Knitting while Traveling

A big family Thanksgiving isn't the only way to go, but every few years I like to get together with all of my cousins, or at least as many as will get together at the old farm place, and Thanksgiving is a fine time to do it. So I'm in Tennessee right now.

I brought an early Christmas present to my mom. This was started back in 2006, and put in time out for some mistakes I couldn't fix then. Denise suggested that I neither fix them, nor even find them, but bind the piece off and call it good. After I knit that edging, then pinned it out for blocking, I found the mistakes. . . but it's okay. After three years, my memory sort of softens.


She said she'd put on a nice blouse and model it for me tomorrow.

A stop at Bliss Yarns in Brentwood to meet up with some absolutely lovely Ravelers led to these two skeins of local alpaca coming home with me. I love that the name of the animal is on the label. These come from Teardrop. Teardrop has a nice gray coat.


These are going to become either Brünnhilde or Ceangaltas Mittens from Knitting New Mittens and Gloves. Is it only coincidence that they almost perfectly match the Araucania Nature Wool in this sweater?


Yes, this sweater now has only a start to a sleeve. . . I took the plunge and ripped it out after discovering (through the magic of counting) that I had cast on approximately half the stitches of the entire body for the sleeve. No wonder it got too big. My arm isn't half of the circumference of my waist; it's nearly a third. I hope this one works well. It's going to be my "flight home knitting," but I'm going to switch to a longer cable for easier magic looping.

I also discovered that the lovely orange/yellow raglan cable sweater I made for a little one has a tiny mistake in it -- right in the front. I was gazing at my littlest daughter wearing it and thinking how nice it is to see my kids wearing sweaters I make, and saw a miscounted stitch right on the front of the sweater.

Sigh.

Saddle Up/Feeling Edgy

Two saddles, done and stitched into place. One sleeve, done. Cuff edge, unstretched, matches the waist measurement, unstretched. My waist and wrists are not the same diameter.

I'm going to have to strike model poses to show off these sleeves. Either that, or rip them back and do a less-extravagant increase. Denise pointed out that they weren't going to be warm in the arm area. Maybe I'll knit a ribbed and cabled set of long fingerless gauntlet/gloves to wear with it. I don't know if sleeves like this will look high-fashion, or silly knitter. She also pointed out the effect of adding a new ball of yarn. Yes, I know. It's darker. Semi-solid yarn does that sort of trick occasionally.

I have an urge to set aside the second sleeve in order to work on a design for the collar. Maybe finishing that will allow a sane decision on the sleeve width. Saner, that is, than swanning around striking model-y poses.


In 2006, I started a lace rectangle for my mom. This year, I bound off the edge and decided to see if I could get it done before a Significant Gift Giving Occasion. Nothing like a three-year hiatus, eh? A simple pointy edge, sewn on because picking up and knitting made a wonky join, and turning a large item to knit back and forth made no sense. It's altered so it's a stockinette design, and it will do. At this point, "done" is a terrific thing.


Many delightful things already this month; many delightful things to come. One child has become so mature, with double digits and all, that she didn't even mind that I dorked her birthday cake pretty badly. I didn't have enough red icing to spell out "Happy Birthday," so I told her I was abbreviating it. She didn't seem to mind.


And today, I decided off the cuff to gather the three youngest and head out to Marine World for the homeschooler's day. Turned out it was probably the right decision. We got to see Sarafina (who had already made plans to go separately) and her friends -- who were cool enough to take an almost-8 year old Tor on big coasters with them, and I discovered that all four of my children have their mother's affinity for roller coasters.

This bodes really well for the future.