Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Tadpoles


IMG_4534
Originally uploaded by jjs_37
turn into frogs. And that is what is happening to this sweater! Both the front and the back will be frogged during some opportune television viewing time. Not the election results, since I will have to be at a board meeting!!!
This is just not the right sweater for me or for this yarn. I got the pattern with the yarn and it was designed on this yarn but I think the fit of the sweater and the shape of it and the fact that it does have shaping, requires a halo around the yarn. So it needs to be made with something different. And I am making Versatility
I can't wait. But I am of course making changes. I have a different gauge of course, and I am not making bobbles. The bobbles are just begging to bother me by digging into my back and by catching on things. So a little 2x2 cable instead and some extra stitches here and there and hope it works.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Sketching shore birds


111708-2
Originally uploaded by jjs_37
While both girls were at school at the same time, and I was in neither school working, I went for a cup of coffee, a bagel and decided to find some birds. I had found a list of good birding spots on the national association of ornithologists annual meeting website. They apparently went for a field trip to this location, and it is incredibly close to my house.
I found lots of birds and they weren't super close, but they weren't far either. I used a non-photo blue pencil to draw quickly and then used pen to finalize the drawings later. It really worked for me this time and I worked on several birds at the same time though I focused on one kind of bird at a time. In the actual pond they were mixed up.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Knitting dillemma

IMG_3253.JPG I have been knitting a "lace panel pullover" for a couple of months now and the truth is I just don't love it. I love the yarn- Shokay Shambala in Orchid. So that is fiery pink and as soft as the underbelly of a Yak in the Himalaya's. Well that is where the yarn comes from.
But this yarn shows every stitch and I am not in love with this pattern. The increases and decreases show up and I don't think they look nice. Of course I made the required number of right leaning increases and left leaning increases but not necessarily in the right places.
Today I found another pattern which looks like a lot of fun. And this will be so soft and warm and very very pink. I will have yarn leftover but whatever! I can make super warm, very soft (is there any better kind) and very pink hats for years to come.
I think this yarn will substitute well, it will be easier to knit, even if I have to take out the bobbles which I am not particularly fond of, and as such will have to make a mental pattern adjustment as I knit this. I am too lazy to rewrite the pattern to adjust for this and it is mostly in chart form so I am doomed to rip this out a couple of times at least.
This shawl/cardigan/wrap will work well with my plans to keep the house cold this winter to save energy/the planet/money. It will be easier and yet still fun to knit.
But seriously, do I rip out the whole back and the three quarters of the front I have finished (for the third time) to start on something new? It will still not be mindless parent education class knitting, but I may be able to knit it during DWTS.
I need to find a good mindless knitting project for class, board meetings and fall television.
I really have serious dillema's which prevent me from getting much work done.