In Like a Lion, or a Lamb

When you realize how perfect everything is
you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.
-Buddha

Sometimes it's great to live in Southern California. I know my mom is happy about her snow day today, but she did just get plane tickets to come see me. Probably for weekends like this. This weekend I had a brief respite from a crazy call schedule and actually got 2 whole days off. In a row. Imagine that! I spent the last day of February roller-blading around Mission Bay Park, which is pretty much straight out of a movie set. Wind in my hair, music in my iPod. Kites. Laughing children. Lots of palm trees.

I then spent the first day of March finishing my husband's cotton anniversary sweater and watching the end of Veronica Mars, Season 1 with my deployment buddy. (Teen girl noir, filmed in San Diego, what's not to love?) That was after a rather distressing attempt to buy cute sundresses for the coming home that's coming up. I know it's a recession and all, but by the time I haven't seen my husband for seven months, I'm really not wearing gray or black. I spend far too much time daydreaming about making the cover of Life magazine!

Regardless, March promises to be a good month. Out of the ICU onto the less-punishing call schedule of the wards, flowers blooming everywhere, and - not least of all - the end of the deployment is in sight. I don't mean soon, exactly, but at least in sight. (It's also classified, so you'll probably hear about it next when you see us looking really cute and happy on the cover of life magazine. Right after the Obamas get a Portugese Water Dog like my parents' dog.)

I did a great deal of knitting this weekend, and I have a whole bunch of stockinette stitch hanging out, courtesy of the ICU. I've also been a bit lax in my blogging habit, so I'm going to get back on an even-day blogging schedule. Consider today a bit of a catch up, and a sneak peak:

Seaming of the anniversary sweater:The beginnings of Laila's Stockings in a delightful blue and gold:
Finally done with Bondegard, featuring the world's most adorable buttons: Stay tuned for a veritable parade of FOs and WIPs.

A Sleeve Conundrum

I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms

from the statues that are in all the other museums.

-Stephen Wright

Some of you with long memories may remember a distant time last month when I was on the cusp of finishing not one, but two Dale of Norway sweaters. I put up a bad dimly lit photo of a blocking sweater, mentioned in passing that the sleeves were too long, and that seemed to be the end of that.

Well, it wasn't really. I thought long and hard about my options for fixing this sweater:

1. Cut and rip and graft in any manner of ways to make the sleeves shorter.
2. Find someone with longer arms.

I went with option #2. It was obvious, really. I love the sweater. It's a cute, versatile kind of pullover that I'd been meaning to make for a while. And it was a great fun knit. But the gray kind of washed me out, I wanted to start a new project rather than rip and graft a lace pattern, and - this is the part that really made up my mind - I could think of a perfect recipient.

Meet my sister-in-law. She's very nice, a new knitter, an even newer blogger (you can check that out here and leave encouraging comments - remember your first blogging days? But please ignore the worst-ever photo of me in the world. Thank you.), and - best yet - she's a couple of inches taller than me. With the required longer arms (see below for confirmation). Plus, it just looks better on her than it did on me.

Gerbera
Pattern: From Dale of Norway Book 121 (now OOP)
Yarn: Dale of Norway Sisik (now discontinued)
Needles: US 5 and 6
Notes: I blocked the body before deciding how long it should be (important in a lace project) and neglected to do the same with the sleeves.
Best Thing About This Project: Getting to give it in person. And check out that wingspan!

Guess What I Finished

Oh, well, I guess this is just going to be one of those lifetimes.
-Stephen Wright

I just had to hijack (my own) Time Machine Tuesday to bring you this:
Look what I finished!

The best part? You can get some modeled shots next week. The model is coming home.

How To Work on Three Sweaters At Once

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.

-Doug Larson

By (unintentionally) not blogging, of course. Between the every third night call schedule, and forging ahead with my knitting projects, this here blog has been a bit neglected. The upside is that now I have so much knitting to catch up on (and a better schedule come Monday), you'll be up to your ears in blogging!

The other best way to work on three sweaters at once? To finish one, of course: Gerbera, the sweater my husband calls my "Dale non-ski sweater" in a perplexed fashion, is done. The only downside? The difficulties of measuring gauge in a lace pattern mean that the sleeves are too long. You can see the pattern trajectory from here - what's the best way to shorten them? More on that later.

The other two sweaters are coming along - the Dale Ski Sweater - is almost done. Thanks to some sunlit time off today, I sewed the steeks. And then forged right ahead with the cutting, and the sewing of the sleeves, and the working on the neckband . . . Not much more!

And that third sweater, the Bed and Breakfast Pullover, has finally made it to it's rightful place as my go-to project at home. . . just in time start some new projects for April. I am loving making so many larger projects right now, in keeping with that grand plan for the year.

Saturday Fun

Happiness is having a large, close-knit, caring family in another city.
-George Burns

When was the last time you had to fill a whole bathtub to block your project?

Breaking Them In

You got them, and they were stiff as a board, and you broke them in.
-Levi Strauss

The buttons are fabulous. The sweater is perfect. I've worn it nearly every day since finishing it, and it's perfect for bopping around town. My town, or the central coast of California, as luck may have it. For all of my plans to knit ski sweaters, mittens, and all the fun things I love to knit, this is a great sweater for the California climate. I like it buttoned up, but it also works unbuttoned, or partly buttoned.

Shaped Denim Aran
Pattern: from Debbie Bliss' The Celtic Collection
Yarn: Elann.com Den-M-Knit in Dark Indigo, 15 skeins (pattern called for 17 skeins of Rowan Denim)
Needles: US6 for the body, US 4 for the borders
Notes: No real pattern modifications. I was surprised and (pleasantly) amazed that the denim shrinking thing worked so well.
Best Thing About This Project: It was a product knit more than a process thing, and I love the product.

Win From Behind

May God grant you always,

A sunbeam to warm you, A moonbeam to charm you,

A sheltering angel so nothing can harm you.

Laughter to cheer you, Faithful friends near you,

And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you.

-Irish Blessing

The votes are in, and the tally is a suprising . . .

• Sunburst: 10
• Celtic: 9 (includes my husband's vote over the phone)
• Wood Toggles: 1 (write-in - leather buttons were my other thought, btw)

This was a real come from behind win for the Sunburst, as most of you had the same initial thought I did - cables, celtic, perfect. The pattern is from a Celtic Knits book, after all. But there was just something about the Sunbursts that called to me from deep in the button tin, something that suited this project better. I appreciate all your input, especially the thoughtful comments. Between Rebecca, Pam, and Loribird, you summed up what had been going through my mind all along.

• Rebecca: I am going to have to vote for the sunburst because the Denim sweater just seems to be a little bit more contemporary.
• Pam: The celtic ones SHOULD go, but really, I like the sunbursts better. Which, by the way, illustrates why I have a drawer full of buttons I bought the first time -- I have an IDEA of what should work with a sweater I'm making, which ends up being different than the actual right button.
• Loribird: I vote sunburst - just because the cables and the celtic knotwork right next to each other compete rather than complement.

Because, regardless of your votes, my gut instinct is what I really went with here. These are definitely the right buttons.You will get to see the sweater in all its glory (it's fabulous, the fit is perfect, and it's definitely my new favorite sweater) later this weekend. I think it's accompanying me and my soon-to-return husband on a weekend jaunt around Southern California.

A Button Dilemma

Living creatures are nourished by food,
and food is nourished by rain;
Rain itself is the water of life,
which comes from selfless worship and service.
-Bhagavad Gita

The Denim Aran is almost done (and my Clean Slate plans are being thwarted by some new projects, but more on that to come). And with the finishing in sight, an important decision comes onto the horizon. The buttons. At first I was thinking of using my Royal Marine buttons from Three Feathers Pewter (I bought them at Colonial Williamsburg a couple of years ago), but I need seven and only had six. Rooting through my button stash, I have enough of two kinds of silver buttons.
What do you think? The sunburst or the celtic ones?

For some perspective, here's a very poor shot of the almost-finished sweater. Don't talk to me about how long it took to seam down that color. Sheesh!Bad photo, because it's actually raining in San Diego. Yay!

Fun With Fair Isle

Let a joy keep you. Reach out your hands and take it when it runs by.
-Carl Sandburg

The Christmas basket is finally getting some love. Check out these mittens.That wasn't enough, was it?Hallard Mittens
Pattern: from Folk Mittens
Yarn: Cascade 220 - delightful. I have bunches more. More mittens, perhaps?
Needles: US 3 Brittany Birch dpns
Notes: The only real modification I made was to use the same pattern on both cuffs instead of corrugated ribbing on the left cuff. A delightful pattern.
Best Thing About This Project: The initials on the right cuff. But I can't show you them, can I?I loved making these mittens so much that I went ahead and got ready to start not one, not two, but three new stranded knitting projects. And, yes, one of them is mittens. Oops!

A Blogging-Knitting Dissociation

Let them eat cake.
-Marie Antoinette

I finished a sweater last night that most of you probably didn't know I was working on. And then it hit me - my current blogging-knitting dissociation. (Which will be highlighted in this post by an unrelated photo of my first wedding cake. Just for kicks.) Last blogged about here.

It's been busy, I was away, then I had a lovely visitor, and throughout it all there's a lot going on at work - lots of patients, long hours, research projects, presentations to give. And so I've actually finished most of the things I've ever blogged about, started (and in some cases, finished) things that have never seen the light of the blog. And then there are things like Sockapalooooza. Fast approaching. So bear with me here as I get the life, the knitting, and the blog all in the same week, if not the same day. I know that the news is better live than recycled. And we'll get there.

In the meantime, I did "handle" my July UFO for the UFO Resurrection. Cablenet. Which I apparently never mentioned casting on. But I had done about 2-3 inches of one leg way back in November and promptly put it down never to be picked up again. And when I did pick it up, I realized that it was not keeping my attention at all these days. So, while I like the pattern, I frogged it. One more UFO off the (woefully out-of-date) list. And the lovely potential of that Koigu back in my stash.

Blocking!

All weddings, except those with a shotgun in evidence, are wonderful.
-Liz Smith

Having a space with 3" to spare: Monthly rent.
Breaking only a dozen pins: $1
Old sheets getting a brief respite from Goodwill: Free
Finally blocking: Priceless

In The Details

God is in the details.
-Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

This may be my finest sweater yet. The knitting, the ruffles, the decreases, the ribbon, the buttons. It's all here.





Rowena
Pattern: Rowena from Knit 2 Together
Yarn: Knit Picks Ambrosia
Needles: US 4 and US 3 Addi Turbos
Notes: I've previously discussed my raglan and ruffle mods, otherwise I made it as written. The ruffles were fiddly, but in a good way. The hardest part was probably finding a complementary ribbon.
Best Thing About This Project: Sshhh . . . . It's a surprise. There should be a modeled shot from the recipient later this summer.

A Crafty Weekend

The land of the fairy,
where nobody gets old and godly and grave,
where nobody gets old and crafty and wise,
where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue.
-William Butler Yeats

I am thoroughly enjoying my month on Dermatology for several reasons. The good and noble reasons have to do with how much I'm learning and how this is actually required for my Internal Medicine Residency. The less good and noble reasons involve how there is no call, and I have entire weekends off. For an entire month. And, for the record, these are the first consecutive two-day periods I've had off in about 7 months. It's really nice. And I'm keeping plenty busy . . . which is why I'm getting around to posting about my weekend on, um, Thursday.

So, in addition to all that quality time with my sewing machine (three cheers!), and a birthday party, game night, and a Padres game, I did a whole bunch of work on some long-term knitting projects.

Rowena saw a great deal of fuddly finishing (ruffles!) and is getting very very close to blocking time. (I usually seam before wet blocking.) You know it's been a long-term project when my fiance comments that I've been working on it "for a long time."The Chuppah, of course, got it's due attention and is coming along. The border is now half done, and again I feel so greatly indebted to Victorian Lace Today for their excellent corner-turning instructions. Above and beyond.

I also started the Ballet T-Shirt, with many mods, from Loop-d-Loop. You'd be correct if you guessed that this was a book I owned from which I had not yet knit anything. . . . it's a Book-a-Month thing. (And, between you and me, I'm kind of glad there's only one month left after this one.)

And knitting even found it's way into non-knitting activities. The Retro Ribs saw some action at the Padres game.

And, speaking of baseball, take a good, close-up look at this photo - It caught the ball in mid-pitch, halfway between the pitcher and batter, all the way from the Upper Deck.

About Time

Time has no divisions to mark its passage,
there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets
to announce the beginning of a new month or year.
-Thomas Mann

It's only taken me a year . . .

I made a bobbin.
And threaded the sewing machine.
And sewed three seams. To make this very irregularly-shaped pillow insert.
Which I stuffed mostly with yarn scraps, plus a little Fiberfill. (You knew I was saving them for a reason, didn't you?) Because I wanted a very firm pillow.
Because of it's awesome (and rather unusual) shape.The Humbug Pillow is now finished (my UFO Resurrection for May). More importantly, my sewing machine is all threaded up, and I actually sewed something. I'm embarassed to say how easy it was. . . Any thoughts for what my next project should be? This was fun.

The Humbug Pillow
Pattern: from Debbie Bliss' Home
Yarn: Cotton Ease (Old Style) - stash busting!
Needles: US 8 circulars, something metal
Notes: I didn't swatch, so I just knit it to the dimensions and made the pillow as long as they said. I suspect that my gauge was a little tight because the photo is the book is more "square" whereas mine has a distinct oblong-ness - it's longer in one direction. But it's perfect for lying back against. Also, I was worried that the lining fabric might show through, so I picked something complimentary and on sale. Isn't it cute?
Best Thing About This Project: Clearly, using my sewing machine. But a runner up is how much I like the finished project. It's a perfect reading pillow - props your head up at just the right angle.

The weekend was full of all sorts of other crafty goodness (of the knitting variety) as well. It's incredible how long an actual weekend - two whole days off - is.

Sleeve Island

How I wish that somewhere there existed an island
for those who are wise and of good will.
-Albert Einstein

I don't often get to take a trip to the lovely scenic destination commonly known as sleeve island. But occasionally, it happens. I was, at one point, zipping along on this baby sweater. For bonus points, I even did the button band and collar (can't you see the vision of delightful contrasty-ness?). And then I did the worst of all possible things - I thought I'd be clever. I thought I didn't want to seem chenille. (I'd already converted the body into a single piece.) I thought I'd pick up and knit down, changing the increases to decreases and knitting it all in the round. It seemed to make so much sense at the time. . . .

But, boy, it sure is annoying to have the whole sweater dangling off your dpns! And thus, my trip to sleeve island began. Because after this first one? There's a whole second armhole just waiting.

Random Saturday

In common things that round us lie
Some random truths he can impart, --
The harvest of a quiet eye
That broods and sleeps on his own heart.
-William Wordsworth

Welcome to Random Saturday! (Seals on the beach in La Jolla)

1. First off, if I owe you an email (and if you're reading my blog, I probably owe you an email), it's coming. It's been a crazy four or so days at work, so hang tight.
   


2. Alas, no knitting photos. See #1 above.
   


3. Rowena is 80% done? Inquiring minds want to know. Yes, indeed. Maybe even more at this stage. I realize it's just been off the blog radar, but it's kind of incredible how all that stockinette just seems to knit itself. Posts coming soon about the joy of ruffles and also changes I made to the decreases.



4. Ribby Cardi - Bonne Marie emailed me some helpful hints, one of which was that I had an older version of the pattern and that the new version has a deeper raglan. As a bonus, she sent me a copy of the new version of the pattern. I owe her an email, too (of course), but I'm very impressed with her diligence and unsolicited (but very welcome) pattern support.



5. This is good because I'm now dying to make Ariann. Have you seen Cara's version?



6. And about starting Ariann, should I make it in Cotton Ease or Cascade 220? I have some lovely (old-style) blue Cotton Ease in the stash, and it might be lovely for San Diego. But I think I may have enough Red Cascade 220 in the stash. Decisions, decisions.



7. The Chuppah border is coming along swimmingly. We had a day of lectures on Navy-specific medical stuff, which was a solid five hours of knitting (before we had to run our Physical Readiness Test . . . only in the Navy). I'm now half-way down one side, and there is an anticipated 50-60 hours of knitting on it left. Should be done by early June for an early July wedding. And looking lovely, I might add.
   
8. And I did get a Webs order the other day. I'm thinking Regia Silk for my Hogwarts Swap Partner. There was a sale, after all.
   
   

Focus on the Zipper

It is a bad plan that admits no modification.
-Publius Syrius

Talking about Ribby Cardi -

Let's start with the positive. You've all correctly identified all the things I love about this sweater:

- The zipper. I did do a fabulous job, if I say so myself.
- The colors. Aren't they cute?
- Cascade 220. A great yarn.
- The pattern. It's just so functional. . . . if it fit.

But you've also helped me figure out what's wrong:
- It's the raglan shape. It's too steep and probably not long enough. This leads to the sleeves being too short (pulled up too high) and the neck being too open (not enough raglan).
- The sleeves are too tight across the upper arm and shoulders. I'm not the only one with this problem.
- Is it gauge? Specifically, row gauge? Nope, seems to be pretty dead on. (For once.)

It seems like I'm not the only one with fit issues. It's a close-fitting sweater with good schematics (three cheers for good schematics in patterns!), but somehow several of us have had issues with the sizing. And mostly across the raglan/arms/shoulders.

Possible contributing factors:
- None of us can measure. Ourselves or our knitting.
- Gauge lies. And row gauge is big in raglans.
- We aren't very good at accounting for the ribbing and how it would stretch out and then shorter (make sense?).
- If, like me, you were measuring off a store-bought ribbed sweater, you didn't take into account that worsted weight and fingering weight need different amounts of ease.

Possible answer:
- Bonne Marie herself emailed me offering suggestions. How fabulous is that? I'll let you know what she says.

And there's one thing you couldn't have known:

- I'll have to use her advice for my next Ribby Cardi. Why? In an attempt to block it out more, I also used it as a trial run for the handwash function on my front-loading washer. Let's just say that it turns out to not be an actual handwash function.

(See the fuzziness at left? Now it's really too small across the shoulders.) Anyone else worry that this is passive aggressive behavior on my part? Might be. But I'll be back tomorrow with the solution to our problems. And then I just might be starting a new Ribby Cardi once I know how to make it right.

Another Zipper

I fell off the stage and bruised some ribs.
The worst part was that the audience didn't realize I was gone.
-Richard Marx

April. San Diego, California. UFO Resurrection. One knitter. One cardigan. One zipper.

I met the challenge and sewed the zipper into my Ribby Cardi. And the zipper actually came out really well. (The photo? Not so much. The beau likes to take photos before he tells me he's taking them.)

But the sweater? I don't know. Is it possible to be the only person in the world not completely in love with the Ribby Cardi? My issues:

1. The sleeves are maybe a smidge (1-2 inches) too short.
2. Is this why the neck is so big?
3. Is the raglan too long or too short?
4. Something about it just lays funny - like there's too much fabric in the middle and not enough at the ends. The ribs on the sides don't pull in as much as I was expecting.

I'm endeavoring to wear it a bit and see if it grows on me (perhaps literally, in the case of the sleeves), in the manner that sometimes it takes a little time to lose the newness. And then I may try to reblock it to make the sleeves a bit longer. But barring that, we have a new set of questions.

Question for you all:

1. Can I fix all of this by adding a few inches to the sleeves?
2. Or is it a larger problem with the entire sweater? In which case I'll take it as a sign that I don't have any shirts to wear under it.

Please help.

A Little Sunshine

Babies are such a nice way to start people.

-Don Herold

Instead of adding yet another one to my UFO pile, I buckled down and tackled the challenging finishing on this baby sweater. And by challenging, I mean I had to find the absolute cutest possible button to go with my bright orange sweater cape.

Think I succeeded?

Baby Hooded Jacket
Pattern: Debbie Bliss' Simply Baby
Yarn: Cotton-Ease (the vintage, or "old" kind) in something they didn't actually call orange but very obviously is
Needles: US 7s . . . I think. Who needs gauge in a baby sweater?
Notes: Well, see below for thoughts on finishing, and my very particular ideas of just how much finishing a baby garment should require. Otherwise, I also had to tighten up the buttonhole a little to fit my smaller button. But it was a fast and fun pattern. Just make it in fewer pieces, that's all. Oh, and this was entirely made from stash - including the button!
Best Thing About This Project: To come, obviously. The best thing about baby knits is the baby.

Also in finishing news, I wised up after this episode and started reading ahead in the directions. Instead of binding off and picking up stitches for the hood, I just increased. Instead of doing a three-needle bind-off for the hood, I grafted the top together. Looks better, and was probably way faster.And, no, I haven't forgotten about the manly socks. I was trying to distract you by cute baby knits while I'm in recovery mode after the ICU. It's coming.

Add Another to the Pile

There are two kinds of people; those who finish what they start, and so on.
-Robert Byrne

Just as I've been making such good progress on my pile of UFOs (yet again, three cheers for the UFO Resurrection!), here I go, adding another one to the pile. I went and finished the knitting for the very cool Humbug Pillow from Debbie Bliss' Home book. It kept me occupied for months (see how big it is?), but in a peripheral way. It was my easy email-reading knitting - just a big rectangle with a simple garter rib pattern. And in order to make this rectangle into its final pyramidal shape, all I need to do with this rectangle is sew two seams. Sounds easy-peasy, right? I'm sure it is. The hold-up is that I also need to construct the inside pillow if I have any hope of this ever having any structure whatsoever. And I do. Have hope, that is. But the inside pillow needs at least two (relatively) straight lines sewn on cloth before I can stuff it. Have the cloth, even have the stuffing. What I haven't figured out how to do is make a bobbin on my sewing machine. The time is definitely coming. Soon-ish. But not before the end of March soon-ish. In the meantime? Here's one more for the UFO pile. While we stick it there, we can at least admire the delightful cottony goodness of the garter rib, can we not? Thanks for all the great entries to the contest. I didn't put an ending on it, but it looks like I'll have some time on Friday to sift through the entries and compile and list of all the great patterns and suggestions . . . and pick some winners. So muster your best manly sock suggestions and head on over.