Girl Who Knits

You all have heard me talk about my sisters. My girls. One I knit with, the other I have knit for. We like to sing Karaoke Revolution and eat REALLY large bowls of Baskin Robbins ice cream (Peanut Butter-and-Chocolate and Gold Medal Ribbon to be exact.) I love my sisters.

Last weekend, little Bri got engaged. To a boy named Adam (note to self: must find out if Adam is okay with me writing his name and talking about him on my blog.  Update: not only is he cool with it, I even got permission to post a picture.  Point for Adam.) I am thrilled about this news. I like this Adam since I think he knows how lucky he is to have my sister love him. Bri is happy in that good wholesome way which makes me feel right about things.

Cute Bri and Adam 

I have been asked a lot how I am feeling and if I am okay with the news. Well, we are not living in Jane Austen times. I am okay with the younger sister getting married before her elders. Bri is no Lydia Bennet either. She is smart and knows who she is. She has a career she loves and a great perspective on life. She is ready. I think the only thing I will have a hard time with is that this event changes everything. It an ending. She is no longer only my Bri she is also some guy Adam's Bri. I have to share and I am not sure how I feel about that.

On the other hand, I am gaining another brother right? Maybe he will let me knit him a hat or something--that could be fun. So it is also a beginning.

Much like life, knitting also has it's beginnings and endings. (Nice segue right?) Soon to be ended is my Phildar Zip Cardigan as the zipper arrived in the mail Friday! As soon as Ann can get her sewing machine over here I will have a FO. I am so excited to show you this sweater--I think it is going to be one of my favorites.

As for beginnings...my knit picks needles arrived today too so work on the Dollar and a Half Cardigan can finally begin.

And of course, I mustn't forget Blithe. See what has begun...

(fyi-color less baby blue in real life--is is more like a nice deep gray blue)

One thing knitting has taught me...new beginnings can be a very good thing.

For those who were wondering...my biggest loser competition ended at work and I, alas, did not win.  I did, however, lose 12 pounds which is great.  The winner was really die hard about the whole thing--didn't even have cake on his birthday--so I guess he deserved to win.  I guess.  I am glad I participated if only because I learned what devious and competitive co-workers I have.  I would do it again in a second, only this time I would know my enemy, urm...competition better. 

In other news, something special arrived in the mail this weekend...

My Blithe kit!!!

It came wrapped up all pretty with tissue and ribbon which made it super fun to open.  Like a real present.  I also love the way the pattern is printed on nice card stock.  I am NOT regretting the kit purchase.  I give Kim my seal of approval--awesome customer service and the product itself is exceptional.  Now if we could only work on that currency conversion rate...

I was planning on not starting Blithe until mid-April BUT I am waiting on the new KnitPicks options needles I ordered last week in order to start Dollar and a Half Cardigan AND since I finished all I can do on the Phildar Zip Cardigan until I get the zipper in the mail...I swatched and casted on for Blithe last night.  Awww Yeah!!!  I will post a picture as soon as I have a couple inches done. 

For the record: I already love it.

Dude.  Seaming is hard.  Well, I should say, normally I quite like seaming but in the case of the Phildar Zip Cardigan, seaming is a challenging, time consuming and thus painful process.  Allow me to explain why.

1. This sweater has 12 (yes 12) pieces to seam together. 
2. There are all kinds of ribbed bands you have to attach to non-ribbed edges that do not measure up perfectly.  So you have to make sure you allow the right amount of give in the right places so that the pieces seam together neatly while not creating bulges in places where there shouldn't be bulges.
3. The majority of the sweater is knit in reverse stockinette.  I have worked on perfecting seaming for stockinette garments--not reverse. 
4. Because of reasons #1-3, some knitters might have to resort to re-seaming parts of the sweater several times since they just can't get it right.
5. There are 12 pieces to seam. Ugh.

Did I mention I have struggled a bit with the seaming of this sweater?  I really thought I would be all done by now.  Silly, silly Erin.

But, I have come a long way.  See?

It almost looks put together right?

There has been a lot of trial and error with the seaming.  I have done and then taken out and re-done almost every seam so far.  Some of them I have seamed more than twice.  You might think this is a little extreme but let me show you what I mean.  There is a part of the sweater where you have to seam two ribbed bands together but you are connecting the purl valley of the rib.  The first time I did it I didn't know what I was doing which resulted in the seam looking like this.

Ugly seam:

After an epiphany last night, I re-did it and now the seam looks like this.

Pretty seam:

See how much better??!?  As I work on it more and get better at it I realize how bad my first attempts at seaming the sweater are and am compelled to re-do the parts that don't measure up.  I just want it to be as close to perfect as I can.  Is that so crazy?

In related news: I went hunting for a zipper that would work for this sweater on Saturday and came up empty handed.  Very discouraged, I called Knit-n-Tyme (the place where I purchased the kit) to ask them if they sell a zipper that would work.  The very nice woman on the phone asked me, "didn't one come in the kit?"  Um...no, it didn't, but doesn't it make perfect sense that it would?  Turns out the zipper was on backorder when I ordered the kit and I just didn't realize it was supposed to be part of the kit and so I didn't notice when it never got to me.  So she is sending me the right zipper this week which is lucky that she still has it in stock seeing how I ordered the kit over a year and a half ago.  Phew.  Now I just have to put the zipper on.  Ugh.  It better be easier to do than seaming this baby.  Somehow, with my sewing skills, I doubt it.

About two months after I taught myself to knit, I casually mentioned to my sister Kara that she should knit a scarf.  She agreed but then later when I was teaching her she asked if I was sure I was okay with her learning to knit seeing how it was "my new thing" and she didn't want me to think she was stealing my thunder.  I assured her I didn't mind at all and so we continued with the lessons. 

Kara was a quick learner and soon she was past the scarf phase and interested in knitting more complicated patterns.  I was actually really pleased that like me, she wanted to keep knitting.  It was the oddest thing actually, we didn't just learn how to knit--we felt this unexpected draw toward it.  It was strange to realize we both REALLY liked knitting.  You know what I mean right?  When it becomes more than just knitting a scarf or beanie every year.  When you start looking at yarn like it is art.  When you think about it all the time, make lists of your upcoming projects, and start calling a yarn store your LYS.

At the time we started we weren't roommates but would get together to watch shows and knit.  I remember turning to her and saying "I really love this."  She would turn back to me and say "I do too."  It made me happy because she got it.  We got each other you know?  We both loved knitting. 

Kara and I have knit several projects together.  In fact, our first sweater project was the ill fated and totally wrong for our body types Rebecca Wrap Cardigan.  Next up was Nancy Bush's Norwegian Stockings which fared much better.  It has been a while since Kara and I have done a knit-a-long together and frankly, we missed it.  So when we both fell in love with the Dollar and a Half Cardigan from the new Spring 07 Interweave, we knew we had found our project.

Last weekend we bought Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Truffle (for me) and Willow Leaf (for Kara.)  Eager beaver that I am, I knit a swatch last night and blocked it and everything.  I think this is going to be fun.

Erin: "Do you think this will all go away and one day we won't care about knitting anymore?"

Kara: (after some thought and a brief pause) "I really hope not."

Me too Kara.  Me too.

It has been a bit of a random week for me so I thought I should honor it with a totally random post.  Oh, oh, maybe I will itemize my random and unconnected thoughts.  That will be fun.  (I love itemizing things.  And white boards.  I warned you about the random.)

1. If you could be any knitter who would you...Eunny.  I would be Eunny in a heart beat.  I want to knit like her and design like her and have vision like her and be cool like her.  Have you seen the sweater she so temptingly gave us a sneak peak of?  I want it.  HAVE to have it.  Hear me know...I will knit this sweater. 
2. Wondering how my Biggest Loser competition is going?  Well the first month went really well.  I lost 7 pounds and came in 3rd of 22 at our mid-competition weigh-in.  The first two weeks of the second month?  One word for you: plateau.  It is so frustrating.  But for the final two weeks I am really going to kick it into high gear.  Working out 6x a week, really strict diet, no eating after 8--I must finish strong.  At this point it is all about the money.  And pride.  MM, EB, BR and JP...I am coming for you. 
3. Anyone out there seen MI-5 or as they call it in the UK, Spooks?  Kara and I watched the finale of season 2 last night.  Holy cow.  Within 5 minutes of finishing the episode, season 3 was moved to the top of our Netflix queue.  Seriously amazing show.  Plus a little Matthew MacFadyen action doesn't hurt. 
4. I am almost done knitting all the pieces of my Phildar Zip Cardigan.  Which means pretty soon I am going to have to face the zipper.  Oh you zipper...how you taunt me.  Thankfully my buddy Ann and seamstress extraordinaire is staying with me next week.  So my goal is to have it all knit and seemed by Monday.  Then at least I will have a teacher for the zipper insersion. (Or someone who will just do it for me if I whine long enough.)  It is exciting though, I should have an FO by end of next week.  At least I hope.
5. I bought it.  I am talking about the Blithe kit.  Thank you so much for all of your recommendations and support.  I love posts that bring out the lurkers too--it is always fun to be introduced to new blogs.  So what color did I go with?  Well, it happens to be the same color that got the most votes from my post.  I was torn between two colors in the end and a friend  (Thanks lil' Jeff!) helped me make the final decision by photoshop-ing the yarn colors in the sweater for me to visualize it.  You want to see the winner?  Here it is...

Yup, Steel Blue. I am a happy girl and looking forward to my first spring/summer knit.

Have a grand weekend everyone!