notes on timing*

Upon my arrival back home (i.e. at my parents’ house) I was met with a huge pile of yarn.  Yarn I had ordered from Germany.  Lovely sock yarn, silk yarn, cotton yarn, Shetland wool, Uruguayian wool, mohair blend wool.

Startitis ensued.  Despite the Christmas knitting waiting to be finished.  Instead of sitting down, saving my money, and working away on some socks, I went to the local Michael’s.  And bought some Paton’s classic wool.  Not to mention some circular needles.  For all of the projects that I had to start.

Needless to say, things haven’t worked out as planned.  I had visions of a lovely EZ sweater à la Jared’s beautiful seamless hybrid.  I forgot that I didn’t have any tweedy yarn.  Or plan.  Or pattern.  Just Paton’s and a dream.

more winter in the northwest.

Not enough, as it turns out.  So I’ve decided to re-purpose the yarn for some mittens.  After I finish the socks.

baby steps.

So much has been going on lately, that I was hoping yarn might solve my problems or at least take my mind off of them.  But timing.  It always gets you.  The seamless hybrid will have to wait, as will the mittens.  And all of the other projects that I thought might take my mind off of life.

* and other forbidden academic paper titles.

oh boy

One completed pair of Monkeys.  I managed to snap a quick picture during a brief bit of morning sunshine.

winter in the northwest

Now, I just need to finished the Jaywalkers.  And the toe-ups.  Oh my.

anyone would be pleased to have you.

So here I am back stateside, trying to organize my knitting plans. This is what I left behind in Germany:

Citrus Yoke

The sweater is once again back on track, after the almost total frogging required to fix up the armholes. I am much happier with the arm size now, I just wished I hadn’t ignored what I knew was going to be a problem in the first place.

My super-nifty gussets:

I really hope these do the trick. As far as I remember, all was well when I left it behind … well, except for that row where I tried out some continental knitting. Have to fix the tension there.

Before leaving, I also picked up some sock yarn.

I don’t remember the details, just that it’s two balls of lana grossa and one ball of trekking xxl. I don’t have anything specific in mind for the yarn (maybe this or possibly this), it was just too pretty — and on sale — to pass up. Luckily, it’s waiting for me in Germany, not tagging along in my suitcase. I reserved that space for Christmas knitting. On that front, things are moving a bit more slowly than I had hoped, but I’m still holding out hope that I’ll have at least a couple pairs of socks finished in time.

Another plane ride tonight might just be the chance I need to finished up Monkey dos.  Much too much job market stress around Ivy-land to facilitate knitting.  Lucky me, I can relax at home!

hmm.

I finished the body of the Citrus Yoke yesterday evening.  Tried it on and immediately discovered that it was too short.  Despite my zeal to be finished, I dutifully picked out the bind off and added an inch or so.  I also discovered that the rolled stockinette edge — although cute on the model (scroll down) and in the gallery — probably wasn’t going to work for me.   Maybe I’m just being pessimistic, but I couldn’t see the stockinette roll remaining so diminutive and flippy-casual.  I envisioned a huge sausage-roll slowly curling up my back, preventing comfortable lounging in chairs.  I might revise this prejudice.

But last night, in a frenzy of finishitis, I added a couple of rows of garter stitch to help keep things under control.  I was inspired by Cirilia’s garter welts on the Tilted Duster — after really no consideration on my part, I just threw in a few rounds.

just another cat blocking photo

Unfortunately, my impatience prevented me from adding *enough* garter rows — well, that and not wanting to add too many rows and subsequently mess up the casual look that I liked in the first place — which resulted in even more flip.  I did a little casual site-specific shower blocking (oops, later than I thought — sorry neighbors!) and left the edge to dry overnight.

I’m still on the fence about the garter edge.

more cat blocking

I’m not sure if the edge will stay flat or not.  And if it’s going to roll, I’d really rather have the plain stockinette.  I might just have to be a bit more aggressive than usual with my blocking (i.e. actually block the finished knit).  Until I’ve decided, I started on the sleeves.  We’ll see if I have enough yarn.

Weihnachtsmärkte

So yesterday I made the big trip into Freiburg (a two-and-a-half hour train ride) and visited the Weihnachtsmarkt. It’s certainly not the biggest in the area, but I wasn’t feeling all that adventurous. I just wanted to see the city a bit, get some potato pancakes, and find some ornaments for my mom. Potato pancakes and pretty ornaments being inexplicably absent at the Konstanz market.

Here’s what I accomplished yesterday:

ornaments and the second Monkey

The train ride provided the perfect opportunity for a little knitting. As my Citrus Yoke Pullover has become too large to be portable, I started up Monkey number two. All was well, until I was one station away from home and saw this:

despair.

The dreaded — and for me, ubiquitous — Monkey sneak: the k2tog infiltrating the ssk. Oh well. I’ll have to ladder back and fix it, as I know it will bother me beyond all reason. Knowing, though, that last night after much time in a train and much fried food was not the time to attempt such a delicate operation, I again turned my attention to the Citrus Yoke, which is now in a blissful phase of stockinette in the round.

I am *going* to like this blue.

I’m almost finished with the body. Yay! Except for the slight yoke modification (below), I’ve followed the pattern as written. I did have to cast on a few more underarm stitches to accommodate my, um, muscular arms. And my utter horror of fitted clothing. Mostly the latter, I suspect. So the body will end up being 10 stitches wider than the 41.5″ size, which I was going for. More like 7″ of ease rather than 5″. Perfect! (And I’m not even being sarcastic. My pajama bottoms are affectionately known as “dump truck pants”.)

Today, instead of finishing the sweater or doing some real work, I walked into town and did a bit of shopping. At the Weihnachtsmarkt, of course. My search for potato pancakes was through, but I did need some liquor. My head is still a bit light from all of my testing. I *had* to find just the right thing. Obviously.

yummy.

The mitts/gloves are for me — it was cold out there today — and although I keep meaning to make a pair of gloves, I finally realized that it probably wasn’t going to happen this winter. So I bought a pair. Lined with fleece and very snuggly. Handmade by someone, at least.

The liquids from left to right: walnut liqueur, Schwarzwälder Mirabellenwasser, truffle oil.

Luckily, they’re all gifts, so I’ll be able to make some progress on the Citrus Yoke this evening …

anything?

Why, yes.

One finished Jaywalker in Regia 4-fädig Africa Color (4051), weighing in at 36g on the chunky 3.25 mm KnitPicks Options circs.

Since my Christmas knitting goal was to have something to wrap for each of the family members who celebrate at my parents’ house (four people!!), and single socks can be wrapped, I feel that my obligation has been minimally met.

Thus, I cast on for something new.

The Citrus Yoke Pullover from the latest Interweave Knits [link to KnittingDaily]. I’m using the recommended ggh Aspen in marine (20). The orange seemed a bit too bright and definitely too Princetonian for my comfort; the blue seemed like a nice but still neutral change of pace. I think I’m pretty close to getting gauge on US 10 needles, but I want to finish the yoke before I make any size decisions. It’s already obvious that there will be much blocking involved. And not just because my fingers are dyed a rather (what I imagine to be) consumptive shade of blue.

The only modification so far: to avoid the rather high neck (which I feared really wouldn’t work with my stumpy appendages), I began the yoke at increase round two (60 stitches) and then worked the pattern as written. A good decision. I was really not digging the tight neck.