Yes, it's done. I actually cast off the final stitches on the newest Dale of Norway Albertville colorway around the end of February, but then I had do all the finishing work... Sewing the edges before cutting, then picking up for the neck and knitting the neckband, tacking that baby down, then sewing in the sleeves. You know, all that detail work that I SOOOOO try to avoid doing... LOL!
~
I really do have to take both sweaters outside (the white and the red) so you can get a true sense of the colors, but it's after dark now and I simply couldn't wait any longer. I'd hoped to get this update done this past weekend, but I was busy cleaning instead. Now, yes, normally that's another subject I avoid like the Black Plague, but when a great friend comes over and offers to help, you pick up the cleaning clothes and go to town. What she and I accomplished through teamwork in three hours would have taken me a week.
~
Anyway, so here's another view. I did get it all put together and then I spent Sunday washing all my sweaters and I tried hanging them on the fence to dry. Needless to say, I didn't get them out there soon enough. They were still damp, so I grabbed the old stackable sweater dryers and laid them out in the basement. Give them a day or two (and keep the durned door closed extra tight so the cats don't think I've spent all that time knitting them a new bed) and...~
Whallah!!!
~
But, of course, that's not the end of it. There's always another picture that can be posted..........
~
Yes, I do have an upclose and personal of the neck. I do think this one turned out even better than the white one. On the white, I followed the DoN directions and cast off for the neck stitches and then went back later and picked them up for the neckband. But there were some really odd jogs in how they cast off, so there's one place right on the front of the neckband that I was NOT happy about. No, no one else has noticed or they haven't commented, but I'm not happy and I knit for myself, right?
~
So I did this one different. Similiar to how Philosopher's Wool do their sweaters, I knit the body right on up to the shoulders, casting off nothing for the neck, but I did place markers along the lines where they wanted me to do the casting off. Then, once the body was all knitted and nice right up to the last row, I sewed a seam around those markers for the neckline, picked up stitches outside that machine-sewed seam and knit the neckband, then cut away all excess from inside the seams. I tacked down the neckband stitches without casting off (stitching down "live" stitches) and I'm much happier with how this turned out.
~
I didn't run out and buy yarn to start Barcelona. Because it was the end of the month and money wasn't exactly flowing (hmmm..... mortgage or yarn? Choices, choices... LOL!), I ran over to Michaels and found Patons 100% wool on sale for $4.00 a 100 gram skein. Ten skeins in the basket and I had an idea that was floating around. Very simple. Very plain. I think I wrote about this in my last post where I was going to try an Aran design and even got about 20 rows into the design, but then frogged the whole thing. I hated it. So I'm doing a very simple pattern based on 3 stitches. k2tog, yo, k1. That's it. That's all there is. But the pattern is based around the Fibbonucci sequence where the plain rows in-between grow in number.
~
I actually kind of like this one. It's a very quick knit in worsted weight yarn and I'm trying some other new stuff. I think I'm going to try a boatneck as opposed to the typical ribbed and rounded neck. I just finished the body today and cast off the neckline stitches. I'm going to wait to do a 3-needle bindoff on the shoulders until after I've sewn the seams for cutting the armholes. Then I'll do a 3-needle bindoff and see if the neckline works. I did add a few shortrows along the back of the sweater because I hate to see a boatneck that rides low along the shoulders in the back. I don't want it really high in front, but I don't want it riding low in back either. So I'm hoping that adding shortrows near the end and just in the middle where I cast off for the neck should help shape along that neck curve.
~
Also, at that point, I'll be able to see if I want to add something besides a simple cast off edge. If it looks too unfinished, I might just add a single crochet along the neck for stability, but I won't know until I get to that point.
~
For my birthday, Mom bought me a copy of Meg Swanson's "A Gathering of Lace" and EZ's "The Opinionated Knitter". It's this second book that I'm going to use for my next sweater. I ordered a whole bunch of yarn today from KnitPicks. Wool of the Andes, worsted weight. 7 skeins of Bare and 14 skeins of Jalapeno. I'm going to take her ideas from her second newsletter and do a colorwork, but somewhat simple design. I figure use the Bare for the background and just play with a whole variety of stitch patterns from EZ's 2nd and 3rd newsletters. Two or three rows of plain stockinette in Bare between each pattern and that's it. Try to vary the size of the designs from tall to short, wide to narrow, small to large. See how many I can incorporate into one garment should be a challenge in itself. The ribbing will be done in Bare, but I'm going to do a two-color cast-on so the actual edge will be in the Jalapeno, which will tie the ribbing into the rest of the sweater.
~
I have no clue what I'll do for the neck yet. I'll figure that out when I get there... LOL!
~
Let's see.... in other areas of my life... I'm still talking with insurance companies. Lots of rhetoric which I think will mean we'll get screwed in the end. (Gee, there's a surprise! /g/) As I've already said, I've begun the spring housecleaning and getting things in order. I still have some other issues on my plate that I haven't been able to clear yet (a very dear aunt-in-law who's suffering dementia and the dental work continues, though that should be done in another two appointments... yeah!!!!) and, of course, the two jobs. But I just keep knitting and I keep working my way through things as they come up. Some days I feel like I'm making lists to remember which list of "to do things" are more important, but at least the lists are beginning to get smaller as I'm actually able to cross stuff off.
~
I still have my anti-anxiety medication, but I'm now finding that I have good days and bad days. On the good days, I only need to take the meds a few times. On the bad days, I need it like clockwork. But the good days are happening more often and that's what's important. The other thing I did was cut my dosage in half again. The original dosage was 1 mg. That made me nervous, so I cut that in half right from the get-go and only took 0.5 mg. Now I can cut those pills in half and do well with 0.25 mg at a time. The prescription was designed for a 30-day supply. I'm already at 50 days and doing well. Getting low, but I still have at least another 5 days or so before I have to worry about running out.
~
Course, the whole purpose of this is to simply deal with all those things that have been on my plate. Like any normal human being, I'd much rather run off into the sunset and forget responsibility for things like insurance companies and elderly services. Unfortunately, I'm not made that way. I wish I could be like some people and simply ignore the things I don't want to deal with, hoping they'll disappear if I just don't look. But I wasn't raised that way and it's simply not in my nature. Hence the panic attacks. So, the only way to make the panic disappear is to deal with the nasties. One day at a time. One step at a time. I time it so phone calls are made after I've taken my meds and can deal with whatever crops up without needing to step outside and scream like a raving lunatic.... /wry g/
~
~
But, rather than scare the bejesus out of the poor students who have to catch the bus near my booth, I knit like a maniac instead. I'm on the last sleeve of my third sweater since the beginning of the year and two of those were DoN patterns. It's almost funny but Mom and I were sniping at each other at work the other night. She admitted that she's jealous sometimes because I get 8 hours a day for 32 weeks every year to do nothing but knit. Me? I'm jealous of the fact that she only has one job and her hours are her own. She can be as flexible as she wants while I'm stuck in a booth, trapped in my little glass and aluminum cage. I never imagined that someone would be jealous of the fact that I sit and knit all day. But I'm sure she's not alone. OTOH, just remember that unless you've been stuck in that cage for three years, it's not quite all it's cracked up to be. Yes, 3 sweaters in 3 months. I'll definitely have sweaters to show for it. And I certainly think I'll have no problem finishing another one (or two) before I'm off for the summer. But it's another thing when you have tons of other things you've got waiting for you once you step outside again.
~
As Atticus Finch said in "To Kill A Mockingbird" (yes, read my profile, it's one of my all-time fave movies).... You never really know a man until you've stepped into his shoes and walked around a while. I never, in my wildest imaginings, figured someone could be jealous of my life. If that ain't a pisser, I don't know what is...
~
LOL!
~
Keep your fingers crossed for sunny days this weekend. Dee has promised to help me get full sun pics of my sweaters. And, if I keep my little fingers flying, I just might have the latest off the needles by then also. I can pretty much guarantee it won't be washed and blocked, but it just might be done.
~
Oh, and before I forget, please, please, if you're looking for some wonderful soothing music for your ears... Please download Marc Enfroy's Unbounded from iTunes. David Reidy had played a tune or two of his on his Sticks & String podcast and I downloaded the whole thing. Wow!!!! His piece called On To Forever is simply one of the prettiest instrumentals I've ever heard in my life. Every track is like listening to nirvana, but that one is simply heavenly. Definitely support his music. I'm hoping for a new album soon.
~
Seriously, I'm saying tata. I'll try to be back this weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment