pepperknit

Progress Pam! You know, I really don’t much care for the name Pam. No offense to Pams out there, of course, but it’s just kind of blah to me.

Of course, the Pam sweater is not blah at all. It’s full of cables, moss stitch, and, uh, ribbing. And I’m more than 3/4 of the way done!

We have the full back, the right front, and 3/4 of the left front done. Just the sleeves and this baby is off the needles and on my back. I’m amazed that I continue to be interested in working on this sweater–it’s got to be the cables. Because every other row is interesting and requires some attention, but it’s never hard. Of course, I’m still forgetful and occasionally screw up the tops of those *&@! Vs, but I’m not bothered by taking it out and fixing it again and again and again. I even think that I’ll be excited to seam the whole thing together, because the knitting was so enjoyable. Whereas the USMP, which being plain stockinette got a wee bit boring after a while . . . sits . . . in my knitting pile. All knitted up but completely unsewn.

My birthday is in 2 weeks. Usually, I’m atwitter with excitement in the countdown–this year, I suddenly looked at the calendar and thought “Shit! My birthday’s in two weeks!?” I finally gave my mom some suggestions for gifts, and they are the lamest I’ve ever come up with. I’ve asked for a belt. Actually, two belts, one brown, one black. My old belts don’t fit anymore–though i can not figure out why. (I’m not much smaller or bigger than I was when the belts fit.) But I couldn’t think of anything else.

Since I realized how close the 23rd is, I’m thinking about it quite a bit. A little introspective. I’m worried that it’s going to suck this year: day before Thanksgiving, I’ll be flying, will anyone think to email or call? Keeping my fingers crossed.

I hadn’t quite realized how much of a serial knitter (that is, knitting one project at a time) I am until I just got all sorts of excited about doing the Cover Your Head hatalong and Jaax and I agreed to knit our toe-up socks together. This will mean 3 truly active projects (the USMP is done being knitted, but still needs to be blocked and seamed and button-ed, so it’s not an FO but it’s not currently on the needles), and I’m finding that it makes me a little panicky.

I mean, I really want to start on my hat. I bought yarn and everything. But I haven’t thought of a pattern yet–will it be an allover tesselation? a band in the middle? a band at the bottom? something else?–and simply can’t bring myself to even think about it while I could be knitting up Pam. I wound the yarn for the toe-up socks, but don’t have needles for doing magic loop–and though I don’t know if 1s or 2s would be most appropriate, I can’t just do a swatch using dpns because that would take time away from knitting Pam.

All these other bloggers are working on more than one project at once, and I used to think I was like that, but in truth, I am not: I abandon a project if I start a new one. I don’t really keep them both going at once. (Remember the Lopi Tote? I even took it off the sidebar, because I’m totally not working on it.) I’m a one-project gal.

So I hope to get through Pam quickly so that I can catch up on all these other things I truly want to do. This isn’t as crazy as it might seem, because I’m making great progress–I finished the left front last night and am cranking away on the right front. I’m thinking I’ll be ready to work on a hat or pair of socks next week, at the current rate!

My friend Tamar and I took a journey west today after yoga–we went to Lancaster, PA, to see some Amish people and some pretty leaves.

I worked on Pam on the way out:

We mostly drove around, on some small roads through farmlands. Didn’t see any Amish people, unfortunately, just a bunch o’ Mennonites, and cows. Because the weather was so nice, everyone had their laundry hanging out on the line. This house had about twenty pairs of stockings all drying, but unfortunately they were in front of a dark tree and the photo didn’t capture them very well. Plus we were trying to take the picture surreptitiously from the slowly moving car. I did what I could, with this second shot:

The cows were great. I’m really impressed with this shot, as we were speeding along at about 40 to 50 mph at the time–I can’t believe I captured the cow so well. I was definitely trying to get it just right; I’m amazed I did.

No squashes or apples. In fact, neither of us bought anything the whole time. We just drove around, then took a short walk around “Downtown Lancaster” and then headed back. We’d intended to go to the Central Market, but it closes at 2 on Saturdays. We ate dinner in Philly, and I just got home. I’m exhausted! It was such a fun day out in the country. It’s nice to get out of the city from time to time. I also made some good progress on Pam, until I lost the light and had to stop.

I actually just hemmed two pairs of pants. Let’s all take a moment, please. It’s a momentous occasion.

Sewing and I are not best friends. Jaax and I took a class a few years ago, learned how to make some things, but my sewing machine and I were never in love. I tried to make some dresses, but the whole cutting thing was too intimidating. Unlike knitting, you kind of have to get it exactly right or the pieces won’t line up.

So, I mostly just hem pants these days. But in my head, this is a huge production, a pain in the butt, and more effort than I want to expend. Hence something I avoid. Still, I’m 5′4″ (maybe 5′5″), and pants these days are cut for women 6 feet tall, so I’m left having to hem. I had three pairs to do, but have quit after two pairs because the last pair has a lining, and that really should count as two pairs in one, and well, four hemmings in one morning? All before 10 am? Nope, can’t do it, sorry.

But now that I’ve done the priority two, I can finally, finally wear the new jeans I got, ones that fit. And a pair of Anthropologie pants I got on sale for $30. (Incidentally, I had been shopping with a 6-foot-tall friend at the time, and she bought the exact same pair. It was so funny to each come out of the dressing room with these pants on–I’m dragging at least 5 inches, but they fit her perfectly.)

A friend (a shorter-than-me friend, incidentally) and I are talking about driving out to “the country” today to get some squash and apples and such. I think the new jeans will make their debut.

I’m sorry I was so blase about giving info on Pam; two of you have already asked about the yarn. Which I really should have thought to include at the outset.

I’m using Debbie Bliss wool cotton–it’s 50% merino wool and 50% cotton. The damn stuff, which knits up nicely, will not felt. I could cry, that I’ll be having to sew in ends. Sigh. It’s also cutting into my finger, as cotton is wont to do, but that’s not nearly so sad as the lack of felting ability. Waaah, whine whine whine. I’m using size 5 addis, which is smaller than the pattern calls for and bigger than the yarn calls for, but is turning out stitches that look “right” to me.

The cable pattern is finally engraved on my mind. The tops of those open Vs: It’s the one spot in the pattern where the return row (which I think of as a “purl row,” even though it’s actually purling purls and knitting knits) differs from the one before. Meaning, it’s not a straight old “purl row” as I think of it–I have to incorporate pattern. Inevitably, I forget about that, and I just work straight across, making all stitches the same as the one below. And then I have to go back and take it out and fix it. There’s a glitch of that sort in the second repeat, but I’m just not going to take it out to there. No one will know but me. Well, and you guys.

Update on the DMV: I just looked online to confirm what kinds of documents they’d want to see, and ohmigosh, I can renew online. I’ll try it on Monday when I’m back at work (you need a printer, and we don’t have one at home). Psyched! More time to sit on my own couch to knit–while watching the first season of Alias on DVD. I recently stopped watching Alias (it got too ludicrous), but I was a big fan for the 2nd and 3rd seasons. I’d only ever seen bits of season 1. So I’m watching them this week.

I didn’t want to be one of those people who broadcasts these kinds of things on my blog, but I can NOT resist: Someone (will you come back now that you’ve been here and seen how bad a match it was for your search?) found my blog by doing a search for

This blog couldn’t be further from that, content-wise, and it makes me laugh quite a bit to think that you actually clicked on the link to get here.

I figure now’s as good a time as any to show what I’ve been working on.

The Pam cardigan from Rowan 30

Of course, if you look about 6 rows back from where I left off, you’ll see an error, which I’m about to go fix–unfortunately, fixing will include frogging (I can’t just drop the stitches down to fix). It’s ok though; I’m unperterbed.

I’m really enjoying working the cables, especially as I looked at Grumperina’s tutorial for cabling without a cable needle. Wow, does it make for speedy work of cables. Of course, the real challenge is remembering the pattern from row to row–and the tops of those Vs always get me confused. I’m really liking the pattern: love the repeated use of moss stitch, and the way the cables turn in different directions based on which side of the sweater they’re on. I wasn’t totally in love with the pattern simply from the picture, but I think I’m going to like this sweater a lot.

The vacation is going great, though I’ve lost steam on all the organizing and cleaning. I have three pairs of pants that need hemming, but I haven’t even gotten the sewing machine out yet. The hanging part of my closet still needs scrutiny. I need to test a cake recipe for a cookbook a friend’s working on–that’s the task for this afternoon. Tomorrow I have to go to the DMV–my license expires this month. That sucks, and it is not the way to end a vacation, but it just occurred to me that I need to do it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they will be chill about seeing corroborating evidence that my address changed: all my bills are online now, so it’s not like I have an electric bill to show!

But, at least I’ll have something to work on while I’m sitting waiting at the good old DMV.

I cleaned my closet this morning. What has come over me, seriously. It’s like someone far more neat and clean than I has taken over my body.

I also took a walk, and went to Sophie’s Yarns. They’re moving in February to a space on Fabric Row, which excites me greatly, as I live off of Fabric Row. I chatted with the owner about the new space for a while, as I tried to fend off the aggressively friendly store cat. What is it about knitting stores and cats? Honestly, cats are nice and all, but I don’t want their hair and dander all over materials I’m going to be holding for hours on end, what with being allergic. Still, I like Sophie’s Yarns, and I like the owner quite a bit.

A new hat is on my list of things to do this week–I decided against the “fun hat” for the time being–and so I bought myself some yarn in my two new favorite colors (icy blue and chocolate brown) to do a hat. I’m thinking double-sided, two color, reversible. Not sure of the design yet–I’ll play around tonight. Here’s the yarn.

In the meantime, I started on a cardigan. No pictures yet, because the light is getting bad. But tomorrow I should have some good progress to show!