Jon's Extended Birthday Shenanigans
As discussed in the last post, Jon's birthday got stretched over two days because of my inability to buy him presents ahead of time and wake up before noon. I'm happy to report that his presents came in! I got him a book and a computer game, Rise of Nations, and he's very happy with both. In fact, one of the reasons I haven't updated the blog is because he's been hogging my computer (which is faster than his) to play it.
I should have seen that coming, though. We have this game on my family computer in Texas, and Jon's been known to sneak off at random times to go play it in secret when he's down there. Seriously, one time we were watching a movie and Jon excused himself to go to the bathroom.....and never returned. After the movie was over (two hours later), I found him totally absorbed in some campaign against the Germans or something. Which he later lost.
Anyway, I did manage to take Jon out on a date. Tuesday night, after playing Rise of Nations for several hours, we went to go see Pan's Labyrinth. Which was fantastic and well worth seeing. Especially since the local movie theater only charges $2.50 for student tickets on Tuesday night. I don't know why I didn't know about this earlier.
In many ways, Jon's birthday has extended all the way to today. We're going to go see Amazing Grace tonight because it's got Horatio Hornblower in it, who Jon loves, and it's about the British, who Jon also loves. I also finished his socks, which makes them his last birthday present. I think he loves them too. Just full of love, that one.
_
Yarn - 3 skeins Artyarns Supermerino (100% merino wool, 104 yards) in color 119 plus some leftover Classic Elite Renaissance Heathered yarn (100% wool, 110 yards) in black truffle that I still had from making a hat for Jon's brother over a year ago. For the first sock, I ended up using 1 1/2 skeins of the supermerino by the time I needed to start the toe decreases, so I decided to play it safe and knit the toes in a different color. Turns out my instincts were right, because I only had about a yard and a half left of the last skein of the supermerino when I started the toe of the second sock.
Needles - size 3 addi turbos, worked using magic loop.
Pattern - Here There Be Dragon socks, upscaled version, just like these. I made a few modifications, though. I didn't do the fancy-schmancy toe and heel that the pattern calls for. I substituted the standard flap heel for durability and to give Jon more room in the instep. I knit the flap about 25% longer for him than I do for myself before turning it, which seems to have done the trick (see the pictures above for the freakishly long heel and gusset). I substituted a standard wedge toe because I had to use different yarn and thought it would look dumb to continue the pattern with contrasting yarn. Also, I figured Jon could use the extra durability considering his track record.
Other Knitterly Happenings
While Jon's been playing Rise of Nations, I've been surprisingly productive. In addition to finishing his socks, I finished knitting the second sleeve of the bolero I've been working on since forever.
_
Before picking up the stitches along the opening and starting the ribbing, I decided to block it to give me a sense of how long to make said ribbing. I pinned it out to let it dry and felt very productive and responsible. See the closeup above? That's what the braided slip-stitch pattern look like when it's blocked out. Nice huh?
I started the ribbing, but I've only got 3/4 of a skein left and I'm pretty sure that's not quite enough. The project's on hold briefly until the yarn and new needles (32" size 9 addi turbos) I ordered come in. The 16" bamboo circular is just not working for dealing with the hundreds of stitches that have to be worked in tedious 1 x 1 ribbing. Besides, I'll need them to make Jon's sweater, so I figured I should go ahead and get them sooner rather than later.
I also started Flair:
I'm about halfway done with the yoke. I'm basically following the pattern, but I decided to add a few cables because I can't seem to knit a pattern without altering some part of it. I wonder why that is.
I've been obsessed with this sweater since the pattern's been available, and worked on it with a hungry desperation all day yesterday. Usually I knit for the pleasure of knitting and my enjoyment of the resulting product is a fun bonus, like those toy prizes in cereal boxes. This time, I need that sweater. Here's hoping it lives up to my absurdly lofty expectations, right?
PS - Stay tuned! Jon's going to be authoring a guest post that you're not going to want to miss either today or tomorrow.
Needles - size 3 addi turbos, worked using magic loop.
Pattern - Here There Be Dragon socks, upscaled version, just like these. I made a few modifications, though. I didn't do the fancy-schmancy toe and heel that the pattern calls for. I substituted the standard flap heel for durability and to give Jon more room in the instep. I knit the flap about 25% longer for him than I do for myself before turning it, which seems to have done the trick (see the pictures above for the freakishly long heel and gusset). I substituted a standard wedge toe because I had to use different yarn and thought it would look dumb to continue the pattern with contrasting yarn. Also, I figured Jon could use the extra durability considering his track record.
Other Knitterly Happenings
While Jon's been playing Rise of Nations, I've been surprisingly productive. In addition to finishing his socks, I finished knitting the second sleeve of the bolero I've been working on since forever.
_Before picking up the stitches along the opening and starting the ribbing, I decided to block it to give me a sense of how long to make said ribbing. I pinned it out to let it dry and felt very productive and responsible. See the closeup above? That's what the braided slip-stitch pattern look like when it's blocked out. Nice huh?
I started the ribbing, but I've only got 3/4 of a skein left and I'm pretty sure that's not quite enough. The project's on hold briefly until the yarn and new needles (32" size 9 addi turbos) I ordered come in. The 16" bamboo circular is just not working for dealing with the hundreds of stitches that have to be worked in tedious 1 x 1 ribbing. Besides, I'll need them to make Jon's sweater, so I figured I should go ahead and get them sooner rather than later.
I also started Flair:
I'm about halfway done with the yoke. I'm basically following the pattern, but I decided to add a few cables because I can't seem to knit a pattern without altering some part of it. I wonder why that is.
I've been obsessed with this sweater since the pattern's been available, and worked on it with a hungry desperation all day yesterday. Usually I knit for the pleasure of knitting and my enjoyment of the resulting product is a fun bonus, like those toy prizes in cereal boxes. This time, I need that sweater. Here's hoping it lives up to my absurdly lofty expectations, right?
PS - Stay tuned! Jon's going to be authoring a guest post that you're not going to want to miss either today or tomorrow.
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