Like writing a Lit paper*

So it's Wednesday, and the bolero still isn't done. If something huge had come up and I simply hadn't been able to work on it, I might have an excuse. Instead, I'm pretty sure it has taken me the same number of hours to seam/finish it as it took to knit.

This has led to some thinking.

First, I was a little embarrassed the other day to realize that I hadn't the foggiest idea what was the best way to seam the shoulders. Worse, I didn't realize that fearing the shoulders was silly. Fearing setting in the sleeves, now that makes sense...but fearing the 10 shoulder stitches? Just silly.

Then, I thought about why seaming was such a big shocker for me. I've knit a few things over the last few years, and thought I was pretty competent. But looking back over what I've made I see socks, some things done in the round, and more than a few squares/rectangles. Yes, I've knit two sweaters (only one blogged of here), but one was entirely in the round. The other is still sitting in pieces in UFO basket, waiting for the finishing elves to sew the shoulders to the body. Obviously, there's a problem here.

While I've thought I've been learning lots of techniques, I've been learning them in my safe little world. I learned cables while making squares for Warm Up America, and, now that I think of it, Fair Isle the same way. Sure, I'm learning new things, but I can't shake the feeling that by never having seamed a sweater I somehow had failed to become a "real" knitter without even realizing it. (I am not the only one, it seems)

Several hours have passed since I wrote the bulk of this post, and I've had some time to think on this. No new insights have gripped me, except the desire for more sweater experience. Sweaters for me would be silly right now--I am not knitting a watermelon-sized space into a pattern--but I have the perfect template coming up: a wee baby.

I hope to post pics of the bolero tomorrow, after casting off when I get home from work tonight. I hope to do a light blocking, and maybe have it in the mail before the babe (born at 6:30 ish today) graduates college.

* One of the pieces of advice my sister gave me when is started college was to leave Lit papers for last in the queue of homework. I didn't understand this at first, especially since so much work goes into one, but I finally got it: Lit papers will suck up exactly as much time as you have set aside for all your homework. I think seaming is not so far removed from that.

Third time a charm?

The Baby Bolero pattern from One Skein is cute. It's easy. It's fast. I've started three and haven't finished one.

Not one to lose faith, I'm plugging away at #3, fully believing I can have it knit, seamed AND delivered to Florida by next Wednesday, March 28.

Yeah.

Tuesday's status:

As of Thursday's lunch break, I had finished the back (shown partially done, above) the left front (on the stitch holder to the left), and 3/4 of the other sleeve (sleeve one at top). I didn't actually work on it at all Wednesday or today--turns out Mr. Cygknit is actually sick, oops--so I've come pretty far in a short amount of time.

So, my internal Q & A runs something like:

Question: Do I have any hope of finishing it before the weekend is up?

Answer: The knitting, no problem. Even if I don't knit a stitch tonight, I'll have that sleeve done on my lunch break Friday. But to get it in the mail Saturday, I ought to block and seam Friday night. And get to the Post Office by Noon on Saturday.

Question: So what's the problem with finishing these?

Answer: Overwhelming frustration

This is the first one I knit, for Baby CygKnit:

I've blocked the sleeves and armholes, and all that's left to do is seam it. Except...when I tried to sew the shoulders it turned out awful.

Olive helpfully points out that when you graft shoulder seams together, you should have wrong sides facing. Not right sides.

The other shoulder, (seen if you click for big) is just live stitches swinging in the wind. It turns out that blindly following directions isn't always the best idea. Not only did I bind off as directed, but I actually wove in the ends. Then, I read the assembly instructions: "Sew shoulder seams together." Um, OK. How? What's best? An hour of picking my ends out later, I was prepared for the grafting...which I promptly did inside-out. Can you see why I want to frog the whole darn thing and make a different sweater?!

*Deep breath*

For the Florida Baby's bolero, I left the shoulder stitches live (seen in top photo) so I could do either a three needle bind off or kitchener. Which should I do? Any suggestions would be gratefully (and tearfully) received.

Thank you all for your happy thoughts that I'm back. I knew it had been a while, but I had no idea (until I started getting subtle emails with a day count) how long it had been.

When it comes to blogging and knitting, I've fallen down a bit over the last seven months. This morning, though, I felt a twitch. Not a baby twitching in my belly, not a twitch from wondering just how sick my husband really is (how come so many men seem to be just dying when they simply have a cold?), but a twitch that I felt all the way down to the tips of my fingers.

I think my knitting mojo is coming back. Shhhh, don't say anything, yet.

Before I get to that, though, I want to show off an awesome gift that showed up in my mailbox. I was on my way home on Monday, after a snoozy day at work from a late plane arrival the night before (did I forget to mention I was in Florida for a week?) when occurs to me that my sweet husband might have forgotten to get the mail while I was gone. (Apparently the mail person noted this, too, as our box was rubber banded shut) To my surprise, I found packages! Look what Kristi Scrappy & Gangles sent us:

How cute are those bibs? Mr. CygKnit is crazy over anything with dinosaurs on it (see the dino button on the blue?) and I have long been in love with the green/brown/cream colorway. AND Kristi included yarn for me to make my own :) Though, of course, the boys didn't actually knit them themselves, "each bib was entirely made holding a baby (or two)."

While Mr. C and I are quite tickled at the surprise gift, baby CygKnit (aka Buster, at 27 weeks) had nothing to say:

I say, don't get your picture taken outside wearing a low-cut top when it's snowing.

Hang on, kids, I have an FO.

...of sorts... Can a joint, non-knitting project be counted as an FO?

The people who've seen it in person say that the pictures don't do it justice. I think the texture really makes a difference, too, but I can't manage to figure out how to make that come through here on the blog. (I've lost the camera again, so I can't even try the macro setting. Found!)

Here's a shot of the back with the label, and a smidge of the front. (Please forgive my clumsy attempts at editing out last names)

So there it is, my first time as a Quilter's Assistant, and our first project. The baby in question expressed some glee at the bright colors, and the new Mommy fussed over it enough to make me feel proud.

Details:

• Concieved: February 6


• Started: February 8


• Finished: March 7 8, after 1 am, by Terry


• Gifted: March 8, 9:00 am


• Blog post started: March 9


• Blog post finished: March 19

I have a lot of catching up to do :)