Ariann

I FINALLY got around to fixing my long-finished Ariann cardigan after Harvey the cat chewed several holes in it. I haven't even wanted to look at the sweater for months, having just finished seaming and blocking it right before the fateful cat attack. Now, though, it's all spiffed up and ready for Fall!

It's a good thing too, because it got COLD all of a sudden. It was in the 50's in our house today, because of course, we're not turning the heat on yet. That would just be silly.

This is the second time I've knit this sweater. The first time I used some beautiful eggplant colored Baby Silk from Elann that I had languishing in the stash for the longest time. I was unfortunately quite delusional about what size would fit me and it came it way too small. Luckily the color and the fit were perfect for my blogless friend Kate. (And, no, I didn't take any pictures. Bad blogger alert!) I liked the pattern enough to knit it again - this time in one size larger and with Cascade 220. Wouldn't you know it, it's STILL a teeny bit too small. (I might have not really done a careful gauge swatch. Ahem.) It's totally wearable though, and I bet it'll stretch a bit from some wear, so I'm very happy.

So now I've got a perfect Fall sweater for bumming around the house, going for walks in the woods, and hanging up laundry...

Yeah, I've got it pretty darn good. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go work on my other sweater. Fall's not going to stick around forever.

(All the yarny details are here.)

Fall is here!

I'm an unapologetic lover of Fall. I say good riddance to summer and welcome Fall with open arms and open sweater storage containers! Not that I don't love summer bbqs, fresh food, and long days. Let's face it though, I'm pale, I live in a place that gets unbearably crowded in July and August, and I hate heat. I'm just not a summer kind of girl. That's just fine by me.

To celebrate this wonderful season, I've got a good head start on what will hopefully be my new favorite sweater: Nonpareil.


I'm knitting this in the same yarn and the same colorway that's in the pattern. That hardly ever happens around here! I'm hoping this makes for one successful, wearable cardigan. I have to admit, usually I play a little fast and loose with gauge swatches and measurements. Hmmm. Maybe that's why a lot of my sweaters don't fit quite right. With this one though, I got gauge right on the nose. I think I also have a hard time figuring out what size/measurements will fit me right and look most flattering. I know there are numerous books and websites out there that can help me with this, but I guess I don't really have the patience to sit down and figure it out. I tried to put a little more thought into it with Nonpareil. I'm knitting this with about 1 1/2" positive ease, which seems like a good bet for a comfy cardigan. Since Nonpareil is designed with some extra length to begin with, I think I should be good in that department too. As usual, I'm just knitting away and keeping my fingers crossed!

In related news, I'm contemplating ripping out all the old sweaters that I don't wear and re-knitting them into sweaters that I do wear. That's on the list right after painting the kitchen cabinets, painting all the doors in the house, finishing the socks I've been working on for the past 4 months... Yeah, I don't see that happening any time soon.

Comfort

I finished my Textured Shawl a few days ago, and here it is, all blocked and ready to impart comfort and warmth:

(Our shed, complete with rotting window box, likes the shawl too!) I couldn't be happier with how this project turned out. The yarn, Shilasdair Luxury DK, is so soft and wonderful. Even though it turned my fingers quite purple when I was knitting with it, the yarn didn't really bleed all that much when I washed the shawl. I had two skeins, imported all the way from the Isle of Skye by my friend Kate, and that made a perfectly sized wrap for me. It's small enough that I can kind of scrunch it up all scarf-like, and it's big enough to wrap up in on the couch and keep me warm this winter when we keep our house at 58 degrees. It's the ultimate versatile accessory!

Now I'm working away at some Jaywalkers (have I even blogged about these?)


until my yarn arrives from Webs for my new I'm-going-to-wear-it-every-day Fall cardigan.

Now with actual knitting content!

As I navigate the fog I've been in for the past week or so, I've been doing a lot of knitting. Of course, this is all I have to show for it right now:

That wonderful sea of purple is my almost completed Textured Shawl. I'm knitting it with Shilasdair Luxury DK that my globetrotting friend Kate brought me all the way from the Isle of Skye. It's so soft and beautiful, I just can't wait until the temperature drops a little and I can wrap myself up in my shawl. It will be the knitting equivalent of a giant plate of macaroni and cheese. The ultimate comfort food. It really is amazing how comforting knitting can be in times of distress. The rhythm of the stitches, the softness of the fibers... It's just the right amount of busy. It lets out a little nervous energy while still allowing you to sit and be at peace with your thoughts. It's totally cliche, but knitting is totally my therapy. Well, knitting and tv shows on DVD. :)

I have been diligently working away on another project too, though I haven't done too much to it in the past couple of weeks. I'm working on these little beauties for a woman in my knitting group:


These are Pine Tree Mittens from Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill. They are double knit, which was driving her absolutely insane, so we arranged a swap. She's making me a quilt and I'm making her some mittens! It took me a little while to get in the swing of the double knitting, but once I got going, it really wasn't too bad. I might have to make another pair of these for myself. I just have a little bit of the thumb to finish on one, and these are good to go. Just in time for my knitting group at the library to start up again this fall. I'm already aching for Fall. It seems like every year I can hardly wait for that beautiful sweater weather. I've already been daydreaming about my next cardigan project and craving some squash pie. I know, I know...we still have a good amount of Summer left.

Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in

Jeez, has it really been almost two months since I posted? This summer has flown by in a haze of work, humidity, and some less than pleasant personal stuff. I've been thinking a lot about what this blog is for and what I want to say with it. It started as a nice way to keep track of all my knitting, but really, Ravelry has filled that role better than anything. So then I expanded the focus a bit, making this place a record of what's going on in my life - knitting, setting up our house, gardening. A little broad, yes, but still kind of interesting I hope. Now I have to decide how heavily I edit. I know a number of bloggers choose to keep their blogs an exclusively happy place. They admit that their projects don't always come out so successful, their home life is not always to happy-go lucky, but their blog is a simply one version of their life. A life apologetically seen through rose-colored glasses. Is that what I want this place to be? Or do I want all (or at least some) of the gory details to make their way into this space? Is that more accurate, more helpful, more interesting?

Ultimately, I think the a view of some of the good along with some of the bad is the way to go. I may regret this later, but for now, I feel like its almost doing to disservice to only provide a window into the good stuff. So here goes. You know how every other knit blogger (or sewing blogger, or food blogger...) is pregnant? Well I'm not. I had a miscarriage in January and now I'm in the middle of going through another one. The first time it happened to us, we were shocked and devastated. And I was angry. Why don't more people talk about this? Why didn't I know that it's pretty darn common to have a miscarriage? Part of it is that people don't talk about it. The other part is that people (especially pregnant people) don't want to hear about it. And now it's happening all over again. This time I'm not as angry. I'm just going through it. I know we'll come out on the other side and we'll be okay, but it's not easy.

So there it is. I guess I feel like this is one part public service announcement and one part antidote to all the ease and simplicity that you read on other blogs. I hope this doesn't come across as bitter, because I'm really not. I just want to provide the other view. I don't really want to confront people and shout my issues from the rooftops, but I don't want to be completely silent either.

Your regularly scheduled knitting content will resume shortly. There's been lots of knitting around here. It's keeping me sane.