No knits for you!

So I haven't been knitting that much lately... well save for a little charity project that Compatto is organizing. I've been in many times since my last post about them, and I'm really getting to like it there and keep wanting to go back. It doesn't hurt that I run by there about 3 times a week these days. I'm trying to convince myself that I'm training for a half-marathon, but I do have issues with follow-through at times. Keep me honest, and keep asking me about it!

Anyway, I did manage to finish a DH's godson's sweater on Tuesday at SNB this week. For such a small sweater, boy did it have a million ends to weave in! I'll post the FO picture at some point when it's finished drying. IF that ever happens.

So I'll leave you today with pictures. Yes, I know, wedding and honeymoon pictures are SO trite, but that's all I have and I still have yet to finish going through them all. And I swore to myself that I'd post about my entire honeymoon, so you are unforunately the ones who have to suffer through the slideshow.

For some reason, I really like this picture. Can't explain it, except that I think it's because neither of us looks like we have a stick up our butts posing for the camera. And well, we look happy. Can't ask for much more than that, right?

Routeburn Track Jan 1-3
The Routeburn Track is designated as one of New Zealands' Great Walks. They apparently go through and designate some of their hiking paths that they think are particularly beautiful or whatnot as Great Walks and then put in extra plush facilities. I think I'd agree that this one was a great walk. It was my first multi-day hike and yes, I carried a pack with my gear in it. It only weighed about 15 pounds, but I'm still proud of myself for doing it!


Anyway, here we are looking clean on our first day... that wouldn't last. This was just one of many mini waterfalls we encountered on the first day of the hike through the forest. Lots of crystal blue streams and swing bridges. We stayed at the most flash (not flash pasteurized as I originally thought, but rather swank, fancy, upscale) cabin you could imagine in the wilderness: gas stoves, mattresses, lights at night, flush toilets and running drinkable water were all provided. This was the view from our cabin at the Routburn Falls.

The second day we ascended above the tree line and walked up to a saddle between two mountains. I can't tell which is exactly the view from the saddle because it was all just so darned gorgeous, but here's what I think it looked like:

After the saddle, we walked along a very dry ridge which was really weird considering the lush green terrain we had experienced the day before. It's a good thing we like mountains because that's pretty much all we saw for this entire section of the track. We then descended back into a different type of forest that reminded DH of the Ent forest from Lord of the Rings and then arrived at our cabin. Again with a spectacular view:
The last day was spent again circling around a valley along a ridge with intermittent breaks in the forest to reveal more mountain scenery, but the highlight of the day was definitely the giant waterfall:

We like waterfalls. I don't like how dirty I was by this time, and thankfully you can't smell us here, but we still had fun.

And I dare say that I might have liked this hiking thing. *gasp!* Don't let DH find out or else he may send us on some two week winter camping expedition through the Andes with a 3000 vertical gain daily.

So now what?

I'm sure that anyone who's had a big blowout wedding has probably experienced this... the so now what phase. I've spent most of the last year stressing out about getting married (notice I didn't say planning... my mom took care of everything. I just stressed out) so now that I am married, what the heck to worry about now?

Well, conveniently, the holidays are coming up! I could stress out about how I've spent the past many months selfishly knitting myself 4 sweaters, but I've decided that a stressed out Spaz is an unpleasant Spaz. So, people get what they get if I decide to make them something. I may even NOT knit for one or more of the three newborns coming up this spring. Who'd a thunk it? Does that make me self-centered? Maybe. But does that also make Mr. McSpazzitron happier? I'm quite sure it will.

Decided to finish up a UFO after having absolutely nothing new to cast on for. Yes, I guess that means that technically I was lying about not having anything on the needles, but long forgotten projects don't count, do they? It was a bag that I had looming for quite some time. So long in fact that I can't even remember when I cast on for it. Anyway, it required about 3 balls of Kureyon, and I had visions of an uber-cute flap type bag along these veins. But instead... here's what I ended up with:
I knit fug. I'll admit it. It was best laid plans, but it's just plain fugly. I think it had promise, but it just turned out strangely proportioned: 13.5" wide and 5.5" tall... aesthetically unpleasing. It started out as a good enough idea... knit a multidirectional bag using two circular needles to avoid seaming that still ended up with a three dimensional bag instead of just a flat pouch. If I had it to do over, I would have added an extra ball, shortened the straps and knit it a bit taller and omitted the flap. Yes it would have ended up being a run-of-the-mill bucket bag but the corners knit on the diagonal at least would have provided some interest . I took notes as I went in case anyone else wants to reproduce my fug.

The worst part of it all? Kureyon felts SO slow and I spent an hour and a half of my life standing over a steaming kitchen sink hand fulling this thing, and it's not even completely felted. I'm starting to rethink my luck with knit bags. Witness the tweed misproportioned flatness completely devoid of any function despite its promises of being a "roomy tote". And yet...

BTW, did anyone notice that the top in the picture is actually a real pattern? How did I miss that before? If only I had tons of scraps in the same yarn to play with this. I could totally go for a tartan plaid top... maybe just without the shoulder draping panels though. Whoa. I think I just got my engineering geek on there. Only engineers and the late Payne Stewart can pull of plaid.

Mrs. McSpazzitron!

Okay, okay, I did it! I'm officially Mrs. DH! We had a great time at the wedding, and for the most part everything came off without a hitch. All I can say is that when they opened the doors to the church and I started walking down the aisle, I couldn't stop myself from smiling from ear to ear and had to restrain myself from giddy laughter. It was such a high. And marrying my DF, now DH, is everything I could have hoped for. But he still smells. Anyway, I posted a link to the photographer's webpage on my wedding blog, so if you're really all that interested, feel free to flip through the 1400 pictures...

But nothing's changed on the knitting front... I'm still madly knitting away.

Icarus Shawl by Miriam Felton
Pattern in Interweave Knits Summer 2006
Materials: Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud (100% alpaca. 440 yards per 50g ball) 80g in Horizon. Size US3 32" Addi Turbo circular needle.
Gauge: Does it matter on a lace shawl?
Finished size: 32" from neck to center point and 75" along neck edge.
Total yarn cost: $8 from Knitpicks

Started: August 1, 2006
Finished: October 9, 2006

Modifications: eliminated one of the stockinette repeats... so how did it end up this BIG?

Discussion:
One of my friends said that triangular shawls are like puppies, they start out all cute and small... and then they grow. I'd have to agree with this project. I just about wanted to pull all my hair out so that I'd match DH by the time I got to the second to last chart. Then he went away and left me to my own devices. Which meant that I ate too much junk food, drank a lot of soda and watched the entire first season of Grey's Anatomy as I finished the last two charts of this project.

I had intended to finish this shawl in time for the wedding. I did... and it was blocked 4 whole days before the wedding, but alas, it stayed in the car in the mad rush to get dressed. So while I was freezing in my reception for the first hour, it sat idly by and watched me freeze from the garage.

But, it's not too awful. I didn't have a shawl pin, and I have absolutely no idea how to wear a shawl. See picture at right. We'll see if this one's a keeper. Hard to say because it's just so yummy soft, but again, I'm pretty petite and this shawl certainly isn't.

Previous posts about this project:
Last post as Miss McSpazzitron on October 6, 2006
MIA again on June 9, 2006

Sienna Cardigan by Anne E. Smith
Pattern in Interweave Knits Fall 2006
Materials: Plymouth Suri Merino (50% alpaca, 50% wool. 109 yd per 50g ball) 340g in color 799. Size 8 24" Addi Turbo circular needles.
Gauge: 18 sts and 24 rows per 4"
Finished size: 32" bust, 20.5" long, 22" from shoulder seam to cuff.
Total yarn cost: $25 from Bo Peeps Wool Shop

Started: October 4, 2006
Finished: October 22, 2006

Modifications:
I changed the gauge because I didn't think that the published finished size was a good size for me and also because I didn't think I could get gauge with this yarn. I went ahead and just used the same stitch count and row count for everything and went with the principle that all proportions would shrink down appropriately with the smaller gauge. Also, picked up button bands and collar stitches all at once instead of separately and seaming the collar to the button bands.

Discussion:
Okay, so the style is a tad on the old librarian side, but hey, everyone needs a cardigan, right? At least it's not black. But more importantly, this is my first seamed set-in sleeve sweater, and I didn't have any major seaming issues this time! It took me the better part of 4 hours to just set in the sleeves, sew sleeve and side seams, but I honestly think I did a pretty good job. I even took a picture of it. Okay, most normal people don't take pictures of the inside of their sweaters, but I thought the seams and the places where I picked up stitches around the button band and collar look very nice. I'm taking a step away from the super Chinese mentality and actually allowing myself to say that something is good without wishing it would be better.

The shape is pretty classic, so what makes this sweater different is the details. First of all, I don't think that the picture in IK did a very good job at actually showing what the faggoting cables along the front edges looks like, so I took a close up here. I didn't realize that the inside of the cables was open until I started knitting the front... and that was a pleasant surprise.

I even had a good time picking out buttons for this piece. I chose these buttons because they're a classic shape and color, but the swirls of green in them picked up the color of the sweater so perfectly it just made it that much better. And by the way, when sewing buttons to your sweaters, how do you do it? I took one ply of the yarn I used on the sweater and used that, but the individual plies are so easy to break that I'm a bit worried about it.

And the cuffs. There wasn't a good picture of what the cuffs looked like in the photo spread either. So here's mine. The directions tell you to go back to the cast on edge at the cuff and pick up stitches and then immediately cast off. I tried this, but my usual cast-off is so tight and when I went up a couple of needle sizes, it still didn't look like anything much. So I decided to try out the lace cast off that was used on the Icarus Shawl. I like the way it looks... kind of like it was crocheted on, and it's stretchy!

So now what? I have absolutely NOTHING on the needles right now. How crazy is that? I guess I could start on my Christmas knitting, but I'm feeling really selfish right now. I think this is a holdover from last year's crazy holidy knitting blowout. How much fun will this be when I start to panic come November? Stay tuned...

Last post as Miss McSpazzitron

Because next time, I guess I'll be Mrs. McSpazzitron! and DF will turn into DH. Sadly though, dear husband just doesn't have quite the same ring as dumb f*&^#! or *sigh* dear fiancee. Wish me luck in the next week and hope that we come out on the other side of it okay. But, we'll be wearing these when all is said and done, and I LIKEE!

But in the meantime, I should probably show you all the pictures of everything that I've been working on in the past two months of non-blogging.

I started on Icarus and while it's STILL not done, it doesn't look that much different from this:

Sadly, this picture was taken two months ago, and it's still not done. At least now I'm done with the stockinette part and only have 23 really LOOONG rows left to go.

But here are the FO's in finishing order:
Two-Tone Bag
Pattern by Kathy Merrick in Fall 2005 Interweave Crochet
Materials: Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed (100% wool, 100 yd) 200g each in color 06 and 04. Size H hook.
Gauge: 15 HDC = 4"
Finished size: 23" wide and 16.5" deep

Started: August 4, 2006
Finished: August 28, 2006

Discussion:
I see why crochet is so popular. It goes just so darned fast! The only problem with this bag is that the handles stretch a lot and the size. I've decided that the red-headed Interweave model must be about 7 feet tall because in the picture it looked like a great roomy tote, but on my it's clown-sized. Completely out of proportion for my height-challenged frame. I was planning on using it only for a knitting bag since it's huge and well, knitting doesn't tend to be very heavy but can definitely be bulky. It doesn't keep stuff in very well, so I might consider felting the whole thing, but I'm still as yet undecided there.

Previous posts about this project:
Really MIA on September 24, 2006
43+ on August 31, 2006
Back again on August 13, 2006



Hooded Pullover
Pattern by Vladimir Teriokhin in Fall 2005 Vogue Knitting
Materials: Filatura di Crosa Ultralight (53% alpaca, 22% wool, 25% nylon. 154 yards per 50g ball) 270g in color 61. Size 7 Addi turbo circulars.
Gauge: 4 sts/in
Finished size: 34" chest

Started: May 4, 2006
Finished: September 18, 2006

Modifications:
Knit the sleeves in the round from the top down by picking up the total number of stitches called for in the pattern before sleeve cap shaping and reversing the sleeve cap shaping with short rows around the armscye. Lengthened the length of the hood.

Discussion:
I discovered yet again that I'm short with a long neck and sputnik sized head with this sweater. The high empire waist ribbing on the model looks cute, but on me, DF says, what's up with that weird ribbing thing around your middle? It's supposed to accent the boobage, I think, but I'm not sure. Instead it just sits in a weird place on my ribcage. Oh well, it's roomy and comfy and just a little warm. Not as warm as I had hoped because well, the huge slash down the neckline to my belly button allows for a lot of heat escaping.

Also, this was a good candidate for playing, "What's she hiding?" The model is looking down at the ground and has her hands up by her ears supposedly "pulling" on exercise rings on the beach. Okay, we all know that these models are starved to the point of not being able to hold themselves up, so what's really going on here? Well, it's the abysmal hood shaping really. The instructions have you knit until the hood measures 6.5" from where you pick up stitches around the neckline, then knit about 1" of top shaping and bind off. Well, the last time I checked, most people have necks AND heads, so the hood comes out to be way too small to allow for anyone to have both of those body parts without the shoulders of the sweater pulling up around your ears. So much for the "roomy hood" in the description.

A note about the yarn substitution... I'm pretty happy about the alpaca blend that I used here. It's a bit rougher than I'd have hoped for an alpaca, but it certainly gives the same fluffy appearance as the Skacel Alpaca Leggero that's suggested in the pattern. But given that I couldn't possibly afford (at least I don't really want to) 16 balls of the stuff at about $10 a ball, I was especially happy with my substitution at $25 for the sweater. The color really isn't that neon pink, BTW, it's much more muted, but still hot pink. Yes, my wonderful photographic skills when it comes to reds rears its head again.

This sweater was really pretty straight forward. The time it took me to knit it is not at all indicative of how difficult it was. I blame the protracted knitting time on alpaca not being terribly fun to deal with when it's 100 degrees outside.

Previous posts about this project
Really MIA on September 24, 2006
Decision point on June 2, 2006
Designing on May 31, 2006
Legacy on May 9, 2006

Cross Over Tank
Pattern by Gayle Bunn in Spring/Summer 2005 Vogue Knitting
Materials: Patons Katrina (92% rayon, 8% polyester. 163 yards per 100g ball) 240g in Lilac. Size 7 Addi Turbo circulars 24".
Gauge: 21 sts/4"
Finished size: 24.5" bust (unstretched)

Started: September 24, 2006
Finished: October 2, 2006

Modifications:
Omitted side seams and neckband seams.

Discussion:
Who in the world would want to seam with elastic yarn? With my finishing capabilities, I knew that the seaming would have been a disaster if I had elastic yarn thrown into the mix, so I deferred to seamless knitting. In the end I had a total of 6 ends to weave in. I like that.

And let me just say, never again will I knit a tank top with 6 inches of negative ease no matter what they say about the stretchiness of the resulting fabric. It's just plain scary to see something that small come off the needles. I like it too though, and with the help of Elann I think I managed the cheapest garment of the year. Okay maybe my super on sale t-shirts from the gap were cheaper, but can you really beat $8 for a hand knit garment? For an adult?

Oy, I just noticed that I'm wearing this tank backwards in the picture. There's supposed to be interior waist darts on the front that you don't see here. Oh well, at least it's mostly reversible!

Ugh. Gotta get my hair chopped off after the wedding. These last few pictures were just HIDEOUS! If you're still reading this, man are you devoted! Thanks for hanging in there with me and I'll be gone for at least a week or two. Hopefully there will be more non-knitting related pictures to share by then.

Really MIA

So sorry about not posting in almost a month... it's been a bit crazy here. I think in the past 6 weeks, I've been in LA for all of a 2 weeks TOTAL if you add up the weekends here and there and random days I've dropped off my bags to dump the dirty clothes and immediately pack again. Anyway, the rantings and ravings will be on pause for a little while longer. I promise some effort in this blog in, wait, what does the countdown tell me... 19 days or so.

The quick and dirty (and pictureless) update is:

1. tension is mounting as the date draws closer... I think everyone just wants it to be here already and we're all just getting antsy
2. finished VK fall 2005 hooded pullover on Sept 18
3. finished my first crochet project (two tone bag in Fall 2005 Interweave Crochet)since forever ago on Aug 21, but it's a bit strangely proportioned for my body and the straps stretch
4. clearly I'm almost exactly a year behind in my projects!
5. am about 75% of the way through Icarus
6. have been a bad bad girl when it comes to sock yarn

Pretty much, nothing really changes around here except for the frequency of my posting! Hope all is well with all of you, and thanks for the kind comments on the pics from my last post.

43+

So yes, I have disappeared off the face of the planet. But it's because I have been working on that thing that I'm counting down to on my sidebar, which right now tells me I have a little over 43 days remaining. Yes, it's been hectic, but actually things are coming together nicely.

I won't bore you with all the details, but I thought I'd at least share a pic with you. This is what we paid a professional to do to my hair:

Okay, not really. This is after I took out all of the pins and elastic and everything that was holding it all together and all that was left is the hair spray. I took my mug shots bridal portraits today and was just happy to let my hair down afterwards and give my scalp a break. If you're not DF, click HERE for a really FUNNY outtake from that session that my dad took. No, you don't get a real one until after the wedding.

On the knitting front, I finished the Two Tone Bag on Monday. Apparently I've been extremely horrible about blogging because I haven't yet managed to actually post any progress pictures. Oh well, I guess you'll just have to wait for the FO picture. I'm hoping it won't be 43 days from now.

Wedding dress!

Okay, I know I shouldn't post it, but I just can't help myself. I just picked up my dress over the weekend and I LOVE it! The manufacturer doesn't have a size chart, so they just cut the dress to your measurements, and let me just say, no alterations for fit are necessary. Whew! I just have to get the train bustled and that's it.

Anyway, for anyone who may be curious to see what it looks like, CLICK HERE or HERE. Please ignore the bad tan lines and funny look on my face on the latter... I didn't want the dress shop to have to stand there taking pictures of me all afternoon until I looked right. I think I showed DF already, but just in case I didn't and he wants to be surprised (which the answer is, I'll look if you want me to - how frustrating to not just get a yes/no answer!), I didn't want to just put the pictures up for accidental viewing.

Also, I finished two more objects... or at least one plus close to another. One is a baby sweater and the other is a tank top for myself. I'm not quite done with the tank since I need to weave in the ends and block. But it should be done tonight with no pics until later this week since I'm in San Francisco almost all week.

BTW, it's cooled down here significantly... I was walking at lunch wishing that I had brought my Blackberry it was so cool: 60-65 degrees!

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!

Nightmares

I've been having nightmares lately. I'm not sure what it says about me that I dream about my wedding, but I have the wrong dress and it doesn't fit. Or that I'm getting on the plane to go to New Zealand for the honeymoon and all of the sudden, the flight went from being a 12+ hour flight to an 20+ hour flight and darn it if the only thing I have in my knitting bag is a sweater that I only need to weave in ends on.

After waking up in a cold sweat from the last dream, I made sure that for this last trip, I had plenty to keep my needles busy despite recognizing the need to sleep on the redeye on the way out. I did manage some progress though:

Molly's Headband
Pattern: by Pam Allen in Interweave Knits Summer 2006
Yarn: Zen Yarn Garden Superwash Merino (100% superwash merino wool, 250 yards.) ~20g of a 117g skein in color Passionfruit.
Gauge: Didn't measure it! Knit on size 6 Addi Turbo circulars, 24".
Finished size: 17" long without ties and 3.25" wide.

Started and Finished: July 1, 2006

Quick to knit and easy to memorize. It's a great use for leftover sock yarn sitting in your stash. In fact, I still have enough Zen Yarn Garden to make a slightly smaller version. I think I made it a bit too long and too wide for my head. Despite what DF would argue (my head is not the size of Sputnik, nor do I need snaps at the shoulders of my shirts to allow for the passage of my ginormous head!), I think I have a relatively small head. The next one I make will have one fewer stitch in the stockinette panels and I think I'll make it shorter.

For the cheapskate in me... How cool is that? A pair of socks and 2 headbands from one skein of yarn?

For the rest of you, would anyone be interested in taking this larger version off my hands? Leave me a comment if you know someone who might like a very girly colored headband...

Okay, if you can tear your eyes away from the train wreck that is my hair in the above picture, I actually have more knitting projects previously unblogged. Having completed the above headband in record time (for me anyway) I cast on for a baby present on Sunday after an all day and not quite all night Fourth of July picnic - my hands were a bit twitchy from not having knit all day... I had to at least cast on and get a few rounds in!

My friend is due any day now, so I'm feeling the heat to get this one done. The pattern is the Ribbon Tied Dress in Special Knits for Babies by Debbie Bliss. I'm using up some Microspun left over in my stash. Yay for stashbusting! Anyway, I have woven in all the ends on the body and am getting ready to add the sleeves. Of course, I could just give up now and call it a jumper, but I sort of like the idea of a winter dress. It's freaking huge at 19" across the chest (despite downsizing from the 3-6 month size specified in the pattern), so by the time the baby has any chance of fitting into it, it'll be winter anyway.

The ladybug is just because it seemed appropriate for a child's sweater and the SD card is for scale.

A decision... and an FO!

Thanks everyone for piping in with your opinions on the wedding dresses. It appears that the winner of the popular vote by a landslide was for dress #1. That one BTW was the most expensive by a good margin... you guys have posh taste! So in keeping with a true dictatorship that chez Spaz is, I've polled the people, heard their desires, and decided to go with dress #2 instead.

This was an interesting lesson in psychology here. I seriously didn't know which one I was leaning towards when I posted the pics. But when the votes started coming in, I found myself getting all kinds of defensive for dress #2: I cheered when people voted for it, I sneered when people voted for #1, and I got downright ugly when the votes were tallied. I figured that this must mean that in my heart, I truly wanted dress #2 if that was my reaction. So, this isn't quite the Today Show throws a wedding, but I really truly do appreciate your opinions. Thanks so much for taking the time respond.

And on to what everyone really wants to hear about... an FO!


Sockapaloooza Socks
Pattern: Yukon Leaves
Materials: Regia 4ply Stretch (70% wool, 23% polyamide, 7% polyester Elite. 200m) A little under 2 skeins in color 87 (denim). Size US2 Addi turbo circulars , 24" and 32".
Gauge: 7.5 sts/in in stockinette
Finished size: 8" circumference, 10" toe to heel.

Started: February 24, 2006
Finished: March 9, 2006

Notes
I think I may have mentioned this already, but I deviated from the pattern by working the socks toe up using a Turkish Caston and substituting a short row heel for the heel flap and gusset. Otherwise, no major modifications.

Discussion
I loved making these socks. The lace pattern was incredibly easy to memorize (I managed to get the hang of it after I *gasp* swatched). I'm loving the 2 socks on 2 circulars method even though I never feel like I'm going very fast.

I worked a regular toe shape for the first time on this sock, and I'm not sure I got the increases quite right. I think my increases look a bit wonky in general, but I ended up using K1, M1B (insert left tip under strand between needles from the back and K), K to within 1st of end of row, M1F (insert left tip under strand from the front and Ktbl), K1. I'm not sure if you can see this from the photo, but I didn't end up with crisp increase lines like I usually get with paired decreases, but instead it looks like there are little purl bumps running alongside the increase sts. Does this mean that I reversed the direction of the paired increases?

And, drumroll please... no gaping holes at the sides of the heel! I used that magic trick of pulling the sts around the holes tight to close up the hole and distributing the excess yarn through the rest of the row. So the holes are much smaller, though still a bit noticeable if you look carefully.


I really hope that my Sockapaloooza pal likes these... they're not quite solid like she asked, but I just couldn't bring myself to using a completely solic color. I'm also paranoid about the fit since this is the first time I've made a garment that's meant to fit snugly without having the actual recipient on hand to try them on as I went along. The lace is pretty stretchy so it fits both my feet and DF's feet when we tried them on at the beginning, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Previous posts about this project:
It's not election day but... on March 5, 2006
Mission accomplished on February 26, 2006
So much for being regular on February 16, 2006
Blogging grand rounds on February 7, 2006

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!

Mission Accomplished

Thanks everyone for your reassurance that the acopalypse was not at hand, and generations of in-laws for thousands of years had in fact managed to meet without killing each other . My parents met DF's parents with nary a hitch worse than several hours of awkward confersation on the first day. That's nothing that a good mango mousse and cat skinning (a.k.a. karaoke) could't alleviate. My apologies to all of you cat lovers out there. And *gasp* they found that they may have something in common: complaining about their children.

Also accomplished this weekend, a friend I've known for almost 20 years got hitched. It was worth the fondue set and the plane ticket to see half of my prom date get lassoed into matrimony while the other half stood by in utter shock like the rest of us. In case you missed that, I asked, strike that, told, two of my high school friends that they were coming to the prom with me. I believe it went something like this:

Me: Joe, you're not going to prom, are you?
Joe: No. *suspiciously* Why?
Me: Okay, you, Drew and I are going. I bought tickets for the three of us already. I think you and Drew should pick up dinner.
Drew: Huh. It's like an invitation and a bill all rolled into one.

Fast forward 19 years:
Joe: Drew asked me to be in his wedding yesterday.
Me: Really? Are you a groomsman?
Joe: No, I don't think so. He would have mentioned that. He just said I didn't have to do much.
Me: Are you sure? I was looking at the website and there were five bridesmaids and four groomsmen and all the other slots look filled.
Joe: No, I really think Drew would have asked me to be a groomsman, not just to be part of the wedding.
Me: okay... if you say so.

Two days later:
Joe: yeah. Apparently I'm a groomsman. I saw it on the webpage.

Poor Joe. How does he always manage to be on the receiving end of all of our crap? At least I managed to make roles clear even if I didn't manage to get around to asking for permission first. If only I could combine efforts with Drew, we could maybe get it right eventually.

To characterize Drew as saying that he's incredibly efficient with the words he does manage to utter would be selling him short. He's a genuinely good guy, and I'm happy to see that all the years of waiting to see if the right girl could possibly motivate him to date and move out of his parents' house have paid off. J is so sweet and giving, and he totally needs someone to take care of him. She brings out a side in him that we've never had the chance to see. That probably makes her perfect for him.

In less sappy news, I did manage to swatch for my Sockapaloooza Yukon Leaves socks. This Regia Stretch color is perfect. The variegation is so subtle that it just makes the fabric shimmer. And be proud: I actually SWATCHED and *gasp* blocked my swatch instead of making a full sized swatch. Roll your mouse over the picture to see Before Blocking pictures.



Incidentally, I found that my lace pattern gauge is the same as my stockinette gauge. Did you hear that? Not only did I swatch, but I swatched in two different stitch patterns! Hell is definitely getting a bit chilly these days.

I cast on Friday toe up again. I am all kinds of paranoid since I used up some of the yarn for the swatch and I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't run out (my sock pal apologized for having big feet). I used the Turkish cast on yet again, and I'm still loving it. I had to rip out my first attemp because I was using raised left and right increases to shape a standard toe, but then I ended up hating the way it looked. I changed the increases to M1B (insert left needle under the loop between the sts from the back and K), K2, M1F (insert left needle under the loop between the sts from the front and Ktbl) and I liked that a lot better.

So far, I've finished the toes and have gotten 3.75 inches into it. I'm not entirely sure what to do about the foot length though. My sock pal gave me measurements of her foot, but she didn't specify what she'd like the finished measurements to be. I'm going with the guideline of 90% of actual foot circumference for the sock circumference, but I'm not sure about how long to make it. Should I go with 90% of the length as well?

Houston, we have liftoff!

Okay, I know that I haven't blogged in about 10000 years, but traveling for nearly 3 weeks in a row and leaving again this weekend has wreaked havoc on my blogging, reading and posting. So no, I don't hate you, and I have a lot of commenting to do, but be patient...

On my to update list: secret santa and other Christmas swag, the Christmas knitting recap, projects for 2006 and progress on new projects I've cast on. I swear, I really have been knitting a lot, just not blogging much.

Today's is a quick post, but I wanted to share that WE'VE SET A DATE!!!

Drumroll please...

On October 14, 2006 at 7:00 pm at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Houston I will officially become Mrs. DF.

Let the mayhem ensue.

The scanner is my friend

Being a blogger without a camera sucks. But the scanner is my friend. I haven't been able to show off my recent Christmas related FO's becuase they just haven't fit on the scanner! I finished my grandfather's Hoodie Boogie Rock and cast on for the last of the trio on Wednesday. I also cast on Wednesday for Unbiased Redux. I wasn't going to show it because I don't think you can make out much from the scan, but oh well, you twisted my arm.

See? Can't tell a bit from that, right? It's not everything I hope it to be, but I think it might be too early to tell just yet. I've decided that this would be perfect for a felted Kureyon version too. Just have to finish this first, and then I can experiment!

On the DF knitting front, he finished the knitting on our friend DL's (those are his initials) Bones hat. It just needs a bit of seaming for the hem and the back where DF had to work back and forth. Not a bad attempt at intarsia, huh? Actually, it's stranded, so it's more Fair Isle, I guess. Anyway, project number 5 under his belt now, and 3 (including this one) without a pattern! I wonder, is this a man trait to just fly by the seat of your pants and knit with an idea of what you want but no directions? He's not bad, huh?


In non-knitting news, I managed to send off a secret santa package today! I'm notoriously bad about sending gifts that I already have to their intended recipients, so this is amazing for me. Which reminds me of a story my cousin told me earlier this week about his adventures in Christmas shopping.

So he went into a dollar store to pick up some stuff for our family's secret santa exchange. Only it's not secret since we all know who drew who. I guess that's more of a gift exchange. Anyway. When he walks into the store:

Clerk: You're back!
Cousin: Um, no, not exactly.
Clerk: Yes you are, you're the guy who likes to collect the Chinese figurines!
Cousin: Um, no!! What kind of pansy do you take me for exactly?
Clerk: Sorry about that, let me ring you up.
***
Clerk: Um... yeah. Do you need a bag for your items? *holding up the girls' opaque tights*

So what would you think if you were a 19 year old boy and you open up your Christmas present only to find: one pair girls' tights, a block of chalk, and leather work gloves? Looking to get him arrested, is what I think!

Actually, it's all for climbing. You cut up the tights and fill it with chalk so your hands don't get sweaty, and the work gloves are to help manage the rope if you so desire. I guess you could probably use trouser socks, but I think the tights might be cheaper.

On the wedding front, still nothing has been decided. A new wrench was thrown into the mix this week: we found out that DF's grandfather's cancer hasn't gone away, it's spread to distant organs. We're thinking about whether it would increase the chances of him attending if we move the date up from the fall. I don't know.

BTW, has anyone else noticed some strange behavior of Bloglines and people's blogs who are hosted on blogger? I haven't seen blogs light up in bold for the past couple of days, but if I click on the feed, there are unread posts in it. Did I do something weird?

Tuesday is pictureless knitalong day

Yes yes, I've been MIA. I blame it on the frenzied knitting and eating and family visiting and flying and... I'll just shut up now.

This post will be short since I have more frenzied knitting to get back to, but in an effort to stay on my promised knitalong updates on Tuesdays (it's 10pm PST, it still counts!) here's the lowdown:
1. DF finished the strap on Unbiased and it was given to future SIL over the weekend. I had to beg DF not to give it to her because it just didn't measure up to spaz standards. I wanted to hide behind DF when future SIL opened the gift. I was too ashamed. Her suggestion was to add a zipper or some other closure to make it a bit functional. I thought it might work well as a trashcan liner myself.
2. I finished Light Petrol. Only a minor amount of spazzing on the neckline and armhole openings for this one. Amazing, ain't it?
3. I cast on for Hoodie Boogie Rock 2 for my grandfather. It's flying this time since I've already worked out most of the pattern details and changed the cable border to garter stitch border. I think this border is significantly more masculine.

No pictures still since the camera is with my parents. I'll post summary posts at some point to clear out my sidebar I swear, but they'll have to be pictureless.

BTW, has anyone noticed that since announcing my engagement early on in the life of this blog, not a peep has been mentioned about the W word? Honestly, it's because I'm SCARED SHITLESS of the planning process. Could it be my perfectionist, OCD tendencies? Or maybe my need to please everyone? Or perhaps I'm afraid of the Catholic church refusing to marry us pagans (okay, it's just me)? Or even, by some wild stretch of the imagination, maybe I could be afraid of offending every family member we have and just elope. Anyone have a paper bag so I don't pass out?

Also, I noticed that haloscan has been slowly eating my early comments. Do they delete comments after a certain number, or do they just delete them after a certain period of time? Thinking more and more about just paying for a blog...

A good weekend

Yesterday we went to the Santa Monica Fiber Arts Festival. I didn't get all that into it, but I did manage to get away from the whole thing with only a minor enhancement to my stash: Enough sock weight yarn for 2 charlotte's web shawls + 2 pairs of socks and some sari silk for a shoulder bag.




After that, we went and picked up more yarn for Ryan's second project, an organizer for his climbing accessories. I guess he's picturing a much larger version of those zippered manicure sets, but in addition to nail clippers and skin nippers, this will hold things like climbing tape, NuSkin, and ClimbOn. This will hopefully slide easily into the man bag and he's hoping it will coordinate with his chalk pot. I cannot do justice to the sheer ridiculousness of the appearance of the finished project, so I'll just show you the yarn he picked out for it.

I decided that the Charlotte's Web shawl I had started was just too ugly to even give away to Goodwill, so I frogged the whole thing and started over. Hence the new yarn from the Santa Monica Arts Festival. I made pretty good progress so far as the shawl is a pretty easy lace pattern. The colors definitely blend much better this time.

In other non-knitting news, I got engaged on Saturday night. Hmmm, I wonder if that should have come first? So quite typical of the couple that we were, a few moments afterwards...


This went on until we turned the radio on and heard:
"This is KCRW: 89.9 FM Santa Monica. It's 4:40 AM..."

I think we're addicted.