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MISURINA TEE: The Fastest Sweater I Ever Knit

I’m sure some of you have had making experiences where something just flew off the needles (or canvas, or jewelry board, or whatever). I haven’t really ever had that happen before with a sweater as I’m not a particularly fast sweater knitter and have mostly moved over to knitting smaller gauge sweaters on finer yarns so there are even more stitches! I’ve had this type of experience with hats occasionally, but even then my attention span is fairly limited.

Anyway, I decided to “treat myself” in January and ignore all other sweater projects on the needles (Birkin, Go-to Raglan, Ferris Wheel yarn raglan, Comfort Fade Cardi… this last one I finally ordered an additional skein for, so maybe will have some traction on that one this year) and so I busted out the yarn I bought in Cambria last September, Manos del Uruguay Alegria, which I used for the Wool & Honey last year. Cambria and that area of the California Central Coast is one of my favorite areas and usually make a little stop at the local yarn shop there, Balls & Skeins & More. They have the full range of Manos yarns and it’s really fun to see everything displayed.

So I cast on for Misurina, a pattern by Caitlin Hunter of Boyland Knitworks. It’s a short-sleeved cropped sweater with two different options on how to handle the body – there is a purl texture option or an eyelet pattern, and I went with the eyelet pattern. Between the colorwork and cables at the top and the body pattern, this really kept my interest and within a week I had complete the following:

This is pretty fast for me!! Plus I have been practicing on my colorwork, so it looks so much better than some previous attempts. I now know you should carry the dominant color (the one you want to “pop” against the background, in this case the yellow) on the left as you are knitting. This makes a big difference.

So it was just a nice, repetitive knit once I got done with the yoke and in another week I had a new sweater! It took 15 days of knitting and one of blocking – definitely a record for me. Previously I had knit the Love Note sweater in 22 days (big needles made the difference on that one!) and thought that was pretty good! The Wool & Honey I knit last year in about 6 weeks, which I also thought was pretty good.

I followed the pattern as written except for the following mods:

  • Knit the sleeves about 2″ longer than called for – an additional repeat of the eyelet pattern.
  • Knit the body about 3″ longer than called for – the pattern indicates a total length of something like 8″ and I have a long torso – that would have looked really stupid on me where that cuts off so I almost always add a bit of length to my sweaters.

The neck and sleeves both feature ribbing and a rolled hem. I am not normally a rolled hem kind of person, but it works with this design so I kept it. It adds a softness to this design that I rather like.

This was a very fun knit and I had a great time making it.

Next up:

  • Finally finishing the marled ombre Go-To Raglan, which finally has a body and a sleeve! Currently it’s back in time out because I knit said sleeve twice and am not in the mood LOL. But probably later this month. I did most of this catch-up knitting after completing Misurina, so it’s nice to be in a knitting groove once again!
  • However…. I also cast on for a 2nd Zweig! This one is dark blue and knit out of Knitpicks Stroll Tonal. I have always wanted a blue one, and after living with the first one I knit about 3 years ago, I realized that sweater is a cold weather version, so I’m doing 3/4 length sleeves and a little shorter body length – hoping it comes out more similar to Wool & Honey. I did a big order from Knitpicks in January in lieu of attending Stitches West this year, which is virtual – I am not interested in attending virtual trade shows. I also got some yarn to finally make Caitlin Hunter’s Sipila, which I have been looking for yarn for for years it feels like! But the KP Muse line had the perfect turquoisey blue. And I also got some yarn to knit Arachne, a yoked sweater where the yoke design is a spider web.
  • The KP order also included an extra yellow Stroll, which I have almost used up in the marling for the Comfort Fade cardi. I was going pretty strong on that one last year till I realized that I needed more yellow to finish the marling as well as for the collar. So I’m kinda feeling that one after I finish the Go-To and Zweig 2.

We’ll see how all that shakes out… Still under lockdown here in CA so I am just following my whims while I am still stuck at home.

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LIFE IN THE TIME OF QUARANTINE

(I started writing this in April but apparently abandoned it. I have updated where necessary.)

The last several weeks (months, actually) have been very, very strange and very very stressful and sad.

I don’t think I need to recap everything as we all have been living it in real time, but I first became aware of the virus situation with the news of the Diamond Princess cruise ship having been denied entry in Japan. Subsequently, I found an AMA on reddit from a young guy who was quarantined aboard the ship with his wife; they had been on their honeymoon.

It was interesting reading about what was happening but it seemed so far away – a luxury cruise liner on the other side of the world. It wasn’t until the US State Department was starting to evacuate Americans from Wuhan Province and other places that it really started getting going. The evacuation of the US citizens from the cruise ship is kind of what I feel really started things here, though I guess they already had started. But to me, because half of the people went to Travis Air Force Base, which is 40 minutes from me, and the other half went to Lackland AFB in San Antonio where I used to live, that really made me start paying attention.

Anyway, fast forward to March 9. Schools started to close, people were told practice “social distancing”, there were absolutely no paper products, cleaning products, sanitizing stuff to be found. I had already purchased a bunch of toilet paper on the off chance there would be a run on it (ho ho). The week started with Daylight Saving (Spring Forward), had a full moon, which everyone knows brings on the crazy, especially when you work with the public at large, and ended with Friday the 13th.

In the middle of all the chaos we get an email that my uncle Eric was in the hospital and it didn’t look good. I personally had a dental followup from a triple whammy filling situation the week prior, so I wasn’t really in a place to go visit (also didn’t realize the hospital was the other same-named hospital in WC, not Concord).

Eric passed away the night of March 10. With the stricter shelter-in-place orders happening March 17, we have not had a memorial for him as there would be far more than 10 people attending. It’s completely surreal. I haven’t really thought about it too much. I haven’t had the mental capacity to do so.

March 16 was my last day at the office for the foreseeable future – the day that the Bay Area got the mandatory SIP order to start the next day. We scrambled to dismantle our office and get set up from home. That first week was a complete blur. I couldn’t even begin to describe it. Stuck at home, working from my bedroom, not ideal. Week 2 was much the same. In general, there have been ups and downs and some days are better than others, and some days are awful.

Some things I’ve done to spend the time are work on knitting projects – I finished the fantastic FANTASTITCH shawl by Westknits. I finished the Wool & Honey sweater by Andrea Mowry. Both these projects were really good. I have several WIPs right now but none are singing to me so I may consider starting another to distract myself from.

Our monthly D&D game has become more frequent, so it’s nice to see my friends, even if it’s just video chat.

I’ve been ordering food from my favorite Cuban restaurant, which has temporarily closed its storefront yet expanded its catering division to offer meals for pickup and delivery. Patty’s Cheese Zombies remains open and I go there much more frequently than previous.

I ordered a Nintendo Switch and have been playing Animal Crossing New Horizons A LOT (a lot, a lot). It’s very soothing and time sucking. Beautiful to look at!

Aside from ordering Cuban food and zombies on the regular, since I’m one of the lucky ones who still has a job during this whole thing I have been trying to patronize small businesses. Some of the things I’ve ordered include a beautiful new mug from a pottery artisan I’ve been admiring on Instagram, handmade cotton masks, nail polish (I haven’t ordered nail polish in 18 months if you can believe it), a pair of earrings, and a CIRCULAR SOCK KNITTING MACHINE (more on that in a future post).

All of our spring/summer plans were canceled, including a celebratory Disneyland trip to see Malvina and crew, a trip to LA over Memorial Day weekend, day trips (with everything closed, would there be bathrooms??). This has been highly depressing. As a last resort I made it out of town for what would have been the Disneyland trip to hang out with my LA people as part of my “social bubble” and it did wonders for my mental health. If you are able to safely leave town for a couple days, I highly recommend it.

Anyway, maybe I’ll start writing in here more now that I am feeling a little better, despite continual lockdowns from our overlord governor. I do have some things to talk about, maybe my quarantine birthday but especially that CIRCULAR SOCK KNITTING MACHINE!

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20 FOR 2020

20 things I’d like to accomplish for 2020. These are not resolutions but hopefully a guideline I can use to shape how I live my life in 2020… the year I turn 40 (!!!!).

PROJECTS & CREATIVE PURSUITS:

  1. UFOs: finish the sweaters I have started lying around which include but are not limited to Birkin and the Go-to-Raglan sweater.
  2. New Projects: I can’t 100% say what knitting projects will catch my interest coming up, but I would like to complete at least 4 sweaters (including my current WIPs) and I would like to make a marled cardigan in sunset colors, using yarn from stash. I’m also very committed to making Wool & Honey by Andrea Mowry, I would really like to wear that sweater.
  3. Knit my stash down. I have a lot of stash. I should knit it. I have lots of sweater quantities too, some with projects already planned. I should knit them! I should also knit sweaters and hats and things I’ve always wanted to knit but didn’t for whatever dumb reason.
  4. Brick Stitch Earrings: need to finish my mini collection of huge bugle bead earrings inspired by feathers.
  5. Green Girls Charms: I have quite the collection of items by Green Girl Studios. I should stop hoarding them and start making fabulous necklaces with them. I commit to making 3 projects with them, minimum.
  6. Digital Drawings/Illustrations. I’d like to do some pictures/portraits of our D&D characters from our (my) first campaign that we did this year.
  7. Nanowrimo. Let’s actually finish one in November this year! I haven’t managed to in several years, it’s very sad/annoying.

TRAVEL AND FUN STUFF

  1. Go on a real vacation. I took vacation time and spent a lot of time in LA this year but I didn’t really go on any “away” vacations. I’m not sure what I want to do. But I want to do something. (Disneyland in June does not count.)
  2. See a Broadway Show. This is slightly cheating… but we already have tickets to see Hamilton in January.
  3. See the poppies in Lancaster again. This was so wonderful! I should be able to do this again this year on one of my LA trips.
  4. Museums. Go to 3 museums? I can do that. Probably. I’d like one to be the Broad in LA.

LEARNING!

  1. Work on Language Skills. I signed up for Duolingo to learn some Russian. I would also like to brush up on my Spanish.
  2. Polymer Clay. I’d like to play with this a little. I have a couple times but it was years and years ago.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

  1. Whole30: Complete a Whole30 in January with as few mistakes as possible.
  2. Cooking: Try a bunch new recipes for Whole30! And that Nom Nom Paleo meat pies ones for food freedom. I really liked those.
  3. Baking: I’d like to try some gluten free baking simply for curiosity’s sake.
  4. Exercise: Try to figure out a good schedule of biking and HIIT that I can stick to, for at least 4 days a week, not counting my “Dad Walk” on Sundays.
  5. Remember to take my vitamins. I mean, it’s not that hard, but… it’s hard.
  6. Sleep More. Really focus on getting at least 8 hours of sleep (preferably 9) and making the time to do so by not going to bed at 12:30 a.m. during the week.
  7. Prioritize my health. I spent a lot of time at Kaiser over the summer to take care of some health issues related to being a woman. I subsequently found myself in what was probably a depressive state and I only recently came out of it. I just want to feel better, and that means making better choices about food and exercise and how I live my life day-to-day.