30 January 2006

Cutaway got a buttonhole

Jeni at http://fibrespates.blogs.com/blog/ has linked to my blog. First time this happened, whooee. I had suggested that she knit Rogue for the Knitting Olympics.

My own knitting has not grown terribly much this weekend as My Guy and I have been outside quite a bit. There is ice at the edges of Lake Constance and we walked on it. My Guy did take photos and they are great. We also saw The Merchant of Venice (my wish) which I liked and Disorganized Crime (his idea) which I did like too. Very different movies, but somehow it worked for both of us. I finally picked up 338 stitches around the front and neck of my cutaway during a Tennis game the boy was watching. Today I finished the band. Now I need to sew this thing up and go button shopping so I finally can wear my cutaway. I just hope it fits, but I think it should.

25 January 2006

Merry Christmas - the movie

I was at the movies on Monday with some former collegues. We watchesd "Merry Christmas" a movie about the first World War where Scottish, German and French soldiers suspended hostilities during the christmas holidays. Unfortunately despite some moving pictures the movie itself remaind supervisial and the many stories that were sketched out did not develop any depth. Not a bad movie, but I felt let down by it.

Yesterday I had another job interview and it went well I think. Now I need to think about that job and give them some feedback this week. My current position is for only 6 months so I am on the lookout for another job afterwards.

The sleeves for Lakes are now on their second balls of yarn and are growing nicely. I am looking forward to wearing that sweater. I am also thinking about making another one for my guy. For now I pulled some yarn out of my stash to start swatching for my next project. I also found a yarn store in Schaffhausen where I currently work. This is good news as the my LYS is going out of business end of this month. Sigh!

23 January 2006

Progress on the Lakes

After being a good girl and actually ripping and reknitting I have added the front, too. I adjusted the pattern to have some short rows to form a neck and think it will look alright. I am now knitting both my sleeves. Luckily 5mm needles and a simple pattern let me progress quickly. If I can finish this before the olympics I might consider joining the Yarn Harlot's challange. It might be Seamus for that. But I am not yet sure Lakes will be finished by then. And finished in this case includes sewing up.

I also have not finished my cutaway yet though I did crochet seam the shoulders this weekend. But the picking up of the stitches needs a certain mind set that I have not achieved lately.

I did the saddles for the FLAK sweater and enjoyed working with the pattern and the Elann Highland Peruvian wool. I am looking forward to the next installment.

On the quilting front I have recently started working on my quilt for my friend Andrea again. I had cut all the squares already and now the rows are sewn up and made up into pairs. This is going to be a FlicFlac quilt, so all this will have to be recut and is very large just now. But the colors make me smile and I think it will look good in their living room. Mom promised to do the actual quilting, so that's covered and once the top is finished it won't stay an UFO for long. Mom is very good about finishing my quilts.

13 January 2006

Knitting a sack

After having knit all the parts of the Cutaway I abadoned the project before picking up for the front ribbing. Obviously this created bad knitting karma.

I had Rowan All Seasons Cotton in a light blue in my stash. It was originally intended for a cardigan from Knitter that called for this yarn. After swatching I loved the yarn, but hated the cables. They looked crappy to me. So the yarn became stash instead of a cardigan. Now it has been calling to me and I have taken it out to play with again. I started knitting Lakes from Rowan Knitting Magazine 28 with it. After casting on I looked at it and figured that for a 102 cm bust they had me knitting a 132 cm sweater. Now this is a loose sweater, but I figured a bust of 122 was still plenty enough. So I ribbed and started again. I love the yarn, the pattern and the fabric, so everything is fine. I knit 48 cm and start the arm scythe. Hmmm. I did not want this to be another of my recent crop of shortish sweaters, so I figured, it should be okay. Well, I guess I should have paid more attention to the fact that the men's sweater is SHORTER. You would think that gave me a pause, but no, I went my way, knitting as I read blogs and generally paid no mind to the piece I created, especially as I had enough yarn for once. BUT (and you knew there was but, didn't you?) today I did a reality check and it will be just TOO LONG. Oh well, I like the yarn and it should rip alright, but I am annoyed with myself for not paying better attention.

I am going to donate blood at the Red Cross and when back I will frog my Lakes so that they resemble a lake rather than an ocean.