FOs: SIFfing Gloves

I just finished another smallish project and realized I'm woefully behind on posting my FOs on my blog. I'm pretty good about updating my Projects page on Ravelry, but tend to lag on the blog due to the necessary formatting (does anyone else have issues with getting pictures into the right place in Blogger? I have to drag each one down from the top of the page) and the necessity of adding insightful commentary (or not :). But I do enjoy the blogging once I get around to it.

So, let me present my most tardy FO - completed April 12. I finally finished my half-finger gloves (SIFfing gloves), which were basically started towards the beginning of my first trimester and finished at the end of it. Yes, I was a slow knitter, but thankfully I've picked up the pace! I'm still tired when I get home from work, but have plenty of energy to knit while watching TV :DHere they are showing off the almost-clean stovetop. Hey, it was raining, I was in search of decent light!
Pattern: Serpentine Mitts from Mimknits.com, with my own modification to create the partial fingers (will give directions below). Size 7", though my gauge was a little big. They have a lot of stretch due to the ribbing...
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction (50% merino, 50% tencel), less than one skein (a smidge over half, I think). Loved it! Not itchy at all (well, my wool-sensitive husband says he can tell it's wool, but he tried them on and it didn't drive him crazy...), soft, not splitty, great stitch definition... I'll have to procure some more at some point. This was from the BMFA destashing sale last fall - cheap due to some black dye splotches in the pink, though they were much more evident in the second glove than the first, and even so not too apparent. I'm guessing I will use the rest of the yarn for baby booties or something, though it's probably too girly for the Bip (but I know several folks having girls!)
Here's an outdoor, blurry (not enough light for no flash + one'handed photography - it was raining!) closeup of the cabling and fingers. You can see the dark splotchies in the center light stripe. Here are the details of my mods:

a) made the left and right thumbs symmetric by placing the left thumb before the final purls at the end of the round (rather than immediately at the end of the round) - this was for size 7".

b) crossed the center cable the opposite way for the left glove (because I am a geek!)

c) obviously, the half-fingers. For these, I just continued the ribbing up until the length seemed right to start the pinky. I then set aside 12 stitches from the pinky side (having figured out how to divide it up so it was ~symmetric about the fingers and had an even # of stitches on top and bottom) and knit a couple more rounds on the rest, casting on 2 stitches at pinky/ring boundary. Then I divided up the remaining stitches into groups of 12 - 6 from the top, 6 from the bottom. I had found by swatching that 16 is an ideal number of stitches (in rib) for any finger but the pinky, so added 2 between each (either casting on or picking up the already-cast-on from the neighboring finger), except for the pointer, where I picked up 4 from the 2 cast on next to the middle finger.

OK, I hope that makes sense! I had to fudge the ribbing some, but made sure to continue the ribs from the front and back of the palm. I was happy with how they came out - hey, this pattern modification stuff isn't that hard!

Oh, and I have a funny story associated with this FO - I actually finished the second glove while Andy and I were in the audience at a funky theater downtown for a taping of the radio variety show Live Wire. They had Ursula K. LeGuin on talking about her new book! Anyway, I finished them in the first half of the show, and then wore them up to the inevitable bathroom queue during intermission. What do you know, a woman about 3 people in front of me asked if they were handknit, then, studying them, asked if the yarn was Socks that Rock (BMFA's main socks line). What a guess! Turns out she works at Dublin Bay Knitting Co., a yarn store downtown which we had visited earlier in the day! (it's just down the street from a cafe with the yummiest gelato... so when we are free after dinner in Portland I like to wander by.). I was amazed that she recognized the yarn type, even in a professional capacity. I guess I haven't reached that level of Knitting Zen yet :)

FOs on the docket for writing up - my Eponymous birthday tote from KT's pattern, a stuffed monkey-donkey-thing for my cousin's new baby, and (just finished tonight) a pair of pants for a coworker's baby expected any week now. See, I have been getting stuff done!

Catching up

Wow, I have continued to be blog-negligent. The funny thing is, I've actually been getting a reasonable amount of knitting done... but let me hit the non knitting highlights first. We had our 20-week ultrasound and found out that... (drumroll please).... the Bip is a boy! We would have been thrilled either way, but it really makes the fact of "baby" in four months feel much more tangible. We're still getting used to saying "he" and starting to think of names...

Here's a set of pics of Mr. Bip; bottom left you see him doing baby yoga with his leg out. At one point he was playing with his toes - so flexible!

Then last week we headed to Boston for a lovely 5-day weekend visiting family. We went with the Somervillians to a sheep-shearing festival and had a lovely time. The nieces were entranced by the animals, and my SIL got a large share of a black-sheep fleece for a steal! We met up briefly with some Boston-area-Ravelers who ooh'd and aah'd over the hand-spun and/or handknit the girls were wearing (made by SIL, of course!)My parents threw a great party with my aunt, cousins and cousins' kids, as well as the Somervillians. These family parties are so much fun, as the adults chat and the kids tear through the family room which contains 30 years worth of toys from my and my brother's childhoods. It's amazing to think that in a year, the Bip will be part of that! (though probably not tearing through things quite yet...). Here's a pic of the younger generation making silly faces for the camera :D

Anyway, I have a few smallish FOs to show off, but in the interests of getting to bed on time I'll save that for a separate post. And those on Ravelry have already seen them, since it is easier to just post the pics there without commentary :). (reminder, I'm Parallel on Ravelry)

Oh, and in the interest of documentation, here's a pic of me (and Andy) at 20w5d along. Now that I'm firmly into the second trimester and have some energy back and am mostly not nauseated, I actually feel less pregnant (except when Bip is moving - then it's either pregnant or "posessed by alien"!), so it's surprising to me to see my belly looking so big in pictures!

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!

Thank you, KT!

Last summer I picked up a skein of Malabrigo Worsted, and my erstwhile college roomie KT volunteered to design a one-skein felted bag for it. Well, just in time for Malabrigo March, she's come out with the pattern!

It's here (along with her other posts in our bag-design conversation - my half is here). Isn't it gorgeous? I think the thing about Malabrigo is that it's so soft and pretty, it's tempting to pick up a skein here, a skein there... and so a cute 1-skein pattern ought to be in high demand! KT, if you make a million bucks on this pattern, then you'll owe me dinner :D!

I will probably pick up a new skein to make this with, as I knit a pretty substantial felted gauge swatch from it and might run out of yarn. Plus, the watermelon-y color combo of my current skein is really cute, but maybe more suited to a scarf or perhaps some slippers for the Bip (as we are calling the baby-to-be). And I haven't bought any new yarn in a while, so it will be a nice excuse to go a-hunting.

But before I can start my eponymous tote, I need to finish my SIFfing gloves (Ravelry link). I'm 50% plus a tiny bit done (i.e. I finished the right hand and have knit 3 rows on the left) and hopefully it will go much faster than the almost 2 months it took its mate! Look, here's the finished one:(posing amidst the tax papers - ack, April 15th is not far away!)



I am quite pleased with how the fingerlets came out, since the original pattern is purely fingerless. Now, hopefully I made good enough notes that I can replicate them for the left glove!

Other notes: Bip and I are doing well, getting some energy back, still very well taken care of by Andy the Maker of Dinner... we have our 20week ultrasound scheduled in 3 weeks, right before we go to Boston to visit family. Yes, we are pretty sure we'll find out the sex (if the Bip cooperates!)...

Excuses, excuses: a month with little knitting...

... but, as some of you know, I'm going to start knitting for a little one! Yup, that's the new little knitter-geocacher there, to be arriving around September 9! So part of my blog-absence has been due (in addition to laziness) to first-trimester exhaustion... I've just been wanting to flop on the couch when I get home from work, and it hasn't been unusual for me to sleep til noon on the weekends. But I'm 15 weeks pregnant now, and some of that is easing. Hopefully the "golden trimester" will really begin in earnest soon!

In my not-doing-much-knitting news, I had every intention of re-positioning the eyelets on my vest tonight (in hopes of having a truly FO to present here) while watching a TiVo'd episode Top Chef. And then I couldn't find the eyelets! So, after turning my knitting shelves upside down and complaining mightily, I sat down to write this entry anyway... and just now noticed the eyelets sitting on the end table right behind the empty yogurt cup from my before-dinner-snack (I'm eating a lot of string cheese and yogurt these days... mmmm, dairy). Ack. A prime example of "pregnancy brain", I guess...

Well, I certainly should be able to finish the vest tomorrow, so I hope to have a FO post soon. I'll just leave you with a video of what the cats get up to on those lazy weekend mornings.


Catfight on Saturday Morning from Alison on Vimeo.

Randomness and gloves

Wow, has it been half a month (more!) since my last blog update. Alas, I don't have any FOs to report. I seamed up my vest and got the hooks, but not the eyelets, attached. Dang those eyelets - I'm so close! Maybe after this post I'll be inspired to find the thread and finish it! Or, considering how long it usually takes to post with all the other distractions of the internet available, I will just go to bed.

I have started on a pair of fingerless gloves for myself for the office - Serpentine Mitts in some lovely spring-colored Blue Moon Fiber Arts "Seduction", which is half wool and half tencel, and very soft. I'm magic-looping them and enjoying the cables, which I haven't done since my tank top last summer. I'm partway through the first of them, and am figuring how to make the second symmetric - they're identical except for the thumbs, but I want them to mirror. Oh, and I also want to add partial fingers - have to figure out how to do that. It is too cold sometimes in the morning at work not to at least cover up to the knuckles :)

Here's a pic on the sticks - the colors are not true to life, it's more vibrant in person. All ribbed and tiny looking:















And a pic on my hand (gosh, I love how easy magic loop makes it to try things on). Here they're stretched out and show the cables much better. Love those cables!














Now, as to the randomness part of my post, KT tagged me a while back with the 7 random things meme (here's as good a definition of a meme (technically blog meme) that I could find, Mom!). So without further ado, here are 7 random things about me!

1. I have all of my wisdom teeth, but am missing 4 other teeth. 3 are adjacent and date back to me falling off my bike when I was about 8 (?). I have a denture on those, so it's not too noticeable, and the denture is more comfy than you'd think. The worst part about this is that one of them is a front tooth and that means I can't eat apples out of hand or really crusty sandwiches any more. But corn-on-the-cob is actually better cut into a bowl and mixed with butter. mmm!

2. Every night, Sasha (our portly brown tabby) jumps onto my pillow as I'm getting to sleep and kneads the back of my neck while purring in my ear for several minutes. As long as her claws are kept clipped (and believe me, I know when they need clipping), this is actually kind of soothing. Kind of like a mini-massage. She's been doing it as long as we've had her, so 9 years or so now!

3. Every weekday morning I go into work, put on a gore-tex "bunny suit", and head into the cleanroom. It's kind of like this, but less eyeshadow and implied angst. Oh, and we wear simple face hoods, not helmets.

4. Sometime in middle school, my best friend and I memorized the "McDonald's menu song" (Wikipedia link, I've spared you the YouTube, though you can find it if you really want to hear it), and it's still taking up valuable neuron space. ...fillet'o'fish a hamburger a cheeseburger a happy meal...

5. Apparently I start running out of steam about 5/7 of the way through a meme :)

6. I can't raise one eyebrow or wiggle my ears. I can curl my tongue and cross my eyes, but these are pretty boring, relatively.

7. Of course I love the Decemberists, but lately I've been on a Saw Doctors kick. Authentic Irish classic rock! I just ordered 3 more albums (I love half.com and Amazon marketplace) and I can't wait for them to arrive.

7.5 I was right in my second guess, above. It's now bedtime. And a workday tomorrow; the 3-day weekend is over, alas. Good night all!

PS - to pass on this "7 random things" meme, I'll tag Andy (who hasn't blogged in almost a year - techie things about you count, dear), and SIL Falathwen, when she has time.

By request....

Here you go, KT! Sorry it's a bit late, we had to dig up the drumsticks and clean off the table. And of course, we had to improvise a drum, since we don't have any real ones in the house :).

Drumroll for KT from Alison on Vimeo.

I haven't done too much knitting in the last two weeks - finished the vest pieces, but it's still waiting to be seamed up. That's probably a project for tonight. I shall report back once it's finished, I promise!