How you doin'?

Alright, so I lost my mojo there. Knitting, ripping, knitting, and ripping again for the diminishing rib was, frankly, demoralizing. I've been scowling at my pile of angora cakes trying to figure out what to do with them to redeem the purchase, trying to force them into some kind of shrug-like project.

Yesterday? I gave up. The Lush yarn will become deliciously soft accessories - scarves and hats. As many as I have yarn for.  One set for myself, and if there is enough to spare then I know someone who would look oh-so glamorous in the color. 

And as soon as I made this decision, my next project jumped onto the needles.

I was poking around in my fiber closet, looking for the second ball of my handspun seafoam for the Seascape stole (which is coming along nicely, thanks) and out fell this pink Alpaca with a Twist.  It was slightly tangled from a run-in with the Milodog, but a patient evening with the ballwinder sorted that right out.

And apparently I am determined to knit something from the spring 2009 Interweave Knits - this project is Hannah Fettig's Whisper Cardigan.  Based on some Ravelry feedback, I decided to forgo the big bell at the ends of the sleeves, and added a few rows of ribbing to prevent curling. 

Hurray for the return of knitting mojo!

Ready to Rip.

Here is the evidence that the Diminishing Rib cardigan is almost done, and ready to be ripped.

Live and learn! Here are my problems with how it turned out.

1. It's still too stinking big. For the shaping to work out the thing needs negative easy. I still have a couple inches of positive ease in this size.

2. That stretched out row of 1x1 rib before the increase makes me batty.  It looks messy and I just don't like it.

3. The fluff of the angora yarn makes the whole thing look bigger than it actually is, and as a result *I* look bigger than I actually am. And that's not something I'm really looking for in a tailored sweater, thanks. (lesson learned here!)

So. Tonight I rip. I have plans for the yarn... plans involving a vintage Vogue pattern. It's going to require some retooling, but I'm pretty excited about it. And I should have enough yarn left over to do a beautiful scarf. So if all goes well I should get two projects out of one. Trying to see the positive, here!

Ysolda was here!

After reading on Ysolda's blog that she had a few days of free time and that she was in the DC area, Elizabeth and I did some quick scheming and before you could say "young Scottish knitwear designer" she was here!



She stayed with me, and Elizabeth and I tried to show her a good time in Charlottesville.

There was, of course, some knitting involved.

Here she is at The Needle Lady's Thursday knit night.  Ysolda had her suitcase of knit samples with her and everyone oohed and aaahed over the designs.  I'm leaning heavily towards knitting her Vivian design as my next sweater project.

Speaking of sweater projects...

Before she left Ysolda counseled me through a difficult decision. I am going to rip out my Diminishing Rib cardigan.  I am almost done knitting it (for the second time, now) and I'm still not happy with the fit. It's just plain too big! And I think I made a poor choice of yarn with this angora. It all looks like a just fluffball on me, and I don't think that I would actually ever wear it.

Sigh.

So back I rip.

I'll take some photos of the unflattering fit before I tear it back but before I get up the morale to actually do the ripping I feel like I need to have a new project planned. Keep the spirits up, you know? So today I'll be poking around and dreaming up some plans for a new project.

Exams are DONE!

YAY.

I'll be back!

Sorry to be missing for so long - things are crazy busy right now and will be that way for a bit. You aren't missing out on any crafting since basically none is going on! Exams have taken over, as they probably should. 

The trip to Shanghai was great - it was wonderful to see my husband and there was some seriously good food. Miss that.
Here are a couple of photos to tide you over:

The city is full of these old/new contrasts.

The famous soup dumplings. Each of these is filled with a ground meat mixture and a puddle of super flavorful broth. The wrappers are delicate so eating them can be tricky!

And here's a dorky picture of me eating shashlik with naan from a steet vendor. It was SO GOOD.

Okay! Back to work for me!

Hi from Shanghai!

I'm here in China and having a wonderful time! On the flight over I managed to nab an upgrade to business class and holymoly! Talk about knitting elbow room.

As most of you know, I'm in the final push for my exam process so knitting is taking a back seat to my real job. That was the case on the plane, too, where despite having fifteen hours of uninterrupted knitting and movie watching time I read a book instead. (gasp!) I managed to squeeze in a little knitting here and there and am happy to report that I am most of the way through the raglan shaping of the blue sweater re-knit. After looking at the photos again and again and measuring my favorite cardigans, I decided to go with the next smaller size without any alteration. Hopefully it works out!

Photos coming soon!

Argh!

Serious frustration going on here.

1. I realized that the reason my stitch counts were so funny was because (duh!) I actually had to rip back to the beginning to CO the new size's stitches.

2. Rip, rip, rip.

3. Cast on, knit ribbing.

4. Try to divide for raglan shaping. End up with six stitches too many. (The trolls did it! I swear! I can't understand where these stitches came from!)

5. Rip, rip, rip.

6. Throw yarn and empty needles across room.

All I want is a simple project to knit on while I read, and dang it if this is ever turning into a thorn in my side! If I could just get off on the right foot I'd be cruising through this thing again. Argh.