Auburn Camp Shirt

Pattern: Auburn Camp Shirt by Chrissy Gardiner, IK Spring 2008
Yarn: Zephyr
Needle: US1 Addi Turbo Lace
Notes: I can't believe it's finally done! Almost a year in the making, this sweater was a slog. I tried to get a modeled shot last night but the camera battery was dead. (Hey kids, when you're done playing with the camera turn it off!)

The only changes I made were to shorten the collar by about half an inch. I thought the original was a little too floppy, Peter Pan-ish. I also made the sleeve tabs 4 stitches shorter because I didn't want them to stick out so much.

Whew. It's done.

What's Up?

The Auburn Camp Shirt is done. Buttons sewn on. Completely, totally done. I don't have pictures. My schedule has been changing lately and I don't have any time during daylight hours to take pictures. Or to blog. I joined a new gym a few weeks ago and am very committed to getting back in shape. I'm doing the Couch to 5k program and am just about done with Week 2. So I won't make any apologies for not blogging as much or as well as usual. Getting fit is more important.

I picked up my Giant Latvian Mitten Cardigan last night after the last ACS button was sewn. I got maybe four rounds done while at knitting last night. It's about 13" long now. Only a few more inches until I cast on the sleeve steeks.

My Diminishing Ribs is growing so fast. It's my at-home-watching-tv knitting and I have less than an inch to go before dividing for the sleeves (it's top-down). Bountiful Bohus will have to wait for this one to finish up I think. Once I get momentum on a project I try to ride it out.

So that's what's new with me. What's new with you?

I Had My Doubts

It's finally off the needles. It's all knit up and the ends are all woven in. I have my buttons. Hallelujah, it's a miracle. Can I get an amen?

A Little Thursday on Your Wednesday

It took two days to knit the first cuff for the ACS. If I can squeeze in some serious knitting time today and tomorrow I could possibly have a finished sweater on Friday. Could. Can't promise anything. And I need to wait for Erin to get back from California to school me on sewing on buttons. I'm terrible at it.

So in the meantime I will try to win your love with this. It is the fall runway show for Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. As a lover of Muppets I can't decide if I love it or hate it but either way I'm pretty sure you won't see much else like it. Please don't eat or drink while watching this. I don't want to be responsible for any gunked up keyboards or choking incidents.

Trouble With Twitters

Since I'm only half-way through my first sleeve tab I'll share this very funny animation about Twitter.*

(Enbedded link not working. Video is here.)

*Don't worry, Twitter. I still love you.

This Might Really Happen

The Auburn Camp Shirt is seamed and looks like an actual sweater. One side of the collar is underway. Little sleeve tabs also need doing.

But I also cast on another sweater. I can't only have sweaters on size 1 and 2 needles around. It's the Bountiful Bohus from More Big Girl Knits. Coincidentally the same designer, Chrissy Gardiner, as the ACS.



Cascade 220 in Vandyke Brown. Ah, simple knits in a big gauge. Can't wait.

It is Done

The pieces, at long last, are all knit. Now the endless finishing.

Nothing Much. You?

So the Auburn Camp Shirt is making for very dull blogging. I could show you the tiny, little sleeve I've been knitting furiously on but...you don't care. I've started the cap shaping. In fact, I was so excited to start last night that I skipped ahead in the instructions and ended up ripping out about an hour's worth of work. I think I should be able to finish the sleeve tonight at Purlygirls. At least that's what I'm telling myself. Then it will be on to all the seaming of the itty, bitty stitches. And the sleeve hems and the collar. And, and, and.

Wes and I saw Watchmen this weekend. Read the book instead. It's more interesting and has less wooden performances. Oh, and don't bring your children. Some guy brought a little girl into the theater and I wanted to stand up and yell, "Get her out of here!" It's a very, gory, disturbing, violent movie with sex and nudity thrown in too. Leave the kids at home. Please.

Finding Satisfaction in the Little Things

It doesn't look like much but this is the back, both fronts and one sleeve done with the other sleeve started on the Auburn Camp Shirt. I'm seriously stoked and feeling like I might finish this. Soon even.

I went to the gym three times so far this week. I've got some kind of throat crud today so I'm taking a day off. Also a new Trader Joe's is opening today right next to the gym (same parking lot)and I'm sure it will be insane over there. But that also meant that the Trader Joe's by my house was deserted this morning. Last week I couldn't find a parking spot on Friday morning. This week I got the spot closest to the door. The aisles were clear. I strolled and looked at everything instead of darting in, grabbing essentials and fleeing for my life.

Sometimes really small things make a huge difference.

Forward Movement

I went to the gym today for the first time in a long time. A seriously long time. Well over a year. I worked out for 45 minutes and feel pretty good.

This means I didn't have time this morning to take a picture of my knitting. If I had had the time I could show you that I finished both fronts and the back of the Auburn Camp Shirt. And I cast on for the first sleeve. I can see an end to this project now which is very exciting.

They Keep Going and Going and ...

Over the last several days I've been plying the merino singles I've been spinning for several months. The spinning was taking forever and I finally decided to start plying before finishing all the roving. I never do this. When I spin I always spin the singles then ply. But I couldn't take it anymore. I had to see that I was making actual yarn and not just filling bobbins with fiber. For some reason I think of finishing the singles as being "done" with a spinning project. I think the plying will take no time at all. Like binding off a knitting project. But it takes a really long time. I've spent time over three days plying this skein of yarn. Three days!



And it's only 330 yards! How is that possible? I also tried my darndest to overply this yarn. I was aiming for a tight twist. I checked frequently and thought I was getting the result I wanted but once the yarn came off the wheel I found it much more loosely plied than I thought. I will probably end up running it back through the wheel to add more plying twist.

Speaking of projects that go on forever, I worked on my Auburn Camp Shirt last night. (After I tired of all the sewing on the Asymmetrical Cardigan. Only a few hours left on that one.) I realized well into the night that I had been measuring from the wrong place for the shaping and ended up ripping out another inch of knitting. I reknit until late last night (this time with the shaping in the right place) and have "caught up" to where I ripped. For those keeping score, I have the back and one front complete and this part is the second front. I will finish this sweater, damn it. I will.

I'll end with a crappy picture of my sweater, among others, hanging in the window at Churchmouse.

I Was Just About to Feel Good

I finished all the parts to my Asymmetrical Cardi last night. I wanted to watch tv (see previous post) and didn't think it was the right moment to start the seaming. I reached way down into the neglected knits pile and pulled out the Auburn Camp Shirt. I knit on it for an hour or two last night and this morning I pulled it out to mark the buttonhole placement. And that's when I saw it. I forgot the ribbed edge for the button band. The whole thing needs to be ripped out and reknit. Crap! Double crap!

Quatchi Loves Hexagons

Here is my progress on the Kureyon hexagons modeled by Quatchi. He is one of the three mascots for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. We picked him up for younger son in Prince Rupert. We're all loving Quatchi.

I brought my Auburn Camp Shirt on the cruise and my hexagons as backup knitting. I knit on the shirt the first day--when we were all really queasy--and now I feel faintly ill when I think of knitting on it. Instead I got a lot done on my hexagons. I even gave them a good steam when I got home to flatten them out so I could see where I was going a little better. I've spent the last few days sitting and knitting while watching all my Elizabeth Zimmermann DVDs. I got Knitting Workshop just before I left and didn't get to watch it until I got home. The sweater I modeled my Ravelympic project on makes several appearances in the videos.

Last night I was feeling burnt out on hexagons and really wanted to start something new. After watching the DVDs I decided to start a Pi shawl. I've never knit one before. I'm using Kimmet Croft Softie Lite in a very pale blue that I got at camp last year. I'm only up to 72 stitches and still haven't decided exactly what I want to do with the areas between in increases. This is going to be fun.

My Knitting Bag Runneth Over

After the thrill of finishing the back of my Auburn Camp Shirt I quickly started the first front.



The teeny needles were starting to wear on me--both literally and figuratively--so I decided to swatch for the Ravelympics. Kim, my friend from camp, is organizing Team Knitting Camp. I had to join. I've decided to knit the cardigan Seamless Hybrid in the shirt yoke variation. I'm working in good old Cascade 220.



I've got my (alleged) gauge and am ready to start.

I have Meg Swansen's DVD for the Baby Surprise Jacket. I've knit a few already but Meg always has useful tips and tricks. Plus I think I was feeling lonesome for camp. I have a bag of mill ends of Mountain Colors Bearfoot that I've been wanting to turn into a BSJ for a few years. Last night I cast on.



I'm just going to knit through them all and hope that it melds.

I've also got the contest prizes to mail out tomorrow.



That's two tool cases from Schoolhouse Press and several skeins of yarn from Berocco I won as a door prize. I know regifting is a little tacky but why not share the wealth, right?

Major Milestone

I finished the back of the Auburn Camp Shirt. Now I have to knit the other 70% of it. Sigh...

Camp: The Knitting

I cast on for my Giant Latvian Mitten Cardigan just before I left for camp. I continued on the colorwork once I got there. Then I got that sinking feeling that only comes from twisting the cast on of a sweater with 306 stitches and 6 rounds of painstaking colorwork.



No choice here. It's cutting time.



Cast on a new steek and keep knitting.



I took lots of photos this time around of the original GLMC for guidance and inspiration.

I am also this close to finishing the back of the Auburn Camp shirt.

Auburn Camp Shirt Progress Report

I brought only one project with me to Columbus, the Auburn Camp Shirt. I wanted some dedicated knitting time to make actual progress on the project.


My progress after the first leg of the trip.


After two days in Columbus (I think).

Every time I pulled out my knitting everyone around me would start asking me about it. "What are you making?"
"What size needles are those?"
"What yarn is that?"
"You're making a sweater in lace-weight?"
"Are you nuts?"
When I finally met Chrissy Gardiner, the pattern designer, I proudly pulled out my knitting to show her. Before even looking at it she emphatically announced, "I never want to knit that sweater again." I had hoped she'd be the one person who wouldn't think I was crazy for knitting it. It turns out she had a crazy deadline for the sample and had to knit the sweater in two weeks along with some socks. So I can understand her negative associations.

Look, even Annie Modesitt thinks I'm crazy.





Here's where I am now. I don't know about you but I am pretty impressed. It's growing. And I keep reminding myself that the sleeves are tiny. I will finish this sweater damn it. And I will wear it with pride.