Sweater Weather

There's definitely a nip of fall in the air this week. Welcome relief after the hot and sticky weather that we had over Labor Day weekend. It might not be a bad idea to sort through my sweaters and see which ones could use a little freshening up. I will never publicly admit to how many sweaters are in my closet. It's kind of a uniform thing. Jeans--or khakis--tee shirt--short-sleeved or long, and a sweater. Add Crocs, Borns, or Tevas, and I'm set. How fashion forward.

St. Brigid is on the needles. When I did my gauge swatch a few weeks ago, I was able to get the best gauge with a #5 needle, but as I started knitting up the back this week, it became obvious that it was going to end up being way too over-sized for me. I started over with #3 needles, and I think this is going to be much better. My concerns about having a bulletproof sweater don't seem to be an issue.

The first few rows in a new cable project are always the toughest. You can't see the pattern yet, and you're not too sure what all those symbols are telling you to do. It always helps me to make cheat sheets. Once I've copied the graphs, I cut them out and tape them all to one sheet of paper along with the key for the symbols. I put them on my magnet sheet and into the sleeve of a page protector, and I'm ready to go. I've even gotten into the habit of making spreadsheets so that I know which row I should be knitting for each cable pattern on any given row in the sweater. This is especially helpful when the cable patterns have a different number of rows in the repeat of the pattern--which is the case in almost every cabled project I've ever knit. Once I've taken the time to do this prep work, it's about as mindless as I can make it. Now that I've gotten through the entire repeat for almost the second time on, the knitting is going much faster, and I can actually talk to my husband and/or watch TV simultaneously. The cables have a new twist (sorry) this time, too. Stitches are increased and decreased at the beginning a again at the end of the repeat. I wish I could dream up this stuff. I guess I should just be grateful that I can at least reproduce someone else's creativity. On with the KAL!

Empty Nesting

Now that our son is off to college, it's time to get to all the things that I said I would do "after Labor Day." True, I could slack off for a few more days, but why wait?

First thing on the list, go have coffee with a friend. Come on. I can at least slack off for a morning. The next priority was to get some of ripe tomatoes off the vine and pick what is getting to be the last of the green beans. BLTs for supper tonight. After all, it's so American to take something healthy like fresh tomatoes and pair them with bacon and mayo.

Once the veggies were in--I'm kidding myself into thinking I'm a farmer--it was time to tend to the flower beds. I can tell it's getting to be September as the plants are winding down. One of the biggest tasks is trying to keep up with the seed heads so that I'm not pulling up volunteers all over the garden next summer. I should really pick a few bouquets and bring them into the house. Somehow, when I get ready to cut the stem, I just don't seem to be able to do it. I always think I'd rather come outside and look at a flower for a week or so than have it on the breakfast table for only a day or two. So I'm a gutless farmer.

As hard as it is to wait until September officially hits to cast on St. Brigid, it's even harder to keep working on my Double-Knit Mittens. I am plodding on and am finally getting close to working the pattern and shaping at the top of the mitten. True confessions. At times, I've had momentary thoughts of amputation rather than having to knit the accompanying mitten for this set.

What do you do when you're working on a project that has become less than enjoyable? This is, after all, a hobby. It's supposed to be pleasant. Despite my complaining, I do like how this mitten is turning out, and it's not in my nature to give up on something just because it's not fun or easy. When is it virtuous to keep going, and when is it time to give it up? All I know is a St. Brigid September will be a welcome break.

Finished!

I had my doubts whether or not I could finish my Alix's Prayer Shawl before the deadline of Ravelympics 08, but I got the knitting completed while we were in LA and have it drying out on a rug as we speak. I snapped this picture of it draped on the back of the hotel room chair after I did the bind off.

Even though I took it along on our trip over the weekend, I decided not to bring it on the plane. It was getting a little bulky and since each row had so many stitches by the end, I was afraid I would have a mess if I had to put it away suddenly. By the last repeats, it would take a good ten to fifteen minutes to knit each row, and while my family now understands it when I say, "Just let me finish this row.", I didn't think a hundred or so people on the plane would be as patient.

We had a great trip out to California. The Angels stadium was beautiful--and the Twins won both Thursday and Friday night. (We must be good luck.) Besides the games, we squeezed in one day at Disneyland and another day taking in the sights around Los Angeles. We're already thinking about our next Twins trip. Colorado? Toronto? Kansas City?

Another hectic week ahead of us. We'd like to try and get to the State Fair for our annual day of gluttony, there's some packing that needs to get done, and then we take our son up to college on Thursday. We've had quite a summer before we all begin the next phase!

Photo Finish

It could be a tight finish trying to get my Ravelympics shawl finished in time, but I'm going to dig in and try to finish the last leg. Does blocking count? Judges? Judges? If it's the actual knitting that has to be completed, I may be okay. Such Ravelympics anxiety.

Maybe I'll find some knitting opportunities on the plane. We're off to see the Twins take on the Angels later this week. When we made these plans, there was no way that we could have known that we'd be watching the best team in baseball playing our home team--while they are battling for first place against the Sox. September is going to be so exciting! (I hope.)

Not many days left before we take our son up for his freshman year of college. Wouldn't it be great to do that again? And with computers. Term papers without white-out. Research without having to trudge to the library. I'm jealous.

Da, Da, Da-da-da-da-daaaa...

Can't you tell that it's the Olympic theme?

I cast-on my Alix's Lace Prayer Shawl on Friday night during the Opening Ceremonies, but have to admit that I did more watching than knitting. That has to be the most fabulous thing that has ever been on television, and on HD, it was awesome. We missed the very beginning, so we Tivo'd the replay, and I can't wait to watch it again.

Now that the games have started, I've found I'm a much more productive knitter during, say, the team handball competition or men's badminton. Whoa! Just as I hoped, the pattern didn't take long to figure out, and so I can just take a quick glance at the pattern to work the lace row and then there always the "take-a-break" purl row to keep up with what's going on as the guys click from one event to the next. Even though I wasn't initially too excited to work with this yarn, I think it's really the perfect choice. It's soft with a nice sheen and has some real depth of color. I think it will hold the pattern well with washing, too.

No Olympics or knitting last night as we went to the Melissa Etheridge concert in St. Paul. Jim bought the tickets long ago for a work night out, but everyone backed out at the last minute, so I ended up going with him. Not being a fan, I only recognized a couple of her bigger hits. Jim enjoyed it and is a good sport about going to Elvis Costello or jazz concerts, so it was fair play.

St. Brigid and Swatch Inferiority Complex

Since I had most of the day to myself, I thought I would use part of it to take the opportunity to get out the St. Brigid pattern and read it through to see what I have to look forward to this fall. I thought a good place to start was with St. Brigid herself.

From what I can tell, the legend of the pattern's namesake, not unlike the more famous Irish patron St. Patrick, has been so embellished over the centuries that it is difficult to sort fact from fiction. Brigid, pronounced "Brij-id", "Bree-id", or "Bride", is always portrayed in iconography with a cross woven from rushes and with fire. The cross because she is said to have made it to explain the passion of Christ to pagans. (Again, not unlike St. Patrick who used the three-leaf clover to explain the Trinity.) And the fire comes from all kinds of stories about her life that involve fire and also from the eternal flame that the nuns kept at her sanctuary. I'm not sure if any of this had anything to do with Alice Starmore's design, but I'll try and remember her weaving her cross as I'm weaving my cable designs.

I am going to make this sweater from Jamieson's Shetland Heather in color #108 Moorit, which is kind of a butterscotchy brown. (Earth tone? What a surprise!) In order to get gauge, I ended up knitting on a size 5 needle. Actually, I can't get a perfect gauge with this yarn, but I get the closest on a 5 and still get a fabric that will make a nice sweater--27 rows and 18-19 sts. = 10 cm. I must knit at a ridiculously loose tension, and I every time I knit a swatch I feel like I must be doing something wrong to be so far off the average on every pattern. It's gotten to the point where I won't even start the swatch on the prescribed needle size. I don't know why I let it bother me. I've been knitting a long time, and most things turn out pretty well. Funny how a four inch square can make us doubt ourselves.

So, part of my day was spent with St. Brigid. I've made my swatch and some notes to make a few size adjustments, and now I'll pack it away until the temps drop this fall. It's time for Olympic knitting!

Gaughan's Currer--Love It

Actually, it's the Currer without the Love It. I hadn't been able to find the Berroco Love It in a color or with enough skeins in a dye lot locally, and so I was on the lookout for a substitute. When I knit that (lame) BYOB, I thought that the Cotton-Ease would be a good choice for this pattern, and I was right. I got the buttons on this morning, and I love it (small "L"). It fits perfectly.

It took me only about a week to knit up the pieces. I did spend quite a bit of time after blocking with the seaming--sewing the peplum to the body was the toughest part. I still think I might do some gentle steaming along the seams to smooth them out, but I'm very pleased with the whole project. I can't wait to wear it, although it looks like I might have to with the predicted temps for the next few days into the 90's. Maybe I can bring it to an over-air-conditioned restaurant.

I also picked up some yarn for a shawl to work on for the Ravelympics. A few weeks ago I read a blog entry from The Rainey Sisters about the Wrapped In Care project, and I've been thinking about it ever since. We've had our own issues with having babies, but can not imagine the heartbreak of having your new infant die. Then when I read about the Ravelympics, I thought this would be a great opportunity to get a shawl knit up to send to the cause. What could be better than an easily memorized (I hope) lace pattern for watching TV? It took me awhile to decide on the yarn. I wanted something nice, but it does need to be machine washable, and I can't expect someone to reblock a shawl every time they want it cleaned. I decided to go with the Alix Prayer Shawl Pattern and a Bernat yarn called Satin. I think if I block it with steam, even though it's an acrylic, it should hold the pattern after washing. So, until the Olympics start, I'm back to my mittens.

Better run. I've accomplished the impossible and gotten all of my siblings to commit to coming over for dinner tomorrow night. Not all the spouses and kids are going to be able to make it, but we will have all the brothers and sisters (5) together with Mom for the first time in a long while. It should be fun.