Nerdy Knitter

All kinds of stuff

First, I was going to post a big, picture-laden tour of the mayhem that is our bathroom demolition, but now that I'm on vacation (I'll repeat: I'm on VACATION), I don't have high-speed internet, so no photos for today...

To sum it up--Nerdy Hubby started a small(ish) bathroom fix-up job that uncovered more trouble, which we thought might mean tearing down whole walls, and replacing whole floors, but after a consultation with fix-up guys, we've learned it's nowhere near as bad as we thought. Let's all breathe a sigh of relief on that one. Ready? One. Two. Three...breathe. Aaah.

Let's see...on the knitting front, I've been having a grand time doing my sample knitting project. Finished the seaming last night, and blocked it this morning. I had serious gauge issues--I went down 2 needle sizes, and still barely got gauge. I actually had to moosh the side together to pretend it's smaller than it is (by about .5"). But it's the right length, and it looks lovely. The yarn changed quite a bit when I blocked it, which was interesting to see.

That very lesson should inform my next project, for which I knit a swatch, but did not wash said swatch...I'm living dangerously, I know.

So what is my next project, you ask? Here it is: http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=95&d_id=33&lang=en (Sorry I can't hyperlink with my Mac...its weird). I bought 2 different federal blue yarns from elann (elann.com)--1 cotton and 1 alpaca. They look nice when knit together, although I was a bit nervous when I saw them side by side. Not to worry--it's looking very nice. I'm getting a loose gauge with the recommended needles. I'm almost ready for the armhold shaping on the left front, but it looks quite small...I'm going to measure what I have and compare it to the schematic before I do anything else.

More knitting fun--my friends C & J came over for a knitting afternoon on Friday. What fun! We swapped presents, which is always fun. I don't have photos, but trust me when I say I got cute stuff--a frame decorated with snowflakes for the time when I get "the" Christmas photo of the Beast (I've been unsuccessful at getting him to sit still), a Lab ornament for the tree, and itty-bitty knit mittens for the tree. Oh, and a spinning gadget whose name I've forgotten...distaff? It has jingle bells, and is pink/green. Very cool.

And yesterday was a fun afternoon at my other knitting friend, E's house--we went for a nice long walk in the woods near her house & had yummy homemade squash soup & chatted about this and that. Very nice way to spend my vacation!

The rest of today is dedicated to helping Nerdy Fixer-upper Hubby when I can, and to knitting on my new project. What a life!

I promised one of our volunteer consultants that I'd knit a pair of socks to thank him for his help--he's in a Civil War reenactment group, so they'll need to be gray wool...I searched the web and found a Virginia-based organization that provides the text from an authentic pattern from 1865. Pretty cool. Sadly, the socks are knit on fingering weight wool, and are 13" tall. Gulp. I hope he won't need them too soon.

So that's all of the fun stuff happening here in ol' Virginia.

I don't think my vacation will really sink in until tomorrow when I get to stay home instead of trekking to work. Yahoo!

posted by Nerdy Knitter @ 1:48 PM