Back to work today and oooh was that brutal after so many days off in a row! Thank goodness for amazon and it's constantly distracting cyber monday deals. Not that I bought anything, but it was fun to keep checking to see if there was something that would be just perfect for someone on my Christmas list.
I did finish Cerisara and I am happy with it.
The light in our house is so weird, we face north so we get literally no direct sunlight, but because we are in the city we get reflected light from the buildings across the street and it is oddly bright in our LR. Okay, not oddly, gorgeously bright, it's wonderful light, but it does make it hard to take pictures that aren't overexposed.
I wore this to Thanksgiving dinner and intended to get some action shots, but I had so much fun hanging with my family that I plum forgot.
This is a good work piece, great for layering with a pair of dress pants. I think I'll get a lot of use out of it. The pattern is an ingenious construction, it's all knitted in one piece including the collar, a bit confusing at times, but if you just follow the instructions and don't think about it too hard then it works out just fine.
I made some good progress on this blob of lace:
It is Desdemona's Shawl by Miriam Felton, it's a square shawl, smallish for a square shawl, but still the rows are loooong. I have 20 rows left and all the rows are pattern rows at this point, so that's a fairly good chunk of time still to go, but I made really good progress over the weekend, so I think it'll be done sooner rather than later.
Remember my comfy blue sweater that I was trying to recreate? I am well on my way with that too. I did decide on the black rather than the creme, I decided that for me it's easier to pick dog hair off of black than to try to keep cream clean. For a work sweater I can do cream, but at home...not so much...I have a tendency to do things (like make pasta sauce) without thinking about what I'm wearing and anything light colored gets quickly dingy.
I think I'll like this as well, I made a few adjustments from the original, it'll be longer for starters, and the collar won't be quite as loose, and I rewrote the directions to be knit in the round & top down. I could have planned the stripe changing better if I'd really thought about it, but I think it's going to turn out okay. I'll point out all my oops spots once it's finished.
This is the elemental boatneck, I foolishly thought that I would have this done in time to wear for transitional weather this fall. Ha! That's a good one, eh? I will finish it up and have it done in time for spring transitional weather though...
I have actually built up quite the sweater wardrobe, so I am trying to be a little more careful when choosing my next knits. I want to knit things that I can wear to work and not feel like I am wearing a bulky cabled sweater or something that looks homemade. Something I can wear to meetings and feel as put together as if I were wearing something I bought at a retail store, something 'off the rack'...
To that end, I swatched a bit for my next projects.
Parcel & Greenaway (I loved Leaving, of course, but I am still waiting on the yarn for that one)
Parcel is a bit more casual, I am thinking more of weekend trips or casual fridays for that one, but greenaway and leaving will both fit the bill of dressy and professional additions to my wardrobe. That Twist Collective was amazing, wasn't it? SOOOOO many things I could knit in there, it was hard to narrow down my choices, but I finally did.
My only Christmas knitting this year is a pair of socks for a friend, I still knit for people, but in more of an 'as the mood strikes' kind of way, and I've even stopped feeling guilty about not doing any Christmas knitting.
Of course, if I don't actually WORK on the pair of socks, they won't be done in time, but that wouldn't be a first either...
My stepmother confessed to me over Thanksgiving that she had lost the lace scarf I knit for her. She was traumatized, she said she called all the stores she had been in that day and walked back through all the parking lots.
But, I'd rather my knitting be lost than have something that was never worn at all, at least if it was lost you know that it was worn and loved. At some point I will knit her a replacement, maybe not the same thing, but something similarly scarf-like. I don't think I really have time to do that before xmas though.
Back to the daily grind this week, or as much as it is ever normal in between Christmas and New Years. I love this time of year, the students get quiet, taking finals and thinking more of home than of academic concerns, the parties start to come fast & furious at the end of the term and every little department has one, and I am lucky enough to work with many of them and so get invited to various parties. After the busy fall term there is finally time to get caught up with the paperwork, get to know your coworkers again, visit with people you haven't seen since summer, and celebrate a successful beginning to the academic year by eating, drinking, and making merry. Of course our personal life starts to get hectic too, lots of visiting, dinners with friends and holiday get togethers, rounded off nicely by travel to see relatives and relatives coming to visit us AND THEN a whole week off from work to recoup, knit, and nap with my puppies before I have to go back to work.
Pixie approves. She's worked hard this year too.
So many lovely sweaters! I particularly like that first one - it looks great on you, and I can see how you'll wear it a LOT. I need to go through the rest of Twist more carefully - I feel for Leaving, hard, and am waiting with bated breath for the yarn. Meanwhile, I'm getting some small things done for the girls and Rick so I can indulge myself once it comes :)
Posted by: Jocelyn | November 30, 2010 at 02:37 PM
I really like your Cerisara . Just beautiful!
Posted by: A-L | December 01, 2010 at 08:20 AM
Your Cerisara is gorgeous! Congratulations... And I can imagine how nice it feels. Silky wool is one of my favorites and I have a loose fit cardi on needles right now. Happy holidays!
Posted by: Julia | December 03, 2010 at 12:36 AM