3rd time is the charm?

I've knit a plain black top-down raglan body twice already and each time, I had to rip and start again. I'm almost finished a third attempt now and I hope with all my heart that it is going to be close to fitting my actual body and not some other body who is twice my size. I don't know what is happening - I'm measuring and calculating but nothing is ending up the way it should. I suspect it's an issue of ease. I'm still not sure how to deal with calculating ease into my patterns - do I need two inches? No inches? Negative? I don't quite get it. Does anyone out there have any suggestions of how to deal with the ease problem? Cause trial and error just isn't cutting it for me. Anyway, that should explain why I have nothing to show you - I've been knitting black stockinette for two weeks straight.

Maybe I'll take a little Demi break to calm my nerves.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

My Sunday was spent brunching, walking and knitting and that's just the way I like it. The walk was to the Toronto Public Library to pick up Knitting Around by Elizabeth Zimmermann. I didn't know much about Zimmermann until learning of her from Jess of Fig & Plum. Jess has since started up Zimmermania, and since I'm thinking about knitting some mittens from the book (and then probably buying a copy of the book to keep), I might have to join in the fun. I then played with my Knitpicks Palette for a while to try to find some mitten appropriate colours, as well as to try to figure out if I can knit the Enid Cardigan using it as well. I'm not so sure that I'm going to be able to knit the cardi using yarn from my stash, and I'm wavering on the pattern itself anyway since I would be faced with more endless rounds of stockinette before the fun colourwork on the yoke. Speaking of endless rounds of stockinette, I'm almost finished the body of my top-down cardigan knit from my Boxing Day sale score. I also managed to cast on for a pair of socks that will also be, you guessed it, stockinette. As for Demi, I didn't actually knit anything yesterday, I just took a progress photo of the sleeve. I'm finding this pattern pretty slow going, and it's unlikely that I'll be finished in time to wear it this season. I'm a little sad to think that I might have to wait a year to wear it, but it's all about the process anyway, right?

Holiday recap

I"m just going to go ahead and post a numbered list of all the things that have happened in the last three weeks in the interest of detailed record-keeping. Here goes:

1) I made this awesome pair of mittens for a good friend and I was so excited to give them to her, I forgot to take a photo. One of these days, I will reclaim them (if only for a moment) and snap a pic. I'm quite proud of them - they're a traditional cross motif done in white and gray and she loves them!

2) I received a TONNE of knit related Christmas presents from a very special awesome person. My very first pair of Addi Turbos and a ball winder/swift combo that were apparently very difficult to track down. I'm so lucky! ACTION FOOTAGE:















[Note my extreme joy on my face resulting from the fact that the entire process takes about 5 minutes to complete, rather than the 20-30 it takes to wind a ball by hand. THIS IS A LIFE CHANGING PIECE OF MACHINERY.]

3) Romni had 25% off everything in the store on the 27th of December. I only spent $75. Really. I picked up 6 balls of Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Worsted (which is quickly turning into an everyday black cardigan) and Lopi 26. This particular Lopi booklet has a pattern for a horse blanket in it - totally insane.

4) I've started a sleeve for Demi (using the Tahki Donegal Tweed I was winding above). Twisted stitches are going to haunt my dreams after this one. I might take some photos tomorrow if I can bring myself to haul it out. Here's the photo from the book for now:



That's all the knit-related news. Time for some Kenny vs. Spenny (and some knitting, of course!)