And now...

...for a visual summary of my weekend (AKA: where I show that I have, in fact, been taking my required pictures.

January 4th:

This is a really wretched picture, I know, but I took it in the evening, and that's the time of day that's worst for my poor camera. This is a picture of the finished cable section of the yoke of my cable luxe tunic. It has since been sewn together. However, I'm faced with another design dilemma. The pattern asks me to (quite reasonably) pick up stitches along one edge in an area I have marked out (to be the back). I, however, have decided that I do not like the way it looks to pick up said stitches.

The way the yoke was knit has left a 1 stitch ridge on each edge of the yoke piece itself. It looks like this:

\/-----{0}-----\/

I know it's a horrible representation, but pretend the V's on each side are knit stitches, the dashes represent the purled area between the edge of the piece, and the O with the brackets is the cable.

I like the knit stitches where they are. I would not like to pick them up. In picking up these stitches, that dimension disappears and the whole thing smooths out. I've decided I don't want that. So I've been trying to think of a way to get my ideas put into action. I thought about maybe picking up from the purl bumps just next to the knit stitches, but I'm worried about pulling the fabric in funky directions. I'm currently mulling over the idea of a strip of single crochet on the yoke, from which I could pick up the stitches without ruining the effect the edge has on the piece.

That might have made no sense. I guess it's kind of hard to explain without a decent photograph (here's the part where I hope everyone reading glares really hard in the general direction of my poor, defenseless camera). I want to figure it out soon - I'm excited to get to work on the body of the sweater.

January 5th:

Ahem. Do note, however, the presence of the cough medicine in the foreground.

January 6th:

This is due to that sickness I posted about on the 5th. It was like a short lived cough-cold thing that I had pretty well beat after only 2 or 3 days, a lot of liquids (non-alcoholic, thank you), and some rest. It's just about gone now.

January 7th:

I started work on the new shedir! And now, I'm happy to say, I absolutely love it. I'm using the Bernat Soy Blends I picked up at Michael's not too long ago, and despite the high acrylic content, I'm very impressed with the softness and the stretch in the yarn. And the stitch definition! My little twists and ribs are turning out beautifully, if I do say so myself. I sat down and worked through the 9 rows of ribbing and about 1 of the pattern repeats before doing this blog entry. It is absolutely whirring by.

It's interesting to note the things I've learned since the last time I tried to make this. The first time, I was using a really splitty sock yarn on a circular needle that was too long, and too pointy. I was trying to muscle my way through the pattern by staring at every stitch, and just found myself getting more and more frustrated every round because I would make one small mistake. This time, I am able to look at the pattern, and see that: "In this round, they simply want me to do X." And then I go around without even looking at the chart. It's so much more enjoyable to knit this time! It'll be finished very soon. I'm very excited.

Today I also picked up Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac. Just flipping through it I smiled at some of the phrases I came across. Things like: "And now, I must go through the unappealing process of calculating my gauge." When I handed the book to the cashier, she smiled and said: "Ah! You've got the master, there!" I nodded.

How cool would it be to have people call you "the master"? Not just in regards to knitting, but anything! To be able to be recognized as having complete mastery of a subject (be it knitting or car building or...waffle making) must be a neat thing. I wonder how many people think they are a "master" at what they do? It makes me think about things I'm good at, and about the things in which I still have room to grow. I'd like to master something(s) someday. I mean, it's not like anyone ever reaches a point in their life where they stop and say: "All right! That's it. I'm done. I've learned everything I'd like to learn, I'm ready to stop now." Mastery of a subject comes with the ability to evolve with it...to be ready to learn new things all the time, despite knowing so much already.

I guess this thinking spawns from college and career-related discussions and thoughts I've had lately - I'm just so excited to have an area of expertise and get the opportunity to use it, I can hardly wait.

Are you an expert at anything? Would you like to be?

I, for one, would currently like to be an expert on inventing methods of picking up stitches on sweater yokes.

But that's just me.