Nameless

I finally have something new to share:

 

  

 I finished these grey ones last year.  I love them.

I particularly love the way the cables work their way around the heel and gusset.

 

 It took quite a long time to size the pattern right.  

I did a survey of calf sizes on ravelry, and there's a huge range, as I expected, but also a lot of variability from top to mid calf to ankle, so it took a lot of work to come up with a knee sock pattern that would fit just about anyone. 

 

The purple ones are my daughter Caity's.  She's got itty bitty wee calves, unlike my thick ones.  

 

  

 

So now they just need a name. 

Got a suggestion?  Let me know.  If I use it, I'll give you a free copy.
 

Cladonia

Lately all of my knitting is things I'm designing and can't post pictures of, which makes for boring blogging.  I've been filling in space with projects I finished a while ago and didn't blog. 

Here's a recently finished one, though

 Cladonia by Kristen Kapur

It's a running joke among my knitter friends that I change everything I knit.  Because I always start out saying "I didn't change anything" and then "except..."


Well no exception here.  I intended to not change the pattern but then I didn't like the increases so I ripped out several inches to start over.  I wanted the increases to be in the second row of each color change, so it would be less obvious.  I ended up doing make ones on the purl side, which worked out well, and I was pleased with the result.

I also made the shawl bigger, but that hardly counts, right?

I actually made this color set (Electric Watermelon) for Snowflake Club over a year ago because I wanted to make this shawl with it.  Of course it took me forever to actually make it but once I started it, it went pretty quickly.

 I actually DIDN'T change the lace at border at all.  I think it's perfect as is.  And the picot bind off might be a pain in the ass to knit, but it's totally worth it.

Random Thursday

Here's another sweater from a while ago that I never blogged:

Partially because I didn't like the pictures.  I love my husband but he's not a photographer.  But there's a few good ones. 

The pattern is Versio and it's a pretty cool way of making a top down sweater with set in sleeves all at once in the round, which makes the stripes match.

Here's a shot of the set in sleeves.

The yarn is my All Your Lace, it took only 2 skeins total for the sweater.  Colors are Deep Purple and Grey Matter.  I actually had a lot left over, the sweater weighs 140g.















I took the hood inspiration from rililie's but made mine smaller.  These open gauge lace things have a tendency to stretch out on people, so I made sure to wash and block mine as I went (and it DID so I was glad).















I like the sweater so much I decided to start a Featherweight cardigan.  Same idea. loose gauge lace weight cardigan.  This time I decided to spin it.  This was my Tour de Fleece project.

(Oh look, purple.)

It's a slightly heavier weight than the All Your Lace, just what I was going for.  I spun a little over 700 yards during TdF, and started the sweater a month or so ago. 

So far so good.














While I was finding pictures of the Versio from last spring I also came across this birthday cake my kids made for my 42nd birthday which I thought I needed to share. 

Because that was pretty awesome. 

I also got a new giant purple mailbox.  That's a Harrington Knot on the front.  I also got a TARDIS beach towel but I don't have a picture of that.  But I know where it is so I don't need to panic.

Swim Bike Run

I'm totally sucking in my gut

 So my friend Janet talked me in to doing a Triathlon this year.

I have never been able to swim so that seemed like the big challenge to me.  I still can't swim in open water because I need a wall to grab on to every 100 meters, but I spent the summer practicing and I can at least make it through the water.

 It turned out that the swim was actually the easy part.  It went pretty much how it's gone in practice.  Other than one woman who kept back stroking in to me on the last lap, it was smooth and I had a good time (for me).  400m in  15:27, that includes getting in and out (diving not allowed).







Transition was pretty good.  After we left I realized I FORGOT MY SHIRT.  I had the triathlon t-shirt so I used that but note to self: bring the shirt.

 I was already breathing hard from swimming and running through the tunnel and to the transition area so that made the bike harder than expected.  Also the first almost 4 miles were very slightly uphill.  So little that you barely notice it but , it's just that tiny bit harder.

10 miles in 48:52.  Tiring, but pretty good, I'll take it.

The RUN, which was where I was the most confident, was where I really struggled.  Coming off a bike and running is really hard.  It's so bizarre but your legs just don't want to go.  They don't even want to walk.  I felt like I was barely moving and it was hard to breathe and not fun at all.  I also really hated running without my iPod.

I was pretty sure I was last after the last woman I could see passed me half a mile in.  I kept up with her and actually caught and passed her once but she passed me back and then she never stopped running. My first mile was 15 minutes.  The second was around 14, the third was something like 13:20, so I did finally get my legs back, but man was I exhausted.


Caity found me a little before the end and ran along with me.  She is a fantastic cheerleeder.  Coming in to the stadium you can see the woman I could never catch up with, and me and Caity.










She sang to me the whole way around the track which was my favorite part, because I was really dead. 

 

Run time 42:59 for 5k/3.1 miles

Overall time 1:53:23.  It turned out I wasn't last, there were a couple people who were way behind me and I couldn't see them at all.  Janet beat me by about 9 minutes.   She's a faster swimmer and biker, and this was her second tri. 

I haven't decided if I'll do another one.  If I do it will not be while I'm training for a marathon (I'd run 16 miles 2 days before - really bad planning).

Feeling like fall

I finished this vest last spring right when it got too hot to wear it.

This is a vest designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann and published posthumously in the book Knit One Knit All. 

This particular pattern is called the Waistcoat Vest and I spent almost the whole time I was knitting it saying "That's so cool!"  It's really an ingenious design.  All of the icord edging is knit as you go. The entire thing is knit in one piece, and except for the shaping, every stitch is knit.

The icord edging is knit on as you go.  There's  great waist shaping that you can see in this picture.

The finished vest is very flattering, and I expect to get a lot of wear out of it this fall and winter.

The yarn is Bartlet Yarns Fisherman 2-ply in Mountain Berry, which can be gotten from Schoolhouse Press, and other places.  

Blocking Summit

I get a lot of questions about blocking Summit, so the last time I did it, I took pictures.
 

Normally I use blocking wires, but there's really no good way to do it here.

I soak (and wash if necessary) the shawl, the spin most of the water out.  I like to block it right side down, since the tendency for it is to curl backwards.  I start by putting one pin at the corners and then pinning the short sides.

Then starting in the center I'll put one pin in an outside curve, then one half way between that one and the side, then continue until every curl has one pin.


Then go about adding pins until the curves are smooth. 

That's it, really.  It's not difficult, just a little time consuming.