Men's Zippered Raglan

Men's Zippered Raglan
Pattern: in Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson
Yarn: Malabrigo (100% wool, 215 yards) 6.5 skeins in Burgundy. Size 10 circular needles.
Gauge: 4 sts/in.
Finished size: I'm guessing here... 46" chest, 22" sleeves, I have no idea how long.

Started: January 14, 2006
Finished knitting: June 28, 2006
Finished: July 24, 2006

Notes:
Yarn substitution resulted in a smaller gauge than the pattern, so I had to modify everything to correct for my new gauge. And I decided to make a size that was between 2 of the sizes in the pattern. I used the sleeve modifications from Alison to get the raglan to look nice on the front and back. I added 1.5" of armpit depth before starting the armhole shaping. I decreased to the neck until it looked right rather than the specified raglan length. I ripped out a bunch of times.

Discussion:
The verdict? DF says he likes it! It's soft, warm, and apparently fits okay. He must like it okay if he'll model 1.5 pounds of wool in our 90 degree apartment. But only if you give him a popsicle. I must like him if I'll keep 1.5 pounds of wool in my lap for hours on end installing the !@$#%^ zipper!

I'm actually quite proud of the finishing on this sweater. You can barely tell the difference from the inside and the outside of the sweater and the neckband seam and zipper installation are both quite nicely done if I say so myself. I backstitched the zipper in place at virtually every row of the sweater front. There were times when I skipped a row, but not that many! I am still, however, paranoid that the thing will fall apart. I'll blame it on the softness of the Malabrigo though if you ask for my official stance.

This is the longest enduring project I've ever finished. I love how five months ago I called this sweater something that's been on my sidebar for ages. Little did I know. To give some perspective on how much I dilly-dallied on this project, in the time it took me to cast on for this project and weave in the last end:

• I cast on and finished 5 pairs of socks (finished a 6th pair that I cast on for two weeks before), Clapotis (if you count the second time I knit it), a pair of armwarmers, 4 hats (one pattern I knit twice and never mentioned it), 2 baby sweaters, a bolero sweater, 2 headbands (I knit the second Molly without mentioning it and one headwrap I ripped out), a baby dress, and a tank top - 19 objects.
• 3 different seasons of Knitty have been up.
• The temperature has gone up 70 degrees.

Much angst went into this project so I'm happy that I managed to finish it in time for DF's half birthday. Now I need to find a meat locker for him to stand in so that he can get around to using it!

Since this one's been blogged to death, I'll leave you with just a list of previous posts if it's been so long you've forgotten how I felt about this project.

Previous posts about this project
Pictures galore! on July 21, 2006
Dried berries on June 30, 2006
Tweed indeed on June 29, 2006
Do I look like the FBI? on June 26, 2006
Candy Cane Hat on April 17, 2006
No knitting pictures here! on April 10, 2006
He's too sexy for his sweater on April 3, 2006
It's not election day but... on March 5, 2006
Hey that's not burgundy is it? on February 23, 2006
So much for being regular on February 16, 2006
Let's play a game on January 19, 2006
gotta love having a camera on January 17, 2006
Beware! on January 16, 2006


Next up: Another baby sweater finito!

Pictures galore!

It's been a really long time since posting, but I completely blame it on Delta Airlines once again. This time, in touring the Lewis and Clark region of the country where the explorers picked up the lovely and indispensible Sacajawea, I had to endure two cancelled flights in a row! Can we call that fun? Brownie points go out to anyone who can name what town the Spaz was working in at the time. Hint: I picked up some less than half price rain pants at the Patagucci outlet in this town of approximately 5000 where the closest airport is an hour away up I-15 and has a grand total of one gate and three flights daily.

But, of course, flight delays do mean that I get a good bit of knitting in. I cast on July 11 for another baby sweater since they're also super portable knitting and DF has told me that I have too many knit socks. This one is the hooded sweater in the Debbie Bliss Special Knits for Babies book. Again, this one is going seamless, so I've finished the body and half of the hood. I tried to sew the shoulder seams so that the seam is invisible, but I think it looks a bit funny. The 3 needle BO seems to be the least bulky of all shoulder seams I've tried so far.

Upon my return, I spent a good day relaxing and knitting in the park. If you can call it knitting. I decided to push through and finally finish DF's zippered raglan. It took me something like 2 hours just to baste the zipper in place so that the zipper lined up on both sides. Then, actually sewing it in place with backstitch... just shoot me now. This is how much more I have left to do on the last side after 3 hours of sewing by hand. The white thread is the section that's just basted in and remains to be sewn. I sure hope that sewing down the collar doesn't take as long.

Having burned myself out on sewing, I decided that some good old-fashioned knitting was in order. Some of you may have noticed that I went yarn shopping with Jillian a couple of weeks ago. I decided to turn my purchases into something a bit more in season than the fuzzy alpaca long sleeve hooded sweater I've also been sorta secretly working on (working on the sleeves top down like you all egged me on to... it seems to be working!) So, I cast on for Deciduous by Marnie Maclean on Wednesday in the oh so delectable Rowan Calmer. I'm so in love. Just for scale, here's Deciduous on top of DF's zippered raglan. The thing is so SMALL.
On the wedding front, it's less than 3 months away and I'm getting more nervous. My Dad sent me a CD of my baby pictures to be used in an unabashedly cheesy, tear jerking video story of the two of us for the reception. Most of the pictures contained were just awful Go Fug Yourself moments (see them on the wedding blog, but please come back here to comment). But since this is a knitting blog, I thought I'd share these two:

I want to say that this little cardigan was hand-crocheted by my grandmother, but I can never remember her having crochet needle in hand. Even now, I think this one's too cute! I might however have to question my parents' judgment at pairing a pink cardi with a red checkered pant suit and sailor themed bucket hat.

Same thing with the crochet look here. And um, no, I didn't have the mumps. Clearly, it's drug store cheap acrylic, but darn it if there wasn't some impressive stitch pattern and colorwork going on here. Go grandma!

Dried berries

So we put the blocked sweater on DF last night and he had it on long enough for him to determine that it fits, but not long enough for me to get a picture. Sorry, y'all. You're just going to have to wait for DF to strut his stuff for the camera until it's not 10000 degrees in here. I'm hoping also to install the zipper and get a REAL FO picture out of it since DF doesn't much like wearing sweaters in the summer. I'll have to agree though, the sweater is freaking warm! Now I want one.

But, I'm not above a little bit of overheating for my readers. So remember the incredible growing sweater phenomenon with Blackberry? Well, it took me almost two months to get up the guts (and get off my butt to soak the sucker... the wet dog smell just isn't pleasant) to try and resize the sucker. After a little soak and pat dry, I threw Blackberry in the dryer with a load of whites. DF insists that he needs socks and underwear to wear to his parents for the Fourth, but is his family really checking to see if he's going commando?

Sorry, getting my mind out of the gutter to get back to the story. Like Jillian suggested, I stood by the dryer and checked every minute to see if things were progressing too quickly. Did I mention it was hot? That didn't last very long, so I had to step outside the laundry room and keep going back. During this whole process, I had these nightmarish visions of locking myself out of the laundry room with my sweater held prisoner in the dryer shrinking down into nothingness. Thankfully, this didn't come to pass. Twenty minutes and no noticeable difference later, I gave up. I wondered if Rowan had somehow mislabeled the yarn as it was clearly not falling apart or shrinking like mad so it must be superwash.

But I think it must have shrunk slightly because it seems to be a whole lot cuter on now. The sleeves are at least 2 inches shorter, so that makes it infinitely more wearable. Or at least it looks like it fits better through the shoulders in looking at this picture and the last one. What do you think?

Also, I was just noticing... a post every day this week! When was the last time that happened? Never as far as I can remember. I must be glad to have not gone anywhere this week. Anyway, we're off for the Fourth, so happy grilling, happy birthday America, and I'll see you on the other side.

tweed indeed

So I made the mistake of visiting my favorite eBay store today - Jannette's Rare Yarns (though for the life of me, I can't seem to figure out which of the yarns she carries are rare). I got the twitch. And by the title of this post, you can probably figure out what did it.

But in an effort of trying to consult DF in the habits of mine that may lead us both to the poorhouse down the line, I called him.

DF: What's up?
Me: Yarn.
DF: What yarn?
Me: You know the stuff I made my Blackberry out of? I saw it on eBay.
DF: How much tweed does one little girl need?
Me: The question is not how much tweed, but how much aran weight tweed?
DF: And what did you do with that whole box of orange tweed you got off of eBay?
Me: You don't understand... I swatched with that and the red tweed and neither was right for that one sweater. And it's discontinued... I might not be able to get it anymore... and it's half price... and there's free shipping...

Can you say, beg much? I did pick up 5 balls, and it was indeed a great deal. Now if only it weren't 1000 degrees in my apartment I might actually consider knitting with heavy wool.

The good news is, the heat has made blocking DF's sweater go much faster. Wait, that means, yes, take a deep breath, I finished knitting DF's sweater. I couldn't believe it either, but proof positive that it's off the needles and that I have no freaking clue how to block...


Yup, that's me being a spaz in DF's fresh off the needles sweater. Unblocked it measures a whopping 32", but with the length through the shoulders and arms, I don't think I could pull off this look. Not for me then. I'm still waiting to see what it looks like when DF actually puts on the blocked version.

BTW, please ignore the mess in the background. It's like that all the time. You can, however, spy on top of the filing cabinet what DF has stashing issues with. It's only there because his other stashing locations are full.

Do I look like the FBI?

So having lived at the same phone number for the past almost two years, it depresses me to think that an old lady named Dorothy, Great Expectations dating service, and the FBI all get more phone calls than I do at my current home phone. I've gone so far as to reverse lookup Dorothy in an attempt to be able to redirect her phone calls to her instead of having to disappoint yet another little old lady or doctor's office that I'm not Dortohy. The good news for the day however, I now have Dorothy's phone number! One of her regulars gave it to me today... Why is it the little things that make me so happy?

What's making me ridiculously unhappy right now is this scene out in front of my apartment at 7:00 am:

*Beep, beep, beep* that's all I hear all freaking day every day except Sundays for the past several months. Why oh why do trucks have to ever BACK UP? I'm considering sabotaging the reverse gear on every single truck that comes 'round these parts while the construction guys are taking their lunches.

Okay, knitting content. I finally finished the quickie socks for my Grandfather and they took quite a bit longer than they really should have. These were done on size 1 Addis two at a time at a gauge of 8.75 sts/in with Schachenmayer Regia Patch Antik (75% wool, 25% nylon, 432 yards) color 48030 with 11% of the ball left over. Finished dimensions: 10.25" long, 8.25" circumference. Started June 4, 2006 and Finished June 26, 2006.

Check it out though, the stripes are matched and go uninterrupted up the front!

And back from the dead is DF's zippered raglan sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I finally brought myself to rip out the yoke (for the second time) and reknit it without shaping for the first two inches after joining the sleeves to the body. That gives the sweater significantly more room through the shoulders... and I can use all the room I can get with as broad as DF's shoulders are. It still fits like a shrunken T right now, but still hoping for the magic of blocking.

Since I forgot to mention it in my last post (excuse the unbridled lust, I didn't have control of myself when I posted), I did get a chance to stop in on the Purlygirls while I was in Seattle last week. They were all quite nice and welcoming, and I'll definitely be back next time I'm in the area. I also have to mention that about half the group is training for a triathlon. More feelings of guilt for not being in better shape and and shame for my performance in my recent exercise endeavors washed over me as I listened to the ladies recount their training regime for the weekend which included a race on Saturday morning, a training ride on Sunday and a half mile swim on Monday. I'm tired just thinking about it. Jessica and Molly, if you're reading this, it was great to meet you and the other blogless purlygirls!

Candy Cane Hat

Remember how I thought DF's sweater was too tight across the chest and so I riiiiiipped back to the armpits? Well, I was so disgusted with the negative progress that I didn't pick up the sweater again until Sunday night. I wanted to watch some silly girly movies, so I rented Fever Pitch and Just Like Heaven* and sat down for some good mindless knitting time. Mindless is right. After a whole movie, I discovered that I had managed to put the raglan decreases right back in where I had previously ripped out. I didn't have the heart to rip out just yet, so instead...


Candy Cane Hat
Pattern: by Penny Kolb in Handknit Holidays
Materials: GGH Samoa (50% cotton/50% acrylic, 100 yds) in colors Barbie Pink and Espresso. half skein each. Size US8 16 inch Clover bamboo circular needles.
Gauge: 19 sts and 26 rounds = 4 inches
Finished size: 18.5 inches circumference, about 8" from cast on edge to crown.

Started: April 15, 2006
Finished: April 16, 2006

Notes:
Cast on 90 sts instead and began decreasing for crown when I was panicking that I'd run out of yarn. Really, though. How many mods can you make to a stockinette stitch roll brim hat?

Discussion:
I was looking through my stash of yarn leftovers and decided that I could do something with that yarn from DL's bones hat. I weighed it and figured that I had a little bit more than one ball left. I'd seen people make hats out of one ball of Silk Garden, so I should be able to do the same with Samoa, right?

I picked this hat because I thought that the color work would help stretch my yarn as far as I could. I probably could have striped it as well, but that would require more weaving in ends than I'd want. I discovered that with Fair Isle, my gauge is tighter than my gauge swatch (in plain one color stockinette, *slap hands*) would say. Thankfully, I just wanted to use up my leftovers, size be damned!

I think the hat came out cute, if a little girly. Since it's easily too small for me or any other normal sized adult, I decided that it's definitely bound to be a gift for a friend's 3 year old daughter. Hopefully, her head isn't the size of Sputnik.

This post isn't picture heavy enough, so I'm taking a deep breath and showing you my floats. It's a good thing that there weren't that many yarn ends to weave in because I couldn't see much with all of the floats in the way! Kind of looks like a hypnosis wheel. Now if only you could rotate your head that way to get it spinning...



*Edited to add: I meant to comment on the movies. They were both enjoyable in that sappy sort of chick flick way. BUT, the standout in Just Like Heaven was the movie's eponymous opening theme. The original is by far my favorite song made in the 80's and to say that I like any remake of it is utterly amazing. But I LOVE it. Go check out Katie Melua's website for samples of her music. I sure will.

I'm sort of motion sick from the Vertigo picture above too.

No knitting pictures here!

Random post today since I don't really have a lot of knitting content to speak of.

DF's zippered raglan: thanks for all of the reassuring comments about ripping back. I still haven't managed to pick up the sweater again as I'm still a bit depressed about it, but Chrissy's post yesterday reminded me of one of the other pictures from that photoshoot that I didn't use. I'm putting it in here since there were more than a couple of comments about how hot DF is (which I agree about). DF reads every comment on my blog and could barely fit through the door his head was so big thanks to his adoring fans. So for all of DF's fans, a picture for you.

*hiding* I love you, DF!


We went climbing this weekend again, and wouldn't you believe it, an actual picture was taken of me in front of the camera! Turns out some guy is writing a guide book for the Bishop, CA bouldering areas and was out this weekend getting photos for the book. Who knows... maybe I can get in the guidebook!



Knitty: I was so looking forward to the new issue. I even gasped for glee upon return yesterday, and went right to perusing all the patterns to find my next project. All I can say is: meh. The only thing that I may add to my to-do list is the new pair of socks by Cookie A. as a quick project. I still have Pomatamus to do, so we'll see how that goes.

Final note, I went on a yarn buying spree with some birthday cash from my parents. I picked up some Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed for the Blissful Jacket from the Fall 2005 IK. I just love winning auctions... Also, I'm thinking of buying some Rowanspun Aran in red for the Sunrise Circle Jacket by Kate Gilbert in the Spring 2006 IK. Anyone interested in splitting the bag with me? I'll have 6 balls (1200 meters) left over which is enough for the size 41" jacket.

He's too sexy for his sweater...

So the latest in the saga of DF's zippered raglan. It's the project that won't end. I attached the sleeves how many weeks ago? and still, no FO picture yet. I decided to do a little finishing along the way and go ahead and graft my underarms while taking a break from the ~300 sts on my needles. So I proceeded to kitchener, and lo and behold, my fantastic grafting job:

What's up with the giant holes? Yes, DF is a man and therefore requires a bit of ventilation in the underarm area to keep from smelling too bad, but I was thinking pit zips would be more attractive than a gaping hole. Gotta fix that. So I tinked. And I remembered how much I hated tinking kitchener stitch.

This time around, I thought, well, maybe I'll just weave the yarn through the neighboring stitches before threading the first sts on my needle.

Voila! Pink underarms! Hmm, I have to figure out why it is that my sts seem to be out of alignment by half a stitch. Anyone know?

Well, I got a good way through the raglan decreases, and had DF try on his sweater. Yes, he can channel his inner Right Said Fred, but he'll still look ridiculous in this SKIN TIGHT sweater. He assured me that it'd be okay if I just keep going and block it within an inch of its life, so I finished the raglan decreases and got rerady to start on the collar. Second fitting made me realize this was ridiculouly tight across the shoulders and chest even assuming LOTS of blocking. I decided that Elizabeth Zimmerman's approach of having a couple of inches of even knitting after attaching the sleeves to the body made a whole lot more sense. RRRIIIIP! I won't even show you how much un-progress I made...

In other fronts... where's the Spring Knitty? I could use a little pick me up on my rainy Monday birthday.

Next up: a finished object that warrants an A!

It's not election day, but...

Okay, I know that I said that I wouldn't hijack this knitting blog with wedding related stuff, but I could use some fresh opinions. I've been dress shopping since it's getting to the point where those in the bridal fashion industry start to insist that you make a decision NOW or else threaten to charge you some sort of a ridicuous rush fee to make you feel even more stressed despite hello, there's still 6 months left, why are you rushing me?

Anyway, I've probably been to 10+ different shops and managed to narrow it down to the following four dresses:


Dresses 1 and 2

Dresses 3 and 4

What you can't see in the pictures:
Dress 1: Alencon lace bodice with double pleated organza at the neckline and a tiny organza bow that hits at the high waist. Matching lace border around the hem with a line of buttons down the back onto the chapel length train. (I'd lengthen this to cathedral length).

Dress 2: Alencon lace panels on the sides of the bodice. Fabric is specially treated so that it has an extra iridescent sheen to it. Semi-cathedral length train would be lengthened to full cathedral.

Dress 3: A few more pickups (those areas where it looks like someone gathered up some of the skirt and attached a beaded applique to keep it in place) are scattered across the back of the dress. This makes the back appear partially bustled, but there is still a cathedral length train.

Dress 4: The skirt really is asymetric like that. It's not the way the model is standing. There is a train on the back as well.

Here's my dilemma. In case you haven't noticed, my personality tends towards the dramatic - e.g. OMG it's the end of the world because there are tiny holes where I turned the heel on DF's Jaywalkers or OMG it's the end of the world because I missed a YO on the edge of my great-grandmother's Charlotte's Web. Also, I probably haven't mentioned this before, but I definitely fall under the category of spoiled youngest child. Therefore, my heart is tugging me in the direction of having a GIANT dress where I can arrive for a solid 10 minutes and channel my inner Scarlett drama queen.

On the other hand, I also would describe myself as low maintenance in the personal appearance department. I'm certainly no fashionista, and I can't be bothered by accessorizing or the perfect hair and makeup. I guess I'd probably describe my fashion taste as classic and minimalist.

Do any of these fit the bill? Please vote here or leave a comment! Sorry that I couldn't figure out how to include a blogpoll in my post. Anyone? Bueller?

In knitting news, the sleeves are now done and just barely attached to the body. I felt like the biggest dumba$$ trying to figure out which end of the needle to start knitting from when I was joining the sleeves to the body. Maybe I should have had more wine.

The Sockapaloooza Yukon Leaves socks are also coming along. I turned the heel and am 3 lace patterns into the leg now. Thanks to those who offered suggestions on the length of the foot. I tried to go with the 90% rule, but I ended up getting closer to 95% because I didn't know how much extra length the heel cup would add. Sigh. Oh well, the swatches don't seem to stretch as much length wise as they do width wise anyway, so maybe this is a good thing.

Sorry for the lack of knitting pictures today... I'm on the road yet again!

Hey, that's not burgundy, is it?

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. I didn't think Audrey would get such a positive response, so thank you thank you thank you for the little ego boost.

For those of you who expressed interest in making Audrey, I would definitely put out a word of warning. Shine is supposed to be a sport weight yarn, but I ended up getting something more of a fingering weight gauge out of it. I'm not sure if I ended up really stressed or what, but please keep that in mind so you can make adjustments. Also, I did end up making these gloves pretty small in comparison to my actual hand and forearm measurements: My hands are much more like 6.5" circumference. I did this because I had heard that Shine grows a bit after washing and I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be swimming in them when I was done.

Anyway, if you do end up making Audrey, please send me a picture or a link to your post, 'kay?

I haven't had much to report on knitting wise lately because it's just more and more of the sleeve on DF's zippered raglan. I swear the man has arms of a length to suggest that he may be the missing link between apes and man. Why oh why can't DF be a little person? I still have one last increase on the sleeves and then ANOTHER 3 inches of straight knitting before joining the sleeves to the body. It's the neverending sweater.

What do y'all think by the way of the increases in the ribbing? I have think that increases in ribbing looks a little strange, but maybe I'm just weird. Sorry for the dark picture, at least the sweater's not bright pink this time.

Sorry for the bland background. The porch is about the only place in my apartment building to get natural sunlight and prop up the camera for a self-portrait, so get used to the green stucco.

On another note, DF's parents and my parents are meeting for the first time tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed. I'm keeping the hard liquor handy. At least the plane ride will give me ample time to swatch for my Sockapaloooza socks.

So much for being regular

And it's not because I don't eat enough fiber. It's just that I thought I'd be able to post a bit more regularly that I have been. I'm all spurty for lack of a better word. But anyway, life just has a habit of getting in the way, eh?

So rather than spoiling you with pictures of a WIP that's this close to being done, I'd rather just unveil the whole thing all at once. Seems more magical when you haven't even seen anything about it before.

But I really have been knitting. I swear. Even on things that have been in my sidebar for ages. Like DF's (pink) Zippered Raglan sweater. I finished the body up to the armpits and have worked a few sets of increases on the sleeves. I carefully consulted Alison's corrections to the arm instructions (thanks for the reminder IronSteph!), and I realized that all she was trying to say was just make sure that you replace the ribs that you take out from the body with the ones you're adding back in for the sleeves. It doesn't really matter how much you increase or whether you finish with knits or purls under your arms so long as it matches. In my case, I'm taking out 4 purls, 4 knits, and 4 purls from the body where I'll attach the sleeves. So, that means that when I increase for my sleeve, I need to end up with 4 purls, 4 knits, and 4 purls centered around the underarm "seam". So pathetic that it took me reading through Alison's post about 40 times and tearing my hair out to figure this simple thing out.

Because you guys just can't get enough of the pink (burgundy) sweater...
I've also been planning out my future projects. Namely my Sockapaloooza socks. I just received my yarn in the mail. I went ahead and purchased the Regia Stretch and it's just as fabulously subtly variegated in person as it is on Sue's website. I think this should pass nicely for solid, while giving a little bit of oomph in the visual texture department.
As for the pattern, I've been debating this at length. My sock pal wants lace socks, and there are so many lace patterns that I've been wanting to try, but frankly, I'm a bit selfish. I know that if I make something for my sock pal, I won't get around to making them again so that I can keep them (serious 3rd and 4th sockitis here my friends).

Then it hit me, I should pay it forward. I was recently gifted with an amazing pair of Yukon Leaves socks that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE and wear as many days as I can without grossing out DF with my smelly feet. But, I figured, hey, I love these socks that I already have, but I haven't had the opportunity to knit them yet. If I make them for my sock pal, everybody gets what they want. She gets lace socks, I get to work on a pattern that I think I'll enjoy, and I'll still have a pair of these socks even after I give them away. I think we have a winner people!

Only question: is stretch wool a bad idea for lace?

Next up, DF's cousin has twins due in April, so with my lightning knitting pace, I should probably be starting their welcome present now or two months ago. Probably the cardigan (shown left) from Debbie Bliss' Baby Knits for Beginners book. At least I managed to start swatching with yarn that my future MIL purchased for me during a shopping as therapy session. Normally, I don't like novelty yarn so much, but this stuff I swear feels like a fluffy bath robe. Perfect for baby. Despite fondling the swatch, I didn't think too far ahead until I got home with my loot and actually read the label. Yes, it does say "eyelash" yarn on it. And what's up with not putting a knitting gauge on the label? Crochet only?

So if you actually rolled your mouse over the picture to see the back of the label, you may have noticed that they suggested a US8 crochet hook. So I figured I'd swatch with the same size needles. Disaster. I finally got a reasonable fabric after going down to size US3 needles to get 18 sts/4 in. Anyone know if crochet gauge is the same as knitting gauge, because damn I've never had to go down 5 needle sizes to get gauge before.

Here's what the swatch looks like BTW. I'm thinking that for the solids, I don't like the way the knit side looks as much as I like the purl side. There's a remarkable lack of stitch definition on the purl side that almost makes it look like I didn't even knit it but rather wove it that I really like. The colors come out funny on the purl side with the variegated yarn so I think I will use the knit side as the right side in this case. What do y'all think? Again, roll over the picture to see the purl side. I blatantly stole this HTML trick from Nona btw.

Oh, okay. Here's a sneak peak of the almost FO. Anyone up for Name that Yarn?

Let's play a game

How about, What's ticking off the Spaz today? Anyone want to hazard a guess? You do actually get 2, but the one where you say "Your stunning inability to photograph burgundy as anything other than pink?" doesn't count.
That's 12 inches of progress on DF's zippered Raglan, which translates into almost 2 full balls (30% ish) of progress. And, gotta love him, he still likes his sweater so far despite its imperfection.

gotta love having a camera...

Okay, my picture taking skills suck, as evidenced by the pictures on my last post. But since there was a request, I did finally take a picture of the lovely stitch marker that Chris sent to me. It's true color, and the fabric in the background is much closer to true color of DF's zippered raglan than the hot pink version I posted yesterday.
Also, I got a better picture of the pink variation in the Jaywalker socks. It's really hard to tell, but if you look closely, there are actually two different shades of pink between the khaki stripes. One is more peachy and the other is closer to cotton candy pink.
Not that DF is at all embarassed to wear pink. He may be accused of being a bit metro for it, but I still think he looks kind of hot in pink.

Must say though, I'm much happier with blogging now that my camera's back in my possession. One of the last pictures we took on the camera before my parents hijacked it:

Just outside Red Rocks Canyon, NV; November 2005

Beware!

I decided that I couldn't bear ripping out the Clapotis just yet... I still have to get up the nerve to rip out my first finished object of 2006 all the way to the beginning (the gauge was just not right). So instead I decided to cast on for something else on Saturday night. Let me present to you, the DF's zippered Raglan from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.
Yeah, not much to look at, is it? I'm most of the way through the first ball (out of an anticipated 7) of Malabrigo in burgundy. And might I say, there's nothing about this that could possibly make this a last minute gift. Let's face it, who can knit a MAN'S SWEATER at the last minute? I worked on this for hours and got a whopping 4.5 inches! Those are handmade stitch markers from Chris, by the way... I know, the picture just doesn't do it justice.

To try and relax from the slow progress on DF's sweater, I decided to work a little more on the DF's Jaywalkers. I'm just about ready to turn the heel on these babies, and maybe, just maybe I can have a FO for DF's birthday at the end of this month, and ALSO qualify me for a double entry in Chrissy's Sock-A-Month KAL. Just a word of caution though for anyone who does 2 socks on 2 circs... pay attention to what you're doing or you might end up with this (really bad picture... why can't I take indoor pictures?):

Anyone notice anything weird here?