I have failed. The Louisa Harding cardigan is not finished, and three weeks are up.
There have just been too many distractions. My garden is coming along better than it has before, and there have been flowers to gaze at,
and to cut,
As Hightest says (I turned her on to it), "thanks for the tendonitis". A mere ninety nine cent iphone app, but pricelss in it's time-suck value. I played a little too much this week, and I've no sweater to show for it. Maybe next week.....
Since you asked, here is how I made my tempest tank. I basically followed the cardigan directions, up to a point. I did knit the tank one size larger than the cardigan, which is a bit small (OK since it will be worn open). I knit the first thirty-six rows, then did the stripes as for the cardigan. To knit the armholes, I simply started the armhole shaping about six rows lower than for the cardigan, and increased the number of decreases to a tank top shape. To do this, I used a Gap tank top as a guide, simply matching the decreases to the shape of that tank. I used the same Gap tank to guide my shaping for the neck. Picked up stitches around the armholes and the neck in the usual fashion and knit a few rows of seed stitch to finish it off. Really simple, I promise, and probably a good exercise in knitting without a pattern (sort of) for anyone who has wanted to try it.
There's not so much knitting news today. As you can see, Mandala grows apace, but since there are now 576 stitches per row, I can expect it to slow down quite a bit. And sweater number five is going very well, that is, unless I have miscalculated and am going to run out of yarn. It is possible.
And this is all I'm going to give you of NaKniSweMoDo Five for now.
So let's talk Facebook. Naturally, I've been hearing a lot about it at work, since it's become a part of almost everyone under thirty-five's interpersonal landscape. I resisted signing up until this weekend, when I finally realized that many of my colleagues were already on it---some of them displaying questionable details of their lives for all the world to read. Talk about no shame. There are things I'd just rather not know about my shrink.....
I was able to figure out how to install the most stringent privacy settings, though, and I was off. I spent (too much) time this weekend wandering around Facebook, and here are my initial thoughts.
First, it turns out that I am Facebook-shy. I'm not so keen on sending a note to someone I played with in second grade, just because he's on Facebook. And with people in my current life, it seems that if I don't really talk to them in another medium other than group e-mails or hello's at conferences, I'm not so keen on approaching them on Facebook. Kind of like barging up to someone at a cocktail party and having them think, "why is she talking to me?" If I already talk to you, well, then, I don't really need to have you as a Facebook friend. And if I don't already talk to you, why would you want me as your Facebook friend?
I'm not too interested in announcing my every move on the internet. My weekly update here is enough. But I see that some people are getting some mileage out of letting hundreds of people know that they are tired, or what they are eating for dinner, etc. I have some hunches about what that is about, but I need to mull them over awhile. I'll let you know what I come up with....
I can't call my grandmother and ask her a knitting question--no phones wherever she is.....
But here is my virtual grandmother. She is always here to teach me anything I need to know about knitting.
And this is the new face of knitting. I had been having trouble figuring out the written instructions for doing an i-cord, and I've discovered that when in doubt, you can park yourself in front of the computer, and watch a video. Whatever happened to the fireplace and the easy chair?
The cats seem to adjust. In fact, the Yarn Eater is convinced that he is in front of a fireplace, since the high intensity lamp is throwing off the gorgeous heat that he loves.
And within minutes, my first i-cord. It's a little sad--I once sat with my grandmother for forty-five minutes as she explained how to make gefilte fish,including the step where you put the live fish in the bathtub until you're ready to start. It's a very treasured memory, although I confess I buy my gefilte fish ready made. I'd love to be able to keep asking her questions, but for now, virtual grandma will have to do.
I've tried to convey the hairy mess I was in yesterday in this photo. I have been excitedly anticipating the reveal of my next finished project, which I guessed would be finished by the end of this weekend. Let's not even talk about the draft of a paper that I'm also supposed to be writing.
There were some strange sounding instructions for this part of the project, but I figured I'd just sort it out when I got there. Right. When I got down to it, I realized that I did not have the technical knowledge to follow these instructions. My mood began to shift. The happy buzz of exhibitionistic joy in finishing the project and displaying it was changing into an angry and panicky thrum. How in the hell was I going to move forward? Before dejection set in, I remembered that I had seen, but not yet availed myself of, a forum on Ravelry entitled "Techniques". I e-mailed my dilemma, and rather more quickly than I could even walk to the LYS and throw myself on the mercy of the store owner, I had an answer from the sainted Seventykay. She clearly and cogently described the technique, and voila, it worked. A little later, someone e-mailed in a link to a site called nonaknits and more helpful information was obtained. I've been able to move forward, although I won't be posting a finished object this weekend.
I do believe that nature and nurture both play a part in determining what kind of emotional life a person is going to have. A difficult emotional life is not always or completely the result of environmental failure. But I think we would all be a little happier if the world worked more like Ravelry........the knitter's mood stabilizer. Thank you!!!
