Adventures with sticks and string.
I finished the back for the Saven sweater last night.
I made a change to the center cable panel. The pattern has you wrap instead of cross the center nine cables of each repeat of the motif (a repeat is 48 rows) — like a smocking stitch. I am not a fan of wrapping stitches like that, so I changed those to cable crosses. Because I can!
Speaking of “because I can,” Loki exerts his independence.
My “preview of coming attractions” from last week’s post is the start of Saven, a design by Meghan Babin.
The pattern has you knit the sleeves first, so I did just that.
You may or may not have noticed immediately that one sleeve has several mis-crossed cables. (Or is the photo too small?) I only noticed them when I was beyond that point and did not feel it necessary to go back and correct. I posted a photo of that sleeve on Instagram because I was curious: would people notice the errors immediately or not? The answer is: some did, some did not, some noticed after scrutinizing the photo for a bit.
The sleeve on the left has all cables properly crossed. But honesty compels me to admit that I mis-crossed two cables. For some reason that is a real mental block for me. I don’t follow the chart because the pattern is pretty easy, and I get in a zone and don’t pay attention.
I did not, however, rip back. I duplicate-stitched over the two mis-crossed cables.
In other news, Loki is still enjoying retirement!
I finished my HANA pullover earlier this week. And I really like it!
I knit this from a cotton blend yarn, Nako Denim, that I had purchased from Webs earlier in the year. (I used stash yarn: SCORE!) I would have enjoyed the knitting more if I had knit it in wool, but knew it would be way too warm for me to ever wear if I did so.
I then immediately cast on a project with this:
This skein was a retirement gift from my now former co-worker Bob. Fun fact: I taught Bob to knit over ten years ago and MadTosh Pashmina is his favorite yarn. He has excellent taste!
I made this:
This is Melanie Berg’s Calligraphy Hat, a perfect pattern for this yarn.
And here is a preview of coming attractions:
And Loki is enjoying being retired!
Thanks for all the nice congratulatory comments re: my retirement. It still feels like I’m just on leave, but it has been just a little over a week!
I’ve made some nice progress on my HANA pullover. I finished the back, and I’m on the last section of the front.
Once I have the front completed, I think I’ll join front and back and maybe do an i-cord around the neck opening. I am thinking I’ll pick up stitches and do a three-needle bind-off for the shoulder seams.
Then it will be onward to the sleeves!
Meanwhile, Loki has taken to retirement very nicely!
Mentally blows the dust off the blog.
So this past week was a week for big changes.
On Wednesday I went into the office for the first time since March 13, 2020!
Very surreal experience!
The point of this exercise was to clean out my office — I retired on September 30! I filled 5 trash bags with crap, left some stuff in colleagues offices, and mailed two priority mail boxes of stuff to myself. (No idea when I will actually open those boxes . . . )
So on Friday I woke up a lady of leisure. Such an odd feeling and it will take me a while to get used to it. But I am willing to give it a try. 😉
This little boy was so confused (and not too happy) that I left him to go into the office for two days.
I swear Loki is calmer and happier already. I know he feels my stress, and now there is no work stress. And no telling him I can’t play because I’m at work.
In knitting news, I’m working on the HANA Pullover, a design by Junko Okamoto. I totally blame Kay Gardiner for this as she was flaunting her HANA online. I am working on the first piece of mine:
I’m using a cotton blend yarn: Nako Denim. So far. so good!
