Wins of the Week

I am pleased to report of a number of wins, both epic and not. It has been a big week for:

1) Haiti Relief. Thanks to readers like you, I have been able to donate more than $100 to the American Red Cross, and I am only halfway through my pledge period.


2) Elephants. The new baby sweater is almost finished, and it is pretty freakin' cute. Question, though: I've been holding off on the button band because I am wondering if the body of this looks too long. Thoughts, gentle readers?


3) Snow. There was a minor snowstorm last week and apparently a biggie in the making. Which also makes this a good week for...


4) Delivery. I have just discovered the joys of Fresh Direct and PJ Wines deliveries. It's surprisingly exciting to get a pile of boxes from Fresh Direct delivered up to one's door -- kind of like getting a present, even though you know what is in it!


5) Cleaning tips from Ravelry: I pulled my beautiful cashmere spiral mitts out of my bag on Thursday and discovered that a red liquid ink pen had exploded all over the cuff of one of them. It looked like a bloodbath! But Ravelry forum posts came to the rescue: turns out hair spray and rubbing alcohol remove ink (in fact, I bet the hair spray works because it contains alcohol). So after some liberal hair-spraying and rubbing with alcohol prep pads (all I had in the medicine cabinet) and a good wash with shampoo and conditioner, this is what remains of the ink. The two little spots you see were quarter-sized deep red blotches. Pretty sweet! Plus, the mitts are now softer and fluffier than ever!


6) Fingerless mitts: the possibility of my spiral mitts' being destroyed led me to reconsider the fondness I have developed for them. They are surprisingly useful both indoors and out -- especially indoors, as my living room is quite cold and having just that little bit of cashmere around my wrists is surprisingly helpful in keeping my warm. So I cast on for a pair of October Leaves fingerless mitts with some Dream in Color Smooshy in "Gothic Rose" that's been languishing in my sock yarn drawer for more than a year. What a lovely pattern, and what a beautiful yarn! And fingerless mitts take up a surprisingly small amount of yarn. Which led to this being a good week for...


7) Cable earwarmers. This is a Bamboozled in the same yarn, held doubled this time. This is also a great pattern, and the only mod I made was to add a cable repeat (my row gauge was off from the pattern's) and to switch out the ties for buttonhole tabs.


Also wins, but not documentable in photo form:

8) Belated resolutions. I've been on a weight loss kick and have lost between 3 and 5 pounds, depending, oddly, on where I place the scale in my apartment. Magnetic anomalies? Ah, that reminds me...

9) Lost. It's back on, and it seems great so far. Much better than last season.

10) Emma. The Masterpiece Theater series has been adorable! Which leads to...

11) Cable TV. I finally caved and got cable for my apartment. I realize that both ABC and PBS are not cable channels, but my old antenna only picked up 2 channels.

12) Productivity. Shockingly, considering that the previous three entries on this list were television-related, I have been able to get a lot done in the last week and am now sitting smugly at the cafe blogging with hardly anything hanging over my head for the upcoming week. Indeed, the two pieces of reading I have stacked in front of me at the moment are not even things I have been assigned to read! (They are, however, medieval).

That's it! Anyone want another earwarmer picture?

Produstination

Comprehensive exams are in just a few days, and of course what that means is studying 24/7. And by "studying 24/7," what I mean, clearly, is "watching the Olympics, cooking unnecessarily fancy food, drinking quite a bit more wine than health benefits warrant, listening to Moby Dick on CD, patting myself on the back for listening to such an erudite book, and knitting." It's been productive procrastination city here chez Looking Glass.

The upshot:

Significant progress on both Radcliffe cardigans, especially the one for my mom, whose body is only about 6 inches from completion:



Quite a bit of length on the chevron scarf (man, I'm hoping those wrinkles block out!):


The cuff of a fair isle glove:


And -- steel yourselves -- I've made a sock.


After setting a lot of stock in my being a non-sock-knitter, I have knit a sock. I understand a little better now what the appeal is -- it's pretty quick knitting, despite the tiny gauge, and it's definitely satisfying to try it on every 15 minutes or so and marvel at the perfect fit. This is a trial run at knitting socks for my sister, whose only real luxury as a second-year OB resident is the fancy socks she wears under her clogs. She's picky though, about itchiness and thickness -- I'm hoping that this Lorna's Laces yarn fits the bill, as it's about the softest and thinnest sock yarn I could find.

Not usually a fan of variegated yarn, either, I find myself inordinately pleased at the fabric this yarn creates, though it was a bit tough finding a pattern for the cuff that was both elastic and not marred by the striping. I finally settled on a double eyelet rib.


Now -- merciful heavens -- I can't wait to buy a skein of solid sock yarn and try my hand at something more complicated!

100th post!

That's right, today's post is a mini-milestone. And to celebrate, here's a lovely rainbow of yarn that just came in the mail. I've had so much fun arranging it all to take photos!


I'm planning to use this Knitpicks Telemark yarn to make Floral Fair Isle Gloves for my... sister? Mom? Aunt? ... unclear... for Christmas. Which purchase puts me in a bit of a gray area as far as my newly pledged membership to Ravelry's Selfish Knitters group is concerned. Because while I am knitting for others, I bought yarn that I know will pill (as Knitpicks yarn always does), because it was cheap, and if I were to knit myself fair isle gloves I'd pick something pricier and better quality.

Man, it sure is pretty, though...


And at least when the gloves are actually given, they will not be pilly. A selfish gift indeed! I will get all the glory of beautiful handmade gloves, then not be around when they stop looking as nice after a few wears.

Meanwhile, here are not one but two Radcliffe Cardigan yokes in progress -- one for my mom and one for me (selfish knitting again!). Both in a color that is impossible to photograph accurately:
I'm glad that I'm knitting them both at the same time, because it's been a real lesson in yarn qualities and gauge. The big one is in Reynolds Candide, a hairy, hard-finished, two-ply (?) woolen-spun wool that's knitting on size 7 needles at a gauge of 4.125 stitches an inch (after a bad sweater-growth episode I have been gauge swatching and measuring assiduously); and the little one is in Lana Grossa Cool Wool 2000, a soft, springy multi-ply merino that's knitting on size 3 needles at a gauge of 5.8 stitches per inch. I am finding myself preferring the way the Candide looks in this particular pattern, though, as I said in the last post, it's been rough on my wrists. This is a kind of vintagey sweater style, and the fuzzy finish and larger gauge of the Candide are a nice compliment. The seed stitch, however, in the Cool Wool is just so crisp and nubbly and neat. I hate working seed stitch, as it takes twice as long as stockinette, but I do so love the look of it. And while my mom doesn't mind itchy wool, I do, and like to wear camisoles under my sweaters instead of turtlenecks, so Cool Wool it is for me. I'm just hoping it holds up better than the last Radcliffe Cardigan I knit for myself!