2.25 FOs

The two refers to Stine's socks and the .25 to the half of the back of my flutter sleeve cardigan! I went with size 6 needles for the under-bust ribbing and when I measured it came out perfectly! The real test will be when I put it on, but of course won't know that until a lot more knitting is complete!

did they not consider MY needs?

having a little bit of frustration with the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan. Thanks to lots of good knitting time last week I have finished the back up to the under-bust ribbing! Unfortunately, the ribbing is supposed to be done with a needle that is four sizes smaller than the largest needle used to knit the body. since I am using a size 9 for the main body knitting, I needed a size 5 to knit the ribbing ... one of the few needle sizes I do not own. so, my project was put on hold for a few days until I could get to AFY on my way home from work today. imagine my surprise when I pulled up (just 10 minutes before closing, new job is a little farther away than my old job) and saw the closed sign on the door. now really, I shouldn't be surprised, AFY has been closed every Monday for the past two years, but really shouldn't they be open on the one day of the week that is convenient for me to stop by?
so, headed down to the local Michael's to see what I could find - while I was mesmerized by the spring silk flowers for 50% off, I was very disenchanted when I discovered that Michael's does not sell circular needles smaller than size 6. I have plenty of size six needles and plenty of size fours, but come on! what I really need is some size fives. I am bound and determined to get some knitting in tonight, so now I am faced with the decision of whether I should go a bit smaller or a big larger than recomended. normally I would go a bit smaller, but my lack-of-excessive-running gut is telling me to go a bit larger. if my brain could keep up, I could always knit one row with 4 and one with 6 and hope for the best, but I think I would forget and then it would look even weirder to have half the ribbing coming out to about a 5 and the other half (when I inevitably forget to switch at the end of a row) either too small or too big.

new sweater cast on!

Wes is back on night shift and since my new job is in the same city that he patrols, I had the brilliant idea to stick around until after his briefing and have dinner together tonight! I figured I'd be knitting at home anyway, may as well knit in my car, looking at the beach, and then get to see my handsome husband for a little while. It was a good use of time and I was so happy when I left work to know that I had lots of knitting time in front of me, instead of a drive. Traffic isn't too bad usually, but it's certainly better at 7:30 than at 5pm.
So, I made good progress today on the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan from the Spring issue of Interweave Knits. I was frustrated while doing the gauge because the pattern calls for size 7 needles and I know I usually need to go up one or two sizes, but I wasn't able to get gauge with 10.5! but then I double-checked the pattern and realized that size 9 was perfect, so still two sizes above pattern, as usual.
Above is a badly lit picture (the yarn is actually a lovely shade of pink, not white as it looks) of my progress so far. It's 108 stitches across the back so taking a while to get lots of length, but I am already starting to decrease for the waist shaping. There aren't too many decreases though because in order to get the waist band, I'll just switch to a smaller needle size and do some ribbing to create the smaller waist. So far I am loving the yarn (Rowan - Calmer in shade 495). It is really easy to work with and creating a nice fabric.

general news and updates

so the last few months I have not been a very good blogger - that can be attributed to lots of reasons: we were out of town for two weeks, it was Christmas and New Year's, then I was a desperate housewife who only really had time to start on one pair of socks (Stine's Irving Park) before I got a new job at CKE Restaurants where I am blocked from blogging at work, unlike at my old job where the majority of blogging was done from work. so it will take a little extra effort to keep this up, but I have such great projects ready to start I want to share them!! I am almost finished with Stine's socks - just a few more inches on the cuff to go! Then I was seduced by Interweave Knits' spring preview a month or so ago and had to rush out to buy the new issue and yarn to complete the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan right away.
So, like I mentioned, Wes is back on night shifts now so I think tonight I will make my swatch for the Cardigan and make sure I have the right needle size and enough yarn to start this project. The socks can be finished in a couple more lunch breaks while looking out at the ocean from the bluffs of Carpinteria :)