Well, alrighty then. Judging from the responses in the comments over the past couple of days, it appears that there are quite a number of patterns out there featuring shaped sleeve caps knitted from the top down. Go figure. So, if you are interested in making top-down shaped sleeve caps, do check the comments for suggested sources.

Me? I’m not a big fan of knitting from the top down, so I’ll stick with making my Teal Hogget sleeves from the bottom up. As it happens, I do have plenty of yarn for long sleeves. I’ve completed the first sleeve:

And I’ve got plenty of yarn left for the second sleeve. So I’m happy as I am.

I did update the Teal Hogget pattern to add the option of making long sleeves. There’s a new pdf, dated 02/21/06, which is available from the link in the sidebar.

Bolero Jacket

I finished the edging around the Bolero Jacket.

All that remains now is to put the zipper in. While I could use hook closures, I won’t. I’m not a fan of hook closures — I find they tend to gap unattractively when one moves.

How do I like the Bolero Jacket? Eh. It’s okay. I think the knitted on edging is a little bulky. And the pattern, as I might have mentioned, sucks pond scum.

Still, I might actually like this jacket once it’s got a zipper inserted. The yarn is really lovely.

So I’m starting something new. But I’ll talk about that tomorrow.

Here’s a sneak preview:

Betcha can’t guess what it is.

Lucy knows, but she’s not particularly interested. She wants to concentrate on her sun lamp in the Kitty Day Spa.

She’s busy.

Thanks for the comments on laser pointers. We are, of course, very careful when playing with Lucy with the pointer. And we also don’t play with it for extended periods of time — don’t want to drive her crazy with something she can’t catch, you know? She does heartily enjoy it for short periods of time, though.

Speaking of driving one crazy . . .

I’m working on the 17 billion stitches of edging on the Bolero Jacket. Fun.

But I have a new toy!

My new pink Motorola Razr phone.

And of course there’s a photo of Lucy on it already.

A couple of you asked in the comments why I don’t knit Teal Hogget’s sleeves from the top down.

While I will happily knit drop shoulder design sleeves from the top down, and fair isle sleeves whose stitches are picked up around the armhole and knitted down, I will not knit a shaped sleeve cap from the top down. Though theoreticallly it is possible to do so, by reversing all the shaping.

Anyone ever seen a pattern that has a sleeve with a shaped sleeve cap knitted from the top down? I’m just curious — I never have.

I’m pretty sure I’ll have enough yarn for long sleeves on Teal Hogget anyhow. And I’ve got a couple more ounces I can spin up (courtesy of L-B!) should I need them.

Bolero Jacket

I’ve made a whole lotta progress on the Bolero Jacket — here are the two side fronts, the back, and one sleeve in a pile:

It’s a quick and easy knit, but as I mentioned ealier, the pattern is deplorable. Written by ferrets, as Kristine would say.

Lucy’s Excellent Adventure

Lucy’s daddy got her a great new toy: a laser pointer. She spent some time trying to figure out how to catch it:

But her favorite weekend activity?

Being brushed by her daddy!

Here is a photo of the front of Teal Hogget. Yes, I am actually still knitting Teal Hogget. I still am entranced by Teal Hogget.

I just like saying Teal Hogget.

Teal Hogget is still my commuting project. Though, to be completely honest, I abandoned poor Teal Hogget a couple of days last week and took a Rose sleeve on the commute. You know. Just to get it over and done with that much the sooner.

So I finished Teal Hogget’s front yesterday. Upon finishing, I noted that I still have a fair amount of yarn left. So rather than knit the three-quarter length sleeves I had planned, I am going to be daring and see if I can get full-length long sleeves out of the yarn I have left. The thrills! The chills! Will she be successful, or will she be crushed by defeat? Only time will tell.

So, I started a sleeve on the commute this morning. Seed stitch border, stockinette stitch. Nope, nothing too exciting.

Bolero Jacket

The fronts of the Bolero Jacket are indeed knitting on the diagonal, and the rest is knitted straight. I’m working on the left side front now, but haven’t gotten terrible far, due to non-knitting stuff invading my knitting time. Da noive!

Though the pattern makes no mention whatsoever of how one will fasten the jacket once it is complete, I’m pretty darn sure it uses a zipper.

So, I ordered a custom-length separating zipper from Zippersource. Including shipping, this freaking zipper is costing me $11.20. No bargain. But at least it’ll fit, the color will match, and I will not have to spend time driving around to fabric stores looking for something just right that I would likely never find. Because of course the length I need is not a standard length.

A Question for Lucy

Martha in Mobile asks:
Do you have a full-on “meow” or do you have the typical ragdoll whisper-squeak? Would your mom consider putting up a .wav or an .mp3 of your meow so all your fans can listen (and startle their own cats by playing it)? Or perhaps, like the silent screen stars of old, you prefer to remain enigmatically silent on this topic…

I’ll answer for Lucy — she has a ragdoll whisper-squeak. With one exception — she can really yowl in the middle of the night should the spirit move her. Perhaps she is part werewolf.

About putting up a sound file of her meow . . . I am 99.9% sure I will never be able to get her to meow on cue into a microphone. About a year ago I was chatting online with Marie Irshad as she was getting things set up for Knitcast, and I tried to get Lucy to meow for Marie. Yeah, fat chance. She just isn’t a chatty gal.

Except in the middle of the night.

“What can I tell you? I’m shy.”

You would have had a better chance at guessing if I’d mentioned that the two skeins I pictured yesterday were not the sum total of the yarn I have for this project. Yeah, I’m mean like that. Yeah, I have more yarn.

I blame this project on Phyl-Phyl. She practically broke my arm forcing me to buy yarn and pattern a few weeks ago at Knit Happens. Well, that’s how I remember it. La-la-la-la-I-can’t-hear-you-la-la-la-la.

Phyl posted a different version of this incident on her blog. She is clearly delusional.

Anyhow.

I started knitting this sassy little number. Here’s the right front:

A close-up:

I really really like these yarns. The La Boheme is a two-strand yarn, one is a rayon slub and one is a mohair. The La Luz is orgasmic silk. I’m using the Madrid colorway of the La Boheme and the Cabernet colorway of the La Luz. Yum! I really like how this is turning out!

Patty mentioned in the comments that you have to be careful knitting the La Boheme. She said that she ended up with more mohair than the rayon slub. That struck me as very funny, because my experience was just the opposite: I found that I ended up with more rayon slub than mohair. No one ever accused me of being normal.

Bottom line: you have to knit the La Boheme carefully because it consisted of two separate strands made out of two different fibers that you hold together.

Now, on to the pattern.

This is a pretty easy knit, but the pattern seems strangely written to me. I’ve followed a whole lotta patterns in my time as a knitter, and this one just strikes me as, well, strange. Things are not stated very clearly. And stuff is left out here and there. Nothing earth-shatteringly important, but if I were a beginner knitter, I’d prefer the pattern to say “repeat these 6 rows for 18 inches” rather than “repeat these 6 rows for 18.” Just sayin’. And it would be nice if when the pattern directs you to repeat between *-*, that the *-* are properly placed in the pattern.

Again. Just sayin’.

My overall impression is that it needs a good proofreader. Preferably someone who is accustomed to reading well-written patterns.

However, so far there’s nothing that I can’t figure out, so it’s all good. As the kids say.

Lucy Sez

Thank you for all your kind birthday wishes!