Like a Stone I Fall Into Your Eyes

Back's all done!

It's a lot of stockinette. So much so that I'm a little bored with it, and I'm dragging my feet to get started with the front, as it is basically the same, with different shaping at the top. It's a good thing I have absolutely no interest in making socks, because I'm almost certain that I would have second sock syndrome.

Here is a list I have compiled of hopes that I have for this sweater:

1. I hope I made the armholes the right way.

2. I hope it fits. And not only that, but I hope that it's flattering. Because quite frankly, I have no interest in an unflattering sweater. I can buy an unflattering sweater if I want one. Which I don't.

Shaping on the sides, intended to make it flattering. We shall see.

3. I hope the front and the back match up. I almost made this on circular needles because it eliminates the procrastination that ensues after finishing the back and before finishing the front, and also because it guarantees that both sides will be even. Well, with any luck anyway.

Marshmallow marveling the hem at the bottom, hoping as much as I am that it will match the hem on the front.

4. I hope that I didn't make the wrong yarn choice. I spent lot less on yarn that I could have, or maybe should have, and I hope that it doesn't result in an ass-y sweater.

5. I hope that it really is machine wash- and dry-able, as the label says. I will be royally peeved if it is not.

Anyway, as some incentive to finish this sea of stockinette, I picked out my next project (I can't do more than one project at once. I would never finish anything. Ever.):

http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=105&d_id=9&lang=en

Pretty, no?

I like it because it looks a lot like Juliet, only:

1. It is free.

2. On the model, it is pink. Which doesn't really matter in real life, but it Susan's life it makes all the difference.

3. It is free.

4. It is prettier, at least in my opinion, which in this case is the only one that matters. So there!

Now on to non-knitting news...

It still feels like Spring! It's subject to change of course, but I'm crossing my fingers that it won't. Probably so many fingers that I'm reversing the effect. Granted, it's still, like, 20 degrees out in the morning and my hands are still so dry that no amount of lotion seems to stop them from getting all red and cracked, but the afternoons are downright warm. So warm in fact that who knows how much clothing my grandmother will wear!

Marshmallow the superhero.

Song of the Day:

"Throw a stone and watch the ripples flow, moving out across the bay. Like a stone I fall into your eyes, deep into some mystery." -David Gray, "Please Forgive Me"

Blank Stares at Blank Pages

I've been a bad blogger. It's been almost a week since I've updated, and all I really have to say for myself is that I really have had nothing to blog about.

I almost finished that back of Holly, but I want to wait to show you until I do finish it because it just looks awkward still on the needles. It's just a big block of stockinette with some subtle shaping. It's really boring to knit, acutally.

Other than Holly-ing it up, all I've been up to is blowing up some balloons and contemplating a second job to pay for Dream School.

I am almost too exciting to bear.

You know what I did do though?

I got sick of waiting for someone else to start a group on Ravelry for the fabulishious movie "Say Anything," so I made one myself. For any interested Ravelers, come join the "To Know Lloyd Dobler is to Love Him" group!

Song of the Day:
"I'm unusually hard to hold on to. Blank stares at blank pages. No easy way to say this. You mean well, but you make this hard on me." -Sara Bareilles, "Love Song"

Lover's in Love

I have finished the hem on the bottom of Holly, reaffirming my conviction that hemming is not all that much fun. I had to do it on Summertime Tunic too, only that was a little harder because it was sewn instead of knit together. But geez-a-loo, I can never get the sides to match up right. I start out okay, hemming strong, and then the next thing I know, I did something wrong and there's no more cast-on edge to hem to the three stitches that remain on my needles!

That sounds like a poem.

Oh, and that reminds me. I bought 14" needles instead of 10" ones to do this sweater. I'm glad I did because I don't think all 92 stitches ever would have stayed on my 10"s, but I still feel like a cartoon character with intensely exaggerated needles. It definitely will not fit in my Vera Bradley for transport to Boyfriend's house. I'll have to break out the Eddie Bauer tote that I got on sale at one of the outlet stores and that's bigger than some suitcases.

I could probably fit a puppy in it.

Yes, Pharmacy Pete and Shelly. That was, in fact, directed to you.

In other entirely unrelated, yet still super exciting, news...

SPRING!!!

It feels like it.

It was so warm outside yesterday that I was outside with a short sleeved Dream School t-shirt on, and no coat. NO COAT!

But, alas, the undisclosed location that I am from is notorious for being fickle, and today it was chillier. Not cold by any stretch of my fine-honed imagination (oh... guess who just found a new favorite phrase...), but not as balmy.

I celebrated by wearing my Summertime Tunic to school, only it didn't feel very summery on account of I had to wear it under a sweatshirt in order for it to be school appropriate.

Damn the school and their pesky dress code that prohibits girls from becoming the kind of not-so-nice girls they were destined to become!

So yeah. Spring. I like it.

It has been brought to my attention that Rossola has been "recruiting" people to come read my blog. If this is you, welcome! And thank you. And also, SUBMIT TO THE LIT! You know how, there are posters all over the school. I know. I helped hang them up.

Song of the Day:

"This woman was singing my song: lover's in love, and the other's run away, lover is crying 'cause the other won't stay." -Lisa Loeb, "Stay (I Missed You)"

I'll Show Them to You and You'll See Them Shine

Big happenings in Susan's world!

Well, kind of. The knitting part of it anyway.

First things first:

I finished Boyfriend's Dashings.

*Feel free to insert your applause here*

(I made him hold my book while I took the picture to give him something to do with his hands. I have to read it for a scholarship. And to answer your inevitable questions, yes it's big, yes the print's small, no it's not super interesting, yes I'm going to read it anyway. I read Gone with the Wind just for fun, and I think that might have been longer. If I read that for free, I think I can suck it up and read this for a chance at $10,000 for Dream School.)

They came out pretty good except for the part where I had some serious issues with the yarn (Bernat Cashmere Blends), reiterating my belief that I should spend more money at my LYS, less at Michael's.

Speaking of LYS's....

SUSAN'S FABULOUS LYS ADVENTURE (or local yarn store adventure, for my non-knitting audience, mainly BFF and Rossola).

Boyfriend offered to take me up to my LYS once I was done with his gloves so that I could buy yarn for my Holly sweater. Which is exciting in its own right, to have a boyfriend who volunteers to do that. And, also, it's exciting due to the fact that I get to spend some time in a converted barn filled with all sorts of yarn that I can't afford.

Here is the conversation with the yarn lady that ensued.

Yarn Lady (YL): Hello! How are you today?

Susan (S): I'm good, how are you?

YL: Good. Are you looking for anything in particular?

S: Well, I was hoping to find a cheaper alternative to cashmerino.

(Because YL carries cashmerino, which is what the pattern calls for, however it calls for $85 worth of it. Um... thanks anyway.)

YL: Well, let's look at some of the other aran weight yarns I have.

S: Super!

YL: I have this one over here. This is a really nice yarn, and it's $7 for twice as much yarn as the $8.50 ball of cashmerino.

S: Okay, but how much of that will I need?

(Because $7 sounds nice when you only need one, but...)

YL: You'll need 6 skeins.

(I turned to Boyfriend (B) and made a face as though YL had just kicked me in the stomach.)

S: That's $42!

YL: Yarn's expensive. This is a really nice yarn.

(Granted, I know that I haven't chosen an inexpensive hobby. But damned if I'm going to spend more on yarn to make my first sweater, that I'm more likely than not going to mess up somehow, than I do on a sweater, already made, from a store.)

S: But I only work two days a week blowing up balloons!

B: I'll pay for half of it.
S: No.

B: But I will.

S: No thank you. I don't want you to.

(I already spend enough on my yarn habit without dragging Boyfriend down with me.)

YL: You know what else I have...

Then she pointed up to the very top shelf, where there were about forty skeins of yarn (Plymouth Yarns Encore, 75% acrylic, 25% wool) in all sorts of colors, that sort of looked like they had been thrown up there and forgotten about. And since they were $5 a skein and I only needed 5 of them, they were well within my Party Store Candy Department Specialist's budget.

I realize now that it is unrealistic to go to the yarn store expecting to spend between $20 and $30 for good yarn. I would never ever spend more than $50, but I may have to up my budget for next time. It's just that, for my first sweater, it doesn't make sense to me to spend that much money. I can live with ruining a $24.95 sweater. $42? Not so much.

And, finally, this was the on-the-way-home conversation:

B: Maybe you should just buy a llama and make your own yarn.

S: Yeah, a lot of people do that. I don't think Shelly would like that very much, though.

B: So when you have your own house, then.

S: I'm not sure it's any more cost-efficient to buy, house, feed, and care for a llama then it is to buy yarn.

B: Yeah, but then you get to have a pet llama.

S: Llamas spit. Maybe I'd just get sheep.

B: That's an idea.

S: But I'd have to get a couple, because they live in flocks.

B: Then you'd need a---

S: Farm?

B: No, I was going to say one of those canes with the hooks on them that Moses had.

Song of the Day:
"Whatever colors you have in your mind, I'll show them to you and you'll see them shine." - Bob Dylan, "Lay, Lady, Lay"

Standing in the Sunlight Laughing

Once upon a time there was a girl named Susan, who just wanted to knit her boyfriend a pair of Dashings. So she set out on her Dashing journey by purchasing yarn from her local craft store because she had a coupon. The yarn was from Bernat, and it was pretty, and was made of acrylic, nylon, and cashmere, making very soft, but also hella rugged.

The first mitt went off without a gitch. All was well. There were no visible mistakes. There may not have even been any invisible mistakes. It was hard to tell, as, if they existed, they were invisible. Hence invisible mistakes.

Then came the second mitt. Again, all was well. That is, until she ran out of yarn from the first skein, and was forced to join a new one.

"Okay," thought Susan. "I do this all the time."

It attached superly (sometimes I invent words. Don't judge.). Then she realized that this skein was so much softer than the last. And as she got farther and farther along, she realized that it was visibly different, with more pronounced stitches, and resulted in a much softer, floppier fabric than the first skein did.

To which all I can say is, WHAT THE HELL?????

Growl.

Anyway, I'm almost done with Dashing, so I can buy yarn for Holly. I'm going to my LYS for this though. I trust her more the craft store.

Song of the Day:
"Whatever happened to Tuesday and so slow. Going down the old mine with a transistor radio. Standing in the sunlight laughing, hiding behind a rainbow's wall. Slipping and sliding all along the water fall, with you, my brown eyed girl." -Van Morrison, "Brown Eyed Girl"