Friday, October 1, 2010

And it IS a sweater!

What a week. I spent all day on Wednesday (and by all day, I mean from 9:30-5:30) in meetings. I did manage to find time for a bathroom break between two of the meetings (small blessings), and I got lucky at another meeting and ate a sandwich, but it was quite a day. (I should mention that my reward at the end of the day was to go to knit night; that really helped.) That wouldn't have been so bad, except that every other day this week has also included a meeting or two (not usually in my calendar) squeezed in between classes, or between other meetings and office hours, or... Some weeks are like that. All the meetings come at once.

The upshot is twofold:
a) I have had lots of knitting time (and many envious looks from non-knitters who have also been attending all of these meetings this week and just have to sit); and
b) I have had no blogging time to share the results of my knitting time (nor have I had any daylight hours to take pictures).

Tuesday's meetings gave me time to finish the neckline on the handspun sweater. I thought for sure I'd get home and be able to weave in the ends and call it done, but when I tried it on, I decided that I really didn't like the rolled bottom after all (very Jetsons; so Jetsons, in fact, that when I said I felt like someone from the Jetsons to Rick, he didn't say, "What do you mean?", he just started whistling the theme song instead), so I took out the cast-off edge and knitted a small seed-stitch border. I ended up having not only enough yarn for that, but even after adding the extra inch, I have a small bit left over in case I need to make any repairs or anything. So the sweater ended up taking under 1,000 yards of (heavy) worsted-weight yarn.

The pictures are just quick, non-daylight, shots. I'll work on some better ones when the weather is cooler and when I'm actually home during the day.
It seems to fit pretty well, and it blocked out nicely. It's soft enough that it didn't bother me to wear it over short sleeves (until I got too hot; we've had summer thunderstorms over the last day or so; it feels very East coast out here right now).
So there it is! This is definitely a casual sweater, rough-and-tumble, warm and, I hope, rugged. I think I'll get a lot of use out of this at soccer games and hiking and going to the mountains in the winter. But it's light enough (between the lace sleeves and the scoop neck) that I'll be able to wear it around here, which is good.

I also finished the Noro socks, and am very happy with my mismatched pair.
Alas, it has not been cool enough to wear either of the above out and about. Soon, I hope...

I spent most of Wednesday's meetings working on the Bermuda shawl, so maybe there will be pictures of that soon, too.

Meanwhile, today the girls and I head up to Sacramento to take my dad out for his 75th birthday, and to drag my mom and the girls to Lambtown. (Yes, Beverly, you guessed right, and please do come say hi to me if you see me! I'd love to get to meet you.) I'm really looking forward to it, both because there are events there that I haven't seen before (like a sheep-to-shawl competition), and because there are vendors there that I love (and I just got paid! my first non-furlough paycheck in a year! shopping!!), so I may treat myself to a few things (not a fleece, not a fleece, not a fleece; MUST spin the first fleece first).

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

first fleece first, first fleece first, flirst feece flirt. dang.

the sweater looks GREAT, jocelyn! i like the bottom edge, and can imagine what you mean by the jetsons look. :) i hope you have a great trip and get to relax, after such a week.

Unknown said...

Lambtown! I'd forgotten all about it. I mean to go one day, but not today. (Just as well, I know I'd come home with fleece, and I've plenty already.I'm looking forward to hearing your impressions.

Jane said...

I like the seed stitch, it's finished it off very nicely. Colours look even better on

Nana Sadie said...

The sweater is terrific! So are the socks, did you really like the Noro? I've heard mixed results on that point...scratchy being the descriptive.
Have a wonderful time, and enjoy the shopping!
(((hugs)))

FUZZARELLY said...

dinestDon't see how you do it all....Oh, wait, you're still young!! Dang you!!!

Beautiful things all way around!

Alwen said...

Ha ha ha! Now I will have "Meet George Jetson" running through my head all day.

It looks great. And you look so happy with it!

Kim said...

That second picture made me LOL. So cute. You are so cute!!

Carrie#K said...

It's a perfect pullover. It looks really good on you and it goes so nicely with jeans.

This weekend is Lambtown? Uh oh. Have a nice trip!

Wanderingcatstudio said...

Sweater looks awesome!

Willow said...

I love that sweater! I can't remember if you shared the pattern...I'll have to go back and look. Or did you make it up?

Yikes, that's a lot of meetings! Thankfully, we have yarn and sticks.

Enjoy your trip this weekend!

PammieJR said...

That SWEATER! I love it, it looks great on you and I am so glad you brought it to knitting the other night.

As for the socks...I LOVE making my variagated color socks like that...although part of it might be laziness in trying to find the same spot in the colorway...but I like the results!

AlisonH said...

If you're driving, then while you pass through our microclimate you'll need the sweaters and socks and this is a great place to show them off (not that I'm hinting or anything...) Sacramento, perhaps not so much; not sure.

Have a great trip! Happy birthday to your dad!

Rachel said...

Love your sweater and I knitted Joe a pair of sock from the same colorway and they are mismatched too! maybe it is in the colour :)

Rachael said...

Lovely! It looks great, the colors flow so nicely into one another & it's a good fit, hooray for successful sweaters!

Sometimes I feel like all I do is go from one meeting to another, every once in a while I start to wonder when I'm actually supposed to do my JOB, since I can't do it while I'm in meetings. But I suppose that's the curse of being in middle management. I do envy you meetingless days, what bliss!

Have a great weekend!

Liz C. said...

Your handspun sweater is beautiful and it looks fabulous on you. That is one of my goals to knit a sweater out of my handspun. So far, only socks, mittens, hats and scarfs have been made. I'm going to bookmark this for inspiration!

Bea said...

I love the sweater. I think it turned out fabulous and looks great on you. I also love the socks. I think I have some of that colorway in some silk garden sock. I'm thinking I want mine to be a scarf of some sort. Haven't found the right pattern yet though.

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed meeting you at Lambtown! Started spinning today on my lovely batts, practicing long-draw on the wheel.
I was going to give you the info on the supported spindle video that started my quest, but it doesn't seem to come up on the blog today. If you are you-tube savvy you might find it by searching for "fleegle" and "russian spindle".
Beverly near Yosemite

Laurie said...

Love both the sweater and the mismatched socks. Hope your father had a great birthday!

BTW, got my copy of "Women's Work" from the library last week and quickly realized I need to OWN this book! Put it on the Christmas list. :-)

Gwen said...

Great sweater! It looks fabulous! Wow! real yarn, real knitting, real sweater... (I like that Noro colourway in your socks) (I like all Noro colourways) (which is why I like Noro)

Did you have fun at Lambtown? Of course you did. Did you get home without another fleece?

EGunn said...

I love it!! It is the perfect color for you, and it fits beautifully. Yay for new sweaters!

I'm so sorry about the meetings. We have our share of them, but fortunately not that bad (and unfortunately no knitting).

Good luck resisting the fleece...they are difficult to walk away from, but it is possible. Just don't bring the enablers along, or you're toast.

Anonymous said...

Your sweater takes the cake! I'm jealous of your knitting speed, but not of sitting through meetings. I laughed when I read the hours that you sat through in one day: A few days ago Ed commented after watching a commercial with a woman going to endless meetings, "Why do they make it seem that women execs go to meetings all day long? No one goes to that many meetings at work."