So Bud came for 2 days of her Spring Break and I roped her into posing in her Cardigan for Arwen / Christmas present 07 / Big Green Monster. I know a few of your have heard me harrumphing about this project and that I was super frustrated because I am so much faster than 3 1/2 months for a sweater. Well I love the results but I really hate knitting those reversible cables. Some people hate twisted ribbing but I have found I love twisted ribbing because it requires less hand movement and I can speed through a project. That alone proves that every pattern has someone who really really loves it while some hate it with a passion.

Pattern: Cardigan for Arwen by Kate Gilbert Interweave Knits Winter 2006 also on KG’s site
Yarn: Knitpicks Swish Worsted 13 skeins (100% Superwash Merino Wool) 50 grams/110 yds
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony US 8

Mods: I lengthened the sweater to 23″. I knit the back and BO but the once the fronts had reached the shoulder BO, I unpicked the back BO and did a 3 needle BO. I liked that result so much better. I then knit the sleeves and seamed everything up. Lastly I did the hood all in one piece and then grafted the top together. I wish I had seen this mod because I might have done it instead for an easier fit, but Kate Gilbert does have a new version on her website which she added somethings like sleeve mods and length and has fitting tips.

Facts to remember: I hate reversible cables but love the look. I remember reading an article by Lily Chin about 7 years ago on reversible cables and I thought the idea was genius. I wanted to do all cable projects in reversible cables. Well loving the idea and actually doing them is two different stories. I now have done them and I still love the idea but not sure if I ever want to do them again. I still am intrigued by the Inside Outside socks from the STR 2007 sock club.

I also need to remember that I might know that the measurement is right and will fit the person but they might like some ease in the sleeve. My SIL is a 13″ bicep circumference and it is a bit snug. It is great with a tank on but anything with sleeves creates arm bumps. This is also something I need to be better about in my patterns. I think I add enough ease to the sleeves and at times they are just right. (I also suspect that CYC bicep measurements are a bit slim)

Things I Love: The cables, the hood, the length and well how cute she looks in the sweater I decided to knit her Thanksgiving of 2006 because what would any teenager who loved the Lord of the Rings, taught herself elvish (reading, writing and speaking) and has several movie replicas of Arwen want, but this cardigan.

Reaction of the recipient: She loved it and it fit perfectly after a good blocking. Thank goodness for gauge swatches that don’t lie. Yes you read that. I did a swatch and it did not lie.

The rain was being annoying and would not stop till like 10 minutes after we left.

Hey Coffee Pals,

We were asked today to go visit each others blogs and tell something about someone who liked the same roasts as us. Well I could not stop at one since I found some lovely ladies.

I started out by opening everyones blog into a tab and reading them. Well I started at the end of the alphabet and moved forward.

I was a bit shocked by all the Starbuck lovers. I can’t stand the taste of the coffee. Oh well to each his own. Though I secretly hoped for starbuck loving pal because it is easy to find here in the land o starbuck.

Vicki P amazed me with her Kauni sweaters. I love her photo collage of cutting the steeks.

Christy T has the cutest crocheted stuffed animals I have seen.

Chan has a funny picture of all her dogs pileing up on one person. My dogs try this but only when someone is on the floor.

Thanks my lovely hostess for encouraging us to look at a few more blogs. I loved it and I added a couple blogs to my already large blog roll.

I went away for President’s weekend and I came back with a wicked bad cold. My throat was so sore that I lost my voice and then my nose ran so much that I used an entire box of Kleenex in one day.

Thankfully the weekend was fun and I have decided that next year I will be leading this same game again because it was a blast to run and I think I picked the right time to do the game. I GMed Robo Rally a really cool board game where you control a robot that has lasers and is trying to run a race through a course with moving parts. In addition to having a good time, I met another knit blogger. She is the one in green.

Well I am back and feeling a bit better. I still have the lingering bit of it all, but no more fever or heavy symptoms. I did knit during this time. I knit on what I now have titled the Big Green Monster. Arwen is almost done. It just needs a hood. I tried to get out of knitting the hood, but when asked what 16 year old would opt for a plain cardi. I knew I was delusional when I asked.

Now I have been working away at my swap sock which keeps causing me problems. The first sock was done and I am down to the heel of the second one. A friend’s 3 year old wanted to try on the pretty sock so I let her and it was almost too tight on her. So I passed the sock to a friend with a child of similar size to the sock recipient. She could get her foot down the leg but not through the heel turn. So I will be ripping the first sock back to the heel turn. I have a bit more time than I thought with these socks. I thought they were due on the 15th of March but I have till the end of March.

Sadly these are all the WIPs that I have going right now and they are making me a bit crazy.

I have been taking a lot of PS3 pictures. I have compiled them into a slide show for you. If the java messes up for you here is the flickr slide link

I have been craving glazed carrots recently. I am not really a fan of cooked carrots but it is project spectrum right now and thought I would try to appease the masses. So, I gathered the supplies – honey and carrots. I started to mix up a batch of yarny goodness, …………..

I have not started but I really wanted a new hat and have really fallen for all the hats made from Malabrigo that I have seen.

Next up on the block of food is the lovely but fishy pomatomus, it really needed a nice classy wine to be a stand up entry.

This week things worked out a bit better for me. I whipped through the leg and am one repeat from the start of the toe. I really love this yarn. It is a really nice and I want to make myself a pair of socks from it.

Lastly I have been laboring away at this exquisite Christmas present.

I just wish it would go a bit faster. I am definitely making progress. I think if I keep knitting it while I watch TV, I will be finished sooner than later.

That’s all the knits for now. I have been creating designs this week. Lots of creating more details and swatching. I am really falling in love with some of these designs.

This sock has been chugging along. Although, what you saw last week is not what is now in the picture. I was knitting it on US 0 so as to shrink the pattern to my pals foot size, but I shrunk it a bit too much. Yes in deed I made her have midget feet. She does have small feet but this was insane. I frogged once after one full repeat, then knit half the lace repeat and measured the lace part to check that going up to a US 1 (2.25) was making it just big enough. To my shock, the sock had not gotten any bigger with the needle change. So I stuck the needles through a needle gauge and well I seem to have picked up the US 0s again. Rip went the sock and I started over with the right needles. Making sure to put those too small needles into their case before picking up the stitches and double checking the needle size of the needle that I was picking up the stitches with. Yes I was a bit paranoid but you would be too if you had made my mistake. So now I am half a repeat beyond where I was before ripping the first time. It is definitely going to fit this time and I think the colors will cause her to love them. Just so you know 2 of the PS3 colors are in the sock.

I started gathering supplies for my PS3 ATC Swap. I have been missing my inks since I finished art school. I pulled them out laid them out on my bed to sit and contemplate what to do about them all. I love small work in pen & ink. It holds a preciousness that can’t really be expressed. Now all I have to do before I can start is to cut the paper to size. I can’t wait.

Several people on ravelry started talking about a PS3 diet (ravelry link). Trying to incorporate foods that reflect each element. This element is, of course, fire and the suggestion was to make baked goods from scratch. Since I make bread every week, I knew this would not be too hard. I love fresh bread. In November, I decided that I needed to start making sourdough. The starter has stayed alive since then even with our crazy schedule. I think I only had to actually feed it once. All the rest of the times, it has been fed because we had used it.

I passed this gourd as I was cleaning up a bit of the house so that I could set up my loom and realized this gourd would be a great PS3 pic. Don’t you love how it looks like it just got pulled off the vine with all the dirt clinging to it still?

This last one might not fit with the PS3 fire theme, but I am excited that I have noticeable progress. I think it was barely 3 inches last time. This time I am sure it is at least twice that. I am so happy that it is growing. I don’t know if I don’t like the reversible cables or if it is the yarn. Only another project will allow me to decide.

I shall leave you with Mr. Bun. He has been hanging out around the desktop computer. I think he is contemplating hijacking my blog and writing about his experience in this house.

Do you ever find yourself saying something and a song pops into your mind because it has been playing in the background influencing the statements you say? Well one song in particular has been playing a bit too much in my mind. I keep coming up with odd sayings that relate to a video on youtube that churchable has been replaying for everyone who gets a second and can sit on the couch and watch it on the TV. Now I make comments about making a “tribute to the best chocolate milkshake in the world” since we were out of one ingredient so I got creative. And then while driving to Oly this evening, I stated to myself that I really like “hard rocking music me amigos”. Of course when I tend to drive alone my music is way louder than when churchable is with me and it is totally European techno pop music with a bit or goth-influenced pop-rock-metal. Churchable on the other hand is firmly in the classic girl vocal alternative music and talk radio. When we enter Seattle airwaves space, we fight over who gets to listen to what station. I always vote for C89.5, but then it is the only station like it anywhere I have ever been.

This week I have felt productive, but I think these pictures will show you that I have not been productive with the knitting. I have been productive in getting food into the freezer so that I can knit more and cook less. I have also been productive in getting a pattern reworked and sent to my new tech editor and talking to my test knitter about specifics. Yeah me!

So hopefully I will get a bit more knit this week. I really want to finish something this week. Probably not done by FO Friday but hey maybe by Monday. So here is the current status:

The twisted flower socks have been plugging along pretty fast since they travel everywhere with me and now that they are on DPNs since Mr. Bun ate the cable on the circular, I don’t feel bad doing one DPN worth of stitches. The above photo was something that I had been thinking about since the color is called Olive Oil. I thought I should put them on a bottle of oil to show them off.

Arwen has been plugging along. I finished seaming it before I allowed myself to cast-on the Zeebee hat that I made for Churchable. I hope the sleeve stretches a bit after blocking. I know my arms are bigger than Bud’s but this seems a bit too small. I know I read all the reviews on this and decided against adding more short rows to make them larger but oh well. Bud has skinny arms. She is only 16.

I have picked the yarn for my mittens for the No More Humdrum mitten swap. The red is amazing. It is a beautiful Mountain colors colorway and then the black is one that I used way back when I first started knitting a pair of stain glass mittens. I plan on creating my own pattern. I have an idea and I will be releasing it out into the world once it is done.

In other news, the Spring Interweave Preview is up. I am so in love. I think the Spring issue is going to keep being my favorite issue each year. I also think I will keep making skirts each spring. Now to figure out a yarn.

We are back home tonight. Yeah. I am tired of traveling and being on the move. I think I have been gone a part of each week since the beginning of December. Why me?

You came here for the weekly report so let me see. My knitting has been a bit slow, but I parked my butt on the couch today because I intend to not let the last Christmas gift drag out until February. You hear that Bud. I will be done. Ok so here is the belated present.

It is getting a little big for my photo space. I had to shove some yarn out of the way just to get the whole thing in. Well I finished the left side and grafted the cuff cable. That was a bit harder than I thought. Now I have the right side and the hood left plus the seaming. I plan on seaming tomorrow so that I get it done in bits rather than getting annoyed at it all at once.

Anyone interested in a little bit of Cable close-ups. I am a bit in love with cables right now.

This here is me playing with ghetto lighting which I read about over on Socks for Mum. She is taking a lighting class. I really love the look, but I think my camera focuses a bit better with the flash.

Lastly we have my Twisted Flower which I am knitting for SockDown! I am in love. The pattern flows so smoothly that my second sock does not even need the patten to be carried around.

My endpaper mitts are stalling because I need to finish the present and the socks they call my name, but my hands moan about being cold. So I need to knit faster so that I can finish things and have some mitts to wear while knitting indoors.

So this here elegant bottle of wine was a present and so was the yarn and the pattern, yes I seem to be in need of sock blockers. That would be a nice present. Hint Hint. Ok back to the WIPS. If you don’t recognize the sock pattern, it is Twisted Flower by the wonderful Cookie A. I cast on these lovely socks on New Years to start the new year off with something new. I knit 2″ of the sock that day and put it aside till I finished my nephews socks and hat plus got Bud’s Cardigan for Arwen in a submissive state.

Here is the difficult little knit. The cables have been very disagreeable. I seem to keep ripping out the same section multiple times. At least I have learned to ladder down instead of unknit the whole 20 rows or so that are giving me grief. I lengthened this sweater so that it reaches her preferred length. I measured and the arms will fit her fine. I am kind of avoiding this one but it needs to be done by MLK day or I am sunk. I promised her Christmas present by then. I keep finding better things to do with my time like start a business and do a sudo business plan. Yes I dream large and do weird things when I avoid something. Ok well there is one last WIP lurking in my bag.

It is my endpaper mitts. I can’t wait to be done with them so that I can wear them in my very cold house to knit with. Maybe I should finish these first before anything else so that my fingers don’t freeze. Fat chance of that the sock has me a bit obsessed.

So the future has much in store there is another Cookie A sock chomping at the DPNs to be cast on. If I don’t do that soon, I might be missing a few DPNs. I also want to work through the pile of stuff on my work bench.

Don’t forget you Seattle knitters. I will be in your area starting Friday and staying till most likely Wednesday. Leave me a comment or PM me on Ravelry (RChrispy).

Lastly I just made the decision today to not participate in the current Sexy Knitters Club KAL. The patterns just don’t work for me and I don’t have the time to fix them for my body. It seems weird that I started last year with them and this year I part ways. I just have a bit much on my plate plus I hope to have some surprises for everyone in the late Spring. I will be participating in Project Spectrum started by Lolly.

It is a fresh year and I have a few WIPs going but they have been packed up in readyment for churchable’s family Christmas. We are heading to Spo Vegas for the weekend.

We are leaving after I see my GYN who has been rescheduled every month from late August to now. I refused to change this appointment. I was tired of moving it. It is a pain to move things around that whenever you call to change it is always a month out.

I know you would like some WIPs instead of a nice log, but think of it as a beautiful inspiration. To appease you, I will post a list of my WIPs.

1 Cardigan to be gifted this weekend but I think it will not be done till MLK weekend when we go back to Spo Vegas.

1 Twisted Flower sock in yarn gifted me by my pal from SP11, which was cast on to welcome in the new year. I am knitting it for the Ravelry: SockDown KAL.

1 Endpaper mitts in KP gloss

a little tube sock for my nephew to match his father. I should be done tonight.

Ok I am off to finish packing and knit the little tube sock. Hopefully there is something good on TV or at least on the TV websites or I will hop over to Netflix and try out the watch on their system some movie that only I want to watch. Churchable always tells me what movie that arrive on my account that he wants to watch. It normally is not a problem but I do prefer to have something to watch especially when I can’t turn on the TV.