continuing progress, in the face of banjo

Despite my cat's best attempts to prevent me from knitting by sitting on every piece of knitwear as soon as I turn my attention towards it, I am making progress on the pea pod baby set and the drop stitch lace tank.

Here it is on my mini ironing board.

In order to take that picture, I had to distract Banjo with a legwarmer. He fell for it, much to his chagrin.

The pea pod sweater is working up really quickly! Both sleeves and most of the body are done. The yarn is great to work with, and my plan is to go to Windsor Button for some cute buttons to finish it off. Upon seeing this sweater coming together, Alex's comment was "Babies are freaking small." It's true. They really are.

Then, the drop stitch lace.... it's going more slowly, partly because I want to get the pea pod done in time for the shower. Also because the cotton is not NEARLY as nice to work with as the merino. But it looks really pretty already and I love the color.


I think dark red is one of those perfect colors that manages to go with everything. I don't have enough of it in my wardrobe.

Not moments after that photo was shot, guess who came to sit on it. I pulled it out from under his furry butt just in time.

I turned my back for a second and he managed to squeeze his entire body onto the little piece of knitting. And yet, when I knit him something specifically for him to lay on, he will reject it. Why, Banjo?

He's all "Wots this? no cat furz on thees sweters yet. I will fix eet." Thanks, Banjo. Without you I would not have that flattering orange and white glow about me.

pea pods, tanks, and ADD

I'm currently working on the Pea Pod Baby set from Interweave Knits for a baby gift, using some delicious Debbie Bliss Rialto (100% superwash merino). For anyone who's thinking about using this stuff: It's beautiful to knit with and not scratchy at all, although it is a little splitty. I found a perfect shade of green, and the other colors in the line are soft but still saturated and not too pastel. The label recommends washing in cool water and drying flat or tumble drying only. I put a swatch in with the rest of my laundry -- in the washer on warm, and dryer on medium heat -- and my gauge was the same when it came out of the dryer. Actually, it may have grown about a half a stitch widthwise over 4 inches, but no biggie. The fabric looked a little fuzzier on the surface afterwards, but it felt softer and more fleecy too. There weren't any pills, just a halo on the surface. So go ahead and toss it in the washer. I think it'll be great for baby clothes. All the research on what kind of baby gift to make made me realize how different baby garments are from adult garments. There are garments that only exist in baby sizes that would be totally nonfunctional for adults. I'm going to explore this a little more and design some garments to knit for an art piece. We'll see... it may mean knitting NOTHING for myself for a while -- I don't know if I'll be able to take it! I'm making the drop stitch lace tank from Fitted Knits (Stefanie Japel's pattern book) as well, out of some Takhi cotton classic in blood red. It's going to be pretty hot, I think. That's if I can get through the back piece, the pattern of which reads something like "cast on x number of stitches. K2, P2 until you can't take it anymore. Cast off." Not the most entertaining. But the front is fun to make at least. I'd like to finish it before it gets cold again. Lace + New England winter = bad, bad idea.

I am just so freaking hilarious.

Here is a motivational poster I made of my cat Banjo, during one of his 15 minute foot-cleaning sessions. Cleaning your toes is serious business, apparently. I never knew. His fortitude and perseverance are lessons to us all.

Blog, Suzy, Blog!

I realize how out of touch I am with not even a single blog to my name. Having thoroughly exploited the information available on other people's pages, and with people constantly inquiring about the name and location of my nonexistant webpage, I am reluctantly agreeing to spend more time in front of my computer. Yay! I knit, I study, I knit, I study some more, I watch crappy tv, I cook, cook more, and bake. I play bass and guitar, I have a cat, I have danced for 18 years or so. Details to follow.