Sunday, February 19, 2006

Samus obsession

Most of the time, as you can probably tell from the "On My Needles" part of the sidebar, I have several projects going on simultaneously. This is not weird. It makes sense, really. A small or recently started project is easily portable, perfect for public transport knitting and sneak knitting while listening to a speaker. Also, there always has to be one mostly-stockinette project, perfect for social knitting or other situations where deep concentration is impossible. Then there are the challenging projects, like lace knitting or intarsia, that require concentration and attention to detail. Finally, there are the quickie gift projects that get cast on when I suddenly remember that so-and-so's birthday party is next week and I had been planning to knit her something complicated but really only have time for a hat or wristwarmers (if I'm lucky), and get cast off as soon as I can whip them off the needles.

The Knitting Olympics has changed all that for me. Sure, according to my sidebar I still have several WIPs on the needles, but the truth is, Samus has become my obsession one and only knitting love since the lighting of the flame. My original goal was to finish the whole thing, with added waist-shaping before the end of the Games. Some minor details like my need for at least a few hours of sleep every night and the fact that I am not a speed knitter have caused me to drop the waist-shaping plan (thanks, Sami, for telling me it's possible to sew darts in later, thereby allowing me to justify that decision). At this point, I'm also thinking that maybe I should be happy with just having a complete sweater body. And maybe some sleeves started. As long as they're started, I can't get sleeve-itis, right? I mean, considering that the only other adult sweater I've ever knit got ignored for months at a time and took me more than a year to finish, maybe just getting to 75% in two weeks is a lot to be proud of. Right? Right?

Anyway, I had a round trip train ride to NYC yesterday to work on it, and tomorrow and Wednesday I'll be on Amtrak for about 4 hours each, so hopefully my wrists and shoulders will hold up and allow me to take full advantage of all that uninterrupted knitting time. Here's how Samus is looking now:


Maybe about five and a half inches? Only 9 and a half
more to go before armhole shaping...


The yarn is actually a greener and much more intense teal than it looks in that picture. What can I say? It gets dark early this far north. I did make one mistake in the cable band, but considering that it will end up being in the back of the sweater, I decided not the rip back to fix it. I can live with imperfection as long as I don't have to look down and see it every five seconds whenever I wear the thing:


The color in this pic is slightly more accurate.
But still too blue.


Not bad for my first ever attempt at cables, if I say so myself. My verdict on cables: Cables really are pretty cool. It's like magic the way they snake around all over the place. Oh, and I'm a chart girl, not a written directions girl, when it comes to cables. At least when the chart is as clear and easy-to-read as it is in this pattern. Hopefully, when I get back from DC (from my second-round interview for my dream job!!!!), I'll have at least started the armhole shaping...

5 comments:

Jenn said...

The cable looks beautiful! Good luck on your interview!

Zarzuela said...

Samus is looking great!! Good luck with round two of the interview. :)

Jules said...

Ohhh... if you move to DC I'll be able to visit you and go knit at Knitting Nirvana in old town Alexandria... and you'd get your dream job!

I'll cross my fingers for you and remember your beautiful cables!

Beth S. said...

This is your first cable project? Wow! You were brave, choosing a big complex cable like that to cut your teeth on. :-)

Emily said...

Wow, that cable is gorgeous! Good luck with the interview, I hope you get your dream job!