Domestic Bliss
It's like you're unraveling a big cable-knit sweater that someone keeps knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting...
Busy.
I try to blog at least once a week, preferably more. But this past week has been so hectic that I haven't had time to even think about it until now! Let's see...
The biggest change in my life is that after working nights for almost 13 years, I'm now working days. Also, I'm working the opposite days from my old shift, which means I have to choose new vacation days for the rest of the year. It's going to take me awhile to adjust to this schedule; while the new shift is not as bad as I feared it would be, getting up at 5 a.m. SUCKS. Once I get to work, I actually function pretty well until the mid-afternoon lull hits around 2:30.
Tuesday was a good day - I had jury duty! (No, I'm not being sarcastic here.) I didn't have to be at the courthouse until 8:45, which meant I got some extra sleep. I brought my knitting with me (Electric Lizard socks), and Security didn't try to confiscate my needles. The woman sitting in front of me in the Jury Lounge was also knitting a sock, so we had something to talk about. We sat around for about half an hour, then they showed us a video about jury service (it was narrated by Charles Kuralt, which makes me wonder when it was made). Another half hour or so of sitting around, then they called about half of us to be in the first group. We took the elevators up a few floors and entered a tiny courtroom; they told 12 of us to sit in the jury box, and after a few questions, the rest were sent back downstairs. I was the last one called to the box. It was a civil case, and after spending a couple of hours listening to all of the evidence, we were sent out of the room; 10 minutes later the judge came in and said it was all over, as he had issued a directed verdict. Fortunately for us, by the time we were done all of the day's juries had been chosen, so rather than going back into the pool we were sent home in time for lunch. Not a bad day at all - I did my civic duty, my employer will be paying me for the day, and I had the afternoon free.
I finished my raglan:
I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out, especially how the yarn knitted up - I was worried the white bits wouldn't look good, but they do. Next time I will make some changes to the neck, though; I'll probably start with a provisional cast-on so I won't have to pick up so many stitches.
I made another tomato hat:
This one turned out better than the first one. I made the triangles narrower by only increasing one stitch in the center of each RS row instead of adding one on each end. Also, I used a vertical double decrease after I joined the triangles - it's not perfect, but I think it's a vast improvement over the slip 1, knit 1, psso I used last time. This hat will be going to my very pregnant friend B. I think I might make a pair of red socks to go with it.
Snakes on my knitting!!!
Guess what movie we saw tonight? Heeeeee....
The raglan is progressing nicely, btw.
I found out the other day that one of our LYSs is going out of business. Bummer. It's not where I usually shop, as it's quite far from my house, but since they are having a massive sale, I decided it would be worth the drive. Right now everything is 40% off, and after Monday it goes to 50% off - but stuff is selling so fast that I knew I'd better get what I wanted today and not wait.
Pink superwash merino; enough for a pair of knee socks.
Blue Sky Alpaca - the last 5 red skeins. I don't know what this is for yet. It's actually a much darker red than in this photo.
That alpaca is wonderful stuff - it's incredibly soft. They had a bunch of it in various shades of green; I might go back out there next week when the price goes down and see if there's any left.
Amazing Lace redux.
Much to my surprise and delight, I am once again a finalist in The Amazing Lace. I'd really like to place well, so if you are inclined to vote for me, you can do so either on the main page or at the poll page here. My entry is "Bliss' books." Thanks in advance!
Last night I finished my first-ever shawl. I wanted to make something that would knit up quickly, and boy did this fit the bill - I only worked on it for four evenings. It's the Garter Lace Triangle Shawl from Martha Waterman's Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls, and while I'm normally not too crazy about garter stitch, I have to admit that I really like how this turned out.
(I couldn't get the whole thing in the picture, but you get the idea.)
I would definitely recommend this as a lace project for beginners. It's a 10-row repeat, but the first 6 rows are just knitting with knit F&B increases on each end of each RS row, and the other 4 rows are a very simple lace. I memorized the pattern after 2 repeats and didn't have to look at the book again.
Here's a close-up:
I made this from 3 skeins of Lion Brand Microspun (from my stash) on size 10 1/2 needles. Since it's microfiber, I can't really block it, so the lines aren't perfectly straight; but it's really soft and cuddly - and machine washable! Bonus!
Strong Heel!
This afternoon we got back from Raleigh; my family reunion was yesterday. This is the first year it's been held in the summer - in previous years, we've gathered at Christmas, but I think everyone will agree that this was better. I may write more about it later.Anyway, one great thing about road trips is that since Syntax likes to drive, I usually have time to knit. I finished the first Electric Lizard sock a couple of days ago; I don't know how well it reads in the photo but I used the Strong Heel technique from a pattern by Gerdine Crawford-Strong in the Fall 2003 issue of Knitter's Magazine. I like this heel a lot: instead of knitting a heel flap and gusset, you increase the back half of the sock with M1s, then decrease by doing short rows in the heel. Since I haaaaaaaaate picking up stitches, this is a really good technique for me. It's a lot neater than the double-wrap short row heels I've been doing.
I managed to knit this much of the second sock in the car between Durham and Asheville:
I'll try to save this one for knitting in public, since I've got three other (less portable) works in progress. More photos next time.
Amazing Lace Challenge #5: Where's Waldo?
Lurking amongst the books and the stash...
New and old projects.
We had a good group at Stitch & Bitch tonight - our three regulars, two semi-regulars, and one new person (I persuaded my coworker KC to come). Last week I bought some handpainted sock yarn from Stacey's ETSY site (go look - she's got some great stuff), and instead of mailing it to me she brought it with her tonight. She gives her colorways very interesting names. Behold the Electric Lizard:
It's 4 ounces, which should be plenty for a pair of socks and some leftovers.
I started my first raglan sweater, using the blue Kool-Aid yarn I dyed a few weeks ago. I'm using this pattern generator, and so far so good:
I have finally finished my blog socks, so called because I used the colors in the yarn (Sock Garden in Stargazer Lily, sadly discontinued by KnitPicks) for the color scheme of the blog. These are very comfy. I've been working on them forever; originally they had a 2x2 cabled rib on the ankle, which looked great, but when I put them on they stretched out so much that they just didn't look right anymore. Fortunately I knit them toe-up, so I just frogged the ankles and reknit them with a 2x1 rib. Much better.
I sent two pairs of children's socks to CIC for the Summer Sock Challenge. This pair turned out really well. I used my own short-row heel sock pattern, but I was inspired by the color pattern from the Lithuanian Socks in Nancy Bush's Folk Socks. I call them Lithuanian-ish Socks.
I may have to make a pair of these for myself.
