I hope you’re settled in and comfortable, because this one’s going to be a doozy. I’ll start with the FO and the yarn first, since those have pretty pictures.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that I’ve been occupied, busy, or otherwise unavailable. But I have managed to get a fair amount of knitting done despite the fact that grad school is making me go insane. To be honest, the bit of knitting I’ve been able to get done is keeping me sane.
In an unheard feat of concentration, I completed one fingerless mitt for Cate. Still working on the other one… which is ok! As long as I finish it before I go to London.
![[Cate's Nereid Mitts] Only one more left...](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3013/2866805818_40d302b0a5.jpg)
I keep going back to the other mitt off and on. I’ll definitely finish the other one before I head out to London!
I’ve also finished my Favorite Cardigan from Custom Knits, Wendy’s new book.
It still needs to be blocked, and the ends still need to be weaved in (obviously…), but it’s finished! The color in these pictures isn’t correct, but you get the general idea.
Some suggestions for modifications, and my modifications:
Cable placement: When you begin the cables on the body, move them 2 stitches away from the edge. If you don’t, you’ll either have to purl 4 (like I did) so you can end with stockinette, OR you’ll end with purl stitches, which is not pretty to pick up for the ribbing from. If you want to end with that nice stockinette edge, make sure you move the cables over 2 stitches.
Sizing: I did additional decreases in the waist, but that’s because of how it was going to fit. I have a 35-36″ bust, depending on bra, underclothes, etc. I knew the 39″ would be too baggy and I’d be dissatisfied, and that the 34 1/2″ would be snug. I knit the 34 1/2″, and while there is a little puckering in the bust, it isn’t nearly as bad as I expected. I’m hoping blocking will fix that, and if not, I will sew ribbon behind the buttons to fix it.
Sleeves: I also did long sleeves. If I’m going to put the time and effort into making a sweater, I’m going to add long sleeves, dammit. I have rather large biceps, so I only repeated the decreases for the arms 4 times instead of 6, and continued to decrease in the same manner as needed throughout the sleeve. I went down from 62 sts to about 30. I have tiny wrists.
Neckband: Several people have asked me about the neckband because they don’t want to wear it off the shoulders. As written, you can actually wear it off the shoulders or not, it just depends if you want the ribbing to stretch or not. Some pictures of mine show it as stretched across the shoulders and others don’t. If you want it to wear up higher, simply cast on fewer stitches and continue as you would for any raglan pattern. Wendy gives excellent instructions for this in the back of her book.
All in all, this was an excellent pattern. I really enjoyed it. I also really like the book, and will be gearing up to knit the Tuxedo Vest and Playmate Jacket as soon as I gather my missing components. One thing I truly dislike about this book is all of the models are running around in underwear. Really? I want to knit almost every garment in this book - I’d highly recommend it.
Less interesting in the FO department are my Juniper Mitts, which were a quick knit to satisfy a very real need to keep my hands warm when I’m on campus.
They have satisfied the need. I probably should just finish my Endpaper Mitts, but they give me a migraine just looking at them.
I also had the opportunity to do a wee bit of stash enhancement - yay for budgeting and skimping on booze!
I also purchased some fiber and 3 other hanks, which have yet to arrive. I really should get started on some sock knitting. I did the math, and I realized that if I knit one pair of socks per month I’d have enough yarn to knit adult sized socks for 3.5 years without running out. Is that wrong? More importantly, is it wrong that I am still buying yarn?
I didn’t think so.
And now… to my life crisis. In a nutshell, I’m very unhappy with grad school. It’s difficult, but not in a good way. It’s difficult because I hate the material and am unmotivated by it. I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do at this point, but options are being considered. I will probably take a semester off at some point, we’ll see how it goes. None of the courses I want to take for next semester are in my department, which I think is one of those alarm bells I should be listening to, don’t you?
I’m not sure if it is the program, the department, or both. Or maybe it’s me?
But yes, like I said: knitting to stay sane.