On the go some more

I warned that it would be a busy month, but little did I know...I definitely have more than enough to keep me at the computer for long days, but now I'll be taking a "business trip" back to Canada next month! I like to think of myself as fairly versatile and able to plan on my feet but usually I like a little more than two weeks' heads-up to plan trips that big! Ah well. I've already got some knitting plans for my time there (a good friend of mine has pretty much my entire stash, and my parents are holding the stuff I couldn't give up, so I have more than enough to play with...though you know I'll buy more, it just goes that way) and now I have two goals:

1. Finish my Aiken this weekend
2. Finish the doctor's comfy raglan

My Aiken is coming along at last - I spent a LOT of time grinding out the body last weekend. I wanted a longer sweater and this one now fits the bill; it's probably about 19 inches from the armpit, which is definitely lengthy. The neck has done something odd...I'm not sure if it's my cast-on or what, but the entire top went kind of rogue and is way too loose, even though I was sure my gauge was on. I threw down a row of edging and between that and the blocking I'm really hoping the whole thing tightens up. If not...well I'll do what I can with it, but I'm still finishing it. I'm partway through the first sleeve decreases but since the sweater is full-length instead of cropped, I'll probably make full sleeves. I think I have enough yarn; I bought one of those ungodly large balls of aran with wool but I must've pulled from the wrong side because it's been nothing but tangles the whole time. Comedy of errors, this.
The doctor's raglan is going a little more smoothly, despite my having to frog that whole first sleeve. I'm still a little worried about the body and this is the first large garment I've made him so I'm just nervous about the whole thing in general. But we'll get this other sleeve finished this weekend and get the whole thing together in short order, and then either it'll fit or it won't, but we'll see.

I still need to pick a project for the trip, though I'm really hoping there'll be some sleep in there. I've never gone against time zones before so we'll see how this jet lag shapes up. This may actually be the chance I need to start work with the gorgeous Tanis Fiber Arts Yellow Label yarn the doctor got for me for Christmas; I picked out a pattern last month but no one is surprised to hear that my queue is getting out of hand! It's that, a cowl (materials also from the doctor :D), or just all my yarns wrapped together to make the thickest scarf and toque I can manage - Canada is going to be quite a bit colder than England!

Both at the same time

It probably comes as no surprise to people who try to multitask, but there's actually no good way to efficiently do two things at once. This is my segue into talking about how much work I've been doing in my regular job this week, and how much is coming up this month. That always spells disaster for knitting achievements - when my regular job is flush with work, it usually means 12 hour days and not much of anything else but sleeping and coaxing the doctor into making meals when he gets home from his 12 hour days. Between the two of us, it gets pretty hectic during busy times.
In any case, I'm still plugging away with a variety of projects (my Aiken; the doctor's raglan, which just had an entire sleeve frogged as punishment for my not paying attention to size; an experimental scarf pattern; and still that headband, lurking in my nightstand) and have a few coming up as well. This week, my trip to the yarn store was rewarded with finding the exact perfect yarn I need for an upcoming worksock sweater (and maybe a sweater for me too!) as well as some lovely buttons. Have I mentioned how awesome buttons are? Probably not because I'm just learning to appreciate them. Before we moved here, I had incredibly limited access to excellent accessories. Buttons were difficult to find - I had to buy an assorted bag from Michaels and it was of incredibly limited use. Most buttons in it were too small and almost none of them matched. My yarn store here is fantabulous, a veritable Willy Wonka's chocolate factory of buttons: colours, sizes, shapes, patterns, you name it. So my favourite thing this week was picking out two pretty buttons to go on a crocheted bandana that's going into the shop. They don't quite match the main colour but I feel like they provide a nice monochrome accent, and they have a pretty pattern that adds a little bit of interest, depending on how you wear the piece.
Also headed into the shop: another cowl in the Magic: The Gathering series, this one for blue, or Islands. And now that I've got my hands on some lovely red aran, I'll be able to put together a red (Mountain) one. Ooh! And I just remembered I have white. So Plains are on the list too and then I'll have all five! Clearly I'm a collector. And a nerd, but that's obvious and awesome. So if you'll pardon me, I'm going to put on an Ironman marathon and do some data analysis. Happy Saturday!

Improvisations

It's been quiet on the blog but I think by now you know it's safe to assume I'm super busy when that happens! I finally settled down and finished the sweater for my friend Tiffany down at Little Mouse on the Prairie (lovely handmade jewelry - check it out!) so I get to mail that tomorrow and I'm pretty stoked about it. Below, I'm testing it out and the doctor is learning how to take candids. Work in progress.

With that one off my needles, I'm back to the doctor's raglan pullover, from a GarnStudio pattern here. I'm not using their yarn so my gauge is off and I'm a little concerned the arms will be a big small for him. But I also loathe frogging. I'm not sure which is worse! But casting on the sleeves today, I realized I don't have size 10 (6mm) double-pointed needles, which led me to try out a new technique: magic loop.

I kept seeing this magic loop technique in patterns that I was browsing on Ravelry, but thought it was a little weird and a LOT daunting. But since I wanted to knit and didn't have the right needles, I decided to try it out. It's a way of using your circular needles (the knitting needles that are on a cable instead of two separate straight needles) like double-pointed needles, and it involves splitting your stitches in half, pulling the extra cable out between the half-way point, and alternating between knitting each half. This description over at For Dummies was my guide (I'll take pictures over a video every time) and after I got past the really irritating cast on, the rest of it was quite easy! But after I finished the ribbing I had to switch to my 6.5mm needles and although they are double pointed needles, the yarn does not want to come off of them! I used some cornflour (corn starch for those of you in North America) to make them slidier but it was only temporary. Plastic needles and their own special quirks.

I'm looking forward to putting some new pieces into the shop this week too! A headband pattern maybe? A scarf? Even though it's comparatively mild here, the nasty cold snap in the Prairies definitely requires some bundling up! 

Happy back-to-work Monday everyone! Yeah yeah, I know, but let's all make the best of it ;)