Sweatergirl's stalled sleeves

I started thinking about what to knit at the PicKnit and on an upcoming loooong car trip. Here's what I came up with:

Notice a pattern? I have a lot of unfinished sleeves. Agh! Anyone else have this problem and want to join me in a sleeve-finishing challenge?

I should be done the front of the Snail's Pace Sweater this weekend, but may move on to the front of the Old Friend Aran. Only one more repeat until neck-shaping!

Sweatergirl's M-86 Kicks

If you ever happen to be on M-86 passing through Three Rivers, Michigan, do yourself a favor and stop in at R. Stanley's. It's a diner, but with a Jazz/Blues theme, and scrumptious food with a Chicago and/or Cajun bent. Really. Good. Food. And nice people.

So, I have been driving around the state a bunch, with not a lot of knitting time. I have, however, been working on the Baby Shower Afghan blocks (and there is at least one dedicated knitter out of the bunch! Yay!) and on the front of the Snail's Pace Sweater. I have gotten to the V-neck shaping - so am decreasing every row. Makes the knitting a bit quicker.

I've also been spinning a bunch. So - for my own records - 3.5 oz/216 yds of Echo Lake Ragg finished July 27. About the right yards for worsted weight - but seems a bit thin. I will have to take it to the master, TrixieChick.

I'm trying to decide on PicKnit knitting and on vacation knitting. So many projects - so few at a thoughtless stage.

Today is my last WW meeting with my WW buddy before she moves away. She's become a very good friend, and I will miss her a bunch, but the move is definitely a happy thing for her. Just one of those not-so-good things about living in a college town - far-flung career advancement opps. Another not-so-good thing - the students will be back in mere weeks!

Coming this Sunday

East Lansing PicKnit

Spend a summer day knitting - c'mon - you know you wanna...

Sweatergirl dives in to Echo Lake

TrixieChick and I are spinning yarn for the Echo Lake Cardigan (Interweave Knits Summer 2003). She's quite a bit further along than I am - here's my yarn so far:

And here are the individual bobbins:

This is a beautiful and inexpensive "New Zealand Romney Sliver" from Paradise Fibers. I couldn't decide between the light grey and the medium grey, so I got a pound of each (they're really brown tones). I'm not a huge fan of ragg yarn (at least not naturally colored, high contrast - like this). So why am I doing this? Well, I think I am going to overdye, and this should give a nice color depth. At least that is what I keep telling myself. Or maybe I am just a masochist.

Sweatergirl's sweater's front

On July 10, I put up a picture of the back of the Snail's Pace Sweater - here's the left front! That's a quick knit for me. I think I have to rename all my projects so that they get done this quickly. Ok - I'm not there yet, so I'd better calm down.

And here's a picture of a sweater for Sarah Jane. I'm so excited to get to see her in all her one-month-old glory tonight. I made this from Mama Kate's free pattern. Thanks for your generosity, Kate! Yarn is Plymouth Encore (easy-care) - light purple lacy bottom and dark purple seed stitch top.

And another picture - I dyed this merino and silk roving last week - yum.

And another big finished object - our new deck extension. Someone pass me the margaritas. Whew!

The First Annual-ish East Lansing PicKnit

Yay! I have 4-ish responses, so there will be at least 5 of us at the PicKnit. And probably some from the Mid-Michigan Knitting Guild. Family, friends, well-behaved and leashed animals, knitting projects (finished and in-progress), and spinning wheels welcome. August 3 at Patriarche Park near the playground. Noon - ? Patriarche Park is at the corner of Alton and Saginaw (Business 69) in East Lansing, MI. Please bring a dish to pass - yum. I can bring hamburgers and hot dogs and buns and plates/silverware/napkins. I just need a rough count of how many are coming so I don't drastically under- or over-buy (plus I need to let the park know). Should be fun!

I had an okay birthday and weekend - my parents-in-law came out and we worked our tails off building a deck and landscaping to make our house a little more presentable. We've been there four years, each with a semi-major project, and Steve's parents have been really helpful in getting them done. But the truckload full of mulch - now that's the secret to making the house look good. We'll see if the dogs dig it all up while we are gone...

And I even got some knitting done while watching the paint dry. I finished the left front of the Snail's Pace Sweater and started the right front. I also finished a sweater for Baby Sarah Jane. Ends woven in and blocked and everything. Whew. Pictures tomorrow. My mother-in-law also knits, and she was working on the second sock of a pair of socks. She fell in love with the Cottage Creations Babies and Bears sweater, so we were off to the yarn store to buy a pattern. I also picked up Rowan 28, which I had had my eye on for a while. I think there's some overlap with Debbie Bliss's Celtic Knits. But Martha will be mine. That's next up after I finish the Snail's Pace Sweater.

Rev up your calendars...

Knitter/knitblogger picnic in East Lansing, MI, on August 3...Details to follow. Let me know if you are thinking of coming and we'll work out time, place, lodging (if needed). And spread the word. The more, the merrier.

Gotta get back to work - we're building a deck this weekend and I don't want to be a total slacker.

Sweatergirl's perfect day

No work for me tomorrow! I am taking the day off. What to do? Well, first, I shall sleep in, and then, I'll grab a mocha, weigh in at WW, go to the WW meeting, and then go to lunch with my WW buddy. So far, so good. Oh, and I will work on the Snail's Pace Sweater through the meeting.

My hubby is taking off the afternoon so we can go somewhere. Not sure where yet, but we get to end the day by picking his parents up at the Detroit airport and then dining at The Common Grill.

So I just have to come up with the somewhere.

Don't shower on my parade...

The shower - did not go as well as we had expected. Apparently, not all of the invitees had read the articles about how "cool" and "hip" knitting is these days...And I was unable to convince several to even give it a try. Humph. Old dogs, new tricks and all that. I just wonder if it is a generation thing. First generation feminists who pushed "the womanly arts" aside? I felt awful for the hostess of the shower.

But there were several that did pick it up and give it a try - and some even enjoyed it! So I felt a little better. But the goal of a baby blanket - well, it'll take some work I think!

Sweatergirl's sweater's back

May I present - the back of the Snail's Pace Sweater. Not so bad. And not so slow (even in fingering weight). But there are 2 fronts (wrap-around, dontcha know), and each is nearly as big as the back. I was only a few rows away from finishing it, and the dogs would not let me sew (Bear's an attention hound - new breed).

Whew!

I also finished reading The Giver for book club. We always read a "kids' book" for one of the summer months. This one is quite excellent in a dystopian sort of way. Thought-provoking. And short. And #14 on the Top Banned Books List. I'm inspired to reread Brave New World or 1984 or somesuch now.

Any Michigan (or nearby) Knitbloggers up for a pique-nique this summer? In, say, the capital of our fair state (or nearby)? Let me know...I'm thinking late July?

Sweatergirl dances for joy!

Yay! I am so happy! Why? Because I have caught up on reading knitting blogs! I started this knitblog because I loved reading everyone else's. But, well, I just hadn't been able to keep up, so I went to reading the A-K one day and the L-Z the next day. But after being out of town for a week and then getting buried in the yarn avalanche that is my stash, I was so far behind. But no longer!

I started to do a roundup of posts, but there were just so many good things going on in the knitblogging world. So just one - I loved Michelle's recap of the Smithsonian Folklife festival. Oh, and congrats to Betsy on her wedding and Matt and Rob on their new place. Oh, and I always love when the gals at brainylady and hairball take on the news.

Silly sight: I went to the local convenience store to buy some cookies for a meeting today. The guy that rung up the purchases had a big sticker on his chest that said "SNICKERDOODLE". Apparently that is the cookie of the day, but it sure looked like a name tag to me. Poor guy.

Sally Ride's doing science camps. She's a great role model - but. I've done the whole science camp thing, and I guess I am a scientist, so maybe it works, but the articles always sound a little silly. While getting girls to study science is a good idea, I'm not sure science camps show what being a scientist is about (or at least, the activites highlighted in articles about science camps...). What science camps do is get you into a good school, and maybe get you a scholarship, because all the schools want girls who want to study science. Sorry for being a cynic. But bet your bippy that those girls at the camp know it. Oh, and for me, it netted me a week or two or five away from my parents in those adolescent years.

Tonight, I doubt I will get to knit - I am working on favors for my little sister's wedding shower, which is at a place called Lavender Hall. I'm making groups of lavender sachets. Which are quite easy to sew, but I'd rather be knitting, of course!

And speaking of showers, I got invited to a baby shower this weekend - not as a guest, but as a knitting instructor! (Actually, Sarah was invited, but since she'll be at knitting camp, she asked me if I would do it). They want to learn to knit, and they'll be making garter-stitch squares that I'll sew together as a baby blanket. Kinda neat, eh? Wish me luck! There's potential to addict fifteen more people to knitting!

Holy impossibility, Sweatergirl!

Well, improbability at least. I've been working on my "gallery" for a bit now, and I am only up to the g's (alphabetically, in my own picture naming scheme). I think it might not load very well - lots of pictures. And none of finshed objects - that's my reward for doing all this inventory-ing. Time to whisk myself off to tonight's knit in to get some knitting done! But as program coordinator/VP of the guild, I might have to have a UFO initiative. Some have stayed UFOs waiting for advice; others I just need someone there while I rip. And some, well, I guess I just need to decide if I want to finish them or not. Anyone have an atomic-powered knitting machine I can borrow?

Sweatergirl emerges

I have been buried under yarn for the weekend. May sound pleasant to some, but 'twas suffocating to me. I had to clean the guest room/yarn room (what ever happened to a room of one's own?). I am embarrassed by my packrattiness. I think it may be time to admit that I have a problem and acknowledge a higher power. My addiction is buying yarn on sale. And does anyone leave a yarn store without buying something? I have to learn how to do that, since I have a lot of slightly scary "I have to buy SOMETHING" stuff. My name is Tracy and I'm a yarnaholic.

But I am at least organizing it and photodocumenting everything. I had to buy a bigger memory card for the camera (yet another yarn-related purchase). I am going to take some "bad karma" yarn to the knit-in and rid myself of it. Not bad yarn - just bad projects. I've only lost 20 lbs on WW, but one sweater is, like, twice my diameter around with armholes to my waist (poor self-image, or just poor planning?). Showing tomorrow night at Sheila's: When Good Yarn Goes Bad and The Incredible Shrinking Girl.

Tonight I will be photographing finished stuff for the gallery to make me feel better about myself! Finished stuff gets stored with clothes, so no longer counts as "yarn". Lots of my finished stuff has been given away though...

Speaking of which, some progress was made on Aidan's Aran, and I am one sleeve and 2 buttons short of another baby sweater. Which means another 200 grams of yarn out of my house. Woo hoo!

Hopefully I will finish creating my yarn inventory page today. Whew!

Sweatergirl's random knitting

This post is a bit like hot air - just bouncing around randomly. I think the Berocco Smart Cotton that I had thought I would use for Paulina will become a sweater something like this JCrew sweater. Hmm - a design project. In ribbing. This could take a while. At least I already have swatches! Now, maybe a normal person would just buy the sweater for $48, but I'm just not even going to get into that discussion.

Baby Aidan's Aran is going quickly! I'm 5 inches into the front. Here's the center cable, and a graph generated in Cable Grapher.

Cable Grapher is still in development, but it's got potential. The cable looks complex, but is actually very easy to do and to remember. Whew! A relief after screwing up the Old Friend Aran a few times.

I'm still working on the Old Friend Aran and the Snail's Pace Sweater - just not much to show.

Oh, and it's Christmas in July at my house - my Christmas Cactus is in bloom this week. Mysteries abound.

A curmudgeonly Sweatergirl

I read on Purls Before Swine that she thinks the YO dishcloth should be abolished as a beginning knitting project. I agree - I think its only advantage is that the supplies are inexpensive. I just know if I had started with that as a project, I would never have wanted to knit again. I hate knitting with cotton - and for beginners, it is much less forgiving than many other fibers. What do I recommend as a first project? Why, Sarah's Beginning Knitting pillow, of course! There are a lot of skills taught in that pillow pattern & class.

Otherwise - a scarf. Start with garter stitch and after a few ridges, you can switch to stockinette bordered with garter. In my first project, we even threw in some intarsia stripes (garter stitch was one color through whole scarf). I was getting pretty good at knitting (and recognizing twisted stitches) by the end of my five-foot-long scarf!

Otherwise - something you really want to knit! At least you'll maintain interest and finish it. Check out Sweater Project - cool stuff, eh? He's taken on an Aran as his first big project - good for him. Maybe you really want to make a baby sweater for a friend. Or maybe you really want a cool pair of socks.

What was your first project? Would you use it to teach someone to knit?

A great second project, I think, is a hat to go with your scarf! You learn decreasing and maybe ribbing. Of course, I love making and wearing hats - I will have to do a hat fashion show someday. Have you ever seen Yossel's Toessels? What a creative guy.

Anyway - it's just knitting, so take a chance. People have been doing it for thousands of years. Get some good instructions, and a knitter, if possible (you'd be amazed at how many people know how to knit, even if they don't knit regularly - my mother-in-law and a sorority sister were big helps, and Vogue Knitting and Folk Socks were good references).

I am giving up on Paulina for now - I couldn't seem to "get gauge". Well, I could get stitch gauge, but not row gauge, and I was probably smooshing the ribbing or something. So the Smart Cotton will retire to the yarn room for a while. Besides, I have to make an Aran for Baby Aidan. From Knitting for Baby. Which, by the way, Marcia at Purls before Swine has made too.