Things that will make you feel better after getting a bad haircut:

1. The new Knitty. Several patterns caught my eye, including:

• Muir.
  
• Neiman.
• Urchin (by the fabulous Ysolda, whose blog I've been meaning to add to the blog roll).
• Q. I'm a sucker for the geometric.
  
• Back to basics.
• Even Woodins! They make me put exclamation marks after everything!

Although I may not get to making any of them, several makes me happy.

2. Addi Turbo circs from Knit/Purl. I love Knit/Purl. Gorgeous yarn beautifully arranged, and friendly people who compliment my $2 Value Village bag satisfyingly.

3. Buttons for Tangled Yoke. The lovely people at Button Emporium and Ribbonry in Portland were fabulous, as was the store. After I picked out a few I liked the saleswoman -- I didn't get her name, but she reminded me of Ina Garten (it was the hair)-- disappeared and came back with the exact. Perfect. Buttons. In the exact color of the sweater. Without even a the tiniest trace of my yarn. On the first try. So I bought two sets of buttons -- the ones she found (left) and the ones I found (right) for the same sweater because they were both so pretty and I couldn't decide.


Now the haircut doesn't seem so bad. But that could be the wine talking.

Speaking of Tangled Yoke, I've attached the sleeves. As one of my housemates said, "Huh. It actually looks like a sweater now." It will not, unfortunately, be finished for the trip to Scotland. It's so close, however, that I feel deluded into thinking that I can finish it by the end of the flight there. I'll keep you posted. Future posts on TY may include "How I should have known better than to use a yarn with any mohair content for a cabled sweater" or "Why deciding to make a sweater in two weeks will undoubtedly cloud your judgment."

My camera continues to completely misrepresent the color of my Tangled Yoke.

In other news, since I'm not sure I'll blog before then: I'm leaving on Saturday morning for Edinburgh -- exciting! There will be lots of wool, lots of whisky, and lots of beer. I hope to share pictures when I get back in a week or so.

Most recent podcast: NPR's Story of the Day.
Currently listening to: Pirates of the Caribbean.
What I should be doing: Packing. Knitting. Applying for jobs.

Grrr.

And not the washcloth kind.

I was going to blog next about the money I just spent on this project (short version: worth it, but frightening for one so very out of work), or on the wonderful experience I had at Unraveled.

But three (Three! Full-sized! With cable! I always skimp on swatching!)swatches later, and I am no closer to starting my there's-no-way-I'm-going-to-finish-this-sweater-in-three-weeks three-week Tangled Yoke Cardigan.

I tried Rowan Felted Tweed, the yarn called for in this project. It worked up lovely, right on gauge, but the tweediness wasn't working for me with this project. I wanted the cable to shine a bit more. (But I love tweed otherwise, I swear!)


So at Unraveled I pondered and compared and measured and thought and even asked for help (it's difficult for me. I almost neurotically like to appear like I know what I'm doing). The Unraveled person (I didn't get her name) was wonderful, helpful, gave me lots of options and then backed off to let me ponder and compare some more. I ended up with Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre in a deep purple color.

I knew it was going to be a problem when I chose the dark color. I knew it was going to be an issue that the yarn felt a little weightier than the Felted Tweed. But I took it home, and knocked out another cabled swatch. It's just too dark and fuzzy, and it eats up the cable, and the gauge is off.


What's making me the most crazy is the obvious difference in thickness of the two DK yarns. I'm not concerned about conformity of all yarns to one thickness here, but more: how do I pick a yarn? All of the Unraveled recommended yarns, all DK, are even thicker than the Jo Sharp.

So it's back to the yarn store today -- at the very least, for a new color of the Jo Sharp. Possibly a return to Felted Tweed, possibly a new yarn.

Ah well. I guess I shouldn't be complaining about spending another few hours in a yarn store.

Most recent podcast: Sticks and String.
Currently listening to: A friend on the phone.
What I should be doing: Going to the yarn store!

Fear of abandonment

I have consciously ignored the nearly completed Urban Aran for an entire day. Its finished, blocked pieces are arranged artfully on my dining room table, lonely and crying for attention, for the few days it will take me to seam it all together -- "you're so close!" -- but I avert my eyes on my way to and from the kitchen. (I also avoid the almost certain knowledge that the sleeves are way. too. long.)

On Monday, with my usual fearless passion, I dove in to the seaming process. I joined the shoulders satisfactorily, if not perfectly, and began the process of picking up stitches for the collar. I picked up stitches. Too few. I continued on, thinking it wouldn't matter. I realized this was a bad idea, and began again. Again, too few. I went back and forth, until, utterly frustrated and having visions of five green sweater pieces following me for the rest of my life.

So I put it down. I've realized that my usual, gung-ho, jump-right-in-and-I'll-figure-it-out-as-I-go attitude was not going to work here. So I'll read my Nancie M. Wiseman finishing book (again, it's not at Powell's), plan ahead, go slow, and figure it out. It'll just take me... a little longer.

In other news, be sure to read the best review of 300 that I've seen. The blog is excellent as well (if you haven't already seen it for yourself) -- one I check in on daily.

Most recent podcast: NPR's Sunday Puzzle with Will Shortz.
Currently listening to: Lonesome in Caroline, Chatham County Line.
What I should be doing: Forest Vegetation Sampling lab.