The suckage of sleeves

As an unapologetic tall&fat; my secret shame is that only for knitting do I wish I were but a tiny and delicate flower. Short of stature, and slender as a reed-if only to not have to knit such a large bust, and long sleeves and miles and miles of stockinette. If I were a wee slip of a thing, my sweaters would be so inexpensive! and knit so quickly!




 Anywho, I'm titling this blog "the suckage of sleeves" because knitting sleeves sucks. It just does. And I like long sleeves. Extra long suckage. Does anyone out there actually appreciate knitting sleeves? I've been reluctantly working on my Greenfield sleeves. I pick up the sweater, do a row or two here and there, then drop it for something else. And then I wonder why it's taking me so long to finish them. Happily though, I'm done switching colours on both the sleeves. One night last week, I opted to dedicate precious knitting time to weaving in all the ends from the colour changes, instead of actually knitting.  So many ends!

I also decided the first sleeve was long enough the way it was and decided to bind off with a picot edging.

Fun and cute! But it did not inspire me to finish the other sleeve quickly, like I thought it might.
I may do the bottom edging with a picot bind off as well. I'll see how crazy I feel when I get there (and if I have enough yarn).

Speaking (complaining) of sleeves...I (re)finished my Cypress cardy. I think i'm a lot happier with it now. I need to wear it out a few times before I can really judge. It was a LOT of 2x2 ribbing. 10 inches per arm. I started feeling like my wrist was going to get a repetitive stress injury so I took a two day break from knitting. That was painful, but a RSI and having to take a break from knitting for a couple of weeks would be way worse.  WIP!

                                                           FO!

The ribbing is under the elbow, I wanted a subtle leg of mutton style sleeve. I'm pretty happy with that design feature despite it not being a popular sleeve style right now. I used to have a sweater that had similar sleeves and I adored it until it fell apart in the wash.

If you are keeping track, that means I've been working on 4 sleeves.
Horrible.
BUT! 3 down, 1 to go! There is light at the end of the tunnel. I may be done the last sleeve by the end of this week if I focus and not cast on any more new projects (as if...)

I've sworn that I will not start any new projects until the sleeves are all done, but I'm amending that to swearing to not start any new sweaters until all the sleeves are done. Because I cast on something.

Ah, Maison Tricote-how I've missed you <3 In honor of my return, I cast on the Virpi Shawl with the pattern and yarn I picked up at TWIST.  It has a really nifty construction, and seems like it can be easily customized in terms of size. The Virpi is nice because I don't feel like I have to get it done (like sweaters which I want to wear right friggin now) and I can just enjoy the experience, pick it up whenever because the pattern (at the moment anyway) is easy to memorize.

And the yarn is GORGEOUS and perfectly squooshy and I keep smelling it because it makes me happy.




Socks. The perfectly portable, lightweight project is back in my life. I've made some major progress on my arc-en-ciel sock.

I finished the leg, knit the flap, picked up the gusset stitches, did the decreases and now I'm flying (or as much flying as my knitting actually does) down the foot.  While I had the arc-en-ciel waiting at home for the flap and gusset to be knit, I knit a couple of rows on my cabaret sock.

I still don't like the girly camo of the Cabaret sock, but I do love how squishy the yarn is. And then, at home one night, for a change of pace, I picked up my pixie dust sock and knit a couple of rows on that as well!

I may have to frog my pixie dust though, I've lost most of the pattern notes. I won't be able to do the second sock if I can't find the rest of my notes. I'm reluctant to frog it because of all the work that has been put into it, so it might just hibernate for the next year or so, and maybe the notes will turn up! ha!

Now, a few paragraphs earlier, I wrote about how I took  a wee hiatus from knitting in order to avoid an RSI? During that time I did a lot of internetting...Reddit+Imgur, Jezebel, and Ravelry of course. I've been coming across Zuzu's Petals by Carina Spencer, for a couple of years now, and hearing about it on several podcasts. I finally decided I MUST knit my own Zuzu's petals. I was originally going to knit it with the Julie Asselin Piccolo (in Nebula, which is stunning) that I have in stash and that I recently re-skeined, but the project pages on Rav showed some of the cowls that had been knit with Freia Ombre and they were so beautiful that I knew if I was going to knit a Zuzu's petals it was going to have to be in  Freia Ombre or nothing at all.
A quick trip to Espace Tricot and some lovely Freia Ombre M/S Fingering was purchased.

I chose the Amaranth and my fingers are itching to cast on. The only thing holding me back is that I need to get that last bloody sleeve done.

Though, if B remembers to pick out yarn from my stash that he likes, I may not be casting on Zuzu anytime soon. This morning on the way to school he told me he really liked my sweater (I was wearing Aiken-it was chilly this morning) and asked me if I could make him one. How sweet is that?  I told him that after school, if he remembers, we will look through my stash for a colour he likes and I'll knit him a sweater. More sleeves *sigh*  But at least his sleeves won't be as long as mine...



Once upon a time, before there was only knitting, I read. I used to read voraciously. I devoured books. Knitting has taken over the place in my heart where reading used to be. I still love reading, and books, but I love knitting more. So, oftentimes, when I read now, I read about knitting. At the moment, I am re-reading Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee. I have it on my e-reader, and I have a paperback version. I wish that I had read this book before I started knitting, or in my early days of knitting. I think everyone who wants to learn to knit or crochet, or is just starting to knit or crochet; should read this book. It's funny, and informative in a totally relatable way. It makes you want to be friends with Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee, even though I will forever ignore her suggestion of knitting a gauge swatch.
And recently, I read The Knitting Circle Rapist Annihilation Squad by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie Mcmillan. Not for everyone, because I really don't think everyone will get it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and fist pumped the air a few times. This is a radical, feminist, smart ass book and I loved it.