FO: Rusted Root

Guess who finished something, like, a week ago?!

(click for bigger)

Me! That's who. And the what is the much-anticipated Rusted Root. I love this one, I really do. I think it can be thrown on over just about anything, and dressed up or down to my heart's content. Despite the super-funness of it, I should say that I was kind of shocked at how heavy it is. I know it's cotton and all, but damn this garment has heft. On to the specs:

Yarn - around 7 skeins of Karabella Zodiac. As usual, I bought the recommended amount, and ended up with a substantial amount leftover. I really ought to just start buying enough for a size or two smaller than I'm making (must be the short torso). I shared my thoughts about the yarn itself here.

Needles - Inox 29" size 6 circular for the body and Inox 29" size 4 for the ribbed edges

Pattern - Rusted Root by Zephyrstyle. I talked about this pattern a little bit already, and my feelings haven't changed that much. I still think that the pattern as written is a nice, simple top that would look great a girl with a bit less up top and longer, leaner lines....you know, not me. Which brings me to the overhaul:

• I replaced the lace motif with a cable motif. It's a habit. This particular cable is ripped off from Shedir.
  
• Once again, I held a shaping extravaganza. All the shaping was added along the side 'seams.' I did it the same way as last time, by first taking my bust, waist, and hip circumference and then measuring the length from my shoulder to bust, bust to waist, waist to hip, and then the overall length. I converted the numbers to my gauge, and then figured out how many stitches I need to add/subtract per zone and divided by the number of rows in said zone. As my mom would say, it was a lot of ciphering. But, considering that I didn't end up with a weirdly long baggy t-shirt, I think the ciphering was worth it.
• The sleeves came out wonky. This wasn't intentional, it was just me not following the pattern. I increased for the puffiness, but then totally zoned out and never decreased. Son, now, it's less puffy and more floppy. I think I'll add a kicky ribbon or elstic or something to puff-ify them when I get around to it.
• Last but not least, I changed the ribbed edging on the bottom hem, neckline, and sleeves to a 1 x 1 rib. It was written as a 2 x 1 rib, but that didn't work well with the fancy new cable panel, so I switched it.

And that's all she wrote, basically. Oh! Speaking of writing, guess who totally can't at all? That's right, my students! They're godawful people. In fact, you see how cute and gleeful I am in those pictures? Well, those pictures were taken last Tuesday, right before I went in to teach (see, cause they're semi-professional and don't emphasize the 16-ishness too much...or at least that what I keep pretending). I was all perky and stuff until I had to tell them that they're papers kind of totally sucked ass and that the class average was a B-. They were NOT HAPPY about that, let me tell you, and every single one of my 42 students wanted to come in for a draft of their next paper. So, that's what I spent the last week doing. Jon can vouch for me.

I really don't get these kids. I mean, I like getting As as much as the next person, but I was never such a grademonger. Seriously, kids (I call them that as if they're actually a lot younger than me. They're seniors mostly, so, that's not all that accurate) were coming in to argue about getting points off for formatting. One of my students went behind my back to another TA to try an get her to grade her papers from now on. The other TA, of course, refused....which is actually good for the student because she's totally a harder grader than I am. Anyway, point is, I don't understand the rabid fighting for points or the assumption that everyone should get As just cause. Kids today.