One-sleeve Wonder

So exciting! So very exciting! Yaaaaaay!

"What," you may be asking. "What is so exciting? Did you finish the Tweedy Aran Cardigan already? How unusually productive of you. Congratulations! Is the just a closeup of the whole thing?"

No, not exactly.

"Oh, yeah. It does look like it's not seamed. Is that all that's left? Where's the rest of it?"

Just the sleeve.

"Yes....just the sleeve to sew up, and that's why you're so excited?"

It's just the first sleeve. I'm only as far as the first sleeve.

"Oh. Well. Hmmm."

But I'm super excited to say that I got this much done, because now I know that there's hope. It seems as though it's taking forever for me to get through even a few rows a day. Binding off that sleeve was the high point of my week. Which is kind of sad. Look, it was exciting, O.K.? Just go with it.


Here's the odd thing. When Winston reviewed this yarn last week, he brought up the apparent color difference between my yarn and the picture on the website. Look at how pink it looks under this light. It's just about the color on the website. This colorway does not look this pink in any other light I've had it in, either at home or in my office, day or night.

The reason I'm pushing so hard to get most of it done by the middle of February is that I need to know if I'm going to need more. If I know that I'm going to run out, then I'll go to Stitches at the end of the month and talk with the Black Water Abbey folks. That would be my only reason for going to Stitches this year, as I'm still working through yarns I bought there six years ago. This sleeve took about three ounces, which is about 3/4 of the ball. I have six balls total.


This is the light that's throwing the pink flare on the yarn. It's two plates of glass sandwiching what looks like really heavy soldering wire, with two dozen little white lights poking down through the top of it. It's creepy from above, like a bunch of wires plugging into the head of the Borg queen, but luckily I'm not tall enough to see it from that angle. This is the same light that I was talking about a couple of weeks ago, the one that makes my skin look warm. It's odd, because the light looks so white that it seems like it would make everything look cooler, but it turns out that the opposite is true.

Winston's Review: Black Water Abbey Worsted

Hello!

It’s me, Winston J. Schmidt.

It’s been a couple of years since my first yarn review, mostly because Suzanne is usually too smart to let me review her yarns anymore. Lucky for you and me, she doesn’t know that I can stretch up on my back legs and reach stuff on tables without making any noise, and that I also learned how to silently stick my face in her purse.

Well, she knows NOW, Winston! She reads her own blog! We are so going to get squirted! Squirted in the FACE!

Molly, this is my review, and I do it my own way. That’s why it’s called “Winston’s Review”. I don’t get a lot of stuff that’s just mine anymore, so I’d like to do this all by myself, O.K.?

O.K., but if we end up out in traffic, it’ll be YOUR fault.


Yarn: Black Water Abbey Worsted

Yardage/Weight: 220 yards per 4 ounce skein

Fiber Content: 100% New Wool from Ireland

Color: Mountain, although Suzanne’s worried that they’ve changed the colors a little bit in the few years since she bought it. Their Mountain on the website is way more pink than this one. This ball looks like it’s closer to Ash Violet, although I can’t tell the difference by taste. I need to watch out, though, because if she runs out on account of me eating it, then someone's not going to get chippy snacks next time we have Burrito Monday.

Texture: 2-ply, and kind of rough when I first picked it up in my mouth, but then the lanolin kicks in and makes it really soft. It’s not at all hard to cut through it with my teeth. I was able to break it in three places, including one spot in the middle of the rolled ball, in less than a minute. The other day, I tangled up a good two-thirds of a ball pretty quickly, but she was able to roll it back up without having to break anything but the end where it met the knitting on the needles.

Flavor: Sheepy! And it smells like freshly cut hay, which makes it irresistible. Really. She should lock it up in a Winston-proof box when she’s not knitting with it, even for five minutes, because a guy can only take that kind of temptation for so long.

Mouth Feel: It seems like it’d be scratchy, but it’s actually kind of moisturizing and soothing, like if Suzanne put lotion on her legs and then put on socks, and then took off the socks and I put them in my mouth. You know. Like if that actually happened.

Review: This is a tasty yarn with a complex finish. It’s also hours of fun, and has a good re-chew factor. I’ve had the same ball in my mouth three times, and it still feels supple and substantial.

In conclusion, I really like this yarn. I wish I could walk around with it in my mouth all day.

Sincerely,

Winston J. ‘Bug’ Schmidt

Cameo

First, I saw splotches. Then I saw Jesus. Then I saw an Afghan hound wearing earrmuffs. Earmuffs with Jesus on them. Wasted several minutes guessing at Christ's merch and licensing deal. Then I ate the apple.

WTHAYW Thursday

What the Hell are you WEARING?

Sweater
It's Bristow from a few years ago. Until recently, I didn't know what to wear it with, so it didn't see much time out of the drawer. The shoulders are a little roomy, and my own shoulders are a little wide for my height, so the silhouette was wrong with jeans or straight trousers. I had the same problem with straight skirts. It made me look top-heavy. It needed a skirt with enough body to balance it out.

The sleeves have always been too long, and I've debated for years about cutting them and moving the seed stitch border up, but now I've grown used to rolling them.

Skirt
Calvin Klein from several years ago. It's 97% wool, which I'd never paid attention to before. You can't see much from these shots, but it's pleated all around from low hip down to the hem. The pleats stay crisp all day, while the rest of the skirt remains wrinkle free. I don't know how this is accomplished with wool, but it's wonderful. The skirt is weighty without being too heavy, and feels like a quality piece. Even though it's a few years old, it doesn't look dated. Either it's a classic, or it went out of style and back in while it was sharing a hanger with three other skirts. I bought it at Macy's on sale, a great sale if I remember correctly. I never buy anything from there that isn't on the half-off rack. It was a little big, but I'd planned to take it in. It then went into my closet and was promptly forgotten. I pulled it out a couple of months ago as part of my "dress fancy" campaign and discovered, to both my delight and dismay, that it fit, almost too closely. It's a size 8.


Shoes
Sudini suede boots with leather crisscross detail, bought about four years ago on sale from Sierra Trading Post. I have a thing for Sudini boots. They fit my feet, they fit my calves, and they last forever. I was disappointed when Nordstrom stopped carrying them in favor of Munroe. They're not the same. Their brand motto: "Sudini - the shoes that make love to your feet." Totally worth the risk of buying online.


Jewelry
I still haven't replaced my beloved sterling hoops. I've now decided to try to solder the pin back to the body. Failing that, I'm going to find a metalsmith who can recreate them. Accountant Boy tried to cheer me up by sending me links to earrings on Amazon.com, but none of them looked right. There are a couple of potential candidates at a jewelry store downtown, but I don't know. I liked my cheap earrings.

In their absence, I'm trying out other pairs in my jewelry cabinet. This pair came from an employee sale at Accountant Boy's office. The gift shops from about a dozen wineries cleared the odds and ends out of their back rooms and sent it back to the corporate office, where it went onto long tables at 90% off. I paid four dollars for them, I think. This tells us two things, dear readers. First, that there's a lot of money to be saved by buying some basic tools and making your own jewelry, and second, that you shouldn't EVER buy anything other than postcards at a winery gift shop. They'll rob you blind then steal your glasses.

They're cute and feminine, and I like them, but they started to itch by the end of the day. I still miss my hoops.


The Verdict
I've worn the sweater and skirt combination a couple of times so far, but this is the first time with the boots. This pairing is better than the tights and shoes. Other than my knees, I felt warm and comfortable all day. I'd probably put it together once every couple of weeks, just to avoid the "if it's Thursday then it must be pleats and cardigan" syndrome.

I was going to dye my hair tonight, but now that I've seen it in this light, I'm thinking about giving it a few more weeks. On the other hand, that lighting is really kind to the roots. It's been more than two months, and they're starting to show when I blow it dry in the morning. We'll see what color it is by tomorrow at this time.

Lessons Learned
1. The lighting over my dinette set is fantastic. Start taking more pictures there.
2. Self-portraits are way easier with a tripod. Stop trying to balance the camera on boxes of cookies.
3. Quality pieces are timeless.
4. Bangs are still too short to be swept to the side without looking stringy. Commit to them straight across for a few more weeks.

Gingerbread Eichler

This is what happens when you give an art project to a bunch of engineers. This gorgeous post-modern masterpiece didn't hold together for the trip to the front of the room. We got about five inches away from the table before it collapsed. In our defense, we weren't told about this part of the design spec, and we ARE all application engineers. You can't change requirements on the fly like that and expect good results from us. Plus, I was tipsy enough to end up with icing in my hair. It sure photographed well, though.


When I realized that I wasn't going to make my highest yearly post count without three meaningless entries a day, I decided to take a day or two off. That went about as well as you'd expect. Apparently, it takes more than seven weeks to make a new habit stick. No point in dwelling on it, when the answer is just to pick it back up again and keep trying. That applies to so many things in my life right now. Pick it up again and keep trying.

I've got a couple of finished sweaters to write up, and a new knitting goal for this year that I want to discuss. More on that tomorrow.