Of Ripping and Reknitting

One of the best feelings in academia is when you finally finish a project or accomplish a goal that then leaves you with this amazing high. It's kind of like running. You're exhausted, but you're filled with adrenaline at the same time. On Friday we took our midterm, but since half the class left the next day for Moscow and we start with new instructors tomorrow for the final three weeks it felt more like a final. To celebrate and cope with the mental exhaustion I, of course, went yarn shopping (in, it turns out, a major thunderstorm). I actually cannot share any of my purchases because I managed to stick to my new plan of only buying gift yarn. But it sure hit that retail therapy spot.

I've spent the majority of my weekend watching Torchwood and knitting away on this beautiful hat! A few weeks ago Ysolda Teague put all of her patterns on sale in celebration of her 25th birthday. One of my purchases was the Whimsical Little Knits collection. Along with a few patterns I have planned for gifts, this collection includes the Ishbel beret, a cute slouchy hat using the same lace pattern as the very popular Ishbel shawl.

This baby only used half a skein of Knit Picks Palette, the same yarn I used for my Saroyan. It's soft and light, so perfect for the intense heat we've been having lately. I did manage to screw it up enough that I probably knit it at least twice. The "vine pattern" section consists of two paragraphs. And even though I was very careful to read both I still managed to miss a part about moving markers and realigning charts. For some reason I thought it only applied to the last repeat. But no, it applies to all. Which means I knit half of the hat only to have to rip it all out yesterday and start again. But I love Ysolda's patterns enough to make sure I knit it properly.

And Chris finally went to hockey on Friday!

The gloves seem to have worked out nicely for him.

Icy Wool

As you know (or at least you should by now. Unless you've been in a coma and only just woke up. Or you're from the future and haven't had a chance to look at a calendar), we just finished a three day holiday weekend. And not just for us Americans and our Memorial Day, but also for other countries as well (why is that? I've never learned). This is the first time I can remember having Memorial Day off. Usually I have school (those pesky "snow" days must be made up) or I'm working a combination of several insane part-time jobs (current record stands at four simultaneous three summers ago).

But this year it really did feel like time off. (though it signals the end of my multi-week vacation that is supposed to keep me sane and rested for the next year?) This might have been helped by the fact that many law firms in the state took Monday off and so we had a special visitor. Now, this special visitor is a very patient individual. He's put up with craziness not only in the admirable completion of his first year of law school, but also in my regularly scheduled insanity (with a few surprise episodes thrown in for good measure). He has also only ever asked for one knitted item in the year and a half that I've known him. And of course this is the one knitted item that I absolutely detest working on. But I've been on a completion kick and it was one of the only WIPs I had left before I could cast on a decadent number of projects to serve my every mood during summer school nuttiness.

And so, on Monday or so, I had decided that I was going to work on nothing else until I finished this item. It wasn't like I was going to see this individual any time soon. Not till the end of June, actually. But this way I'd be inspired to at least work on a few inches of this item before I wanted to throw it across the room. Surely I could finish this in a month or so, I was almost halfway done and it really wasn't a large project.

But then suddenly this person calls to ask if he could visit on his holiday. I couldn't say no. I was pretty excited to see him, as was my family. But then suddenly everything in me screamed "oh no, I have to finish the gloves!"

That's right. The dreaded hockey gloves (Ravelry project link). Many false starts leading to one completed glove at Christmas with the promise of a second sometime soon. Well here it is almost the end of May, I'm finally deciding to complete the second glove, and suddenly there's this looming deadline. Just what I needed to make me really want to work on a sock or a sweater or anything. Anything other than that stupid glove.

I finally resigned myself to my fate and was working along, only to realize that everything I had done on the second glove (about 2 hours worth?) was on the wrong needles. I mean, it looked a little small, but this was about 5 US sizes too small. Somehow I managed to hold it together as I ripped back and started over.

And I made it! I hate them, I'm never knitting them again (at least not this decade. Sorry, dear). I may also never knit with Lion Brand wool again. Or in a slate blue colorway. But they're done!

These photos are a little odd because it is, after all, summer, but he called yesterday to reassure me that they fit under the actual padded gloves and he will be trying them out on the ice rink Friday. I'm hoping to get a photo of them in action. I think I've earned it.

Sam wanted to be a model too, but wool is not for puppy ingestion.

First Sweater Woes

This time it is officially complete. I finally bought buttons at my local A.C. Moore and put the vest together. I love it, despite the fact that it is too big. I was worried that it was going to be too small because I made the smallest size and tend to knit rather tightly. I guess I should give in a buy a measuring tape and figure out how to rewrite patterns for my measurements. Because I'm self-taught, I've been learning these things as I go, so I already have some idea of what I need to do. I still love it. I mean, after all, it is my first sweater, right?



In other knitting, I finally picked up the hockey gloves again. My boyfriend keeps whining about how his hands are cold when he plays, so I finally gave in. The only thing in the winter hand wear that I've ever made are the Bella mittens, so it's yet another completely new venture for me. They are made on straight needles, which is another foreign concept to me, but things are starting to take shape. I've finished the thumb on the right glove, and it's actually starting to look like a glove, so we'll see. I'm hoping to have them done by the end of the month.

The Great Gatsby Dress hasn't really made any progress in the past week, but I'm still liking it. However, the daydreaming has begun about other patterns. I bought the pattern for the Alene Camisole by Joan McGowan over at White Lies Designs back in March. I never got around to purchasing the yarn, but now I really want to make it. I think the move to the coast has had something to do with the desire to make this. It would be really cute over another camisole. Just have to find the right yarn to tolerate the humidity. Any suggestions?