Vacation, Vacation, Vacation!

I am so happy to be on vacation!  One of the hard things about having the shop open seven days a week is that, even on my days off, I never have my house to myself.  Don't get me wrong, having the shop open every day has been really great and mostly I don't mind.  I'm just really going to enjoy having the place to myself this week.
The only major plans I have for my vacation is a trip to NYC to see Melissa.  I've splurged and bought train tickets.  One of my all time favorite things to do is ride the train and knit.  I would take a train trip to nowhere just to sit, watch the world go by and knit.  I'm hoping to have the striped sweater done by then so I will probably take socks with me.  I'm not quite sure what project I'm going to tackle after the sweater.  I may do the vest for my cousin Whitney.  I meant to get it done for Christmas last year but then my Christmas knitting got completely stalled out when I hurt my shoulder.  My bike is at the shop right now getting new handlebars so as to avoid that issue this year.  The thing about the vest is that I haven't even finished spinning the yarn.  I'm close, though, then I can start knitting it.  Yeah, I think that one may be our winner.

The Wonders of Blocking

The gray sweater is happily blocking on towels.  I decided to wet block the whole thing and then use the iron to touch up different spots that needed it.

The collar lay flat just fine but

the pockets needed some extra steaming to not be puckered.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with it.  Now that it is blocking, I can measure the front and order the zipper.  I have forgotten whether my sister wanted a two way zipper or not so I'll have to call her.

Next, we have to long neglected striped sweater.

The more I look at this, the better I like it and the more baffled I am that I ever put it down in the first place.

The back was done and the fronts were done above the armholes.  It took no time at all to finish those up and now I've started the sleeves (sorry about the blurry picture).

I've decided to knit them at the same time because I'm running out of the lavender and white.

This is all I have left of those two colors.  I've decided to just punt on the colors when I run out and get this thing done.

One of the draw backs of doing both sleeves at the same time with this many colors is the big tangly mess that the yarn turns into.

Fortunately, this is mercerized cotton and so mostly just slides right through this tangle.  I can get a surpisingly long way before I have to untangle it.

After the super fiddly finish work on the gray sweater, I'm looking forward to the finish work on this.  There won't be as many ends as you'd think because you carry the yarn up as you go and the edging is just a row of single crochet all around the edges with a couple of crocheted ties.  I'm a little concerned about covering the front edge where I carried the yarn up, but, even if is shows through a bit, it is still worth it not to have to sew in all those ends.

Do you all read Franklin Habit's blog?  If you don't, you should.  His latest post is laugh-out-loud funny. 

Gray Sweater Closer to Being Done

Really close.  It just needs to be blocked and have a zipper put in.  I can't even order the zipper until I block it so that I know the correct length to order.  I have never made anything, short of lace, that needed to be blocked as badly as this sweater.  The hem rolls up, the collar sits funny, the pockets are bunchy.  I don't think it's anything that wet blocking and possibly a strategically placed steam iron can't fix but we'll see.
Meanwhile, I've resurrected the Two-Tie Striped Cardigan from Interweave Knits, Summer 2005.  I'm not sure if I'll have enough yarn to finish it or even if it will fit if I do finish it.  I'm seriously considering putting short sleeves on it if the yarn doesn't hold up.  Thus is the price of putting something down for five years.  I'll take some pictures soon. 

Collar Progress (during which there was swearing)

I've finally got the collar of the Farmer's Market Cardigan knitted.  Let me just say that I am now firmly opposed to collars that are knitted seperately and sewed on and if I never have do another one again, it will be too soon.

Here is the collar and pocket edging finished and pinned on.  I had gotten both sides of the collar knitted and grafted at the back of the neck during knitting group last night.  It was then that I discovered that the right side band was not long enough.  What's more, it was not long enough at the spot where it turns the corner from the pocket to the front of the sweater.  I was faced with unravelling and reknitting it (not going to happen) or sewing it on and hoping it didn't look lopsided.  I chose option 3 which was to cut a strand where I needed the extra length, put it on needles, knit the extra length then graft it back together.  I did this but it wasn't easy and there was a lot of swearing and growling during the process.  I didn't realize how much of this I was doing until the girl sitting next to me quietly slunk off to ask someone else to help her with her knitting rather than bother me.  I apologize to everyone in the group who were very nice and offered help at several points to which my reply was leave. me. alone.  They did and it got fixed.

Now, I get to sew the collar on (yay, my favorite, not).

Storing Woolens

People often ask me how I store my woolens for the summer to avoid the dreaded m*th.  After a lot of years of experimenting, I've come up with a system I like pretty well.
First, wash everything.  People always ask me why the m*th hole is always smack in the middle of the chest on their favorite sweater.  The answer is that they probably spilled something on the front of it and didn't wash it before putting it away for the summer.  Believe me, it doesn't take much.  M*ths love anything that is the least bit dirty.  So, I run all my socks through the wash and hand wash anything else.
Next, I take a box of m*th balls, open the top and put the whole open box in a quart ziplock bag.  This goes in a drawer with all my woolens.  By putting the m*th balls in the ziplock it cuts down the stinkiness while still making it stinky enough to keep away the m*ths.  Your garments will smell slightly of m*th balls for a day or so after you take them out in fall and then they will be fine.  I know a lot of people are against using m*th balls.  They are smelly and toxic but there are times when chemical warfare is called for.  Using the ziplock cuts way down on the stink and also makes a box of m*th balls last for years.  I think mine's been going five years now and isn't done yet.

She Likes Them!

Wren picked up her socks today.

And they even fit!

I never measured her feet, just took a good guess.

Found It!

Just found the leftover yarn from my sister's sweater while cleaning my bedroom.  Now I can finish the darn thing with the right dyelot!
Also, Wren, if you didn't get my phone message, your socks are done.
I may have started four more pairs of socks at group yesterday (I can quit anytime I want. No, really, I can.)