Matchy

OK, it should worry me that it took me 3 tries to spell matchy correctly. Especially since it is not technically a word.



Here is the Lutea Lace Shell. She stole one of my beers, but I guess I'll just grab one and join her instead of whining about it. Here are the specs:

Pattern: Lutea Lace Shell, IK Summer 2007
Yarn: 3 balls + a little Blue sky Organic Cotton in "bone" (about 500 yards)
Size: 40 in bust
Time: exactly a week
Mods: I only did two of the increase rounds near the top instead of 3. There was also the lace saga....




So these straps. They're pretty. I like them. I knit them at least 3 times for the back. Problem? The lace chart is wrong in the pattern. The pattern tells you to knit 2, then do a 4-stitch repeat. Over 21 stitches. I originally thought that I was just being slow, but 21-2 = 19, which is not divisible by 4. It is, in fact, prime. So OK, after thinking I just k1, then did the 4-stitch repeat. OK cool, that is for the right side. The left side asks you to do the same thing, changing the k2tog to ssk. Thinking that everything was cool, I did.
It did not look good.
It biased toards the right and made the neckline look asymmetrical, and the two sides didn't match. I can deal with a little bit of no matchy, but it bothered me. So after some aggressive swatching, I did the mirror image of the right instead with different ssk, so I did this for the left side instead of what was written for the pattern:

Round 1: [k3, yo, k1, yo}k1
Round 3: [ssk, k3] k1 - Here I did the slipping purlwise instead of kwise.
(rounds 2 and 4 are purling across)

I hope this helps someone, if in fact anyone needs it. It is entirely possible that I missed something major.


In any case, I still love it. The cotton is super-soft, and there was minimal stretching. I haven't yet blocked it, but I wore it all day on Saturday and the boy said that it looked nice. I offered to make him a sweater out of the same stuff in another color, but he has this thing against sweaters, I don't get it, it must be some weird California thing.


Anyway, my brain is on autopilot today. Yesterday I spent 15 hours in lab. FIFTEEN. On a Sunday. I hate doing growth curves, I really do. I got some sweet data out of it though. I need to go write now. Peace out lovely people.

Meditative, or a Sign of some sort of Decrease in Brain Activity?

Hello. I am a tube of stockinette stitch. Am I not intriguing? Gaze upon my mysteries.


This lovely tube of boring is going to be the Lutea lace shell, from IK Summer 2007. I actually cast on for it the day after I got the magazine in the mail, with Blue Sky Organic cotton that I had in my stash. The thing about it is that I knew that it should be boring, but I couldn't stop knitting on it. Maybe it was the yarn (I love this stuff, just don't wear black while knitting with it) or my needles (addi turbos, I'm a convert), but I have pretty much been addicted to it. That is until I got to the unboring part, namely the lace. What do I find? An error in the lace charting. The thing is, there are a couple of ways to resolve it, and I don't know which one looks the best, so it has taken a lot of swatching. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to show you how I got through it - I'm almost there.

Well, off to lab my lovelies.

Peace,
Elizabeth

YPF

It is Friday. Let us dance!

Yes, that is malabrigo, and yes, it makes me very, very happy. I must confess, that I may have hugged the yarn when I got it yesterday. I may be sitting next to me now. I know that it pills, but it is soft and pinkish-brown (applewood colorway) and I will love the sweater it will turn into (I also loved the price. $6 a skein? Be still my beating obsessive heart). As well as the sweater stone I will purchase for it. Want to see more? I know I do!

mmmmmmmmmmmm wool.

In other news, lab didn't suck today! I have learned the secret of the Real-Time PCR machine, also known as the machine of many graphs. I am so in love with it that I would feed it wool if I had to. Not my new wool, some other wool. I would show you a graph, but they are all in lab.

Lady E continues apace, I love her still.

Peace out, noble readers.

P.S. - should I be worried that the boy has the John Updike poem about neutrinos as his away message? Oh, it exists.

So I'm a big fat liar

So not so long ago I made noises about perhaps, you know, going and doing something useful. This obviously didn't work, but one fruit snack and reorganizing my Flickr set later, I am back with more pictures, this time of works not yet finished.

Here is the magnificent lady Eleanor, from Scarf Style. I'm knitting it on US 9s, with Noro silk garden. Now, "Elizabeth," you may ask, "How can you afford such nice yarn for this shawl?" well, the answer, dear reader, is that I have a very generous mother, who for Christmas procured this yarn for me. I love it. You might also ask "but Elizabeth, you don't wear shawls" and by you, I mean the boy, and to that I say, be quiet. When this shawl is done I will wear it and I will look beautiful, because if Noro makes a project that is pretty much all stockinette look like one of the more interesting phenomena in this world we live in, it will make me look like a freaking movie star.


So tell me if my math is off. 1 sock + 1 sock = 2 socks = pair of socks, no? Well, almost, I guess. The left sock is yet another jaywalker in Austermann Step, in color theballbandisallthewayinthenextroom, which is a fabulous yarn. I used to think that self-striping wasn't random enough to keep my cicada brain focused, but I was very wrong. The sock on the right is an embossed leaves sock in Lorna's Laces shepherd sock in Purple club. I love the pattern, but the Lorna's laces kind of obscures it. Whatever, it is what my roomie requested, and so it is what she shall have. She is going to med school next year to save the world from itself, and wonderful people deserve pretty socks. You may think that I have a fairly serious case of SSS, but you will be happy to know that I am halfway through the second jaywalker, despite the socks that rock that are calling me from my stash. I can hear them still. Oh garnet dreams, how you haunt me.

*Ahem*

Anyway...


In an effort to become a well-adjusted knitblogger (and because the Blue Heron Cotton was whining at me from my stash), I have started a purple (and fuzzy-looking, apparently) clapotis! I love it, but the knitting of it does get tedious at times. Luckily the recipient is not slated to get it until August, so since I started it two weeks ago and am at the halfway point, I am pretty sure that everything will be ok. Of course now that I have said that lighting may strike. Let me go get a large metal pole. Or at least someone taller than I am.

Peace,
Elizabeth

FOs!

Blogger keeps shutting down my web browsers (thats right, I tried two). This is not making me a happy camper. In any case, without any more delay, here is Sweet Lady Turbulence:

Specs:
Turbulence Pullover, from Knitting Nature in the 40" size.
Yarn: Knitpicks Andean Silk in Cream, about 2 balls under what the size called for in yardage (obviously you shouldn't use that as a guide). The yarn worked well though, it is soft and hasn't pilled yet, if in fact it will at all. I have a feeling that it resulted in a thicker fabric than the yarn called for, but I got gauge and I like thicker sweaters anyway.
Mods: Just that I made the body an inch longer, and I am really glad I did.
Verdict: I love it! It fits me perfectly, and the yarn shows off the unique cables well. I also really like using twisted rib as a border.

The sweater loving life outside. Spring has finally come in the midwest, and it is so sweet (or choice, as Mr. Bueller would say)


Also enjoying the great outdoors is Ms. Patrick's Provincial Waistcoat from IK 2006, knit with Knitpicks wool of the andes in lake ice heather, double stranded. The buttons came from The Sow's Ear, probably my favorite knitterly store near Madison. Oh, did I forget to tell you? I am going to UW for a microbiology PhD starting this fall (!). I'm very, very excited. Anyway, this little beauty (it is also warm to boot!) is going to my mom for mother's day - I hope she likes it! This was a very fun knit, the only mods I made were to knit the fronts and back at the same time after the armhole split instead of separately as the pattern called for, since I didn't trust myself to make them all the same length. I think it worked out just fine.


Finally, here are my jaywalkers, my first pair of socks. I actually finished them in December, but who is counting. They are in FA merino sock yarn in the Hercules colourway, and I love them - they are only getting softer and softer as I wear them. The pattern is great too, I just prefer socks with a little more ease since I have big feet. Eh, what can you do.

In other news, I have developed the worst case of senioritis known to man. I am graduating in a month, and I can't seem to do any work that doesn't involve knitting or going to the gym. *Sigh*. I am going to go nap on the couch. I mean work. On the couch.

Tomorrow is for WIPs!

Peace Out, Lovely people.

Quatro de Mayo

Hello imaginary readers, and may I apologize for my lack of posting as of late. I would blame my schoolwork, busy schedule and such, but the real culprit for my laziness I think, is the fact that my camera is broken. Ummm, or out of batteries. Either one. And a pictureless blog is not a fun blog, fair blog-readers. No worries though, I shall have pictures soon, including a FINISHED (!!!!) turbulence sweater, and many other things.

Peace Out!