Tag Archives: Featherweight Cardigan


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knitting intervention needed

UGH!

I think I need to rip out Featherweight cardi.  THE WHOLE THING.

I tried it on just now, now that I’ve finished the first half of the collar.  The collar?  Awesome.  Fits perfectly, shapes like a dream, exactly like I’d wanted.  But now that the collar fits, the rest of it looks SO SLOPPY!

I’m going to try to get Yannick to take photos to show you what I mean.  But really?  Ugh.  I would never, ever wear it.  It’s too baggy, the arms look like they’ll be huge and there is so much extra under the arms that I could lose over 2 inches and still have a good fit.  I don’t know if it can be saved.


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permission to cast on granted

It’s done!  The KP pattern is finished, has been edited and is now flying its way off to Washington!

It feels good to get something crossed off my to-do list that isn’t school related.  Though, now that I have a little breathing room on my plate (nice mixed metaphor, huh?) I will be casting on tonight for a new project!

I recently found out that an acquaintance of ours had a baby boy.  It’s the sister of the husband in the couple I knit the sari silk pillows for, and when I asked the husband if there were any special colors or animals with meaning in the Indian tradition, he told me that elephants were very popular and a sign of good luck.  So I will be knitting a stuffed elephant for this new baby.

I did some Ravelry window shopping yesterday and was torn between the elephant in World of Knitted Toys (which I have) and Flo, the vintage pattern reissued by Franklin Habit in a recent Knitty.  I’d settled originally on the first pattern because the trunk is upturned, which I’d always thought was good luck.  But today the husband told me that all the elephants they have around, or that he’d seen in relation to Indian culture, have the trunks pointed downwards.  So Flo it is!

I’m going to modify the pattern by using a thicker yarn to get a larger toy, and will also be knitting it in the round.  It’s garter stitch, so I will be sacrificing the ease of knitting every row…but I will gain time with not needing to seam up the entire toy.  It will work…at least it does in my head. 🙂

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Here’s the Featherweight cardi to date.  The lower border is done and bound off, and I just need to do the body border, then the sleeves.  It’s been languishing ‘cus I will need to pay attention to properly pick up the hundreds of sts around the entire neckline, but once I get that done it will return to being an easy, pick-up-and-knit project.

df


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a sweet way to start the day

Yannick and I alternate mornings and since he gets a late sleep-in on Saturdays (the store opens later that day), I get the late sleep-in on Mondays (our day off), and he takes the boys to daycare.  Neither of us sleep in on Sunday ‘cus we take the kids to swimming lessons early in the morning.  I woke up this morning to a “homemade” Valentine’s Day card from my hubby:

I’ll admit this breakfast left me with 3 distinct thoughts:

1. Awwww!

2. Wow, he has touched every square inch of my food with his fingers.  Yum!

3. What else am I going to eat?  (Seriously, that’s like 3 bites of egg and 1.5 of cut-up pepperette.)

🙂

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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(Completely unrelated to anything except that I’m typing this with Much Music on in the background:  I just can’t get through the music video for Pink’s latest song (F*n Perfect) without crying!  This time I managed to hold out to the end, but those tears still sprang up when the girl mouths the words to her daughter.)

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I forgot there was a little knitting done last week.  Early in the week I’d swatched to see what border treatment I’d want to do.  The pattern calls for 1×1 rib, but I was afraid it would pull in and look “sweatshirty”, and Maaike suggested maybe a moss stitch border would be nice.  I swatched both, and decided that while I love the look of moss stitch, it was too heavy for such a light, airy top.  The 1×1 rib, because it was worked on the same number of sts and with the same size needles, barely pulled in and gave exactly the look I wanted.  (In other words, the designer was right, LOL).

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There’s been a lack of delicious on the blog lately, so here’s some more sweets for Valentine’s Day:

Yes, my boys do cuddle voluntarily, while watching TV.  [insert awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww here]


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and it goes on

More of the same ’round here.  Been playing phone tag between the vet and my parents, trying to figure out what’s going on with Nikki.  I’ve been to visit her at the vets’ a few times, and on the outside she’s doing ok (playful, eating, etc) but there’s something going on inside that they need to figure out.

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More studying, still 2-3 hours every night.  I am really, really looking forwards to never having to be in school again.  I enjoy the testing aspect of it, and I enjoy grades, and all that.  Even the math is fun- I never thought I’d ever use higher algebra again, but when it comes down to it, it’s only a puzzle that needs to be solved, and I like the challenge.  I just really, really don’t miss the studying part.  Especially when the studying mostly entails lots of very detailed note-taking.  Very REPETITIVE, detailed note-taking.  Our course has a textbook, a formulas workbook, and then some online text that the instructors put together just for our class.  It hasn’t been uncommon for the textbook to spend 20+ pages covering some obscure, random knowledge that I will never need to use again, just to then be directed to the formulas book where, before getting to the examples, spends a few pages reviewing the same knowledge, and then finally we have to read the relevant online section, which quite often is an almost straight summary of the previous 2.  Thankfully I learned my lesson last year and got better at making my notes, including leaving room when making my textbook notes for the odd bits of possibly relevant stuff from the online part, so I can include it without having to waste time (and notebook pages) writing out the same thing over and over.  I think my hand is starting to cramp LOL.

We’ve had 2 tests so far, and we’ve both done well on them.  There’s a discussion assignment (quiz) due by Feb 6th, and then the next official test isn’t due until Feb 28, but we are going to do it this week.  That will put us a full month ahead of schedule, which was my goal all along.  I need us to be ahead this year so when I have my surgery next month I don’t risk falling behind if I’m zonked on pain killers.  Even if I only miss about a week or so of studying- a week or so of 2-3 hours a night adds up fast!

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Brought Henri back to the hospital yesterday for yet another blood test.  This one tests for the same thing that we’re testing for by giving him a trial run on a certain medication.  The medication is serious but the dosage is low, so it is possible to think it’s not working simply because the dose isn’t high enough.  The blood test is 100% accurate if it comes up positive, but it if comes up negative you can’t trust it.  Stupid, I know.  Hopefully between the two tests we’ll get a conclusive answer one way or another, and can move on.  If Henri doesn’t have what they think he may have, then I’d like to get him off the meds asap.  And if he does have it, then I’m looking forwards to being able to do research and get informed, especially on what to expect.  (I’ll talk more about it once I know anything definitive).

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The Featherweight Cardi is zipping along.  Because it’s at a stockinette stitch part, it is very easy to pick up and put down.  Whenever I have more than 5 minutes to spare, and access to my computer, I have been working on putting together for the KP pattern I’ve been mentioning for a while.  But I leave the project on my couch, so when I see I have only a few minutes here or there, I can still get a row or so in.  The little bits of time add up, (plus Saturday night when Maaike and I watched The Life of Brian and vegged and knit) and the work has managed to grow faster than I’d thought it would.

The first photo (above) was taken the same day I posted the other one for you- Jan 28th, right before bed.  This next photo was taken yesterday (Feb 1).  If you look at where the first one stops (a good 2″ above my bent elbow), you can see that 4 days of free minutes adds up to quite a few inches of knitting!

Now I’m going to get back to work before braving the wonderful weather to go pick up the boys from daycare.  Stay safe until the weather clears up!

ETA- I didn’t realize the photo was so dark.  Here’s a lighter version:


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doggy chauffeur

(Note: the photos in this post were taken on my cell, so while they look good there…they’re grainy and color-weird here.  Sorry ’bout that).

Yesterday I left work early to head over for an annual doctor’s appointment.  The visit started with a bit of a scare as I parked, then walked over to the hospital, waited for the elevator then got out on my floor only to find it deserted.  I mean DESERTED- bare walls, no people, and rows of garment racks wrapped in plastic lining the walls.  The entire floor was being used for storage, it seemed.

I started wondering if I’d made a mistake.  Maybe I was in the wrong pavillion?  I could have sworn I’d always taken that elevator up to her office, but the last time I was there was for my 6-wk postpartum appointment so that was almost 2 years ago.  Maybe my memory was fuzzy.  I went back down to the main floor then trudged down to the next set of elevators.  It wasn’t ringing any bells for me but I waited there then went back up to her floor.  When the doors opened this time there was no doubt that I was in the wrong place.

I was really confused.  I went back down to main, then wondered if by going from memory, had I chosen the wrong floor?  I knew it was a high number, I’d thought 6th floor…could it be 7?  8?  I went back to the first elevator- I was sure I’d gotten that part right.  I went up to the 7th floor, elevator doors opened- not it.  I went up to the 8th floor and I knew it wasn’t right either, but I got out anyways.  I didn’t know where else to go.

I found a woman and asked if there was a directory I could use to look up my doctor.  Luckily she knew the doctor and told me she’d look it up for me.  Turns out that probably right after my last appointment the whole floor had moved locations.  Not only to a new floor- to a new building!  To a building even closer to where I’d parked than the hospital was!  I couldn’t believe it.

I thanked her, then ran to the elevator then over to the next building.  At this point I was about 10 minutes late for my appointment, but this doctor is usually at least an hour behind so I wasn’t too concerned.  In the end I got there, got settled and knit while listening to podcasts while waiting for my appointment.  The Featherweight Cardigan is a great stocking stitch pattern that requires even less brain cells than a sock.  It’s really easy to pick up and put down, and I’m really enjoying working on it.  I was there for so long that I listened to the last 10 minutes of a Knit Naturally podcast, and 2.5 episodes of the Entertainment Weekly podcast (I’m an info junkie).

When I left the hospital to make my way back home to pick up the boys from daycare, there were a bunch of missed calls on my cell.  Unfortunately I emerged into the middle of a little situation.  My parents are away, and since my siblings are in and out of the house often and irregularly, they decided to board their dog.  She (Nikki- the dog) had been losing weight lately, and not eating, and now she was needing to be force-fed, and they found she was too skinny, and her color was off, and stuff.  They wanted to do blood tests (the kennel has a vet clinic on-site) but my cousin is a vet with her own animal hospital, so my parents texted to say they wanted Nikki brought there.

The only problem was that everyone seemed to be busy.  My sister was at school and my brother was busy so in the end my other brother came over to babysit the boys while I went to pick up Nikki from the kennel and bring her to the vet.  Note- this was all finalized by 7pm and the vet closed at 8.  It was a lot of driving around, but in the end Nikki made it there only a little after they closed, and they started to take care of her right away.

This was a quick shot of me and Nikki in the car on the way to the vet.  I kept trying to put her on the passenger seat but she kept climbing into my lap so after 10 minutes I gave up and just let her cuddle on me the rest of the way.

I got home and let my brother leave.  I decided to see how much progress I’d made on the Featherweight Cardi after the bursts of knitting at the doctor and also at my friend’s dance show last weekend.

It’s really coming along!  I think I’m going to keep going until it’s about an inch longer than my white tank top, then move on to the border then the sleeves.  If I have enough yarn then I’ll make them about 3/4 length, otherwise it will be short-sleeved.


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soooo tired

Usually Yannick and I take turns getting up with the kids while the other gets to sleep in a bit longer.  The store opens only at 10am on Saturdays, so that’s his morning to sleep in until 9, and Mondays (our day off) is my morning to sleep in while he takes the kids to daycare.  Sundays we both get up ‘cus that’s swimming lesson morning.  Well there has been so much going on lately that I don’t think I’ve had a chance to sleep in in almost a week! 

Last week we had another hospital appointment for Henri, followed on what should have been my next morning to sleep in by his 2-year checkup, then Monday (yesterday) I couldn’t sleep in ‘cus I had my annual physical, and this morning I got up even earlier to go down to the hospital for my preop for my hernia surgery (again!) in early March.  Well…I *thought* I had to go today.  Of course, I only found out that my appointment was actually TOMORROW after arriving at the hospital and waiting long enough to have to pay for parking.  Great, not only do I have to pay again tomorrow, but it’s one more day I can’t sleep in.

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Sunday was our first swimming lesson of this session ‘cus we skipped last week as it started too close to Henri’s birthday party and we didn’t want to rush it that much.  Now that Henri’s in “white”, it’s the first time that neither Yannick or I went in the water with him.  I honestly didn’t think he’d sit on the side of the pool, I fully expected him to keep getting up and running around the pool.  Luckily he stayed put!  He did cry quite a bit, but he stayed where he was supposed to, and was laughing and splashing by the end of the class, so there was definately improvement!

I don’t remember if I mentioned that Maaike came over to do a photoshoot for the latest KP pattern.  We had to use Jakob’s room and since he wasn’t sleeping anyways we just opened the lights and went in.  He was being EXTREMELY silly and playful and while I was setting up some shots Maaike snapped some really cute photos of him.  This is one of my favorites. 

I just realized- can you see the two blankets in the photo?  The blue/white one to the right is the entrelac blankie I knit while pregnant with him, and the white one to the left is the alphabet blankie I knit while pregant with him.  He likes having both in bed with him, and sometimes asks me to “wrap him up in Mommy’s love” to go to sleep.  🙂

Since I’ve had some good wait times lately, either in the car while Yannick drove, or while waiting at doctor’s offices, I’ve had a chance to work on my Featherweight Cardigan.  Last week I split the arms and body and now am continuing on the body part first.  Once the body is to length I will do the front band, THEN move onto the arms.  I don’t mind if the arms are three-quarter-length or even short-sleeved, but it will really suck if I run out of yarn doing the front band, ‘cus this yarn is from my grandmother’s stash and I don’t think it would be possible to get any more.  Besides the bit shown I’ve still got 7 more balls.  What you see so far (including the ball still attached) is 3 balls.  I don’t think I’ll run out…but just to be safe that’s how I’m going to handle it.

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And now I’ve just finished some paperwork for work that I started at 7:00pm and just finished about 10 minutes ago (11:40pm).  I have to be back at the hospital for 8am tomorrow for the REAL pre-op, so I’m going to take 2 Tylenol 1s (for the pain in my leg and belly) and hopefully fall asleep right away.


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2010-12-06

It’s Hanukah and we surprise the boys every morning with a little gift for each of the 8 days.  Just little things like a matchbox-type car or coloring book, and occassionally a chotchka from the dollar store.  This photo was Jakob trying out his new horsie.  (Yes, same clothes as the party yesterday…the outfit did double-duty this weekend).  I have one of him actually facing me but it is really blurry ‘cus it’s mid-jump.

Henri got one too but wasn’t as interested as Jakob. 

I LOVE this face!  I can’t believe he’s going to be 2 in just over a month…I don’t have babies any more, I’ve got big boys and I love them!!  I just can’t stop kissing these kids…I could eat them for supper, they’re so yummy.

I’ve got a bit of a sinus cold and took some Clorisiden (sp?) which makes me sleepy, so I didn’t risk another “knitting while impaired” moment and instead FINALLY got around to putting all my knitting projects into my iphone.  Yes, I only got the iphone 2 months ago, but this project has been delayed for almost 2 years.  I keep my own records similar to Ravelry, and was using a program called MobileDB in my Palm.  When I upgraded my last Palm to the TX it had a different OS and MobileDB just wouldn’t work right for me, no matter what I tried.  I caved and started copying my projects one-by-one into their own Memos, which worked quite well to view and update, save, etc…except I got lazy and stopped adding all the backdated ones.  So I had a small group of  projects from 2004-2007 in my Palm, along with everything from 2008-onwards, but the bulk (over 150 projects) was exported from MobileDB to an Excel worksheet and I was deleting each record as I added it to the Memos.  Then I got the iphone and had to retire my Palm…and now I had records in 3 locations.  Finally now everything is in one spot with 2 backups.

Getting all the projects in order gave me a chance to update my yarn ball too.  Didn’t I mention the yarn ball once?  I keep a few yards from the yarn for every project I knit/crochet and tie it on to this ongoing yarn ball…not sure what I’ll ever do with it, but for now I like having it sitting around.

The needle is for scale.  It’s about 4-5″ high.

Finally, here is the progress so far on the Featherweight Cardigan.  It is fine yarn and will take a while, but I really like the coral color and I think it will make an addition to my wardrobe that I’ll actually wear.