Category Archives: knitting

turnstile progress.

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While Lila was blocking, I may have cast on something else: turnstile. Warning, folks: this pattern is addicting. There’s something about the helical stripes that makes it impossible to stop. And the pattern provides some amazingly effective advice on how to switch colors for super smooth striping.

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I chose three colors I love, and cast on.

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And pretty close to immediately, it was time to start striping. (It certainly didn’t hurt that I was binge-watching Veronica Mars at the time.)

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I love these colors, and I’m thinking this is going to be perfect for late spring and for all summer activities that include air-conditioning!

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Boh doesn’t seem to mind this project, either.

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I’m making the largest size (but in fingering weight yarn instead of sport), and I’m about halfway done. Here’s hoping I can maintain this knitting momentum!

FO: lila.

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Lila, blocking. The pattern called for blocking the sweater before knitting the neckline, and then my friend D. and his new dog came to visit, which is why it has taken me a few days to share this with you. (Pictures of his sweet dog, Honey, below.)

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None of my pictures of Lila do it justice. The lighting is terrible, and I’m including this shot so you can see the hemline, even though I think I’ll wear this over a tank instead of over a v-neck tee like this one.

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Again, awkward pose, but this shot has some of the best lighting in the set I snapped yesterday. You know, when I knit the neckline and then put on the sweater. And then didn’t take it off.

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This shot shows how pleased I am with the armhole/shoulder area of the sweater. This construction seems to fit my shoulders better than any top-down raglan I’ve knit. Hooray! I think I might block this one more time, a bit more aggressively, to get a smidge more length and a tad less width in the finished product, but I’m really happy with how this turned out. I promise to take better pictures the next time I wear it.

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And here’s Honey, perched in the window.

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And here she is napping with Boh after A LOT of playing.

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And here she is, absolutely out cold in my grandfather’s chair. Love her.

 

all lila, all the time.

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So that thing I said yesterday about balancing knitting and writing didn’t really happen. But it was the Friday of my spring break week, so I think it’s allowed. Yesterday I finished knitting the body of Lila and started the first sleeve.

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I’m following the pattern as written even though I’m a little worried that the length/style of this sweater might not be quite right for my shape. We’ll see!

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Boh set his head down on my needle case as soon as I unrolled it to find dpns for the first sleeve. Sweet, sweet dog.

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The garter stitch sleeve cuff.

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Serious sleeve progress.

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Checking the snugness (so far so good) after some knitting with my coffee this morning! Today I do need to write, but I’m hoping to reward myself with at least a few knitting breaks. Happy weekend!

cast on, can’t stop.

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I have no idea what happened, but on Wednesday night, all of a sudden all I wanted to do was knit. And so I started poking around Ravelry and my stash, and decided that Lila, a pullover with an interesting hemline, was what I needed to be knitting. Immediately. So I bought the pattern, dug out some special yarn (a bag of Schaefer Miss Priss worsted in a lovely variegated gray that I got for knitting a sample maybe five years ago), wound up two balls of it, and cast on.

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Well, first I swatched. And then I washed it, and decided my numbers were close enough to gauge that I could start the sweater and then confirm my sizing/needle choice in the morning. (Which worked.)

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I’d gotten this far on the garter hem by the time I went to bed on Wednesday night.

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And finished the garter hem and began the short rows on Thursday morning.

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And Thursday night, I’d knit several inches of the body. I haven’t had this “just one more row” feeling in quite awhile, and I love that it’s back. Here’s hoping I can balance knitting with some solid dissertation writing today. (And happy Friday!)

shawls and scarves.

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They are the best knitted things for coping with a never-ending winter. I haven’t picked up the needles in the last month, but I have been wrapping myself in warm things. And some of the times I do this, I remember to snap a picture. So, some knits in action. (And, of course, Boh in action.)

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Snowbird and Boh keeping me warm on the couch.

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Stripe study shawl.

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Just Boh in action. Here he’s “helping” with my pile of grading.

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Handspun eternity scarf — it matches my jacket perfectly!

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Lightweight cowl — I don’t even remember the name of this pattern, but it’s got a loose-knit ribbing that drapes beautifully.

Spring break starts this morning, which means I can pause all of my teaching prep (for most of the week, anyway) and focus on my dissertation. I’m hoping to get a lot of writing done, and Boh is hoping for longer walks. Seems reasonable. (And maybe there will be time for knitting?)

almost all boh; no new knitting.

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Sometimes I have to put on pretty shoes (or any shoes) to get some writing done.

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I baked myself a cake: strawberry buttermilk cake, to be precise. (Based on that Smitten Kitchen raspberry buttermilk cake that I’ve totally made and linked to, here, many times. Of course, too lazy to track down the link right now…)

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Wrinkles and snoring.

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This blue vest is my new favorite thing — it’s the birthday present I bought for myself. (Do you do this? If not, you should.)

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Another handspun eternity scarf in action. This is the first one I knit.

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I picked a fight with the driveway the other day. A sheet of ice, courtesy of some early morning freezing rain, means that I’ve got a bloody knuckle and a banged up hip. Tough to get old. My students were sweet, though — I held up my fist and one of them said, “What’s the other guy look like?”

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This face is what I saw when I woke up on Thursday — I’d been trying to sleep in, and I didn’t set an alarm. Hello, sweetness.

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Boh seems to know that I’m in the market for a little extra puppy love these days. I’ll take it.

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Oh. My. Goodness. I swear, he puts that bone around his leg like a bracelet all by himself.

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And then proceeds to take a nap.

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Snowbird in action.

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Boh performs “lap dog” quite well sometimes. Happy Friday, friends.

 

FO: houseguest handspun seaman’s cap

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For those of you who’ve been following along, last month I finished the handspun seaman’s cap for P., our October houseguest. He was kind enough to send along this shot of the hat in action AND to let me put his face on the internet:

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Pretty sure this picture comes from some ice caves in the Apostle Islands. (P. works remotely, and is adventuring westward. Right now, I think he’s in Montana.)

This was a super fun project to work on, especially because P. gave me extensive feedback on the fit, both during and after the knitting. (And he picked out the fiber.)

Sounds like this time around the fit in the crown is just right, but the ribbing could be more snug. (Snugger? That can’t be right.) I wonder if the issue is the sproinginess (to continue making up words) of my handspun? (I am a little rusty in the spinning department these days.) I couldn’t have knit the ribbing on needles that were any smaller, and the stitch count seems to be right for the rest of the hat. Would a 1×1 rib be tighter than a 1×2 rib? You know, for next time.

Alright. Time to stop writing on the blog and get back to writing the dissertation. Happy Monday, folks.

february.

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Hello, friends. This is pretty much what it looks like here at Chez Rooster. Except there’s more snow. (Which means there’s been a lot more shoveling…)

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Sweetness from Boh.

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A ridiculous outfit I found myself wearing sometime last week, and had to document.

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Wrinkles. Snoring. Swoon.

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Some mornings, this is the look I wake up to.

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And some knits in action. Because if I’m not really knitting right now, at least I should be enjoying handknits, right? (Also, forgive this silly pose. If I want my neck in the picture, which is where the knitwear is, but also want you to be able to see my boots, some awkward posing is necessary. And I’m sure the hand on the hip is thanks to plenty of social conditioning. I cringe.)

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I have been wearing the heck out of this handspun eternity scarf. I think the fiber was Pigeonroof Studios merino, and it is so so so soft.

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Some grading and editing work at the coffee shop this morning. I treated myself to a dinosaur cookie.

Boh and I are hanging in there — lots of things are up in the air, and the to-do pile grows ever larger. Thankful for a long weekend to try to catch up a little bit. Hope you’re all well — and warm in your knits!

routine.

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First up, I knit a tiny hat for my best friend’s son. He’s just about six months old, and I’m hoping this will help keep him warm this winter.

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Boh’s ears have been particularly entertaining this week.

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Snowbird’s out-of-the-house debut! You can see here that the shoulders aren’t quite right; I think they are too shallow for my arms. But the most important part of Snowbird is that it covers my butt. Perfect for covering up for heading to the gym. (Boots because of the snow!)

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More sweetness, and a huge arugula salad.

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Yup.

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“Helping.” No matter that his ears are actually in the way.

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One ear up for couch lounging.

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And this series is from this morning.

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From a look of complete boredom–what, you don’t like my conclusion?

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To full-on, quite loud snoring. I love this dog.

the new year.

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This is what getting ready for a conference looks like, especially as I’m still working to put together appropriate academic “costumes” for myself.

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The conference I attended just after New Year’s was back in DC, which meant plenty of time to see dear friends. And admire bike racks outside coffee shops.

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No trip to DC is complete for me without Teaism. Its proximity to the museum I was working at last winter helped solidify it as the place for comfort food: really good chai, restorative spicy chicken noodle soup, amazing salty oat cookies. The polar vortex extended my DC trip, which mostly meant I ate more of all of the things at Teaism.

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I’ve been borrowing this sweatshirt for more than a decade. How crazy/wonderful is that? (Just when I’m visiting and cold.)

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A beautiful latte at the Tryst inside the Phillips Collection.

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And my lovely workspace inside Champ and N.’s fantastic apartment.

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The hat for P. wasn’t quite right (he tried it on in DC) so I ripped back and reknit it.

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I think it turned out even prettier the second time around, and I’m hoping it fits perfectly. I’m in between knitting projects right now — I need to find something simple and soothing to balance everything else going on in this week before the semester begins. So much to do!