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I’m over here!
pattern: baby sweater on two needles by Elizabeth Zimmermann, from Knitter’s Almanac
for: Isabelle & Patrick’s baby
yarn: grey Cotton Ease (easy to clean, hides stains relatively well)
needles: size 7 addi turbos
time: June 24 to June 27
overall: Completely rejuvinating knit for me. I’ve been spending my time with tiny stitches–too many 2.5mm stitches everywhere. Even my Clapotis is slowing to a crawl. And voila! I feel better! This was a spicy interlude, something I wanted to do for a few months now anyway, and it provided respite in my lax month of knitting. It was fast and I loved every second of it. I could set my knitting aside after an hour and actually be able to tell I was making progress.
a note on the toggles: It was important to me to make a button decision that was a slight variation on both the pattern and what other people have done. So many people have made this and the variations out there were wonderfully inspiring. The color! I love being surprised by people’s choices. I figured I’d do something I hadn’t seen yet. Toggles. I love toggles. We haven’t known each other long enough for you to know that about me, but I love them. They’re oddly cozy and rustic, if not a little bit snazzy.
If you haven’t yet…make this sweater! It’s fun and EZ is a must-read. The confidence she projects to her readers is so valuable to anyone’s knitting experience. Go for it, do what works for you.
After a brief blog hiatus, I return with very little knitting done. My drive out west was such a big opportunity, yet despite everyone telling me how gorgeous the drive was, no one could have prepared me for just how beautiful it would be. I was glued to the car windows, obssesing over landscapes and every hint of mountains in the distance. Mountains! I love them. My heart stops a little every time Mt. Hood or St. Helens comes into view. As a girl from the flattest regions of the midwest, they have become my new obsession. A lifelong love, I think.
Portland has been good to me. I am staying with friends and am completely enchanted by their kids. Two years old and eleven months. They are lovely and crazy, funny and the sweetest things imaginable (obviously I don’t deal with the diapered, nap-taking monsters that surely live inside them!). They are my biggest distractions day to day. I’d rather play monster and run around than finish a sock or two. It’s just more fun.
I am halfway through a four-part interview process with a company out here. I am really intimidated by their methods and the interviews are really long. I usually interview well, and apparently still do, seeing as they asked me back for the third time. I can’t believe there is a third time involved at all, let alone a fourth, but there are a lot of people to talk to. I didn’t feel at my best in the second round, but it worked out okay. It’s grueling. I bet the FBI doesn’t have interviews this thorough. Wish me luck this Wednesday.
What I’m working on now:
a) Finishing the last half of the final pomatomus sock. It’s been painfully neglected, but I can’t focus enough on the pattern right now. A little darling constantly asking, “Whatcha doin’? Hey Megan? Whatcha doin’ ???” It’s lovely she wants to be so involved with everything, so I don’t mind. It’s more important to talk to her than count my stitches anyhow.
b) Two Clapotis patterns going. One mini scarf, one huge wrap. It’s on size 5 needles and I added eight extra increases. I don’t think it’s ever going to end. Ever. I’m going Clapotis crazy and need a small break.
c) Sweet Pea socks from summer Knitty. I got new sock yarn here at Close Knit, some greenish Jitterbug that intrigued me. I mostly started the sock just to see what the yarn looked like knitted up. I love it.
d) February Baby Sweater from EZ for friends that are anticipating their first baby in September. It’s been an easy knit so far.
Although I haven’t been knitting as much lately, I feel the quality of my knitting has improved. The time I devote is exclusive. I can count in peace, pay attention, sit on the front porch at dusk and just go for it. It’s relaxing and I appreciate it more. It’s a lovely change.
Happy solstice! I hope many happy first days of summer were had.
After an enjoyable and eventful cross-country drive, complete with unplanned car repairs and crappy hotels, I am here. Finally! We’ve been planning this move for two years and all of a sudden I’ve come to this screeching halt. I’m not planning anymore, I’m here, and it’s incredibly surreal. Now Sean just needs to finish up work and get out here too. I miss him like crazy and it’s barely been a week. It’s difficult not to experience this with him, you know? Five more weeks to go.I’ll get back to posting knitting stuff next week. I’m on sock #2 for Pomatomus and rowing along with the Gold Hill Clapotis. I’ve been waiting for new yarn stores…next week I’m going to make the rounds and find a perfect fiber for Ikko, my next project.
Have a good weekend!
Today I leave for a new life.
I look forward,
and everything I see is amazing.
As a knitter, there was very little motivation in my projects until last year. There were scarves and other shining examples of knit-purl rows, and this went on for years. I was a boring, beginning knitter for six years. Then something happened. I wanted more. I wanted to make a shawl, and then another, and then all of a sudden, a hat worked it’s way across my needles. I loved circular knitting. I read books like a crazy woman and taught myself new stitches. I copied patterns out of library books that were way over my head. I didn’t care. I’d figure it out. Knitting websites and blogs began to monopolize all the time I spent on the computer (which was fine), and I loved that I found all these people who understood it was perfectly fine to shush your husband while counting stitches. They were like me and it was fantastic. So because of this late-blooming evolution in personal knitting, I am knitting Clapotis. I would have done it sooner, but I wasn’t here yet. It’s enjoyable and easy and I’m happy to have jumped on the bandwagon. And while many, many knitters before me have slipped and twisted these stitches, I may be the first who has spoken of Clapotis without a shudder-worthy pun.
I am getting a surprising amount of knitting done, in between setting up interviews with jobs that I am completely underqualified for (someone offered me a marketing position at a mortgage company…???) and deciding which shoes I can live without for 4 months (um, none). I finished my first pomatomus sock and am nearly 1/3 of the way through a full-sized Clapotis. Another three increases and I’ll be in the dropped stitch straight rows. My memory card corrupted on me today as I started to take photos, so it will be a few days before I get new ones up. I really don’t know how that sort of thing happens, but it did. Thank god it wasn’t my camera.
Six days left in Illinois. So nervous and excited.
