Monday, April 25, 2005

Quick post with actual knitting content - story-time continues later.

(Aside - you know how long it takes for me to really write? I didn't know either, until I started working on the first part of my story.... which took a week. But, now I'm committed. There are 4 parts. (at least, there are 4 parts the way I'm thinking I'm breaking the story up.)

1 - knitting. I'm being a very, very fickle knitter. Astute readers may have caught that I've started Klaralund and Blaze in the last couple weeks. Have I worked more on them - NO!

I did finish a Coronet hat. (oddly enough, in almost that exact color...). This should be a Dulaan Project hat - if I can convince my 3 year old forget about it.

I also started a Crumpets dress for the 3 year old. I'm planning on making 2 of them - one for her and one for her very good friend - who happens to be the daughter of my very good friend from elementary school. I'm thinking matching dresses for the two will be absolutely adorable! (yeah, don't remind me about biting off more than I can chew...)

Actually, I started Crumpets twice. I'm using Cascade Sierra, which is slightly thinner than the Cotton-Ease called for. The pattern calls for a 3.75mm needle, so I went down to a 3.5mm and started the knitting. (note - no pretense at a gauge swatch... my folly!) When the bodice was coming up around 3 inches too wide, (only 4 rows in, though!) I pulled, went down to a 3.25, did a mini-swatch, and started again. This time - much better!

2- Reading. I am reading Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. This is a wonderful book. Its a description of Ms. Vowell's travels to visit Presidental Assassination historical sites and memoriblia. While I am learning a lot about Lincoln and Garfield so far, it is essentially a travelogue, not a history book. I would recommend it to anyone - well, anyone who leans left in their politics. If you lean right, and you don't mind occasional short left-ward comments on current politics - then I recommend it to you as well. I am thoroughly enjoying it, but when Ms. Vowell drops a short bit on current politics, I could see right-leaning readers being jarred out of the happy spell her writing can send you into.