Where Does the General Keep his Armies?

Posted in Baby, Knits, Thoughts, Works in Progress by

….UP HIS SLEEVIES!

For some reason, as I’ve been knitting two sets of sleeves basically nonstop for a while, that joke became way, way funnier.  That’s probably just the Monday punchy exhaustion talking, but I am making good progress on my White Pine sleeve.  I should be done with the ribbed cuff by the end of the day today, and starting the pattern/sleeve shaping.  Since I will be visiting my mother’s glorious yarn shop this weekend (YAY!) I wanted to have the sweater well on its way so I could select some buttons.  I am thinking plain shell buttons for the White Pine, and maybe some wooden or leather ones for David’s Guston.  I want them to be a little rustic, but not too hunter-gathery, or David won’t like them.

I had an amazing weekend.  On Saturday we went for a barbecue at our friends’ apartment, which overlooks U Street in DC.  It was the Pride festival this weekend, so there were a ton of people out in great costumes, and the weather was gorgeous.  Yesterday, my sister took me to the Red Door for a prenatal massage.  The way that they do it is really clever, for those of you wondering.  Basically, when you have a massive pregnant stomach like I do, they have you snuggle a body pillow on your side, and do the massage that way.  You switch sides partway through.  It was glorious.  I think it was the first time since I got pregnant that my shoulders haven’t hurt.  And, thankfully, the gift card I used still has enough for another one!

We also went to Target, where I bought a bunch of new maternity clothes.  I think since this is my first kid, I grossly underestimated how large I was going to get.  I’m 7 months along, and I am outgrowing most of the stuff that seemed impossibly large six months ago.  I bought two maxi skirts, a few t-shirts, a dress, and a maternity swim suit.  If the weather clears up, I’m planning a nice long bob in the pool after work.

WIP Walk of Shame

Posted in Knits, Works in Progress by

I’m Jillian, and I have a finishing problem.

I thought it would be fun to list all of the knitting projects that I’m currently working on, so you can see how things are progressing from here.  Except it’s a really, really long list.  I seem to have a problem getting things finished.  I love casting on, and those first few honeymoon moments of a project, but then apparently my fickle heart takes me on to another.  Le sigh.  Anyway, here is the list, along with links to either the pattern on Ravelry or my project page.  Hopefully, actual photos will be forthcoming, but I got overwhelmed with my sheer number of objects to be finished.

1.  White Pine Cardigan, pattern by Amy Christoffers

I’m making this one for myself, in some lovely aqua Berroco Ultra Alpaca, in size 38.  The yarn is scrumptious, but I find the pattern’s formatting to be eye-twitch provoking.  All one paragraph, curly font, random italics, etc. etc. etc.  Also, I think the designer wildly overestimated how much yarn I’m going to need.  I’m halfway done the third skein, and I’m halfway done the first sleeve and totally done the body.  I can’t imagine the second sleeve and the yoke are going to eat five more skeins.

So, at the moment, I am working on the twisted rib cuff of the first sleeve.  It’s worked in the round, so it’s nice and compact for work knitting.  I’m hoping to have both sleeves done by the end of next week, but we’ll see how much time I get.

2.  David’s green Guston, pattern by Ann Budd

Many more posts will be devoted to my obsessive love of Brooklyn Tweed patterns, as well as my love of knitting things for David.  I’m making him this gorgeous pullover in dark green Cascade.  Last year he borrowed a sweater belonging to his friend Zack in this same dark green, and he looked so handsome that I told him I would knit him any sweater he wanted, as long as it was dark green.  He picked the Norwegian ski team’s 20 color Fair Isle masterpiece, and I realized asking his opinion was probably a mistake.  I picked Guston.  It’s a really masculine pattern, but still stylish and interesting enough to knit without pulling out my own eyebrows.  David has a 42 inch chest and he’s 6’3″, so it takes a lot of knitting to cover him.

I finished the first sleeve while I was at the DMV last week, and I’m hoping to finish up the second one within the next two days.  I did the sleeves first so that I could block them and make sure that I’m reasonably on gauge, before I cast on hundreds of stitches to knit the body in the round.

3.  Moderne Baby Blanket for Morpheus, pattern by Mason Dixon Knitting

The instant I found out I was pregnant, I demanded that David go with me to the yarn store and buy yarn for a baby blanket.  Since we didn’t know if we were having a girl or a boy, we picked out Berroco Vintage DK in green, orange, and white, and Cascade 220 Sport in gold.  I’m about 3/4 of the way done, and motivating myself to do another mile of stockinette stitch has gotten really, really difficult.  I might have to just start giving myself quotas to make sure it’s done by the time Morpheus actually arrives.

To anyone familiar/looking at the pattern, I’m mostly done with the big 2-color block at the bottom, leaving just the skinnier 2-color block and the border to go.

4.  Voltaire scarf, pattern by Ingrid King

To anyone looking for an easy, truly unisex pattern for a scarf that would look good in pretty much any yarn, this is definitely it.  I’m knitting it out of two balls of Cascade 22o in a soft aqua color, and then I’m probably going to just put it away to be gifted in the future.  At the moment, I am halfway to where I think a scarf should end.  It goes really quickly, and, once you get the hang of the two row repeat, you don’t really have to think about it again.  Love it.  Will probably use this pattern for man scarves for Christmas.

5.  Cable Cable Cable socks, pattern by Colleen Powley

These are going to be a gift for someone fabulous, and so I’m going to keep the specifics a little vague.  These are cabled knee socks that I think would be both warm and chic under boots.  The center cable is a 14 stitch twist, which is a little fiddly.  I had hoped the pattern would be a little more intuitive, but this is definitely sitting at the table with the chart in front of you knitting.  I don’t mind that.

I have finished the cuff of the first one, and I’m partway down the leg.

6.  Ball band dish cloth

I have a quadzillion balls of Knit Picks organic cotton yarn, and a dream to make baby washcloths.  Of course I’m taking forever to finish the first one.  Maybe I will crank the rest of it out tonight, just to get that quick buzz of actually finishing something.  I am really close to being done anyway.

7.  Color Affection, pattern by Veera Valimaki

I started this meaning to participate in a Ravelry knitalong, but then just never really got any momentum going.  I’m making it out of Knit Picks Shadow in gray, pink, and dark navy.  That yarn will probably be the last I ever buy from Knit Picks, because I fell immediate victim to the credit card theft their customers have experienced they are continuing to deny is happening.  Anyway, I just need to get back on the horse, since I know so many people are addicted to this pattern.

So many projects!  And those are just the ones that are getting immediate attention!  There are more, lurking in baskets and bins randomly scattered around the apartment.  I think David would be thrilled if I could actually get some stuff done and, ideally, moved out of the house.

Westward

Posted in Baby, DC, Moving, St. Louis, Thoughts by

Hello!

I re-started this blog because I thought it would be fun to write about our last few months living in Washington DC before our daughter is born, and our subsequent move to St. Louis, Missouri.

If anyone is coming to this blog from a non-me-linking-you source, I’m Jillian.  I am married to a wonderful human named David, and we live in Washington DC.  We met on our very first day of law school, and got married last October.  At the moment, I am seven months pregnant with our daughter, whom we are calling Morpheus.  Obviously, that is not her real name-to-be.  You’d be amazed at how many people stop asking me questions or trying to touch my stomach as soon as I mention that we’re naming our baby Morpheus.

My very favorite activity in the world, besides sleeping, is knitting.  Even if you don’t see me knitting at the moment, I guarantee you that I have yarn and pointy sticks within the immediate radius of my arms.  I just feel better that way.  I’ve been knitting for fifteen years (eek), and yet at the moment I am working on completing my very first sweaters.  What can I say?  I have been less than ambitious.  But David is a wonderful audience for knitwear.  He actually wears it, and he tries really hard to remember the talking points about why the item is special and required quite so much cursing while I was making it.  Because of that, I will happily knit size 13 mens socks for him.

Our timeline for the move at the moment looks like this: in two weeks, we are heading to St. Louis to visit, and to hopefully find an apartment to rent starting in August.  My last day at my job is August 16th, and Morpheus is due on August 21.  We plan to have the baby here in DC, and stick around for around four weeks until I’m feeling better and the baby has a chance to adjust to a world with sunlight and a distinct lack of intestinal noises.  Then we are packing up our things and heading west.  David grew up in St. Louis, and he is really looking forward to going back.  I have loved it there every time I have visited, and I’m excited to become a full time resident!

I will say that my father in law gave me a lovely digital camera when they were here last year, and I very much intend to use it to take pictures for the blog.  At the moment I don’t have any, but maybe I will have some Finished Object pictures for you soon!