Cambridge Jacket
by Ann Budd, Interweave Knits, Summer 2006
yarn: Di.Ve' Zenith superwash in ginger, 12 skeins = 1440 yards
The Boy's Cambridge Jacket is finally, really, completely finished! I gave in and put the whole zipper issue into the hands of our local tailor after making myself sick about my sewing abilities, or lack thereof. It came back looking... well... like butt, frankly. I mean, the zipper was in and all, but the edge looked terrible. Probably mostly my fault, although the pattern doesn't really provide an edge other than single crochet, which I omitted. So I took the sweater back in hand and did a small applied i-cord down both sides and that really did the trick! It gave it a lovely finished look that makes me very happy! I hope The Boy still likes it in the final form as much as he did in his early fittings!
The part that does NOT make me happy AT ALL is this fracking yarn! Jesus H. Christ on a piece of toast! Who knew that a superwash wool would stretch like a cotton, fer chrissake! The damn thing grew two inches in length just with blocking (I was blocking for width, by the way), and then at the tailors the stored it on a HANGER, which added another two inches! Thank god The Boy is ridiculously tall - I'm sure he'll appreciate the gorilla arms this sweater now has. :-(
Note to self - suck it up. No more superwash. Any sweater recipients will just have to deal.
So one more down and two left to go. I've been working on The Mister's second sleeve every chance I get, but the seedstitch is boring the hell out of me. I'm forging on diligently anyways... albeit with martini in hand. ;-)
Another thing that's helping the mojo, particularly the spinning mojo (of which I have had.. ummm... none) is the redefining of my space within the apartment. Building 19, god bless 'em, had a big sale on sample orientals, so I took my trusty Subaru Baja and picked up two lovely new rugs for the living and dining rooms (thereby enabling me to move the heavy wool carpet into the bedroom to help ward off the chill from the only-partially-insulated floors). The end result are two actually quite fiber-friendly areas!
My knitting and computer area...
and - drum roll please - my spinning area! At long last!
Just this little thing has caused the return of my spinning mojo. To actually have a little corner to leave set up all the time has really made all the difference. Nothing puts me off more than having to re-place and re-adjust the wheel every time I feel like spinning for a half hour or so. And as a bonus this arrangment allows me to watch my blue jays and squirrels enjoying the birdfeeder! Joy! :-D
