FO: 45 and Rainy Vest; and a belly pic stretches my tanktop

Yes, I really did eventually finish my vest, "45 and Rainy" (pattern is "70 and Sunny"). I've worn it a couple of times to work, and it does what I want - adds a nice warm layer to thinner shirts in the office (unfortunately, most of the cute button-down shirts I planned to wear it over are, well, not so much buttoning any more!). The pattern was very nice, easy to follow, and went fairly quickly since we're talking bulky wool (and silk).

But. I chose a slightly larger size than I might have if I hadn't discovered I was pregnant about a week before casting on. This was not a bad idea - but the sari silk I chose also was much bigger than the suggested yarn/gauge (maybe super-bulky?) and ended up pulling down the front. I have to assume that the pattern author's sari silk yarn, from Artfibers (not Knitpicks as I incorrectly wrote originally), is both better quality and more uniform (mine went thin-to-super-thick).

And I think the huge-ness of the silk is what's making me dissatisfied with the eyelet closure - it's really pulling at the front sides (though I do have plenty of ease at my back thanks to the generous sizing). I guess the individual stitches of the silk want to stretch out, rather than pulling the whole garment in. Picture demonstrating this is to the right.

But, but, but... it won't be too long before I'll just wear it open anyway, and like I said, it has been a useful layer, at least over that particular shirt which is pretty thin cotton.

By the way, these pictures were taken by the rosebushes in the interests of having a record of how they looked just a few weeks after pruning. It will be neat to document them growing as I grow!

And speaking of growing... we thought it was time to start taking some belly pictures :D. I don't really have a "before" picture (somehow it felt like it would jinx things to take one the week we found out), but I do have my tank top FO pics from last July. So I figured to start out, I'd put
tank top back on and take a picture.



Now, keep in mind, I'm pretty sure that a worsted-weight, tight-fitting, cabled garment adds at least 4 weeks to a pregnancy. I don't look nearly so huge in somewhat loose clothes (see vest pics)! This was taken at 17weeks 2 days.

One more thing - Sasha also appreciates the vest, especially when I've thrown it on top of the couch. I don't blame her - wool and silk are a nice, warm, cat-friendly combination!

Scooba and misc

Whew, it's been a while since my last post. How did it get to be mid-January already? I have one FO to present, which I actually finished about an hour after my last blog post (I was gunning to get it done in 2007, and succeeded by about 3 hours :)

But first, I have to share how we cleaned our kitchen floor this afternoon (beware, video is loud!):

Scooba's first run from Alison on Vimeo.

And also test out this embedding video thing, in case we ever take any other ones that are interesting. I did watch a Youtube video of a vintage sock making machine the other night (thank you, Ravelry!).

Anyway, I gave Andy a Scooba (robotic floor washer; goes with our Roomba) for Christmas. It was pretty funny, since he gave me a Dyson handheld vac to replace our ailing dustbuster, and we opened them at the same time. Most unromantic gifts ever! The Scooba went out on its first "mission" today - simple kitchen floor cleaning - and did an admirable job. All told, probably about the same amount of effort as mopping, but higher amusement value. It tends to get stuck in a couple of corners and on the vent grate, so we'll have to either block those or not run it unattended. But not a bad little robot!

On to the knitting - Andy had requested a pair of fingerless gloves for his office, which is often cold in the winter. He wanted longish individual fingers up to about the second knuckle, leaving fingertips free for coding. So I took the Knucks pattern from Knitty, removed the knuckle "tattoos", lengthened the fingers, and added a simple diagonal rib to the backs for interest. Oh, and my gauge was off, so I modified the stitch count a teeny bit. I guess I'm getting bolder about pattern modification (after almost exactly one year of knitting) :). These are a good basic glove pattern, and fun - knitting fingers down is interesting. I'm thinking of making a pair for myself, with a different pattern on the back, as I've been noticing my fingers getting cold at work as well.

Here's one under construction (just after joining the thumb):














And the finished product, in use. I told Andy to try to actually code something for the shot (I named the project "Coding Gloves" on Ravelry, but I think he's faking it ;). You can see a terminal window in the shot, though.














Ooh, I also wanted to congratulate my sister-in-law on completing a wonderful birthday hat for her father. She designed the fair-isle layout and completed it in (what seemed to me) an extremely short time. It even has a 3-color section!

Colorwork is something I'd like to try soon, probably on a smallish project to start (I'm thinking a felted cat bed, since Sasha keeps sitting on our jackets, my felted bag, etc - and felting should be forgiving of beginner mistakes). But I also want to knit a pair of Monkeys, and fingerless gloves for me, and and and... (not to mention the vest I'm working on now - here's where I am so far, both front done, just starting the mindless stockinette section of the back...)

Oh well, too much to knit, too little time, what else is new?

And finally - yeah Pats!