Meet ...swatch?

Ok, so that one doesn't really work. But you can still meet my Cherie Amour swatch:


Ain't it purty?

Photo was taken before blocking. After blocking, it was still about the same size AND I was able to get rid of most of the wavyness at the bottom (it might be a cool design feature for some, but combined with the lace it would be a bit too girly for my tastes).

In the interest of full disclosure, this was knit back and forth, not in the round. I was going to make another, bigger swatch knitting in the round and this was going to be my lets-see-just-how-much-damage-I-can-inflict-without-felting swatch. Then I was so excited that I met gauge and figured it really can't be that much different and am I really going to get more needles? No. No I'm not. Let's be honest--I want to knit the sweater, not tons of swatches until I find the right needles and everything. If anything, my knit gauge is tighter than purl, so it'll come out a bit smaller. I don't see that as a bad thing--I just barely fit the XS as it is.

So I cast on.

So far it looks awesome, fits fine (yes, I tried it on when it was 2" long), and is going by so fast I balled another skein already because I'm almost done with the first one.

Coming up: 3 days of work, followed by a few days at the beach. I might get some knitting done in the mornings before work, but those beach days... I'm not a sand & surf kinda gal: the only thing I like less than seaweed and jellyfish wrapping around my legs is sticky, wet sand covering every part of my body. So while half of my boyfriend's family is on the sand and playing in the ocean for a week, I'll stay near the house with the other landlubbers. There will be much knitting those days while I sit my pale butt down in the shade of an umbrella and over-sized tee in a backyard that overlooks the ocean. Minimal ickyness exposure; maximum needle time.


EDIT 7.27.08 11.24pm
Completely forgot: I told you that I blocked the swatch already, what I didn't tell you was that it was a wet block and it stunk! I had no idea wet sheep smelled so bad. I was worried there was something in the water (no special wool stuff for now, I just wet it in plain ol' water so it would block). Now that it's thoroughly dry it's fine, but I really wasn't expecting it to be that potent. (Actually, I don't know what I was expecting, nor what inspired me to stick my nose in it in the first place...)

Meet Hank

And Hank, and Hank, and...

(I'm sorry. I'm hopelessly attracted to bad puns.)

This past weekend, I bought 7 hanks of Cascade LE for Cherie Amour. I couldn't stop touching it (Hank is pretty irresistible like that), so I balled one hank shortly after walking out of the store:




A swatch of it is already knit up and drying.

Goals: Fail

As good of an idea as it sounded, I'm giving up on the "goals" concept. It's just not practical for me I guess to keep up with deciding on what this month's goals should be and sticking to them instead of getting distracted by another project.

In other news, I had a wonderfully productive morning--and there's still an hour to go before I have to leave for work! Besides a bunch of cleaning (which never seems finished), I knit a bit of a scarf and photographed my newly acquired yarn. This whole late-shift thing is looking even better than I anticipated!

Yarn: check!

My yarn came in! And due to work I had to wait until the weekend to get it. [Side note: Starting tomorrow, my hours change so that I'll be working the late shift instead of mid shift--ideally to work less overtime. There's a small chance, if I get up early enough, that I can go yarn shopping before work during the week now. Assuming, of course, I can find my way there by myself, make my decisions quickly, and find my way to work from there (and it's not on the way at all). ...but I do have the motivation, lol.]

Work aside, I have my first "real" yarn! Cascade LE 109 (I think it's a super bulky) in a golden brown that should go well with my plethora of jewel-tone t-shirts (and blacks, and whites, and even the couple pastels I have).

It came out to a lot more than I was expecting--like, $40 more. When I checked out the Cascade price tag last time I was there, it was for the worsted 220, not the weight I bought which is more expensive. Plus the needles were a lot more than expected as well ...but they're Addi Turbos which, according to the Ravelry boards, seem to be pretty high quality so I guess they're worth it. I was a bit confused when she first told me the price, but I'm not going to guilt myself over this. Especially now that I'm working the late shift because I get a differential for that. The total amount spent at the LYS came in just under the extra bucks I'll get in my first paycheck for this shift, so it's not like I lost money yet, per se (last work reference in the post, promise).

It's way too hot and sticky to break out the camera, set up one of my make-shift backdrops, take photos, edit them, etc. I can't even stay on the comp long because that generates additional heat. So I'll post pix another time. I do finally grasp the concept of how yarn is seasonal: besides balling one hank, I haven't had much of an urge to fondle the yarn. It's just too gross out to play with heavy wool.

Actually, now that I think of it, turning off the comp sounds like an excellent idea. I'm off to grab a big glass of ice-cold water before going to sleep on top of the covers. G'night.

Real wool!

I have real wool! ...or at least I will in a few days.

I went to a LYS for my second time ever and was very satisfied with this shop. Lots of yarn and quite friendly & educated staff. Apparently brown isn't a very popular color, but she pulled out pretty much every skein of brown they had. But that wasn't enough so she pulled out books and such containing samples of yarn that could be ordered. Just like that. Crazy!

Since there wasn't enough yarn of any type for a sweater (6 skeins), I did end up ordering. Cascade... something or other (bulky? 109 or 128?) in a lighter brown than most of the others that she showed me. It was by the yellows on the card instead of the rest of the neutrals, but didn't look too much like a gross brown color. I had a goldish brown in mind anyway for Cherie Amour.

I'm still worried about getting the right sized needles since I'd like it to fit, making gauge important. When I said I needed needles too, she found the recommended ones and stashed them away for when I come back for the yarn. I have no idea if I'll need the recommended sizes, but I thought that was really sweet of her so I didn't want to say anything. I've gotten a lot better since high school, but I'm still quite shy.

Since I went in with the pattern in mind and showed it to her, she quickly jumped on Ravelry to find what others used for it. Still shy, I didn't ask what her username is, but I was able to find the group for her store! lol. I'll keep an eye on the boards and hope that anything special that goes on in the store takes place on a weekend since work is taking up more and more time during the week.

But back on topic, probably by this time next week, I'll have 6 skeins of wool ready and waiting for me to begin my first sweater! I'm still getting over the fact that it'll cost twice as much as my synthetic ones ($42 just for yarn), but the warmth factor should make it worth the splurge. Just think--an article of clothing that will actually keep me warm (if I completely ignore the fact that it's lacy, lol). That kind of logic, plus the beautiful examples I've seen on Ravelry are inducing an urge to knit socks. But that will be a contemplation for another day.