesn't have shaping, but I made a close-fitting size and the deep ribbing helped to bring things in at the waist.

I finished the fronts with Attached I-cord edging, learned from Nancie Wiseman's The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques, instead of the garter-stitch-turned-under edges prescribed by the pattern. I thought it looked much more, well, finished! This was inspired by Streets and YOs' Ribby Cardi, by the way. I did all the cabling without a cable needle, which was a fun technique to learn.

If I were to make this sweater again, I would definitely find a way to make the neckline smaller/higher. I'm more experienced now, so I have some ideas on how I would do this differently next time; I can see that I could have simply continued knitting the entire yoke (including cable motif on the sleeves and decreases for the raglan) several more rows. But I'm happy enough with it. In the pictures, I'm wearing a very high-necked tshirt, so it shows more than other tshirts will. Finally, the Peruvian Wool was easy to work with and all (gotta love that spit-splice!), but it's pretty fuzzy and I wonder how long it will take for it to pill like crazy. We'll see.

Now I feel a bit more brave and courageous... will start finishing more of my nearly-done projects!


P.S. Remind me why I asked my husband to be the photographer? Mr. One Track Mind!! :)

Zipper Order

Psst... I just ordered my zipper for Mariah (18", color #916, deep brown) and for Ribby Cardi (21, color #546, sky blue). Please, Mr. Postman, bring them to me soon!

Sneak Peek

The fact that I haven't posted for a whole week means that a) my work world has been shaken up and busy, and 2) I wanted to post a finished Mariah the next time I posted here (let's get real!). The weather this week has been fantastic, though, with thunder storms, hail, wind, heavy rain, and sunshine inbetween it all. I get really excited during thunder storms! ooh! ahh!

I spent the week (knitting-wise) finishing Mariah's hood, which I thought would take an evening in front of Law and Order, but who was I kidding, it took several sessions to knit. Hoods are big. Yes, they are. But guess what? I not only finished that hood, but I also got about 1/3 of the seaming done. I'm planning to order a zipper for it and for Ribby today, and have a couple of finished sweaters soon soon soon.

I was out and about yesterday and took a chance at my neighborhood Hancock Fabrics to see if there was any more Cotton Ease. It's now 30% off, so I got 6 skeins for around $17. Not bad, eh? This color is called Blue Ice; it's a soft blue with a little lavender tint to it. Periwinkle? We'll see what it decides it wants to become.

I took an even bigger chance and dropped by my neighborhood yarn shop, Seattle Yarn Gallery, to see if they had the new Rebecca. I've been dropping by or calling every week or two for a couple of months, just for this reason. They finally got it in! The day before! I was so happy. I don't know why the whole Seattle area got their magazine shipment so much later than the rest of the world, but I'm over it now. :)

This afternoon I'm taking my grandma to see a play... The Seattle Shakespeare Co. is putting on an all male version of The Taming of the Shrew, and I've heard good things about it so far. We'll have lunch somewhere first... should be fun!

And how could I possibly end this post without the big news of the week? Mr. Goodkarma and I finally bought our tickets for our vacation in Hawaii this July! I haven't been to Hawaii yet, but Mr. has. His parents have a condo on the big island, so we'll stay there with them for a week, and we're also going to visit Oahu for a week, where I have a dear friend to visit. Are we excited? Oh yeah! I'm already starting to think about airplane knitting. But mostly, I've had a rough couple of months at work and am really ready for some beach time. This will be my first relaxing summer in a few years... the last two years I've done major travel that hasn't been very relaxing at all. Hawaii, here we come!

Mariah Update

I feel bad; Mariah has been sitting in my knitting bag because I'm worried about how the yoke will fit. Lots of people are having issues with the stitch/row counts and the neckline shaping, etc... I guess I just didn't want to deal with any of that.

I just pinned Mariah's side & sleeve seams together and tried her on. Even though I still had my circular needle through the top live rows, I was able to visualize how things were going and SHE LOOKS HOT! OOow baby! Paris would say, "that's hawt." Anyway, it's quite the fitted number and looks a lot like Jodi's does in the picture on Knitty. I've finished the prescribed number of rows (as per the pattern) but it's not quite high enough on my shoulder/chest. Probably my row gauge is different from Jodi's was, too. So I'm going to just keep knitting the yoke and decreasing at the front/sleeve/backs for another 4 inches or so.

I'm still debating on hood vs. collar. Arg. Can't decide. Will have to keep thinking about it.

The Elann Peruvian Highland wool is quite dense and very warm. Nice to be finishing it up right in time for spring, eh? haha :)

Happy Knitterversary to Me!

Yay me! One year ago today, I bought my first skeins of Lamb's Pride to make my first (very tightly knit) garter stitch scarf. The year has gone by so quickly! And in that time, of course I've become completely obsessed. And I usually knit to gauge. I remember how stinking tight I knit at the beginning... that first scarf is stiff! haha

I spent the day in a knitterly way so far. I let myself be hypnotized by my loverly Mac as I surfed knitting blogs and the Knittyboard. Then, my SNB met today at a local coffee shop. I'd love to say that I got a lot done on Lucky, but mostly I chatted with my knitty friends about projects and travel. Which was nice and relaxing. Besides, I have all week (didn't I tell you? I'm on Spring Break!) to wrap up some of my nearly done projects. After SNB, I went to Seattle Yarn Gallery (the scene of the crime one year ago!) (they still don't have the new Rebecca! WTF? Other peeps out there are already finished with projects from Rebecca #29! Grrr...) and bought a couple of skeins of Koigu KPPPM to make baby booties for the shower coming up. I'm trying to decide if I want to get another set of addi turbos and do the socks on two circs thing.

Blueberry for little Mr. Gracen, Blackberry for little Miss Sydney

Last night, Mr. Goodkarma and I watched Vera Drake. Vera's daughter knits in one scene (or at least holds a ball of yarn and some needles...). If you haven't seen it yet, you really should. I just read that none of the actors, except the woman playing Vera, knew that the film was about abortion until their characters did. That's such an interesting (and successful, in my opinion) strategy for the actors and director. It became so engrossing toward the end that I just let Mariah fall into my lap and I was 100% into the storyline. Speaking of which, I only have about 6-8 rows left to do on Mariah's yoke and then I'll try it on, see how it looks, and decide what to do from there. Lots of Mariah knitalongers are having issues with the yoke/neckline/hood and I need to decide if I want a hood or a ribbed collar.

Welp, I think I'll wrap up my Knitterversary by winding my Koigu into balls (heh heh, she said, "balls") and picking up where I left off on Mariah.

Have a good week, everyone!

New Spring Knitty

Now this is what I call a great magazine. Oftentimes, I'll buy a magazine and end up only truly liking and wanting to knit one design. Here's a free magazine with more than a few things I really, really want to make, plus tons of fab articles (especially Jenna Wilson's article about choosing the correct size, which has been my biggest concern when knitting for myself) that will really help improve my knitting skills. And what's up with Kristi Porter's sculpted back? Holy cow! What a hottie!

I like the issue so much that I came home tonight and knit a few more rows of Mariah's yoke. It's grey and rainy here in Seattle, so the 100% wool shouldn't be a problem, but my brain is soooo on Spring Break, and I really want to move on to more springy knits.

Did someone say Spring Break? Oh yeah, baby, Spring Break starts tomorrow at 3:10 when I send the munchkins home to their families for the next week! Woohoo! Knitting galore! Oh. I guess I have to do some housework and weeding and stuff, too. But I'll get to knit!

I just placed a hold at the library on 50 Baby Bootees to Knit because I keep going back to Jessica's Sheik Yerbouti post. Since I've fallen into The Baby Vortex over the past few years (nearly EVERY one of my girlfriends has a baby somewhere in the 0-4 year old zone), I'm always on the lookout for knitted cuteness. I think I'll make up a couple pairs of booties for a double baby shower later this month for colleagues. Whew.

Progress Report

It's been a long week since I last posted. I got over a disgusting cold/flu thing, worked on my students' report cards, went to the annual Sock Hop at school, went to a 1st birthday party, visited a friend and her 2 week old baby girl on Vashon Island, saw Meet the Fockers at The Admiral, etc. etc! Loads of work and socializing, not a lot of time for knitting. However, I do have something to share, including a dirty little secret.

First up, progress on my Ribby Cardi. This poor little guy was put on hold as I started Mariah and then Lucky. I had it all seamed up except for setting in the sleeves and knitting up the collar, and just kind of put it aside. Why? My husband keeps asking me why I start new projects when I have some that aren't finished yet. I've definitely become a *process* knitter, too excited by all the projects I want to make to finish up the ones I've started. I know, I know, my mother would give me that look. So last Sunday, while feeling quite flu-y, I camped out on the couch, watched Steel Magnolias, and got 'er done. Ribby still needs a zipper and some ends to be woven in. This picture makes her Aubergine sleeves look quite dark. Also, I realized after all my seaming that I stretched the ribbing too much when I blocked it originally, so it turned out a bit boxy. I'll be reblocking Ribby this week before getting a zipper. Soon, I hope to post a finished-and-modeled pic!

Here's my progress on Mariah. I've got about 4" of the yoke finished. At this point, I'm finally starting to feel like the rows are getting shorter. Whew! And what's that safety pin doing there, right near the raglan decrease line? Well.... after doing many, many rounds of the yoke, I noticed that I'd dropped a stitch right near the decreases. ACK! There was no way I was going to frog back thousands of stitches. I'm going to carry it back up as far as I can with my crochet hook and then tack it into place on the backside, carefully. I suppose a more dedicated or perfectionistic knitter would have ripped back the two or three inches (we're talking over 300 stitches per row), but not me. I am determined to make it work.

Next, I've been plugging away at Lucky now and then. It's the best project I have right now for portability, so it comes to work with me for lunchtime stitching. It's good to have different projects going at once, especially if they're at different gauges so your hands don't get bored! I've got 6" of the back piece done. That's all. But for a busy week, I'm satisfied with what I was able to accomplish.

Finally, here's my dirty little secret. I've had this Surplice Cardi on my "Current Projects" sidebar for months. I started it in October on a train ride to Portland, and of course it's been *this* close to wearable for months and months. The original pattern called for 3/4 sleeves, and I lengthened them to full length sleeves... in fact, I went overboard and need to rip back some length! I need to reblock it, too, though, and that's just not as exciting as the cables of Mariah or the clover lace pattern of Lucky, so it's been sitting in my knitting basket for all this time. Poor thing. Also, I hate the thin crocheted ties prescribed by the pattern, so I want to take the sweater out on the town with me and find a nice ribbon replacement. By the way, the color here is really flashified (washed out). Lichen Cascade Lana d'Oro is a really rich olivey foresty color. It's heavenly to work with, too!!

Finally, I leave you with a little something cheerful and springy from my back deck. It's impossible to be gloomy when these happy daffs are smiling at you! Have a great week, everyone!




.

Show and Tell!

I've spotted a couple of goodkarma pieces around town and I thought I'd share...

First up, we have a lovely picture of my sis, bro in law and niecie Alyssa at bro in law's swearing-in ceremony for the police department. We are all so proud of him! And then we notice that niecie is wearing her Christmas pressie! Look at the yummy Karabella Aurora 8 yarn and how it matches her cheeks. Holy cow, I want to pinch them as I type. Lucky for her, she's walking all over the place now, so even if she were here she would be able to run away from auntie.

Then, while I was looking through photos from our school's Lunar New Year Multicultural Parade, I noticed that Luna was wearing her Haiku! Here she is with her gorgeous mama.

So, okay, neither sweaters fit their intended lovlies just yet, but they're growing so stinking fast that the next time I try to get a picture, the sweaters will be too small.

More sharing to come this weekend, I promise. I have a yucky cold and all I want to do is stay in and knit. I'm a bit stalled on Mariah (want to re-check my math before I get too deep into the yoke), so have got a bit of progress going on Lucky.

You Must Be Yoking!

This has been a really sucky week. I'm a teacher in the public school system and we've been having yucky, horrible budget talks all week, which have been stressful, emotional, and frustrating.

Although much of my stress was relieved with great workouts, I can almost scientifically attest to the wonders of therapeutic knitting. Exhibit A: Mariah. In the past week, I've finished up all of the pieces, connected them, and knit a couple of inches of the yoke. Much of this was done during American Idol (Why did Mario have to drop out?!), I must admit, and various and sundry DVDs, thanks to Netflix.

So far, this has been a really interesting project. I've become very comfortable with the cabling pattern and doing it without a cable needle. It's the first project I've done like this, knitting the pieces from the bottom up and then connecting and knitting the yoke as one. At first, each of those rounds felt like it was 8 miles long (and the thing weighs 50 pounds!), but the raglan decreases are helping to speed things up, I promise. I hope to finish the yoke this week and then I'll have to make a decision about the hood. Do I want a hood? Do I want a collar? I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam I Am!

I also cast on Lucky and have knit the ribbing for the back. That's all. I really want to finish up some of my other projects before starting something new, but all of them are so ginormous that they're not practical for bringing places, like awful budget meetings.

So I bring you my lovely friends, Julian and Lennon. They make me happy when skies are grey. Truly. They follow me around the house -- well, Julian does -- and we have kitty conversations. Meow? Meow!

Julian says, "Hey, mom, put that camera away
and play ribbon tag with me some more!"

Lennon says, "Hey, why ya gotta wake me up?"

I'm sure this week will be better!

Mariah Progress Report

You know that part in the sleeve pattern when you take a break from cables for a few rows and then increase and start cabling again? Well, that part with the multiple increases always gets me. I have to be *really* paying attention or I have to rip back and try again because I goofed up and didn't increase enough times. That's the only part of the whole graph that's still challenging for me.

But sleeve #1 is almost ready to be put on a holder... then all I have left to do is sleeve #2 before I connect all the pieces and knit the yoke! Yeah!

All Quiet on the Knitty Front

Woah. I just looked up and realized I haven't blogged for over a week. I've been busy busy. Mr. Goodkarma and I went to a Valentine's dinner and dance. Aww, mwah! We had a fun time. This was our 7th Valentine's Day together, hard to believe but true.


Last weekend we hung out with lots of different friends. It was a jam packed socializing weekend. I think I might be Lolly's sistah from anothah mothah; never met the gal but I also went bowling last weekend... which is interesting because I go about twice a decade. This time we had a lot of fun -- we went to Leilani Lanes in Greenwood where they were playing loud 80's music the whole time! -- and I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime sooner.

I went to visit this sweetie of Snuggly Anya fame. She lives in Eugene with her mom and dad and I spent a few days with them. We had a great time! Let me tell you, Eugene has great food! Yummy pastries! And I got a facial. Much needed. These are the tips I was given to follow:
1. Stop washing my face with hot water.
2. Stop using cheapo St. Yves scrub. It has SQUARE molecules. Who knew?
3. Stop moisturizing my nose. It's a big ole oil gland and adding moisturizer = black heads. Eww.

I've also been working on Mariah. I even have proof. Here's the back (bunched up on a stitch holder), left front and a sleeve:



And a close-up of the sleeve, just 'cause it looks so groovy:



I'm really enjoying the pattern. It took me a little while to get used to the sleeve's center cabling pattern but now it feels much more rhythmic and natural. And I'm doing this whole project without a cable needle. That's rad. Oops, no one says that anymore. I must've spent too much time at 80's bowling.

The Verdict Is In

Had jury duty yesterday. Was supposed to have it for two days (at least), but the case I was called up for was settled out of court. So, since we sat all day long waiting for something to happen, and nothing did, they said we could go home and not come back!

So I'm in a Perry Mason sort of mode. While I was there, I got a good start on Mariah and really was on a roll with the cabled ribbing. At first, I wasn't sure I'd chosen the right yarn. I'm using elann's Peruvian Highland Wool in Chocolate Truffle. Now, I love this yarn, but I thought the dark color (and it's a little bit heathery) would mask the cables too much.

After much deliberation and cross-exam-cable-ation, the verdict is in: the yarn has been deemed not guilty of cable obfuscation of the first degree. I think it's going to be luscious!!

There's one other good thing about going to jury duty. It was in Kent. Which is a suburb that you would never actually want to go to, maybe just pass through. But when I had The Longest Lunch Break Known To Man, I started walking around what they call "downtown Kent" (ha!) and quickly stumbled upon Pastimes, a gorgeous new yarn shop I had been meaning to find, but as I mentioned, no one really goes to Kent. This shop is fabulous. Lots of high end pretty luxurious stuff. Miles of Noro. Fabulously friendly staff. Lots of windows = natural light galore. Wooden cabinets filled with yarn, arranged beautifully. You should go there! At least drool on their website!

Casting-on Mariah

I just cast-on my first Mariah sleeve and Wendy's description of cabling without a needle, complete with wonderful pictures, has been indispensable.

I heart the internet!