FO: Spicy Tweed

It's been a while since I put up an FO post for an actual knitted object, so I'm happy to present Spicy Tweed!

This was my WIP Cup project, and I finished with five days to spare, even though it took me two days to get around to sewing on the buttons.

Details:

Pattern: Tweedy Aran Cardigan by Norah Gaughan. Great pattern, as usual with Norah, but be aware there are thousands and thousands of twisted stitches, so if ptbl drives you bonkers, you might want to think twice.

Yarn: Harrisville Wool and Flax. This is an odd yarn. I'm still not sure whether I like it. It is composed of two softly twisted, woolen spun plies. It splits easily, which is a pain when working so many cables and twisted stitches. There is also a remarkable amount of scratchy vegetable matter in this yarn--more than Noro by quite a bit. The only yarn I've ever seen so much vm in is the "barn yarn" I used for the KH's On The Road sweater, and that was half price due to the amount of vm. The yarn is light and lofty, but not particularly soft, even after washing. And it grew like crazy with washing. It doesn't seem inclined to pill, though, which is a big plus in my book, and it's very warm. Time will tell whether this one gets a thumbs up.

Needles: Knit Picks Options circs, sizes 6 and 7. I very carefully swatched, measured, washed, and measured again, settling on sizes 5 and 6 to give me just the right size. And after I had finished the back and began the cast on for the first front, I realized I had mistakenly used size 6 and 7 needles. Ripping was out of the question, so I accepted that I would have an oversized cardigan. Which it is. Very oversized. I think it's about 40" in the bust, where I am about 35" in the bust. Not my best fitting sweater, but comfy, nonetheless.

Thoughts: I didn't really enjoy knitting this. I am at a loss to explain why. I was really looking forward to it; I was excited about both the yarn and the pattern, which were well matched; it was interesting without being too difficult--but still, every time I picked it up, I lost interest within a few minutes. That's why I decided to do it for the WIP Cup. Even now, with it done, I'm only lukewarm about it.

At least the weather cooperated for my FOto shoot. It's about 65 degrees here and overcast; It looks and feels a whole lot more like fall than summer!

Wipping Things Into Shape

Unlike the U.S. team, my WIP Cup project is still in the running.

I finished the sleeves last night and sewed all the seams while watching a couple episodes of "Medium". It hasn't been blocked yet, so it looks pretty lumpy, but I love these cables.


I'm going to get to work on the collar today and then block it while I choose some buttons from my little button stash.

But Spicy is only a small part of the wipping we've been up to around here. My other project yesterday was this:

See that massive pile of vines? Nine or ten years ago I planted two one-gallon vines, one on each side of the arbor over the dining room window, not visible in this picture. In the interim, those vines have all but taken over the back of my house. Initially I was really pleased with the way they grew and spread and completely covered the 30 year old patio cover that has seen better days. But they are amazingly messy, necessitating daily sweeping of the patio, and the patio cover itself is in desperate need of repair and paining.


So yesterday, with the aid of the KH, I tackled the removal of the vines. It was horrible. Hot, sweaty, and absolutely filthy. We live across from a nature preserve, which mostly seems to preserve millions of rats. They love our yard. There is food galore from my fruit trees and vegetables, a constant source of fresh water from the pool, and lots of vegetation they can hide in. Like piles of vines. When the KH fired up the hedge trimmer and made the first cut, half a dozen of them flew out of the vines like...well...rats.

In yanking and pulling and chopping down the vines, I came across at least half a dozen separate rats' nests. And the poop...oh, God, the poop! I'm sure I have hanta virus.

It took about four hours to yank down and chop up all the vines. I filled every trash can and yard waste can we own, and finally resorted to stuffing the cuttings in large trash bags for future pick up (the city will only take trash in city cans).

But here's the result.

Of course the sad state of the patio cover is now all the more obvious, but that will soon be remedied. We're going to repair it, beef up the posts, and paint the whole thing. I figure I can get at least a few more years out of it.

I can't believe how much more light there is in the house now! I had forgotten how bright the kitchen and family room were before the vines grew in. I love all the light.

Best of all, without the vines on the patio cover, I won't have to sweep the patio every day, and the kids and dogs won't be continually tracking leaves and debris into the house from the back yard.

The kids lost no time in taking advantage of the newly-cleaned patio with a nighttime pool party and S'mores roast:

All in all, a successful day.

Next week, after the trash cans are emptied, I have to tackle this:

That's my son's bedroom window in danger of being swallowed up by the same vines.

But as Scarlett said, I'll think about that tomorrow.

And at the same time...

At this point in my knitting career, there are certain things I have learned and expect myself to remember and apply. Things like "knit a swatch." We all know that gauge lies, but failing to even make the effort is just throwing it in the face of the Knitting Goddess.

And "being careful not to twist." Unless you enjoy casting an entire sweater body's worth of stitches onto a circular needle and working four or so rounds before you discover that you have invented a wholly new--and probably impossible--geometric construct.

Oh, and "make a copy of your pattern" is always good to remember. I learned that one when I dropped my knitting magazine in the pool while we were on vacation, halfway through that complex lace sweater I was working on. Blowing a soggy magazine with a hair dryer for an hour does not guarantee a legible pattern at the end.

But by far the one that has burned me the most often--and the most viciously--is "and at the same time." You know what I mean: you're knitting along steadily, following the charts for cables or lace or colorwork, and all of a sudden you turn the page and read "and at the same time" and you feel all the blood drain out of your head as you learn that you should have started the decreases for the body 70 rows ago. And for a minute you wonder if anyone will notice that the fitted sweater you were knitting has morphed into a football jersey and that there is no left armhole.

We all know that you are supposed to read the pattern through from beginning to end to prevent this sort of thing from happening. In theory, at least, you will remember while you are knitting that there are some other things that are supposed to happen along the way--preferably before you knit those 70 rows that you're going to have to rip out. In my case, reality seldom conforms to theory, and so I have learned not only to read ahead, but to highlight the words "and at the same time" every time I come across them...even when I'm reading a book or newspaper, because you can just never be too careful.

So I am at a loss to explain how I could have forgotten, in working the right front of Spicy Tweed, that there is waist shaping that is supposed to be worked "at the same time." This failure is rendered more inexplicable by the fact that I had already worked this very same waist shaping on the back and the left front. But I never cease to amaze myself with my own ingenuity in finding ways to screw up my knitting. And so, gentle reader, instead of showing you two half-completed fronts of Spicy Tweed, I am showing you...nothing. You will have to take my word for it that I have been knitting diligently toward completing my WIP Cup project. I even knitted in the car today on the way to and from Julian with the kids fighting in the back seat and a hefty dog sitting in my lap. (The KH was driving. I'm a multi-tasker, but not quite that multi.)

Alas, tonight I will be ripping out all that knitting so that I can re-knit the waist shaping "at the same time."

Someone pass the chocolate and wine.

The WIP Cup Begins

At Ruth's urging, I signed up to participate in the 2010 WIP Cup on Ravelry. It's like the Ravelympics or the Tour de Fleece, only arranged to coordinate with the World Cup. The idea is, naturally, that you sign up to complete one or more WIPs during the World Cup, and if you do, you win! I don't care about soccer (or football, if you prefer), but I do care about knitting and I need some extra incentive to finish up my Spicy Tweed before the summer really gets into full swing around here.

In accordance with the rules, I put down the needles on this project a couple of weeks ago (actually, I was supposed to have done so a month ago but I didn't know). The WIP Cup officially started yesterday. Since I had only the back done, today I cast on for the fronts.

I am trying something new to me and working the fronts more or less simultaneously, a section on one then a section on the other, to try to keep from running out of steam when I finish one and have to start over on the next. If it works out, I'm going to do the same with the sleeves.

The WIP Cup ends on July 11, so ideally I will have a completed sweater by then. Which I won't be able to wear until next winter, but that's not the point, right? Anyone else in?