It's growing

The striped raglan top down sweater is growing both in size and on me.













This week I finished one sleeve and will probably finish the 2nd tonight and - as it looks more like a sweater and less like some misshapen rectangular mish mashery - I'm liking it a bit more. The colors, as I mentioned last week, really rock my world.

Other than that, I'm afraid, there's not a whole heckuva much to say. I guess, no news is good news, as "they" say. Given that, here's a brief list of the things I'm looking forward to this week:

1. The weather should be cooperative for a cycle tomorrow morning
2. The National Spelling Bee
3. The lilacs are finally blooming

William's got a fork stuck in him

Among many knitterly and non-knitterly to-doings this week, I did finish Sweet William:

The process went quite smoothly. I am a putzy finisher and tend to do and re-do seams ad nauseum, especially those for set-in sleeves, until is as perfect as can be. On this sweater, though, both sleeves were set in on the very first go:

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it and even the modified neckline will work just fine. All it needs is one final steam and it'll be ready to make its worldwide debut.

With one sweater project off the needles, it was time to cast on for a new one, of course. A few weeks ago, I was plotting my first - albeit simple design: a striped top-down raglan with a v-neck. I was really anxious to start it back then, but now that it was time to do so, mmmm...not so much. It probably didn't help matters that my first day with it was a bumpy one. With a new day, I decided to give it the ol' college try. The initial increases are almost complete but, sadly, the jury is still out.

The colors, though, rock my world - apple green is a perennial favorite and I'm extremely fond of having blue and brown together. This is my first top-down sweater, so it looks so odd to me. Perhaps once I get past the armholes and it starts looking more like a sweater, I'll be more pleased with it.

This week's happy news brought to you by the weather, which allowed for lots of around-town bike commuting and our first ride of the season on Saturday. We just took a shortie of about 15 miles or so (must get a new bike computer - I hate not knowing our mileage and mph!), but it sure felt good to put in some road time. We rode up to the Schlitz Audubon Center with a few meanders thrown in and the hill on Lake Drive was easy for us both despite a relatively brisk NW wind. It's always reassuring to get that first hill out of the way and to be assauged that a winter's worth of work at the gym wasn't for naught! We should be on our way to our 30+ mile rides in no time...that is, if the weather cooperates!

Knitting invention?

Now, don't get me wrong, I love me some Cookie A. sock patterns. They are brilliant and beautiful. But, while knitting in the car on the way to visit my mom, with the Pomatomus heel successfully turned, it was time to embark on the gusset which meant the dreaded Chart B:

Call me crazy, but the middle of the chart had me absolutely flummoxed. The blank square usually means "no stitch" of course, but what the heck was I supposed to do? Re-position the stitches on the needle? The pattern instructions only read: "While Chart B may seem confusing and neccessarily complex, the modifications are necessary to make the top of the foot rectangular..." Ok, yeah, I get that - but how do I modify it and still make the pattern flow?

I was stuck. In the car. With no knitting! I haven't been this bored in a long time and I swear, time stood still. I just wanted to stop at the nearest public library, get online and do some searching for clarification.

Within minutes of getting home and after typing in "Pomatomus Sock Chart B" into Google, I found this helpful little thread. A ha! You just keep knitting the pattern and actually ignore the blank boxes. I've said this to my students and this totally confirms my belief that the innernets wasn't invented by Al Gore...unless he is a knitter.

With the clarification in hand, my Pomatomus continues its growth in typical Cookie A. fashion, brilliant and beautiful.