A week of finishing, and fate

I had the past week off from work, and while much of it was taken up with a trip out of town, I had some time to get some good work on knitting projects done as well. So there's quite a bit to show today.

First off, I finally got all those ends woven in on Tubey yesterday, and I wore it out to a movie last night. I do like it. Definitely a "va-va-vavoom" type sweater, so it's more for going out than wearing to work. Here it is:





Pattern: Tubey, from Knitty
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool
Needles: Size 8 circs and dpns

I also made progress on a project that's been languishing over in the sidebar since, well, since longer than this blog has been here. I started it in the summer of 2004. It's the cross strap tank from the cover of that year's summer VK. I didn't finish it before the weather got cold that year, and so it got pushed to the bottom of the barrel, and then I didn't work on it because I dreaded it. It was on aluminum needles and is a synthetic yarn, double stranded (Lana Grossa Rotonda) so it wasn't the most pleasant knitting.

Turns out though, I was nearly done with it, and when I picked it back up this past week, I had a harder time figuring out where I was in the pattern than actually finishing up the work. I still need to graft the straps (the pattern calls for grafting, but I might do a three-needle bindoff) and sew the side seams, but the knitting itself is done!



My other major progress this week was made on my socks for my Sockapaloooza pal. I'm using a pattern from the knitting pattern a day calendar.
I cast the first one on while waiting for my plane last Sunday. This is where I was by the time I reached my destination a few hours later:



I worked on that off and on last week, while alternating with other projects (I also cast on for the White Lies Angelina jacket, finally) and then really started making headway again on my way back.

There was one small detour though.

See, I had several hours to kill while on my way to the airport on Wednesday, so I decided to get off at a random Metro stop (I was in the DC area) and find something to do. Originally, I'd planned to go down to the Lincoln Memorial or something, but I knew I'd be hitting rush hour with all my luggage, so I just decided to get off at the Bethesda stop instead, and to go get some coffee and knit. I found a coffee shop and as I started to walk towards it, noticed a little something in the rear of the building:



That's a little shop called "Knit + Stitch = Bliss" in Bethesda. I went in, and they were having a great sale on lots of stuff, so I picked up quite a few things, including some Point 5 and Koigu. There were several women in the shop who thought it was just as bizarre as I did that I managed to find an LYS on a random train stop, so we got a good laugh out of that.

Then I went downstairs and worked on my sock with some coffee:


Sorry about the quality on that one--camera phone. Oh, and yeah, I was in a Starbucks. I had a gift certificate.

Funnily enough, a couple of the women from the yarn shop ended up coming in and sitting down at the next table a few minutes later, so we had an impromptu Stitch n' Bitch session. How cool.

I managed to finish the last round of the toe, just as my plane touched down back in Columbus. I tried to snap a photo of that in action, but, alas, it was dark by that point and my camera phone didn't do a great job. I kitchenered the toe yesterday, so now I just need to make the second one. Hooray!

Almost there...almost there...

Tubey is 99.5% done. All that's left is to weave in the ends. So where's the photo?

I made a pact with myself not to post any more not-quite-so-FOs. Otherwise, we end up with things like my hourglass sweater, which is knitted up, woven in, has been worn several times, but yet still patiently waits for its lace cuffs.

So I'm weaving in the ends before the photo is taken. Almost there, almost there.

Would you be surprised to hear I almost caved and wore it last night? It was rainy and I wanted something cozy to go out in. I had woven in the really egregious ends on the sleeves and bottom edge, and tried it on for size. The only thing that stopped me from going out in it was the ends on the lower stripes hanging out of the back, and me having only 10 minutes to try to fix it. So, smarter ideas prevailed, and I wore something else.

If I get home early enough for work, I'll try to finish it before roller derby practice tonight. And then we'll have photographic evidence.

A little bit closer...

I knitted for about 8 hours on Sunday, from morning through the end of the Oscars. Then another 2 or so hours last night at Mojoe, then a few hours today while home sick from work. So I'm making fair progress on Tubey. It's not terribly monotonous, but the fat stripes don't make for near as much mental stimulation as smaller stripes would. But then, I don't think smaller stripes would be a flattering.

I am loving this sweater. It's supposed to be up in the 70s outside by Thursday, so the big suspense is, will I be able to wear it this year??? I hope so. I fear I'll have to add some length though, because I have a very long torso, so I'm not as close to the bottom as one might think.



I love the neckline on this -- the pattern designer is just brilliant!

Plugging along on Tubey

Tubey has two sleeves now:

I started picking up the stitches for the body last night, well, really, in the wee hours of this morning, but I couldn't concentrate, so I'll finish that up later on today. I am really working to beat the weather on this sweater--I want to wear it before sping really really hits.

Here's me modeling the shrug. Note I cut my head out of the shot due to a severe case of bed-head.



I think it fits quite well actually. That's my Ohio Roller Girls shirt there. That's the reason for the suspicious silences here lately: my other new hobby: roller derby!!

Hopefully, I'll have something to show soon on Tubey. If I really push it, I could get it done this week. I'm teaching some knitting lessons though, as I get ready to teach a Brownie troop to knit in a couple of weeks, so I might need to hold off on my own stuff. I've started the second sock to match the one I finished last week, but it's only about .5" long right now. And the next thing on my plate is the Sockapaloooza socks -- I'm still deciding on a pattern for those. I'm thinking of the Twisted Rib socks from January 2 on the Knitting Pattern a Day calendar because they seem to fit my sock pal's requests. Hmmm...still pondering.