FO: Dollar and a Half Cardigan

Well, I would have liked pictures outside, but it’s hard enough to take photos of one’s self, so I did my best.

Start: April, 2007
Finish: June 2007, after a bout of appendicitis. Woo!
Yarn: Knitpicks Andean Silk in “Slate.”
Needles: US #7 circulars.
Pattern: Dollar and a Half Cardigan, by Veronik Avery, from the spring 2007 Interweave Knits (Ravelry link)

Showing the front. I love my buttons!

Showing the back. The lace was pretty easy.

Showing the cable (in an artsy shot.)

I love this sweater. I wear it to college interviews and impress people, and I wear it at school and impress people. I’m so impressing. =D

But seriously, I love this sweater.

See my Ravelry project page for more (random) details, and pictures.

Home again

It’s lovely to be home. Spain was fabulous. It was sunny and warm, the days were long and full, I did tons of walking, tons of touring, tons of sight-seeing. It was a huge treat.

I didn’t get that much knitting done. XP All that walking made for some great sock-photos, but not so much sock knitting. Well, I turned the heel on the second Spring Cable sock for Kevin, and finished the first Saucy sock (which I will have to frog the toe again anyway)… okay and I finished the button band again on my Dollar and a Half Cardigan (why is it called that?), so now I can actually wear it.

Okay, so I got some knitting done.

The socks show up in a lot of pictures, though, and when I get them from J and his family, I’ll start posting them and linking and etc.

But I wanted to make mention of two things.

First, if you’re ever in Madrid, stop by Lanas Sixto at Calle Atocha 9 in the downtown area. The lady there was very nice, and complimented my Spanish skillz, and let me touch everything I wanted to. The shop was definitely different than American shops. Most of the yarn was in bins behind the counter, and I had to ask for things I wanted to touch. All the labels were legible though, and the owner was very patient with me.

(not my picture)

It was great.

Second, if you’re flying on British Airways sometime soon, be aware that knitting needles are no longer allowed on the BA flights. On the way over I had to throw my knitting stuff into J’s sister’s suitcase before it went on the belt. On the way back I moved a sock to my plastic needles, which broke during the flight (and were way suck!). I think wood/bamboo needles would be fine, because they wouldn’t show up on an x-ray as dangerous weapons, maybe, but they made me put my metal dpns away. Lame.

Though, I kept my metal dpns in my backpack flying Madrid to Barcelona, and the security guys were more worried about the orange I was carrying around than my sharp metal weapons.

So, pictures later. I’ll get into posting on the Summer of Socks, and catch up on my blogs. I’ve missed you guys!

Thanks also for all the lovely comments on the pattern. It was a real treat to find them in my email every so often, and I’m thrilled that the pattern is well received. I’m even going to design a sock for Mama E’s sock club! Squee!

Stay tuned. ^_^

I suppose…

an update would be appropriate? Let’s start at the top of my priority list!

Tomorrow, I have an AP European test. That is, the AP test itself. That is, the 3+ hour test that determines whether I get to place out of a history class in college. I do like history (why else take an AP course?), but I’d like to focus on the science, plzkthx. So, even though I don’t feel like I’ll do terrifically well, I’m still optimistic, because I don’t have to be AMAZING to get a 4 or so. I doubt a 5 is in my future, but I can try for a 4. It might work out.

Second on the list are my Monkey socks! I phoned Maeve last night and (very sneakily) asked her for her foot length. Did you know that the length from elbow to wrist is (generally) the same as the length of your foot? It’s true! So now I know her feet are about my size and I can knit this sock confidently. That said, I have already reached the toe decreases for the first sock and have already cast on the second (because I was waiting for her to call me back). This pattern is such a freakin’ awesome fast knit. Plus it’s beautiful, and this yarn is amazing. I love it.

The yarn, by the way, “Dusky Aurora”, is so beautiful. I picked it up thinking it was just a wine red, but these blues and greens and purples keep coming out under the red tone, and they are splendid.

Third, I have not bitten my nails for 24 days now, officially, which means they will be beautiful for prom! Yay! I might actually break this habit after all. I’ve tried everything, just FYI. Polish, nasty-tasting polish, band-aids, filing them, a rubber band on my wrist, a hypnotist. Everything. Now it’s pure conviction that’s getting me through. Irony? Maybe. But I’m doing it. My goal is 60 days, and then I get a prize (what, I don’t know). Go me! Look’it my 101 in 1001 page if you’re confused.

And just so you know, the $1.50 is not gone, just stalled. I have to find time to order 2 more balls of yarn from KnitPicks.com. I want it finished!

I guess I ought to review some more.

Comment! Lurkers! I know you’re there!

Tell me a joke.

Sleeves

I finished the fronts of the $1.50 last weekend and blocked it on my bed while I visited J overnight. I was a little apprehensive, and the sweater smelled funny wet, but when I got home Sunday evening it was flat and smooth and dry and beautiful! I had attached the fronts to the back, so I wore it around like a stole for a bit. It was lovely.

Now I’ve got about 15″ of the sleeves done, and I need to knit a total of 20.5″ before I start decreasing for the sleeve cap. Excited! My mum, apparently, has knitted loads of sweaters in her life (she claims one sweater per show in her theater days, which I believe) so she can help me with the seaming and all that good stuff.

Yay!

Everything is going well. School is ridiculous and hard, but I think I’ve reached the breakthrough point where it will get easier (or not get harder, anyway) after this. Which is good. Mostly it’s turning in my term paper on War Medicine that’s the most relieving. Although Chemistry is still kicking my butt.

Next Friday I get to bring J home for the summer for good, and then I think I can make it through the rest of the year. Yay!

Now sleep.

EDIT because it’s hilarious:

Last night I had a dream where I was having trouble trying to read the Thelonious sock pattern by Cookie A., and in my brain I said to myself, “I shouldn’t knit while I’m sleeping.”

Half-Finished projects

I’ve got a lot of stuff languishing on the needles at the moment, all secondary to the Cardigan. I like the cardigan a lot, but I’m a little tired of the repetition of the lace pattern. I’m glad I’m not tired of the yarn, because then I would have very little incentive to knit it, but I love the Andean Silk, and therefore do not mind it. I’m actually a little more enthusiastic now because I had to rip out my v-neck and armhole decreases and now I have to knit back up to where I was. Something went wrong because I wasn’t paying enough attention, but now I’m counting carefully and it should work out. Hooray!

I still have Pomatomus on my needles. I ran out of the kool-aid dyed yarn and started knitting with the “Bare” white, which I plan to dye after I finish the sock. It’s very clever, but my time has been spent with the sweater, so the second sock is not much farther along.

Also, Monkey. I don’t know what I’m going to do about that. I love the pattern, and it looks great in that yarn, but I might have to put the yarn down for something else (ie. smaller socks) because it simply isn’t going to work unless I get a whole other skein that’s the same-ish colorway. O_o

And of course, the wristies. Since it’s gotten warmer I haven’t been as enthused about knitting these, but I pick them up when I need something that’s straight stockinette. They’re coming slowly.

I also started working on the cuff of a sock with my own pattern attached– I charted one of the block patterns from the Blanket of Doom and am translating it to round knitting. It’s sitting on my desk, looking pretty, but not doing much. The yarn might not be right for lace and cables.

And that’s that. I’m a bit stressed from school now, and I should be working on a Chemistry lab right now… ergh. I will, however, make it through the year intact.

More Dollar and a Half

WIP!

It’s so beautiful and soft and lovely! I love it.

The two fronts I’m knitting at the same time (from different balls):

And the cable is so pretty!

Also, from my FABULOUS Lime&Violet swap pal, I got fiber, tea, yarn, her handspun, perfume, a bath bomb, and adorable notecards. I just wanted to give a little shout to her because she was amazing and totally spoiled me.

I want to knit with the purple/green (tencel/merino) RIGHT NOW.

And last but not least, one finished felted Swat Team Kitty, currently residing on top of J’s computer:

Stealth Photographing

Not really, I guess… during the show I didn’t have time to find our camera and take pictures of the $1.50, so I used M as she took pictures of the cast and held up my knitting a lot. She liked pictures of me knitting. O_o

=D

There’s me, my sister, and another girl in the cast. Oh, and the sweater, approximately 15″ along.

Teehee. Fun show. Fun sweater.

Remind me to show off my spinning, too, which has improved. Pre-drafting helps a lot. Yay!

Dollar 1/2

My Dollar and a Half Cardigan is the best! Squee! The back is about 11″ along now: at 18 1/2″ I can start shaping for the arms. It’s so soft and lovely. I’m worried that it will be all scrunchy because it is alternating knit/lace and purl stripes, but I still love it. It’s gray. I’d have pictures, but I’ve been working on it during rehearsals and stuff. Actually, the best picture I have is as follows:

I’m suited up for battle here. Just work with it. =P

PS. The play is Thursday at 7, Friday and Saturday at 8.  If you really want to come, email me.