Notes From Neptune

So I have, as you might have noticed, taken a rather extended break from the blog, and at a time when there was so much drama happening in my knitting life (Ravelypmics! The Peacock! Baby Shower Presents!). But, as I was spending all that time NOT at home, blogging would have been a pretty incredible feat. I barely managed to keep up my reading, let alone posting.

And how did I spend this little sabbatical, you ask? Doing this.

Fresh peaches from the farmer’s market in Kentucky. In Kentucky, I also did this:

My Bella Blouse, by Norah Gaughan. Also, the one and only Ravelympics project that saw the finish line. I rushed to get it all sewn up and blocked while staying with the Banana… then promptly realized that I’d been knitting it for her all along. I do that a lot, actually. I pick out a pattern I like, some nice yarn, and hop to it, only to discover after completion that my lovely creation suits my mother’s frame and coloring far better than it suits me. Such is life. But at least the Banana had some hand-knitting for her birthday. Have yet to see a picture of her wearing it, though (ahem!). For those interested parties, the mods I made to the pattern were to sub RYC Cotton Jeans for the Berocco yarn called for, and thus to go down a needle size in order to maintain gauge. The result was a much heavier but still drapey sweater than what Interweave published, but I more or less like the way it turned out. And I’m ecstatic to have it off the needles. Should I choose to make it again, I will probably use a yarn more similar to the one in the pattern (like a bamboo… oh yes), and modify the arm insets so that they actually taper in the same way the neck insets do, rather than flap about. Additionally, the finishing instructions for this sweater leave a lot to the imagination… and there are a TON of ends to weave in. So be warned.

Now on to Vancouver, where we did this:

Those are the Boy’s (from left to right) step-niece, nephew, and step-nephew, on nephew’s 2nd birthday rehearsal cake. 🙂 And the little doll on the bottom is Boy’s nearly brand new niece, who is only two months old, and possibly the most serious baby I have ever encountered. In the three hours we spent in her company, she only laughed once. But she is sweet, no? We had a pretty good time with the Boy’s parents out west, and I took a side trip up to Seattle for a couple days to breathe the air and see my Maggie. The Boy also managed to do this on his trip:

He tore the ligament in his right shoulder that connects the clavicle to the scapula (collarbone to shoulderblade, you laypeople) while showing off some of his stunt tricks for his cousins. Well done. 🙂 So yes, what you are seeing is not actually his clavicle sticking up, but the rest of his shoulder hanging down. As a result of this trickery, he’s spending the next three weeks in a sling (minus three weeks of time already served) while the ligament heals itself. So I’ve been getting to play Florence Nightingale and help my honey take care of himself.

I did manage to get a little knitting done on that trip:

On Aimee. These are the front and back, steam-blocked together while I knit up the sleeves. Truthfully, this much was done before we left for Pacific time (from which my sleep schedule still hasn’t returned), but I’ve been too busy now that we’re back to take pictures of sleeves, or even work on them that much. Also, the pattern lied to me. I’m making the 36″ size, which called for 100g of Rowan Kid Silk Haze. I dutifully purchased the required amount, and then, over a year later, a third of the way through sleeve #2 with the seaming and collar also left to be done,

I RUN OUT OF YARN. They could probably have heard the cursing at Niagara Falls. Thankfully, they couldn’t recognize it as such over all that water.

So Thursday, I traipsed over to the LYS where I got the stuff originally (again, over a year ago) on the slim hope that they might have a ball rolling around in the same dyelot. This was made especially difficult because I had, in my blind trust of knitting patterns, apparently thrown out all the ball bands from the original batch. I’m a smart one sometimes, let me tell you. So after twisting and turning a new ball of Meadow with its stringy remnant brother and its twisty sleeve cousin, I decided close was not only good enough for horseshoes and hand grenades. And, new ball in hand, I’m powering through this sleeve as best I can with what little free time I have while the show’s running. Oddly enough, it matches quite well. And I vaguely remember the number “157.” Maybe they are the same lot, after all? But what are the chances of that, honestly?

While Aimee is taking up much of the knitting life of late, so is the Spring Forward knee sock. I magically was able to knit the second an inch or so shorter than the first on the plane back to Newark. I’ve ripped back to before the calf increases, but I can’t for the life of me figure out where my math went wrong. It looks as though I ought to begin increasing now, it feels as though I ought. But apparently, I don’t. Could my row gauge have really been that different without my stitch gauge changing a bit? Ugh. I’m channeling Archimedes. Or trying to.

Also on the radar are a garter-stitch scarf for my grandfather for Christmas on which I’m cheating terribly: we needed prop knitting for my show, so I brought it in, in the hopes that an inch or two might get knit on it without my lifting a finger… shame. 🙂 I’ve also cast on for a Central Park Hoodie. But we’re not talking about that, yet. I haven’t even told Ravelry about that yet. But soon, my pets, soon. once I clear Aimee and the socks off the table, I promise I will be more open and honest… and share with you the travails of knitting the cutest thing EVER, which will be cast on very, very soon. Until then, let’s hope that this heat, humidity, and tropical-storm nonsense clears, and we can get to the business of having a lovely, proper autumn.