ta-da!

Posted by ann

HERE YE HERE YE: I have joined the sleeves to the body! do you hear the bugles blaring? I was beginning to fear that this moment would never arrive. Thank God it did and not a moment too soon. The actual joining was simple in theory but slightly awkward to execute. It was probably a combination of lots of fabric, even more stitches and it being my first try at this method. The basic step is to have both sleeve tubes flanking the body tube. If you picture these as three circles touching, you will be able to see that the stitches in the portion where they touch (the underarm) are put on some waste yarn and kitchnered together at the end. The goal is to get the entire circumference of all three circles onto one needle, thereby joining the sleeves to the body and setting up to shape the yoke with raglan decreases.

I was reading my Sweater Workshop book last night and have decided to make a U shaped neck rather than a V. My intention is to make a deep scoop as well, but since I am not entirely certain of the measurements involved it will be something of a surprise as to how deep it ends up being. Who doesn’t love a surprise?

This moment of knitting was one of the highlights of my weekend. My other thrill was spending some time with Ginny and Flair! Filed under It’s a Small World Afterall, Ginny and Flair know each other through work. I met Ginny for the first time at Flair’s annual Halloween party. Ginny was out on Long Island this weekend and we planned a visit. She and Flair came to the shop for some shopping and knitting! Ginny is young enough to be my daughter if my life had gone horribly off course – Flair and I were trying to figure out if Ginny has an old soul or if Flair and I are just a pair of juveniles.

Your daily pig sits on Boar’s bureau. And is more of boar than pig – my collection includes the wild as well as the domestic!

Posted by ann

I’ve got nothing. If it weren’t for the pig-a-day thing I wouldn’t have even bothered. Things are very mundane – I am halfway through the second sleeve of the pullover. Even though I am alternating skeins every other row, another area of visible lightness is occuring. I have made the executive decision to not give a shit since I truly will put no more effort into this than changing skeins. Once I get to the part where I attach the sleeve tubes to the body tube, I will take some pictures.

I was about to say that I hope you are having more excitement than me – but there is nothing wrong with the mundane. Being busy with routine is not necessarily a bad thing and sometimes excitement is not good. So I am glad to be boring I guess.

You know the old saw about the marital seven year itch? I am working on a theory about the Three Year Blog Blahs …… anyone care to share their views?

Posted by ann

Your daily pork report continues to come via my bedroom …..

clay sculpture that never quite made it to the wall
this guy hangs out on my dresser

I am working on the second sleeve of the sweater. It feels like I have turned a corner and am getting closer to the finish line. Speaking of the finish line – there really should be none of that. This whole thing has been worked in the round and I am going to join the sleeves to the body and work a raglan shaped top. I shall only have a 14 stitch underarm seam to sew. that will be bliss!

In other knitting news, I am loving my KnitPicks interchangeable set. However my two shortest cables have problems. The one would not screw into the needles properly and the other just snapped apart. Kathleen reports that customer service is wonderful, so it shouldn’t be a problem getting them replaced.

Posted by ann

Update: the meeting went astoundingly well. Everyone agreed that D#2 is a stellar student. Everyone agreed that she truly did not understand the assignment – that more than simply translating Macbeth into modern language, she should also have updated it to modern scenery, situation etc. This type of assignment would have needed no citations. Because D#2 simply translated it to modern language, hers was a very technical translation. Both the teacher and principal have explained that such a technical translation would have needed citations even if that translation only used the textbook. But they further agreed that D#2 honestly thought the assignment didn’t require citations and that the whole thing was simply a big mix up in communication. The end result is D#2 will do the assignment over. I do not know what will happen with the other four students also accused. Now I am left with the feeling that good! D#2 will not be penalized, but with the lingering suspicion that in fact I may have plagarized my way through college. shh ~ don’t tell.

thank you thank you for your encouragment yesterday. I have an appointment this morning with the principal and guidance councilor and hopefully this incident will be over by the afternoon. I told my FAinPA that I must need some therapy to resolve guilt issues surrounding confronting teachers. : )

Can you believe I actually have some valid knitting content? Something beyond I’m still knitting the stockinette nightmare? Well it’s still stockinette, that hasn’t changed. Remember that I told you I was following another pattern design for the sleeves? I realized that although I like the shape of those sleeves, that I want more ease than the pattern allows. I knew I could make adjustments through my mad mathematical skillz but I also remembered that I have this. Knitable is a knitting program for your PalmPilot or any pda. I have had it for years and first got it to keep track of my needle inventory. I have never used any of its other features – until yesterday! It has an application that will figure your rate of increase or decrease given your gauge and the measurement.