Coasting in to Paris

Just in time, I finished the cotton sweater. It's not perfect, but it's meant to be a knock-about sweater, so it's perfect enough. The Middle Teen, who's modeling this shot, wants me to make another, same body size but smaller sleeves, for her, which really means it must be close enough to perfect.


Whew. Now I'll take a rest day and then go back to MS3 (moving into the slow bee lane, because I need to add length to both the black and the white versions) and Vog On.


Dad's here, the last gasp of gardening before shmita is being done, one kid is starting summer vacation and the other is ending it--never a dull moment.

Knitter down!

Can you spot the mistake in the last of my TdF knitalong WiPs?



If you noticed that one shoulder slope was much wider than the other, you're more observant than I.

The sweater is going for dope testing. If it tests clean, I'll knit up the missing piece and graft it on. If not--off the team with it.

Vog On has been cast on. I never did expect to finish these by the end of TdF, so I'm happy enough to have just spun the yarn and started it.

Tour de France: Elimination rounds

Before this post, two members of the team which started TdF had been eliminated: the Clapotis Cap and the Mock Croc socks, neither of which had the staying power to remain on the needles throughout the Tour.

Today another member of the team was eliminated: the stained glass toddler sweater.


I'm not entirely thrilled with this sweater. The pattern writer was trying so hard to make the pattern simple to read, but with a little more details, things like the arm holes would have been much easier. Oh, well, it's for the gift stash, so I'll just let it stew in its own juices for a while.

Still in the ride is the cotton sweater which needs sleeves and 'Vog On, whose yarn I'm almost through plying (which will mean the rainbow batt will be eliminated from the Tour de Fleece team, making room for the brown Romney to take the lead.)

MS3 Black is still riding in the team car. Clue 3 done, but since the final clue won't be out when TdF is over, there's no way it's crossing the finish line.


MS3 white is in the car, too, but in the back seat, with Clue 1 a few lines away from being finished.

Something else is getting done around here. Though the Yarn Harlot may complain about teens who want to veg all day, my teens are an industrious lot.

My garden, she is a mess. Shmitta is coming up. Dad is coming for 3 months. Teens to the rescue.

They moved a tree-let that had been languishing in the shade cast by our big willow and built it a terrace

and they hauled scavenged stones and paving bricks to create this nice little herb garden and path under my office window.


Of course there is still tons of work to do, but they're making a good start. And the TV hasn't been turned on in months!

Kntting into the Mystery (week 2)

Clue #2 is done on I am Mysterious (Black).

Unblocked lace. So pretty. Not.
I am Mysterious (White) is up to Row 80 on Chart B (Clue 1). I'll probably not catch up with that one until the Harry Potter break week.

Skein #1 for the Rainbow 'Vog On socks is done, so I'm halfway through what I wanted to accomplish on the Tour de Fleece and will definitely have the yarn to finish all my Tour de France KAL team projects.

As soon as I finished the two remaining WiPs in the hopper , I can cast on; by then I should be finished plying the second skein.

TdF stage 2: roving to socks

The polka dot jersey crowd keeps climbing hills in the Tour de France KAL, and from the top of hill #2 I report FO #2 -- Mock Croc socks for The Spouse.

Statistics:

Mock Croc Socks

Pattern from Knit Picks

Yarn: Lang Jawool Color Superwash color 82.0202

Purchased: March, 2006, in Athens, Greece

And in preparation for the hardest TdF hill (and pedaling away on Tour de Fleece), yarn for 'Vog On is nearly done. Singles have been spun, and plying has commenced.


And in non-KAL knitting, proof that I am a total masochist. I decided my Mystery Stole 3 in black was too delicate for everyday wear, so I also cast on in a sturdier white yarn, with white beads (sturdy and subtle--hey, that's what people say about me!). Here's Clue A done.


No walking tour this week. Instead we went to Jerusalem to take advantage of a credit card offer for 50% off glasses in exchange for points. Still ended up spending 760 shekel on glasses for the Middle Teen, but they are nice kallah maidel glasses. Not that I want guys to make passes at her, despite the best bets amongst her friends being that she'll be engaged this time next year, to a boy she has yet to meet...

F'ing the O on the TdF

First mountain climbed on the Tour de France KAL. The Clapotis Cap is done. The Middle Teen doesn't love it -- says it looks too much like a hat a married woman would wear -- but she'll take it. Oh, well, they can't all be the stunning successes Skully was.

Tour de Fleece progress: another color of the rainbow spun. 2 more to go.