The 6 things

I love reading others: here is mine.

1. I cannot touch ice. The way it sticks to my fingers is HORRIFIC! I could never work in a Ben and Jerry's; just thinking about the scene in A Christmas Story with the kid and the tongue and the metal post......makes it into a horror movie for me.

2. I spent most of my summers on shooting ranges. My dad is a shooting competitor, and went to national competitions every summer--and took the family with him. We would camp in a TINY popup camper for a week (tiny meaning small enough to be pulled by a VW Rabbit. I am not kidding; it does exist.) We would spend the whole week being bit by bugs and wearing earplugs. My first job was running targets for these matches. I do not own a gun.

3. Bananas kill my stomach. I can hardly even smell them without getting queasy. EVIL.

4. I am very clumsy and need lots of personal space so I do not break anything. I have a massive desktop which is half empty; I would never have a glass tabletop for fear of breakage.

5. I have terrible social anxiety and am always surprised when nobody notices. Crazy Aunt Purl talks about always being silly and saying the wrong thing out of nervousness--that's me too. Its such a relief to know I am not the only one. I apologize in advance for the next stupid thing I say to you.

6. I have the short-term memory of a goldfish. I cannot memorize, but I am good at understanding. 20 page paper exploring the parallels of yarn collection and pattern collection, with a nod to knitting as a gateway craft? no problem. Name the 50 states? no way. I was good at research at an early age because I had to keep looking stuff up.

Getting down to finishing

A few MENTAL weeks of school has made blogging very scarce around here. I expect this kind of work at the end of the semester, but at the beginning? I think I am over this first hump: I have a few minutes to breathe. Time to tackle some knitting problems. Here is a shot of my yarn space:

Pretty serious mess! In here I have a lace shawl, three sweaters, one pair of socks, needles, patterns and books. In the hatbox under the table I have 2 pairs of sock that need darning and some yarn scraps.

Time to go through the pile and get started. Most pressing: two sweaters in the finishing stages. The Rebecca Jacket in Apricot was started....maybe this summer? The yarn is Rowan Cork and the gauge big, maybe 4/inch. The pattern is notoriously bad, with very limited instructions, a bad translation, and a stitch chart that was just plain wrong. Like other knitters, I looked at the picture and made it up as I went along. I changed the chart, invented the repeats, and did a lot of ripping. Very frustrating. The shoulder shaping was all wrong, which I did not discover until I was sewing up. I had to reknit both shoulders....its been a long and frustrating trip.
Here it is with only one seam to go, and then crochet edging with buttonholes to add. Can I do it? Do I want to?

In the bag beside it is Avast, which is nearly done. I have knitted the collar and its hem, and tacked that down. I have knitted one front band which needs to be sewn down, one more to go. Then a bottom hem to knit and sew, then hems for sleeves, then sew up the sleeve seams (ok, so maybe its not nearly done.) The sweater is intended as a casual jacket to replace the really ratty one I wear around the house. I am doing Avast in hot pink Cascade 220 , with Knitpicks Andean Silk (wool, alpaca and silk mix) for the inner hems in white.

And for joy, I have one Monkey sock going, shown here with one of the Princesses. This pattern is simple and fun, and the yarn is beautiful (Monsoon Winds, check the Etsy shop here.) Manasi dyes this yarn, and she was part of our knitting group until work moved her to Alexandria. Her work is stunning and her color sensibility matches mine. This is one of her more muted colorways--I love her bright pink candy colors too! Stay tuned for the next chapter--did the sweater get finished? Did it fit?