Hello from Peru!

Hello from Peru! For the next few months, my boyfriend and I will be volunteering with an NGO up in the Andes that works with local weavers; I'll know more about what we're actually doing once arrive, but in general, details about our travels can be found over here, at my non-knitting centered blog, which has served to reassure my many non-knitting relatives that I've been keeping warm and eating properly for the last few years. 

We've only been here two days, but I'm really liking Peru so far, even if it it's freezing. We've already encountered a number of alpaca, real and otherwise:

... and also seen lots of women knitting things, including some truly awesome Batman finger puppets that I'll try to post photos of later. 

Though I'm not totally sure what the internet situation will be like once we reach our town, I have enough yarn in my suitcase to last me way more than the three months we'll be here, including a few skeins of Bay Area yarn to remind me of home; I started a Swallowtail shawl on the plane, using the Thornill Lace I bought at Piedmont Yarn and Apparel back in Oakland, and have not yet decided what to do with this crazy gorgeous yarn from Pigeonroof Studios: 

Hopefully something good! Anyway, hello from Peru, and talk to you soon from the Andes :) 

me elsewhere!

Meant to post this ages ago, but, nonetheless! I was very flattered and excited to be interviewed by Deborah of Interrobang Knits, a gorgeous knitting blog which you should all check out. 

FO: Goodale

Despite Iain arriving last weekend (finally! hooray!) I was able to finish up my Goodale cardigan (the reincarnation of an earlier, doomed February Lady) yesterday afternoon, not long after we left Los Angeles for my mother's house in Oakland.

Why yes, those are home grown apples behind me! 

Anyway, Goodale ... sigh. There are so many gorgeous versions of this sweater on Ravelry that I had really high hopes when I began. It definitely turned out better than the February Lady sweater this yarn could have been, but I'm a bit dissatisfied with the end result. The sweater seems really fussy to me, in that everything last to be lying exactly right so as to prevent the pockets from flopping open and looking all weird - as the sweater currently is, I can't really see myself wearing it out much, because I'd never be able to stop worrying that it was all askew. I think what I'll have to do is eventually forgo the pockets, block the thing really carefully and sew the whole thing up so the front lies flat, but I'm just too discouraged by the whole thing to mess with it anymore at the moment.

The yarn I used was Madelinetosh Pashmina, which, despite coming in very tangly skeins and being rather splitty, is still one of my favorite yarns ever. I used size seven needles here, and the fabric has a beautiful drape to it (which may explain why the pockets won't stay put?)

So, that's Goodale for now - I may try and fix up the pockets when I'm in a more problem solving mood, but for now I'm going to put it aside. Just last night I was trying to explain to my mom that I love knitting because it's more forgiving and doesn't demand perfection the way sewing does (much like, to my mind anyway, the way cooking forgives mistakes in ways that baking doesn't - so, knitting is to sewing as cooking is to baking!) - not so much with this sweater, I'm afraid. 

RIP(ped out): february lady sweater

above: this photo is so old, it's from when I still lived in an apartment with tatami! 

Oh, February Lady; I don't think I made any progress on you since I took this photo back in ... November, maybe? I don't even remember. Perhaps it was a bit overambitious to fly blind with a much smaller gauge (to say the least of all the many modifications I had in mind). Also apparently I can't count: when - remembering my New Years resolution - I finally got the motivation to sit down with this sweater and finish it last week, a quick stitch count revealed that the two front panels were asymmetrical by like, ten stitches. How did I even do that? 

above: Goodale thus far 

It seemed like a waste to have two pretty skeins of tart sitting unknit and unenjoyed for nearly a year (to say nothing of making a mess of such a pretty pattern). The good news was, the two skeins of madelinetosh pashima were just enough to cast on for a pretty Goodale cardigan instead! Unlike the frogged February Lady misadventure, this time I'm following the pattern exactly, down to the recommended yarn. In two days, I'm already as far into the Goodale cardigan as I ever got into the February Lady, so here's hoping it'll be less drama and more fun than it's predecessor...