All Good Things

Phew, things have been tres busy at Sara Inc., lately. Sweaters have been finished, socks have been destroyed, yarn has been purchased, nude hedgehogs have been photographed, and fractals are in works.

Notre Dame de Grace
So..yay! It's finished! This was a great sweater to knit, in that it didn't require too much thinking and the double moss stitch made counting very easy. For the most part the pattern is quite good, though inexplicably it has you hold the live stitches for the back neck for some purpose not disclosed in the pattern. A quick check to the Interweave errata page comes up with nothing, but I'm fairly sure this is a mistake, as there's no reason whatsoever not to bind off these stitches. I think it's also worth mentioning that the math in this pattern is beautiful--didn't have to squish or scrunch anything when doing the seaming--it all fit together in the end, just like a Miss Marple.



The greatest thing about this sweater is, obviously, the collar. The construction is wonderfully clever and the finished product stylish and neat. Will definitely remember this collar for the future. I haven't found a good button for the sweater yet, but I think it looks perfectly nice without one. (The button is totally ornamental anyway. Shhhh, don't say I said so.) I'll probably put a button on it later, but I'm in no rush. You shouldn't rush buttons.

- KNIT WITH Rowan Scottish Tweed, approx. 9 balls
- ON size 6 needles

Get thee behind me, sock


It had to be done. This sock was trouble from the start, and if I hadn't done this now, the wickedness would only have continued to gain momentum. There would have been blisters, or one would have been too tight, and the other too lose, or they would have attracted hordes of snakes and stinging flies. There's just no telling the amount of damage these socks, if completed, could have unleashed upon the world. So I ripped. Once my order from discountholywater.com arrives, I can give the yarn a good exorcising soak and another chance to make good. For now though, it's going to the bottom of the yarn pile.

Mandelbrot Scarf


Kind of missed the deadline on this one, since it was supposed to be for the JoCo concert back in August, but I made a vital miscalculation when I forgot the following: 1) I suck at colorwork, and 2) I hate colorwork. So, yeah, there were a few false starts, but it's trundling along now, and Jonathan said he would be back in the area soon. Would Jonathan Coulton lie to me? I seriously doubt it. I'm trying very hard not to work on much else while this is on the needles, mostly because I want to get it done with as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, at this point it requires so much attention, it's difficult to work on it anywhere but at home. The fractal is an ugly combo of intarsia and fair-isle, but because it's going to be seamed up the side, all the ugliness will be contained and no one will know of it but me. Interesting fact: As it stands now, if I wanted this to be the front of a sweater, it is definitely wide enough. A fractal sweater would be pretty neat, although I don't think I would make it with the fractal smack in the middle of the front. Middle of the back could be neat, but I think having it on the side would look the coolest. Hmmm...Maybe with some little mandelbrots running down the arms?

Odds and Ends

Because the aformentioned fractious fractal scarf is so picky, I obviously need some dumb knitting for when I'm feeling less than engaged. Enter the dishcloth and swatch. The dishcloth is...just a dumb dishcloth made of kitchen cotton (Sugar 'n Cream, I think). It's a nice, sitting on the couch, watching TV thing.

The swatch is pretty, pretty alpaca-silk, in a sun-ripened wheat color. I think it's going to be a cap-sleeved sweater with a gigantious neck. I'm just having fun playing with it for right now, though.

Now, for no reason except that she is cute, here's a picture of Zelda in the bathtub.

The lack of pictures of the sweater will be remedied shortly, but I've had the draft of this entry on blogger forever, and I just want to post it to get it out there, before it becomes completely obsolete. Holy crap, I'm so glad it's Friday. Also, has everyone see the new Knitty? Some very nice pieces in there!

My top 5 from the new issue:

- Muir

- Cherie Amour

- Neiman

- Pecan Pie

- Q