Knitting Musings

Finished Sweater, Minnesota, and Some Jello

Last time I managed to sit in front of the computer and update, I was struggling to finish Monarch of the Glen in time to wear it to Minnesota. I decided to do a turned-down collar and graft the live stitches to a row of picked up stitches on the inside of the collar - for this pullover, I wanted the collar to be nice and stretchy. Of course, since I was essentially making the shaping up as I went along, I had to do this part twice. I think the worst was taking out the first round of grafting...

With the neckline FINALLY properly shaped and grafted, it only remained to weave in some ends and graft the underarms. Monarch accompanied me to Late Night, where I attempted to finish everything up. Unfortunately, a few other things got in the way of the last bit of grafting...

Exhibit 1 - Crazy Yarn Hoarding Behavior.

Exhibit 2 - Adorable Dog Under Knitting Table (or, more likely, in arms demanding snuggles).

So instead of finishing up the sweater on Wednesday night, I finished it up at the airport on Thursday morning. Thanks to TSA, I even had to gnaw off the ends with my teeth since I couldn't bring scissors with me. Fun times!

With one project down, I turned my attention to Alpine Lace... I definitely got a few strange looks from my fellow passengers as I carefully unpacked my cone of yarn, set it up under the seat in front of me, and started knitting.

The lace enjoyed the flight, and enjoyed the view (and the beer) in the Milwaukee airport.

Eventually, we made it to Minnesota, and spent some lovely quality time with S' family. Friday and Saturday morning, however, were reserved for "playing tourist." We didn't have a ton of time, but we managed to visit S' alma mater, the state capital building (awesome tour, by the way!), and one of my favorites - the Como Park Conservatory. (Freudian slip? I keep calling it CORMO park... I wish!) It was beautiful! We wandered through the Sunken Garden...

... almost had to physically carry my dad out of the Fern Room (he really REALLY likes ferns!)...

... and we lucked out that it was the very last weekend the outdoor Japanese Garden was open for the season!

The beautiful garden and the cool temperatures combined for a photo shoot....

Monarch of the Glen Aran

Pattern: my own, based on a sweater worn by Duncan on the BBC show Monarch of the Glen

Yarn: Cormo worsted, Fox Hill Farms (MDS&W)

Notes: I loved working on this sweater. I am thrilled with how it turned out, and am proud that I took the time to rip out and re-do when something didn't turn out exactly as I hoped. I knit this sweater in pieces, leaving live stitches at the neckline for the collar. After seaming up the raglans, I knit the collar (turned hem, grafted) and finished sewing the seams.

Before the "second reception" on Saturday, we headed up to Stillwater for some pictures - which resulted in another finished object photo shoot as I realized I never properly photographed the Debbie Bliss Silk Shrug I finished AGES ago!

And the reception in Minnesota? SO MUCH FUN. And look! Jello!

When we finally got home, the animals had (according to them) NEVER EATEN AT ALL. And they'd gotten no attention. Yeah, right!

Cricket seems to be sleeping, but really, she's fainted from hunger. She just happened to conveniently faint right in that lovely sunny spot in the living room...

And Abby is so weak that she could only managed to dig a little teeny tiny hole this morning...

Labels: Alpine Lace, Monarch of the Glen, Silk Shrug

0 comments || #

A New Sweater for Minnesota?

On Thursday, S and I jet off to Minnesota for our second wedding reception - a lot of S' family and friends weren't able to make the trek to DC a few weeks ago, so we're having another party in St. Paul! Unfortunately, we won't be there for long enough for me to hit any yarn shops or meet up with any of the fabulous Minnesota knitters I've "met" in blogland... but as all of S' family lives in St. Paul, I'm sure we'll be visiting the Twin Cities plenty more times.

But my new knitting goal for the week is to finish up the Monarch of the Glen aran... I've finished all of the pieces, and will finish the neckband today or tomorrow. Then it's just a few long seams and a few ends away from making its debut.... and the temps in Minnesota might just cooperate so that I can wear it!

Of course, since this project is almost done, I need to figure out what is next on the list... (Henry's neckband doesn't count!) So far this summer, I've done fair isle, and cables... so I think lace may be next up on the project block. I have a cone of a beautiful merino laceweight I picked up at School Products for a song...

... I think it may need to become the Alpine Lace scarf from Victorian Lace Today. I may be off to copy the charts right now...

Labels: Alpine Lace, Monarch of the Glen

0 comments || #

Crazy Crazy Week

I spent most of Wednesday afternoon at the Happy Place. Perhaps it was the new shipment of Rowan books, or the beautiful silk-cashmere yarn that UPS brought... or perhaps it was a laughing-gas-leak.

For example, did you know that packing materials could be used as pom-poms? (Cheerleading skirt optional).

And that pieces of uncompleted sweater can double as a veil?

Or triple as a charming kerchief for that inner-babushka?

Eventually, I managed to lay the sweater on the floor. I've now finished both sleeves and the back, and am trucking along on the front. I may manage to seam this baby up soon and add in the collar in time to wear it to Minnesota next weekend!

And finally, reason number 6,756,233 that it can be awesome to live in a big city...

LITTLE RICHARD + FREE CONCERT.

I'll try to upload my really short video tomorrow!

Labels: Monarch of the Glen

0 comments || #

Going to the Chapel....

Last post before the big day... everything is going well (fingers crossing), and I'm sure it'll all go great. In the meantime, I'm going to spend a last few days knitting and relaxing before the craziness starts.

Luckily, I have a crack crew to help me. Cricket helped me measure Tangled Yoke so I could design the sweater I just started. Ok, so maybe "help" is a little bit inaccurate - but maybe attacking the measuring tape was a vital step in the process!

Cricket has also shouldered the heavy burden of soaking up all of the extra sunlight that streams through the windows. She's such a team player.

And how could I forget? She also spends a great deal of her time supervising the bird-TV channel. Sometimes she goes outside to make sure the birds don't eat the food too quickly!

And in knitting news, for some reason I felt the need to start designing an Aran sweater in the two weeks before my wedding. My inspiration?

Duncan, from the BBC series Monarch of the Glen.

I swatched, did some math, and poof! There were a couple of sleeves and the start of the back!

But wait... I didn't like the braided cable on either side of the center panel. Rather than rip out 29 rows of the body, I did a little cable-surgery...

Attempt #1 was almost right - but not quite. So I dropped down a second time, and success!

Since this will be a raglan, I'm following my usual method and I'm knitting each piece to the armhole, and then I'll do another round of math to figure out the armhole and raglan shaping, and the neckline, and continue from there.