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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.

self-portrait 

 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.

I’m off to New York…see you Monday!

(Please enjoy my new yarn until I get back)

I’ve grown bored of my Branching Out scarf. It’s gone now and I’m using the yarn for the best purpose ever…my mom’s mother’s day present. I’m seeing her next weekend and so I have an extra week to complete this. I think the mini version will suit her best, and the gorgeous 100% silk is pretty mom-worthy, don’t you think? I dropped down a needle size from what I used in the swatch and I’m very happy with it so far. I did a Lorna’s Laces order earlier this week and got some Shepherd sport for a full-size Clapotis for myself. Apparently I have a theme this week. Lorna’s Laces and Clapotis. It’s a really fun week.

I’m so in love with my Pomatomus sock, it’s not even funny. On the other hand, I hate my Jaywalker sock even more. Specifically, I hate the yarn. It’s really cute in small batches (like the first two inches of this sock), but it’s too fussy for me. The sock pattern is lovely, though–sturdy and very easy to memorize. I think I would prefer them in a solid color. I have some Lorna’s Shepherd Sock in Harvest en route to my house, originally intended for a pair of opera gloves, but I think I’ll make another pair of Jaywalkers with it instead. Or maybe some red-ish Trekking I’ve had my eye on, though maybe I need a break from stripes.

I’m really looking forward to my trip to New York next weekend (a very nice birthday present from my mom). I need a little break and change of scenery to clear my head. My poor little head is feeling stuffed and disoriented from all the pre-move agendas and never-ending lists. Once I return, I have a week and a half before driving out to Portland! That’s another fun vacation in itself. My sister Kelly is driving out with me, which means a week of camping and midwestern sight-seeing. Oh, and 2,000 miles to cover. We don’t have a specific date we need to be there, so it’s two gals and the open road. And hopefully some coffee in there somewhere. Lots of coffee.