I am making progress on my corset pullover. I finished the front and am about halfway through the back. I like how it looks so I’m just hoping that I’ll like how it fits. No matter how well I measure and swatch, I’m never really sure it’ll fit right until it’s all done. It makes me kind of anxious if I think about it too much.
In other news, my grandpa had a birthday this month so my letter H in the abc-along is going to be for Happy birthday, Hugh! That’s him in the picture with my uncle on the left and my dad on the right. Any guesses as to how old my grandpa is? The picture is from last year so add a year to how old you think he is in the picture.
He just had a big health workup and the only recommendation the doctor had was that he shouldn’t drink anymore. My dad says that the only sign he’s slowed down is that he doesn’t do very many home-improvement projects anymore. He still drives, has a lovely girlfriend and is in really good health! All that and he just turned 93!!

Pattern: Jesse’s Flames from Stitch ‘N Bitch Nation
Yarn: Lions Brand Wool-ease. Not my favorite yarn but the sweater is soft and arm and Mike likes it. What more do I need?
Changes I made: A lot. My guage was really different than the pattern. Luckily I like math so it all worked out. I made it a little longer because Mike wanted it that way and left out the red stripes around the cuffs and neckband because, again, Mike wanted it that way. He really wanted the yellow edging around the flames that the sweater had but when I started duplicate stitching it on, we both agreed that it looked really sloppy. It wasnt my fault (really!), it’s just that the yellow didn’t cover the black very well so it didn’t look crisp and nice at all. Looking closely at the picture in the book, you can tell it looks kind of sloppy there, too. That’s not a good sign. Mike was disappointed about not having the yellow but I think he’s over it now. If you’re thinking of making this, I recommend knitting the yellow in intarsia even though it’s only one stitch wide. You’ll appreciate it when it’s done.
What I learned: How to do intarsia! And that it’s not hard! Although I think that more colors would challenge my coordination. I also have come to the conclusion that neckbands suck. I have never knitted one right the first time and this was no exception. Maybe someday I’ll get one right on the first try. I also learned that knitting something as complicated as a sweater for a man is really interesting. I loved knitting for Mike but the next thing he’s getting is a smaller project.

Since I last posted, I started knitting the ruffles scarf and then ripped it all out. With the baby cashmerino it was looking much too much like a corkscrew and it didn’t have any of the flowiness that the one pictured in the book did. So after a few more swatches I finally settled on this stitch pattern.I didn’t think I would ever decide on a pattern that I liked but I’m over half done with this scarf and I think it’s a keeper. I don’t know why I was being so picky.

I’ve also been working on my fog sweater. I really like it now that it’s not just ribbing. It’s going to be really warm, which is good because it’s super cold here! It might snow tonight. I kind of hope it does. I don’t have to do anything tomorrow and it would be nice to see snow out the window. I just walked outside barefoot and now my toes feel like icicles.
I’m almost done with Mike’s flame sweater. I keep getting distracted and can’t seem to finish. He’s gone this evening so I think I’ll work on it. I really am close to finishing and I do want to get it done.

Gyrid front almost finished

The good thing is that I have done a lot of knitting lately. My husband is sick and we went to the emergency room yesterday (he’s okay, the Dr thinks it’s a virus) so there was a lot of waiting and knitting. A fellow knitter came up and showed me her project (a baby’s dress- pretty, pastel and lots of eyelets). I love the way knitting brings strangers together. After coming home from the hospital, Mike took some medicine that made him sleep so there was nothing for me to do but watch tv and knit. I’m almost done with the front of Gyrid! (I must admit that while Mike was sleeping I seriously contemplated going to the yarn store to look at sock yarn but I decided against it.)

I found this sign of fall in the parking lot leaving work last week. I love the acorns still attached. Some of my coworkers laughed at me for picking it up and keeping it but fall is my favorite season!

Knitting the flame on the sleeve was my 1st attempt at knitting intarsia and it was totally successful! I was expecting lots of frogging but after only having to rip out a few rows at the beginning, I got the hang of it. Here’s a close up of my 1st intarsia motif. Pretty nice if I do say so myself.

As a reward for finishing the back, I started a new project.

The reasons I deserved a reward:
1) Knitting a large man’s sweater is a LOT more work and takes a lot more time than what I have been knitting all summer- small women’s tank tops for me.
2) Also, I’m knitting it with Lion Brand Woolease, which is not my favorite yarn. I started knitting it though when I lived really far away from a yarn store and only had access to Lion Brand yarn (well, Red Heart too, but I won’t sink that low). Buying yarn over the internet didn’t occur to me as I’m much too impatient to wait for it to arrive. So I wanted to take a break from the Woolease, though it’s really not that bad.
3) Knitting miles of stockinette with a few increases thrown in is boring after a while. I love lace and cables and patterns- anything interesting.

So . . . The new project I started in the Gyrid tank from Elsebeth Lavold’s book The Viking Knits Collection. I already have half the front finished and I must say that her cable patterns are not for the faint of heart but they are really cool! And her silky wool yarn is really nice to knit with. The finished top is going to be a Christmas present for my mom.