Warmth in the North

oh, joy

    I've gotten to the end of the body, but it doesn't really look like it.  All the little pieces of yarn holding live stitches don't really help with the finished look.  Lots of decreases have definitely helped with  making the fabric take shape but I'm still looking for a nice clean bind off.  Hmm... maybe if I just fold it up nicely.

    A little bit better but not quite.  I guess I'll just have to wait till the sleeves are finished and I can stitch it all together.  Maybe I'll just content myself with blocking this section or put it in a drawer where I can't  see all the messy ends. 

    Better yet I'll just keep looking at the tulips and count the body as finished till I can really do some finishing.

pure and simple

    Both the fronts of the sweater are finished and only a few inches of the back remain.  Progress is so sweet.  I took a break from knitting to pretty up some candles for gift giving.  
    Whenever I go home I buy a bunch of these beeswax candles, nothing beats a pure beeswax candle as far as I'm concerned.  The number of questions about where to get them were stacking up so I started adding a couple to the requisite bottle of wine I'd bring as a hostess gift.  It's funny how something so simple can be appreciated so much.

the mission

    Today I must pick up an Ice Cream Cake from Dairy Queen (Oreo Blizzard to be exact), go to the Optometrist, participate in a staff meeting that will extend my work day by at least two hours, buy at least a minimal amount of groceries, buy a plane ticket, and some other very exciting errands.  What I'd really like to do is knit the rest of the body of my sweater.  I have a feeling it's not going to happen, but such is life.

the bad and the good

    I did something really silly, not recently but sometime in November.  I bought hyacinth bulbs and then went about following all the appropriate steps to force them.  Every year I force flowers so that by this time I can stave off the winter crazies with a taste of spring.  The only difference this time was the chosen flower - usually I'm a amaryllis and paperweight person - for some reason I decided to stray from the beaten path. 
    I now have a little problem, don't get me wrong all the bulbs have bloomed and I have lovely flowers surrounding me but I hate them.  It's the smell, sickly sweet and almost rotting, that I can't stand.  The funny thing is I know that I don't like the smell of hyacinths so whatever compelled me to grow them is beyond me.

    Because I can't make myself get rid of all the plants I've been coming up with solutions to the stench.  Most of these have been ineffectual - pear scented candles and hyacinth are not a good combo, take it from me.   The best it has smelled in over a week was on bread day, the sent of yeast can overpower just about anything.  A close second was today's lunch, somehow the sharp cheddar dominated the aroma contest.  One full hour of pure grilled cheese bliss.
    Despite today's success I'll be getting rid of the hyacinths next year.  Don't get me wrong they are pretty but I can't be bothered to look up from my knitting once every few minutes trying to figure out what's rotting.  Maybe I can get back to Serrano now and finish the body in a timely fashion.

making headway

    One of the best things about knitting is having a perfectly fitting sweater, the only bad thing about that is the work that goes into it.  Measurements and math are my nemesis but I think I've found a compromise that will work for this.  Right from the get go I could tell the original pattern would be short, way too short.  The schematic was enough but all the comments on Ravelry reinforced that notion.
    The only problem with lengthening the body was the waist shaping.   For the life of me I couldn't figure out where to put it.  No matter how long I stared at the pattern how much length to add to each section was beyond me.  So I came to the lazy person's favorite conclusion - leave it out. 
    Usually I'd at least give it a go with the shaping but the other thing I learned in the pattern comments was how hard people had found it to keep the lace pattern in that section.   Not that I always advocate the easy way out but in this one instance I feel justified.  Now I just need to hope and pray that the final product will fit despite all my shenanigans.

subway mittens

    I know the items in the picture don't really seem to go together but collectively they are my sister's birthday present.  She requested a pair of bright blue mitts (pocket included) and pearls.  What it says about her I don't know but I can see her wearing everything, all at the same time.  At least I now have a clever way to wrap the pearls, really what better use could there be for a pocket on a mitten?

just in case...

Pattern ~ Subway Mittens by Colleen Michele Meagher (rav link)
Yarn ~ Dream in Color Classy in Don't be Blue
Needles ~ 3.5mm (US4) & 4.5mm (US7)

blissfulness

    Well the mittens are done so I allowed myself to cast on with the gloriously pink yarn.  I'm usually unafraid of my knitting, really the worst thing that could happen is ripping, but this yarn has scared me for as long as I've owned it.  It's the same base (fingering silky merino) that my second Ishbel is knit with and seems precious.  For a while quite a bit of it hung around in my stash waiting for the perfect project so that I wouldn't ruin it.  Knitting Ishbel made me love it even more ~ in the skien it's lovely but knit up it's wonderful.

    So after almost a year of mental ramblings I've finally done something with my yarn.  And I realized that I'm much more a knitter than a stasher, as soon as I made my first few stitches I felt relief.  The yarn is being used and my happiness is immeasurable.  It's funny to learn something like that about yourself on the same day that you pre-order yarn for a sweater that you won't get to cast on for at least two months. 
    I guess that's an entirely different topic so I'm going to continue to glance between my very tiny bit of pink knitting and the tulips.  Maybe I should take a queue from this solution to my problems and keep it up.  Every time I vaguely think of a good idea I'll just start the project, what could it hurt?  Oh that's right I'd have a million UFOs, well it was a good idea for the two seconds it lasted.

knitting mittens

    For all the whining I did before starting these I could have knit them already they are so easy.  I think I sometimes forget how quickly worsted weight will knit up, before you know it you've finished something.  After some consultation I'll be adding the little pocket to the back of the left mitt, I didn't think my sister would want it but she likes the idea so a pocket she'll get.  What she'll use it for I have no idea, maybe her student id card or something.

    I'm having a little argument with myself over casting on for something new.  A new sweater in fingering weight yarn, sure to be time consuming, but I have such grand plans.  Half of me thinks it's not a good idea until other things are finished but the rest of me wants to so badly.  Every time I look over at these tulips I'm reminded of the bright pink yarn in my stash.  Can flowers mock you?
    Self control in my knitting world is not my strong suit so I'm sure I'll cast on before long.  Maybe once I finish these mitts and put them in the mail.  Now that I think about it that's the perfect solution as it makes both crazy parts of me happy.  And with a few days off work I might actually make some real progress.

ishbel ~ the second

    I think I love this version more than the last.  Since I've already gone on and on about why my love for this pattern exists I'm not sure what else to say.  I could be extremely annoying and just direct you to my other post but I'll attempt to refrain.  I will however apologize for the radiator in this picture, I'm not sure why I decided to stand there but what's done is done.

    One thing that might be called an oddity is how much yarn is called for - trust me you don't need anywhere near that much.  Both the small and the large used far less yarn than called for, just over 50 extra grams for this one and I didn't even start off with the required amount.  You'd have to be a very loose knitter to need anywhere near that much.  It might be the perfect pattern for a small amount of special yarn that you've been saving.

just in case...

Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teague (rav link)
Yarn: Sundara Fingering Silky Merino in Tulip
Needles: 4mm (US6)

outward appearances

     Do you ever have one of those days where you just don't have much to say?  It feels as if I've done quite a lot in the last day or so but none of it is very interesting.  Spring cleaning anyone?  I've quite methodically gone through the list of things that need to be complete by mid April and checked off anything that could possibly, reasonably be done.   The knitting has been languishing in favor of all sorts of other things but maybe, just possibly I'll be able to finish Ishbel before the end of the weekend.
   
    The temperature skyrocketed yesterday, a whole 16 degrees in 4 hours, amazing.  Snow is still sticking around and even falling but with the nicer weather it's easier to look at how pretty it is on the hay bales than to complain.  It's as if the warmth makes everything possible, knitting lace quickly, the return of green trees and even perfect organization.  If I could only find the needles I need to knit the mittens my life would be wonderful.