whee!

Guess whose tank top totally fits?

That's right: mine. And to think that I fit it on myself using only a mirror and bobby pins and guesstimation to help me out.

Straps tomorrow, and it'll be done just in time to go up north where it's cold. Perfect.

Maybe I can wear it under something to the opera on Tuesday?

getting closer

So I am once again v. near the end of the body of my linen top (did I mention that I had to do some major unraveling and adding of shaping? Well, I did) and I think, with the shaping, it's going to fit really well. So I'll finish up the body tonight, and then probably do the straps on the plane--one of the planes--tomorrow. Oy. Another four-plane extravaganza. I believe there will be liquor in Chicago this time, instead of Indianapolis.

Oh, and the Swan Maiden Mitts have been finished, sent to Arizona, and made their recipient very happy. They fit and everything! This is why it's always good to know people's friends, too, so you can conspire a surprise that fits.

of course

I have to rip out a good chunk of my tank top and add more shaping. But that's ok. It's gonna be awesome. It's just that, as we know, I've got the scrawny back and largish boobs. So I have to do a bit of finagling. I believe I also have to spend another $21 on a third skein of Euroflax, just so I can have enough for straps, dammit. But then I will also have enough for a hat, or to make some lucky person a hat, or mitts or whatever, so it's not like it will go to waste.

The Swan Maiden Mitts are done with their time out and will be finished this evening, probably during the hockey game. Yay for problem-solving!

And actually, having to rip back the tank top may be a good thing: I might have something to work on on my Epic Journey home. Four planes, y'all. Once again, I say this ticket had better have cost less than $25. (Well, and I guess I have the rest of the Ultra Alpaca Fine, and some green dk cotton/acrylic stuff I bought that I could play with on the Epic Journey. So really, I'm ok.)

photographic evidence!

Check me out. Days off means I put stuff on the ol' blog. So first we have my lone completed Swan Maiden Mitt. It's not so easy to photograph your right hand when you're right-handed. The left mitt is currently in time-out, due to a screw-up I can't figure out how to fix.



Next up we have my linen tank top. It's kind of glorious, or it will be, I hope. It even seems to fit! I just have to decide what I want the neckline to look like.



I'm actually very pleased with both of these items. They've been good times to knit.

planning.

My mama is turning 60 this July. Clearly this means I should make her something particularly awesome, but what? I would kind of like to make her an extremely complicated shawl, but I don't know if she'd wear one. The ideal would be to make her a kickass blanket, but that would be crazy expensive, and jobs aren't so easy to find right now. So maybe a shawl. Unless I have some brilliant sweater inspiration. I can't tell you how often she wears the two sweaters I've made her. She wore the blue Aran one literally all winter. She hates wearing coats, and would much rather just put on a big sweater, so the blue one was basically her coat.

Anyway. Never too soon to start thinking about this!

a hot mess.

So I've been knitting for nearly four years now, and I've never broken a needle. Until this week. Until yesterday, actually, and there's been another casualty today . . . I guess I just need to face the fact that size 0 bamboo needles do not travel well. And I thought I was being so careful!

Yesterday's breakage was nearly a crisis, but luckily there's a yarn store a block from here, and even more luckily, they were still open for another ten minutes when I noticed the damage. You should have seen me sprint from the building. I don't know what I would have done if they didn't have the right size. Screamed, I guess.

In case you're wondering what I'm making, I'm doing the Swan Maiden Mitts, a lovely pattern, which I will link to when my internet connection isn't so crap. I will mention that I'm making them for a friend, and I think I want to make a pair for me, too. They're pretty and have just enough lace to make them interesting, but plenty of stockinette to make them fast.

argh, sorry.

I have way too many of these apologetic posts, don't I?

Anyway, I'm in Texas again, with unreliable interwebs. Definitely knitting, though. I didn't even bother to bring any yarn with me, cause I knew I'd just buy some. I freaked out a little and bought some more heinously expensive Euroflax, which is about halfway knit into what will quite possibly be a truly awesome tank top. I have to pull some of it out and add more decreases, but I think it should be ok . . . I'm just trying to figure out the best way to increase to allow for the ol' bosom. I'm toying with the notion of putting some eyelets and a ribbon. It would be sweet, but would it be TOO sweet? I'm not necessarily the sweetest girl in the world.

And today or tomorrow, since my v. expensive linen is cream colored, I'm gonna go buy more yarn (good times!) so I can have something to knit backstage. I'm not in the second act of the play, so I need something to keep me out of trouble. I have a friend who's been feeling down lately, so I think I'll make her some gloves or wristwarmers. Then everyone wins.