Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Back to Normal

Our son packed up and went back to school yesterday after almost a month of vacation. It was great to have him home, but it's also nice to get back to a normal routine.

When he came home for his Thanksgiving break, we talked about taking a trip together after the New Year. We all realize that there won't be that many more years for us to travel together as a family---just the three of us, and we thought it would be good to get away after all the hub-bub of the holidays settled down.

Before we bought our tickets and made the reservations, we batted around a few different ideas. Eventually we settled on going down south and revisiting what was our home for a short time (almost twenty years ago), and the place where our son was born---Louisiana. He was only two when we packed up and moved back to Minnesota, so he has no memory of his Cajun beginning.

We started by flying into San Antonio, continued on through Louisiana, and after spending a few days in New Orleans, flew home. We sure didn't get much of a break from the cold; we must have brought the frigid temperatures with us. It wasn't Minnesota cold, but it wasn't much of a thaw either. Despite the cold, we had a great time. We visited all our old haunts, did the tourism thing, and ate some really terrific food---from fajitas and margaritas in Texas to gumbo and blackened fish in New Orleans.

...and watched lots of football. Between the bowl games and playoffs---not to mention several hours in the car, I knew there would be times that I would have to have some knitting along on the trip. The trouble was that I had knit enough of of the Zimmermann Green Sweater to get to the point of cutting steeks, and I wasn't about to attempt that in a hotel room.

I guess I was in a Zimmermann sort of mood. I remembered that the Tomten Jacket was something I wanted to try and that I had a bagful of grey Lite Lopi in the closet that I had picked up on clearance. The night before we left, I read as much as I could about other knitters' experiences with the pattern, printed off a few notes, and threw the whole works in my suitcase. (With the tightened security at the airport, I figured I wouldn't risk losing my needles to some overly zealous TSA agent, so I didn't even try to bring it on the plane.)

This pattern appears in several of Mrs. Zimmermann's books, and I was at first attracted to the simplicity of its construction. It has since been expanded on and modified by other knitters to include some basic shaping. Of course, the originator would have surely admired these innovations. I wanted to keep as close as possible to the original and incorporate just a few of the best of the changes.

I've made some more extensive notes on my project page of Ravelry---mostly for myself, if I ever want to make this again. Besides that information, here's what I've discovered so far in the process. I think it's a good idea to knit this sweater at a fairly firm gauge. Garter stitch stretches quite liberally, and it could look like a big slouchy mess if the gauge were too loose. I also think it's important to choose a yarn with plenty of body. Reynolds Lite Lopi is a personal favorite of mine, and since I had it on hand with a couple of other colors leftover from past projects, it seemed like a good choice. It's also important to remember that this is meant to be an oversized jacket. I probably tend to err on the side of making things a little too big, but in my opinion, there's nothing worse than wearing something that looks too tight or too small. Once you've prepped a swatch and are doing the math, plan for plenty of ease.

The knitting progresses quickly without the fuss of having to closely follow a pattern. I could watch the games with the guys or follow a map in the car and not end up frogging back when the action got exciting or we were looking for the right highway.

Now that we're home, I considered putting this aside to finish my other Zimmermann. I don't think I will, though. I'm afraid I'll get out of the zone and forget all my intentions for the project. Besides, I need to build up the courage to cut those darn steeks on the other one. There is one thing about this Tomten that I'm not too happy about. The longer I work with it, the more I realize that it's calling out for a zipper closure on the front. For some reason, I always dread putting a zipper into a sweater even though it's never as bad as I think it will be.

I think I've stalled long enough. Being back to normal means that I do have to get back to some of those basic chores that got pushed aside for the last month, and admittedly, blogging should probably have been towards the bottom of that list. Procrastinating...I guess things are back to normal.