Weekend FO's

Whew! I had a really busy weekend. I can't believe it's Sunday night already - back to the grind tomorrow. While I enjoy my last hour or so of the weekend, I thought I'd do a quick post to show you the FO's I wore this weekend.

On Friday, we had a little weather. A rather chilly winter storm came through, so I took the opportunity to wear Wicked. It kept me warm and toasty under a turtleneck:



On Saturday, I wanted to wear a sweater, but none of my wool sweaters were clean. Instead, I decided to go for Clapotis:





Today, I wore my Central Park Hoodie. I never did an FO post for this project, so I'll do a brief one here. Here is the finished sweater:



Here's the back:



A photo of the arm cable:



I used Classic Elite Skye Tweed for this sweater. I really liked the pattern and this is probably the sweater I wear the most out of all the ones I've made. I've already washed it once because I've worn it so much. I don't think I made many modifications to the pattern. I made the sleeves for the larger size because I heard they were snug. Because I did that, I had to shorten the sleeves by 1/2 inch. I tried to make the head no quite so pointy, but I was only kind of successful with that. This is a comfortable, stylish, versatile pattern that I highly recommend. Yay!

On a very sad note, I've had a sweater casualty. I wanted to wear Bristow as one my FO's this month, so I washed it today. I washed it using the Gentle Cycle in cold water. The sweater was knit out of Karabella Aurora 8. I thought that yarn was a superwash, so imagine my surprise when I lifted a FELTED Bristow out of the washer. I'm not sure how I felted something on the Gentle Cycle in cold water, but I did. I practically cried, but I held it together. I suppose every knitter goes through something like this at some point or another. My aunt told me she read that you can undo felting using hair conditioner. Has anyone ever heard of this? The felting was minor - I lost and inch or two in length all around. Help!

Just A Quick One

I'm always glad to make it to Thursday because it means that the hardest part of my week is over. It also means that tomorrow is Friday, so the day I live for - Saturday - is almost here. It's the only day that I don't have to do any work or feel guilty about not doing any work.

I made it through the seaming on my Central Park Hoodie and, once I was done, I tried it on. Guess what? It fits! The needle I'm using is really kinky (those damn Inox cords!) so it's always a little tweaked since the hood is still on the needles, but the armhole is good, the sleeve length is good, the body circumference is good. I can't wait to block the Skye Tweed, though, because as of this point, it's a little rough next to the skin. I've got my blocked swatch to prove to myself that a soft, cozy sweater is in my future.

At this point, I'm about 8 inches into the hood and getting ready to add some additional shaping to it that isn't called for in the pattern. I'm trying to avoid that elfin point at the top. I'm just not that into looking like a wizard. Here's a photo of the back:



That Inox needle interfered with me getting it to lay flat. Well that and the fact that I was late to work and needed to take that photo FAST. Here's a photo of the front:



That one came out dark for some reason. Anyway, once the hood is done, then it's just the button bands and a good blocking. Then, it's cozy sweater time! I'll have to take a trip to the mountains to get a full appreciation of the warmth of this sweater.

Not Sorry to Put This Week to Bed

This has been one of those weeks that I'm glad to see coming to an end. By the end of the day on Wednesday, I'd already worked a full 40 hours between work, class, homework and research. It was also the end of a two week period where I've been completely and totally dead broke. You know, charging groceries, gas and cat food on a credit card? I also didn't sleep too well, so I'm sleepy and exhausted. Personally, I'm looking forward to the weekend.

Today was a good day though. It was slow at work so I took off early, got my hair cut for the first time since July (it was gross!), and came home to find my Winter IK in the mailbox (it's a nice issue, by the way). I also bought the digital camera I've been waiting to get since the summer. It was the cheapest one in the store, but light years ahead of what I had.

Wednesday night was Halloween and Savannah dressed up as a cowgirl. I got to race over to hour house after work to snap a few photos before heading off to class for the night. She's still a little too young for actual trick-or-treating, although she did say "Trick or Treat!" to kids who came to the door.





I've also been working on the sleeves for CPH and here's where I am on the second one:



I'm figuring that I should have it done by early next week. Now, I can pray for sweater weather! We sure haven't had any so far.

Lastly, it's time to change the clocks this weekend. That means we get an extra hour of sleep. It may be my favorite weekend of the whole year. Hey, things are looking up I think.

Back to Normal

Judging by the traffic this morning, the city is getting back to normal. In fact, I'm pretty sure every single resident was on the freeway this morning while I was driving to work. The main evacuation center, Qualcomm Stadium, was put back into service for its intended use - a football game. As further proof, I saw some engines from a northern California fire department heading home.

It's nice to see, although I will say that the slower pace of life was kind of a welcome break last week, since I was not personally affected by the fires in any way. Now, it's back to business, back to school for the first time in almost two weeks.

I've been knitting away like a maniac on my Central Park Hoodie. I've finished the back and both of the fronts. I cast on for the first sleeve on Saturday and here's my progress:



I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted yesterday because I spent about 9 hours doing homework yesterday! I've still got more to do this afternoon before my class tonight. Am I almost done with this school thing?!

I've also begun thinking about my mom's Christmas gift. Over the summer, she brought yarn home from a trip to Cambria, CA that she asked me to turn into something - a shawl, wrap or more likely a scarf since I only have 165 yards. Here's the yarn:



Isn't that a lovely photo? It's so dark, you can barely make out the colors. I'm hoping to remedy that this week with the purchase of a modest, but new digital camera. Mine dates back to 2002 and it's really ready to retire. Anyway, I have a couple of ideas that I got from Ravelry: this and this. The yarn is fairly busy, so I think something to work well with that would be best. Any preferences?

Finally, it looks like it's going to be 70 degrees tomorrow, so it might actually be cool enough to wear Wicked. I think wool and 90 degree weather don't go together well, so Wicked has been sitting folded on my dresser waiting for its debut. When I tried it on after blocking, it seemed to fit really well, so I'm so excited to wear it!