Bring It On: Raspberry Jacke

This post is dedicated to Suzanne, who dared to post the following comment to my blog:

You're running...in the rain???? Wow. You're hardcore!

Ahem...ummmm you speak much of this Raspberry Jacke! but the proof is in the pictures. So get to snappin' and scanning.

First of all, being called "hardcore" for running literally made Diet Dr. Pepper spray out of my nose. I've never been called "hardcore" for anything, especially anything physical. If I told my brother about this comment, he'd laugh his head off, roll his eyes, and tell you stories about how much yardwork/wood stacking he had to do in his youth while his bookworm sister had her head glued to some sort of novel or other. (I'd deny that it was as bad as that, but yeah.)

But to practically DARE me to present proof of a Raspberry Jacke?

All I can say is BRING IT ON!

Presenting: Raspberry Jacke
Pattern: The ubiquitous Rebecca Magazine 27, Pattern 25 (Aprikot Jacke)
Yarn: Rowan All Seasons Cotton. Color: Kiss
Needles: Addi Turbos, #8


Silvia said I could call myself a Rebecca Rebel as soon as I bossed this poorly edited pattern around! Oh yeah!

I found that the ASC looked much better at 18 stitches per 10cm than the prescribed 16 st. per 10cm. It was much too floppy on bigger needles. So I knit the larger size at the smaller gauge in order to achieve the smaller size. And yes, I did do the math and it turned out perfectly to spec. Yay math!

Husband and I thought that it looks better on my boobalicious self to wear Raspberry open. That skinny German model can prance around the park with her sweater closed all she wants. Heh. Boy, this All Seasons Cotton is just as soft and sproingy to wear as it is to knit!

I love the buttons I finally found at Button Shoppe. The pattern calls for tiny mother of pearl buttons, but with this deeper color, I thought that darker buttons went better. These are the yin to the mother of pearl yang.

One more action shot as I leave you for the night... Please forgive the whack bathroom shots. Now you know all of my beauty secrets (who can spot the Origins and LUSH products mixed in with the Aleve and who knows what?). Seattle is very grey and gloomy this week. I'll be wearing this outfit tomorrow to the theater for a play and a knit-in in the lobby. I found this camisole at the GAP outlet at the end of summer -- it matches perfectly!

Take that, Suzanne!! :)

99.5% Done

I just weaved (wove?) in six kajillion ends for my Raspberry Jacket while watching Veronica Guerin. Okay, not six kajillion, but definitely a lot of ends for such a simple sweater. Just have to stitch those little buttons on. Hoping to wear it on Thursday when I'm going to a play (The Grapes of Wrath) at the Intiman Theater, with a knit-night beforehand in the lobby. Good times!

Got more done on the Not-So-Shrunken Cardi this weekend, too, including passenger knitting on the way to a family event, part of which was taking the FIL to see The 40 Year Old Virgin. We laughed so dang hard from beginning to hilarious end...

I saw this on Iris' blog... google your name + needs...

Karma needs...

*Karma needs surgery to repair his ailing heart.
*Karma needs to be pluged in to USB port and show as active on Rio Music Manager.
*Sometimes Karma needs a little nudge.
*Karma needs to be smaller than 500 for the trigger to move on.
*To become a Trusted Community Member, your Karma needs to be 1/5 higher than your age.
*Karma needs allow_url_fopen to work, am I out of luck now?
*Karma needs the agitation of the mind to stick.
*Karma needs to be left out because the soul does not touch it.
*What you do need to do, however, is to be aware that the Karma needs to be redirected.
*Karma needs to be solved, problems dissolved in love, wars turned into friendships, hate into flowing love then peace of mind occurs, hence neither spiritual tranquilizer such as kechari mudra needed nor problems in achieving inner peace needed for clear conscious communication with God.

Yup.

Accountability

Well, there you have it. I told all of you about my plan to start running after having done it only once. Then a bunch of you said, way to go! and hey, thanks for motivating me to do it, too! and yeah, let's all go running!

So now I have to continue.

Last night, it happened to be raining cats and dogs when I wanted to go running, so I struck a deal with myself: I would stay home and knit if, and only if, I promised to go the next day, no matter what. So I stayed in and finished seaming Raspberry Jacke! I even crocheted the front opening, complete with buttonholes. Now I just need to go out and find some suitable buttons, weave in 1,487 ends, and wear a minimizer bra when I wear the thing. Yep, it might be a tad small. I'll see what it looks like with a better bra and a light steaming.

Now I have to go run!

Oh, one more thing, and I promise I'm not procrastinating. Okay, well, maybe a little. I saw this cool new site called Postcrossing -- like Bookcrossing, only with postcards -- at Lolly's site and signed up today. I'm sending my first postcard to an interesting woman in Dusseldorf! Das finde ich ausgezeichnet!!

Okay, now I have to go run!

Ask Me, I Know

In the last few days, new people found this blog by searching for:

1. How to pack a suitcase

2. How to have good karma

3. How do I know if I have good karma or not?

I think the "how to pack a suitcase" one is pretty funny. Mr. Goodkarma is packing for a business trip as I type and he's clueless. So maybe I *am* the right person to google about suitcase packing.

Does anyone recognize this? It's my lovely Aprikot Jacke from Rebecca, and it's blocking right now! It's about time I finished something, eh? Well, don't speak too soon; it's not finished until I can wear it. It looks quite red in these pictures, but it's more of a raspberry color called "Kiss". From now on, I call this sweater Raspberry Jacke.

And while I'm waiting for that lovely Rowan All Seasons Cotton to dry, I'm whipping up a little something for a baby shower I'm going to on Saturday. You can bet your bottom dollar that I'll have a finished picture of this very soon. Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, baby. So pretty!

H R Shrugs N Stuf*

Thanks to everyone who weighed in with their opinions about itty bitty shrugs and not so itty bitty bustlines. I think, for the most part, they don't work together very well. But then I got an email from Tracy, in which she told me about her own One Skein Wonder. Tracy knit a OSW in combination with a sleeveless shell that she designed. The set, in my opinion, makes the most of both worlds and is very flattering on her!

So if I ever decide to make a shrug, I'll make it in combination with a shell so they look continuous together.

The rest of you cute little things should definitely make more shrugs if you wanna, 'cause they look fabulous on you!

In other knitting news, I finished Aprikot Jacke's back and cast on for a front piece. So I'm about halfway done with the knitting part. I guess I should update my sadly neglected sidebar, eh? I also found a bunch of black, white and mint Cotton Ease almost by accident yesterday. Definitely colors I'll use. The Pistachio I might use for someone's baby gift. Trellis, maybe?

Happy Canada Day!

*Remember H R Pufnstuf? Man, we had some seriously psychedelic kids' shows back in the day....

Huh? Ooooh...

So the Aprikot Jacket is absolutely gorgeous to knit and I'm all in love with the pattern. However, the details are a bit fuzzy and I had to break out the graph paper last night when I was done with the ribbing and it was time to start the diagonal pattern.

After that, it all made sense. You just have to start the graph on what would normally be the wrong side of the garment (the side that has P2 on the edges rather than K2). At least, that's what finally worked out for me.

Here she is, peeking at you in her halfway done back glory. I've figured out that optimal color photographing time/place is out on the back deck after dinnertime. Ain't she pretty?

Didya notice the new Interweave Knits there in the background? I love fall. So much. There are a few things I'll consider from this issue.

Big Geek Beth and I have been talking. I didn't want her to think I was stalking her, but we have a lot in common. Without spelling it out for the whole world, we've both been noticing how many of you are making One Skein Wonders, and we've both been shaking our heads. You see, Beth and I are well endowed chicks and we just don't know how OSW could possibly do anything else but highlight our bustlines in disgusting ways. We also suspect Orangina, another of Stephanie Japel's fantastic designs, might look equally disgusting on us. So, if there are any of you out there who read this and have knit either OSW or Orangina, and have bOObs, would you let me know? I'm talking thirtysixdoubledee for me. Not sure about Beth's size, 'cause I haven't really been stalking her. :) hee hee

Rebecca Sleeve #1

I love this design. I do. After knitting several rows of the diagonal chart, I would stop, look at it, shake my head and smile. It's the architectural feeling that gets me. Pay no attention to the fact that the person who designed it and the people who wrote/edited/translated/re-edited/published the pattern probably have never met nor spoken to one another.

I'm also in love with All Seasons Cotton. It feels really good on my hands, is airy and sproingy, and I can't wait to wear it. I already can't wait to make something else with it and I'm barely knee-deep in this project!

Every time I photograph the yarn, the light is different and it looks like a completely different color. I think the May 28th entry is truest so far.

Rippit! Rippit!

We went to a little barbeque at our friends' house today, which involved driving about 45 minutes each way. Jacke was happy to accompany me. Here's the progress I've made so far on sleeve #1... nearly a skein's worth. So quick to knit, such a lovely yarn! Sadly, I'm going to rip all of this out and start again. You can't tell from this picture (dang flash), but the center ribbing is not symmetrical. I want to start the cuff ribbing one stitch over so that the center column of ribbing between the diagonal stitches will be even. Right now it's P1, k2, p2, k2, p2, k1. Which is fine, but to blend in properly with the sides, it should be p2, k2, p2, k2, p2. Get it? And it's probably a very small thing, but the gauge is huge enough to be obvious to me. And so, I'll start again.

I'm glad I started with a sleeve; it gave me a good chance to get used to the charting, the yarn, etc.

New Project

Since Mariah is practically finished, I need a new project to alternate with Lucky. Lucky is great, but I'm knitting it on size #2 needles, so progress is slooow. I need something that's worked at a larger gauge. Enter Jacke in Aprikot. I know, everyone and their mother has either knit this or fantasized about knitting it, but I love it so and have had it in my queue for months and months. I've also had this gorgeous bag of Rowan All Seasons Cotton in my stash specifically for this cardi, and it was exciting to liberate the first skein today in order to make a swatch. What you see here is what I was able to knit while watching my husband grill turkeyburgers for dinner: a few inches of the first sleeve. I am adoring this yarn. Adoring. This beet red color I'm using is called Kiss. The yarn has a great sproing that reminds me a little of knitting with Karabella Aurora 8. I *will* be using ASC again, lemme tell you.

Guess what? I got a package in the mail today! What fun! This one was a little surprise pack from my new friend, Atouria, at Yarn Yoga. Such a good pal! We've been finding all kinds of things in common with one another. She sent a little wooden massager, which I went right out and used on Mr. Goodkarma, who had just finished mowing the lawn in the hot sun. He definitely approved, and said it made him all tingly, which is kind of creepy of him since I only used it on his back. :) Anyway, pally also sent me this pretty bar of soap, which will look so great in my bathroom. Here's a picture of one of the walls in our main bathroom. Can you dig the mango walls? And mediterranean accents? I love me some citrus and "water" colors. Mmm hmm. I brought the glass dish home from Venice and it has a little mini friend that we use as a soap dish. So the soap, which is cruelty free because Atouria is vegan and loves finding fabulous animal friendly products, fits in perfectly and has a nice fresh scent that I love. Thank you!!

Finally, everyone must see this little animated movie that's making its way around the web: Store Wars. "Cuke, I'm your father..." Very funny.

I just re-read this post and realized that it made Mr. Goodkarma out to be quite hard-working while all I do is check the mail for goodies, knit, and blog. Lemme tell ya, we both earned our supper tonight. Whew. Lots of work to be done at the casa, and it was another warm day. Around 80 degrees. Better than the last two days, which were hovering close to 90 degrees! In May! In Seattle! I really do worry about global warming. This is not normal!