Sweaters and Socks...Socks and Sweaters

The boatneck bluebell is coming along swimmingly...You can tell I'm only at the beginning of the semester by how much progress I've made on the Boatneck Bluebell Sweater. This is a close up of the detail over the midsection.

I'm at the point of doing the shaping for the hips. Over all it's been a delightfully easy pattern to knit and I am encouraged to try other patterns in Fitted Knits.

I have been frequently craft stores as of late looking for just the right color of ribbon for our invitations, just the right weight of paper etc...so on one of my many trips I discovered that Moda Dea Sassy Stripe sock yarn was being discontinued so, really, how could I not? I got two different color variations...this is the first. I'll probably have left over yarn and I can make little baby socks for J's sisters future daughter! I'm using the Thuja Sock pattern on Knitty for this and it's by far the best sock pattern I've encountered. I'm not sure if it's a well written pattern or my knitting skills have advanced since my last sock scenario.

And finally, here's what else we have been working on....they're finally ready to go out! I have more detailed pics but want the guests to be surprised so this is all I'm posting!

Boatneck Bluebell Progress

The Boatneck Bluebell is underway...pretty much uninterrupted. Now that M's sweater is done my attention has been dedicated to my next sweater. The color actually turned out pretty accurate...it's sort of a brick red.

Here is my progress far. It's my first top down seamless sweater. So far the instructions have not confused me at all yet, but I wait in fear that they soon will. There's always something....

In other news, Friday night I went out after work with a friend visiting from South Africa and some former and current co-workers including my knitting friend S. I woke up the next day with no voice! I still don't really have one...which is why I haven't called you Mom! M has been sick, really we've been passing it back and forth a few times now. On Thursday night I started getting a sore throat and then we went to several loud bars so it's probably a combination of being sick and screaming.

We are still putting together the invites...I ordered wedding stamps from the post office so we are waiting for those to arrive. I think M has some more things to size and cut before we attempt to tie the ribbon around the invitation. I've addressed the big envelopes and the response card envelopes. I finally found wood candle trays that I'm thinking of using for centerpieces if I can't choose the color of tulips I want. I have searched high and low, in reality and virtually and couldn't find these anywhere. We went to Pier 1 yesterday (who has revised their website and made it totally useless...you can only look at select products and you can no longer buy from them...stupid) and found them right when we walked in. They are actually wood chargers for the table but I'm going to use them for pillar candles. If we don't end up using them at the tables I'm sure there are other places at the venue we could put them.

Classes start tomorrow....I almost wish we weren't given 6 weeks off in between because I'm really dreading going back tomorrow. Partially for the time committment and partially because I know one of the classes has group work and lots of presentations, both I abhor. The other class is online and actually one of my coworkers is in it so that should be fun. I had to buy 2 of the 3 books because I wasn't able to get them from the library. Interesting note: Amazon jacks up the prices of textbooks the closer it gets to the semester....went from $45 to over $70!

It Has A Nice Ring To It!

First, knitting update: I made Le Slouch Beret in Debbie Bliss Cotton/Angora black this weekend. I had to do some major tweaking to make the beret slouchy enough. I tried it on at 6 inches from the cast on and it basically looked like I was trying to make a hat but accidentally made it too big, there was no beret-ness to it and definitely no slouch. I kept knitting until it measured 8 inches from the cast on and then started doing the decreases which finally achieved the slouchy look without looking like one of those hippy dread like housing hats. It doesn't photograph well just laying on the couch by itself so you'll just have to trust me on this.

Now to the non knitterly things....M and I went back to the jeweler on Saturday and handed over our heirloom rings to be placed into a new setting. Word to the wise....if you are in need of platinum do it now! It's increasing like crazy, so much so that M has decided to go with palladium instead. It was a difference of $1300! The time between when we first got a quote in December until now, the cost for my ring has gone up about 30%. The designer was able to find me a ring that has the channel setting with diamonds around the same size as mine so I could see what it would be like. The diamonds on the side are really tiny, so it looks like a nice glimmery band so it won't be too outlandish. We put the deposit down today so we should have the rings in about three weeks.

Next on the wedding agenda is to get the invites out which M has done a fantastic job on. I think our guests will really like them, he's put a lot of time into making them. We are also writing our own vows and need to get going on that so our justice of the peace can incorporate the same flavor into his portion of the ceremony. We're beefing up the registries and I feel like I am constantly carrying a notebook around with me for wedding related ideas. Ask Liz about pushing the tables back after dinner. Those candles would make a nice centerpiece and on and on.

Thanks to Fellow Knitting Bloggers.....

I have completed M's sweater! I had to consult with Julie from Zimmermania and Mindie . I got stuck in two places: when EZ states in the pattern that you multiple the width of the shoulder by your gauge, she never really says where one should measure so I measured from the end of one shoulder to the end of the next. I got scared when she said that 14 inches was average because I was coming up with 20 which was one half of his chest measurement. Enter Julie and Mindie who told me that I should be measuring where bra straps would hit, not the entire length of the shoulder. I then got 15 inches multipled by my gauge of 5, which told me to stop the chest decreases when I reached 75 stitches.

Things were going along swimmingly then until I had completed the saddle work on the shoulders and back (I'll a pic below) and once again needed help. The pattern then directs you to the neck shaping used in a previous pattern in the book telling you to do short rows until you've decreased by 12 stitches. I consulted with Mindie again because this meant I would be eating up saddle shoulder stitches and I wasn't sure what that would do to their shape; it didn't seem right but there was really no alternative. Mindie told that was the correct thing to do and to decrease until there were only 8 saddle stitches left, however that's what I was starting with because the previous step in the pattern had directed me to decrease by half (starting with 16). At this point, I decided I would just decrease until I had eaten up the rest of the shoulder stitches and then complete the ribbing for the neck.

After finishing my thought was to block it to even out the stitches but then I read about pressing. Since I wasn't trying to stretch it and the shaping was fine, I decided just evening out the stitches was all I needed. Pressing just involves turning the sweater inside out, and taking a hot iron and simply pressing it for a few minutes in one spot before moving it to the next on the sweater. It seemed to somewhat flatten out the stitches and soften the fabric as well ( I tried this on a swatch before doing it on the actual garment). You are not supposed to make the ironing motion because it can disrupt the fibers of the yarn, however, I got impatient trying to press such a large area that I did this in a hidden spot under the arm and I couldn't see the difference so I finished the rest by ironing it.

So it's finally finished; you may find yourself asking...what's next? Well, I'm glad you asked because two projects are already underway. I have started le Slouch Beret and the Bluebell Boatneck from Fitted Knits which I received as a gift this Christmas from my almost Father In Law. In addition, M's mother brought up the idea of a homemade Christmas next year, so I have purchased yarn to make this aran blanket in case that happens. If it doesn't, I can keep it or still give it to them. The yarn was almost going to be very costly ( you need 21 skeins, approx 3000 yards) but then I found some semi acrylic yarn on WEBS that was being closed out for $1/skein and it's machine washable which is the best part. I'll post a pic of the new yarn when it has arrived.

Time to get ready...placing our order for our wedding rings today.

Wedding Minutae

There has been virtually no knitting as of late between being too busy at work to take a lunch and wedding planning activities on the weekends that have taken up all of our time.

On M's sweater I have joined the arms to the body and started the decreases for the shoulders (after begging for help from two fellow bloggers because the directions are somewhat murky). The directions suddenly started talking about the average shoulder width of 14 but never said where to measure from...which made me panic because M's shoulders are bigger than 14 and then my stitches would be way off. I emailed someone who also had blogged about the Saddle Shoulder Sweater and she said to measure basically where bra straps would hit. After a futile attempt at getting M to try a bra on for precision (haha), I estimate that his shoulder width at that point is 15 so I'm basically on track, I just decided to cut out some of the decreases.

Saturday was a salon day...initially a salon and make up day until they had no record of me in their books as coming in that day for anythign so the make up person was not scheduled that day. Someone else did my hair other than who I was booked with, which is fine because that person cut my hair once and I didn't like the cut. I liked the back of my hair but wanted to change a few things around the front...more hair around my face, and an overall less constructed hair style, more loose and messily pulled back. I have to go back on Wednesday for the makeup and I am toying with the idea of coming in for another try at the hairstyle since this wasn't exactly what I wanted. As the day wore on I liked it less and less. I did learn that I can loosen my curls by curling them...it was the straightest I had ever seen my hair, I was thinking I could just wear it like that. Several people stopped over to say how great it looked so it wasn't just me being mesmerized by such a drastic difference. That alone was worth the $60.

After that M picked me up and we went to scope out things for our registry with my fantastic hairdo which got old really fast. We finally got home around 10pm and had to turn down and invite to watch the Pat's game over at a friends house.

Yesterday we watched E while his parents saw Sweeney Todd. Everything except the last five minutes was fine including one feeding and two diaper changes. M was very good with him and E was seemingly entranced by M's elbow and beard. But wow, the energy that was spent on trying to keep him from crying....every little tickle just kept us teetering on the brink of a breakdown. Of course, S and A came home and A puts him on her lap and he's out like a light.

Post Holiday Recovery

Well, M and I are back from all of our various holiday festivities. The benefit of flying and driving all over the country during the holidays is that much knitting can be accomplished. I finished the herringbone mittens the night before we flew out but I had to weave in all of the ends so I saved that for the plane. I also made major headway on M's sweaters, finishing one sleeve at my Mom's (then pulling it out because the gap between needles was too obvious and I'm not confident that I can effectively block something, especially well enough that you wouldn't notice those, so I started over). I then started the second sleeve and am an inch away from finishing that before joining with the body.

I've decided that knitting in public is like walking a dog....it almost guarantee's someone is going to ask you something about what you're doing. It just so happens that I was seated next to a knitter and a semi curious male beer guzzler on may home, M was seated on the opposite side of the plane and one row behind me. My fellow knitter was making a hat and gave me a few tips about blocking. The beer guzzler was curious as to how one can do the same stitch over and over again and maintain interest so I enlightened him on the joys of knitting. On the way home, I attracted the flight attendant who was currently trying to finish a stocking but was having gauge issues, been there done that.

The holidays as a whole were nice as always, what makes this holiday nicer is that M and I will be hosting next year and therefore will not be traveling!!! It's been 9 years since I have not flown over the holidays so this will be a fantastic turn of events.

One of our gift's this year, or shall I say, one of M's gifts this year was a Le Crueset Dutch Oven. I was very excited because I was given a no knead bread recipe last year but didn't have the correct baking paraphenalia to make it so I jumped at the choice now that we own this luxurious item. Here's a pic of my first attempt at wheat bread cooling on my new Calphalon cooling rack from my mom:

The taste test reveals that it needs more salt...something is missing. The inside is pretty light and airy, the bread just needs more flavor over all. But isn't it pretty??