I ripped him back to the neckline again!  On each rip (my notes tell me this was #4) I’ve made the body slightly smaller than before.  Yes, that’s right, I am putting my poor stuffed bear on a series of crash diets.  It seems I really prefer my toys to look slightly bobbleheadish.  However, an undeniable perk of ripping and then going smaller is that each re-knit is faster than the last. Result? One more arm and a paw to go, and then Roosevelt will be all done!

This project is part of a 2010 effort I’ve been working on to knit projects entirely from stash. So far I’ve been doing well on not adding to my stash (nothing new this year!), but I’ll admit I also have not been doing a load of knitting. However, with fall looming, it’ll be time to start thinking of Christmas gifts soon, so I hope to be doing some serious stash whittling in the coming months.

However, to counterbalance that, this year I also got a really late start on my garden (was out of town until mid-April), so it’s nearly the end of June and my tomatoes are still looking pretty puny:

The weather here is pretty mild year round so I’m hopeful that these will eventually yield some fruit despite my slackness early in the season.  And if not, that’s okay too–I enjoy the process of gardening almost as much as the finished process, so even in a year with limited yields I feel like I’ve gained something!

And finally, one thing that is doing really well, basil!

(although I confess its success is partially due to the fact that I purchased it as a plant rather than growing from seed…)

I knit these gloves in 2003 and gave them to my mother as a Christmas present.  They’re pretty basic, 100% wool, no fancy stitching or colorwork.  Just gloves.  Since I’ve made them, I’ve seen my mother wearing them numerous times when I’ve been visiting over Christmas, and she’s mentioned in phone conversations how nicely they match a scarf she acquired later.  I tried them on as soon as I noticed them and found they were still warm, cozy, and in good condition.

I know when I take stock of my knitting I can see a lot of projects that were ill-conceived or that simply refused to work out.  My knitting drawer has lots of these kinds of reminders: half done projects, yarn that may never get used, and so on.  They’re all right there.  Good projects, however,  don’t always present such a constant reminder.  They get given away, or worn so often that they’re eventually beyond repair.  So it’s really nice when one pops up unexpectedly to remind you that yes, you do knit a lot of great stuff that balances out the pieces you aren’t so fond of.

Finding these gloves also got me thinking about starting another pair for my mother.  Since she likes (and uses) these so much, maybe it’s time for an upgrade.  Hmmmm….

I’ve conceived this latest project as a fairly straightforward short-sleeved stockinette cardigan, perfect for cool spring mornings, or layering over long sleeves in slightly chillier weather.  A few of my favorite all purpose sweaters have finally started biting the dust recently (and after years of hard wear, I can’t say I’m too surprised), so it’s high time to work up replacements like this one. The yarn is a Berrocco 50/50 wool/alpaca blend, in a gorgeous purple color that I am currently unable to get the camera to capture properly (oh well). It’s super soft and I can tell this is going to make a great layer for keeping my core warm in chillier weather.

However, I am now returned from my blogging hiatus (I hope) and guess what?  While I was gone, I finished that wrap:

Apologies for the weird angle and grotty mirror, I will rig up a good self-timer set up again soon, promise!

This cardi is definitely one of those projects that turned out just as well as anything I was envisioning in my head during the design and early knitting phases.  It fits like a dream: nice and form fitting without being too tight, and the fit is really perfect pretty much everywhere.  If I were making it again (and I plan to), I would not change a thing.  This is also definitely an example of how if you pick the right yarn and take the time to figure out the perfect gauge for what you want in a finished sweater, the hardest work is pretty much done for you.  As far as knitting skills required go, this cardigan was very simple, even mindless to knit.  But the merino/angora blend and the slightly loose gauge combined to create a soft fabric with just the perfect amount of drape. It also goes through the delicate cycle of my washing machine with no ill effects.  I took a lot of notes and am thinking I may be making another in a lighter color as soon as I can identify some appropriate yarn.

Details, such as they are:

Pattern: My own, general style is top-down raglan

Size: Technically designed to have a 32″ finished bust, fits my roughly 36″ bust perfectly

Yarn: Colourmart UK 4/16NM DK weight 75% merino/25% angora, 660 yards/150g, in a navy color

Gauge:

Needles: US 5 for everything except the ties, which were on a US 1.

Yes, that’s my tetris scrap afghan that I started a year or so ago.  No, it isn’t finished.  It is, however, starting to look more afghan-like in its proportions (as opposed to misshapen and oversized washcloth like).  I’ve run into a bit of a snag with regards to color balance, though.  While I still have loads of different purple yarns, I’m running thin on both browns and strong pinks.  No good.  Fortunately, I’m taking the train down to my parents’ this weekend, where I have a fair amount of stash in semi-permanent storage.  I know there are a couple of balls at least kicking around down there that will be perfect for this project.  And my mother will be thrilled that some of my yarn is leaving the house! 

The big summer fruit season is mostly over so I’ve been keeping mine pretty simple: soymilk, an apple, an orange, and a couple cups of raw kale or spinach.  Yes, it looks like space alien slime. But! It is really pretty delicious and the taste of greens is not overpowering or really strong at all.  I’ve been drinking these for breakfast for the past couple of weeks, sometimes with different fruits (last week I was lucky enough to score a pomegranate!).  With the soymilk, they have a nice balance of carbs and proteins and really keep me going until lunch.  As an added bonus, I’m noticing that my skin is much clearer and has a bit of a fresh looking glow to it that only seems to come when I’m loading up on the raw fruits and vegetables.

My current project is a pair of sample hats for a class I am teaching in December.  This weekend I took a train trip to San Francisco, so I had loads of time to work on them on the way up:

The pattern is one of my own, and you can find it in the 2009 Gifts issue of Interweave Knits.  For the class samples, I’m using the recommended yarn (Canopy fingering), but we’re mixing up the color schemes a bit. I am really loving working with this yarn so I think I’m going to have to find more reasons to use it in the future!

And of course, I eventually had to come back from San Francisco, which meant another round of knitting (unfortunately every time I thought to take a photo we were bumping like crazy, so apologies for the blurring):