according to movabletype, i started on this post at 11AM and am only now getting around to actually writing it. i long for the days when i had a lighter workload (and an actual living, breathing staff to help me) because it is just not as much fun when i can’t compose a blog posting

anyway, as some of you may have guessed by the photo in the sidebar (check out that new feature! i love the new gallery.. and it’s square thumbnails.. they’re so chic!) i’ve finished green gable.

green gable at last!

yarn: brown sheep cotton fleece in avocado (just under 3 skeins)

needles: US6 for the body, US5 for the ribbing

pattern: green gable by zephyrstyle

(more…)

###

if you’ve done the tubular bind-off please raise your hand.

i need some help. i looked up the tubular bind-off on google and in the montse stanley book yesterday and i’m a bit confused about the double knitting one is supposed to do before doing that kitchener type bind-off with the needle. according to this source and the book, i’m supposed to do at least two rows of “double knitting” before the bind-off but i’m not sure if the directions are given for a garment in the round. i will be starting on my 1×1 ribbing on green gable tonight, so if someone can help me, please pipe up in the comments. i would greatly appreciate it!!

###

so i have today off from work! huzzah! i decided to make this weekend four days instead of the usual three because of all the things that had to be accomplished around here. saturday i had a production meeting and then carrie’s bday to attend. sunday was slated for a day in the park and i even managed to twist kaitlyn’s arm into coming with lovely little MJ.

kaitlyn and MJ enjoy some time outdoors

monday KP and i were off to NJ to see my family… and then wow, the THREE DAY weekend is over. so i had to put another day on just so that i could do stuff around home. and i did. i cleaned pretty much all day and finished pimping out the gallery. there were many points this weekend where i thought that i would have certainly given up on the gallery upgrade if i didn’t know what the hell i was doing.. and it’s a good thing that i do know what i’m doing because if i didn’t i would surely have screwed this thing up and all the images would have been lost and/or broken.

(more…)

###

as has been pointed out, the green gable’s got some sizing troubs. i’m beginning to think that this is not such an easy little throw-into-the-works project as i was led to believe. i’m also starting to wonder if raglan sweaters are really for me. i have small arms compared to my chest and the 1:1 proportions of raglan seams just don’t cut it. sigh.

so i looked around at the KAL and figured i would throw in an extra repeat of sections A&B (the lace) to compensate for the smaller size people were getting with the medium. i tried it on and the arms feel right but the chest is definitely too small. i definitely want the smaller sleeves so i decided to “throw in” some short rows for the bust shaping. note to self: never “throw in” anything. hahaha, i have to laugh at myself. i should have known to look up an existing pattern and use it as a guide before just winging it. consequently, tonight i will be ripping.

rip it out

but it’s not as bad as it looks. see the cream yarn? i threaded that in last night. it’s my lifeline that i’m going to rip back to but my progress here is deceiving. about half of those rows are short rows so it’s not as much ripping as it looks. and with the lifeline in place, ripping should take all of five minutes and then i can start again.

i did a little googling last night and found that knitty (of course! i should have looked there first!) has a little tutorial on putting short rows into patterns for bust shaping. they also link to this shapely tank pattern (which is really cute and i might have to consider making it!) that has the same stitch gauge (need to check the row gauge) as green gable so it looks like the short row shaping will match up. knitty recommends to “short row a custom-fit in the area about 2-3 inches below any armhole shaping” so i’m going to rip back and get to 2.5 inches tonight then try putting in the short rows before the weekend. hopefully this’ll be handy info for anyone else in my situation!

in sewing news, i did finish that skirt i was working on a while back. i embroidered in those little parallelograms near the hem and they turned out really cute. i used black and shades of green and brown. it’ll actually work great with my green gable so once that’s done, i’ll make an entire outfit out of it for the photo shoot! i loved making that skirt so much that i pinned out two more pairs of old pants last night for their makeovers into skirts. i needed more skirts for the summer and these pants were all just sitting around on the shelf in my closet never having been worn because they didn’t fit right in the hips. i love recycling clothing. it’s so fulfilling.

###

yesterday, i finally served my jury duty like the good citizen that i am. remember when i was complaining about it back in january and then i ended up postponing it? yep, those few months really flew and the summons hit my mailbox again a few weeks ago. my suggestion to anyone who gets served is to postpone it and then give the date to be called again for a monday. i don’t think that people like to schedule their court dates for mondays so there’s bound to be a small case load, at least that’s how it was for me.

of course, it was raining and windy over in downtown brooklyn and i was stuck with the wimpiest umbrella around. it snapped in half and got blown inside out the minute i stepped out of the station. piece of crap. then i went to the wrong courthouse and had to walk an extra three blocks in the sideways rain. i got to court soaking wet and sweating and generally grumpy. not happy!! but the rest of the day went smoothly. i casted on for green gables the friday before (but then i screwed up the lace on sunday night and ripped and re-casted back on again) and had it with me along with a good book and something to eat so once i was dry, i was happily relaxing in the comfy juror chairs.

the courthouse at 320 jay street is brand new according to KP and it showed. the chairs were black fake leather and comfortable, comfortable enough to sleep in as demonstrated by several potential jurors throughout the day. they had a nice lounge area with tons of stuff in the vending machines. i knit almost the entire time while listening to my ipod turned on way low. everytime they got on the loudspeaker to call new jurors, i put away all of my belongings figuring it would be my time to be called but each time i was not. after lunch, i sat there again and read and then at 3:45 they dismissed us all due to a small case load for the day! i don’t have to go back for SIX years!

i got a lot done on my green gable.

green gable progress

i’ve been following the KAL which i’m a member of and now i have serious questions about a few items.

(edited in the extended post to correct my stupid and illiterate self)

(more…)

###