I’m getting the strange and almost irresistible urge to add some stripes to the sleeves of my Central Park Hoodie.  I think that if I don’t add these stripes I may run screaming into the street, flying the CPH above my head like some sort of demented surrender flag.  I believe the stripes will be neon orange, that’s the ticket…

(This picture is actually from yesterday; there’s slightly more right sleeve today and I finished the pockets.  They look awesome but due to a sudden temporary cessation of brain waves, they are just a tad too short in the height department.  My perfectionism and desire never to touch those pockets again are having an epic battle upon the shattered remains of my brain.)

Wow.  I love steeks.  They’re awesome.

This weekend was pretty busy.  Mainly with knitting the Central Park Hoodie.  I finished the fronts and seamed the jacket up.  I was shocked to find that I do not hate seaming, like I thought.  With a nice edge that hasn’t been ruined by slipping stitches and has been carefully blocked, seaming was actually kind of fun.  Almost meditative. 

I also took a few swatches and practiced steeking.  I highly recommend slicing up some swatches- it really removes the fear.  I tugged and yanked and jerked on the swatch and the stitches didn’t go anywhere they weren’t supposed to.  Late Saturday night (because careful cutting of a week’s worth of work should always be done late at night) I cut pockets in the front of my CPH.

The safety pins are holding on to the other stitches in the column that I cut.  I’ll be picking up stitches along the edges to form the pocket and then I’ll sew the lining to those loose stitches to secure them.  This was shockingly easy and kind of enjoyable.  There was hardly any freaking out as I cut the knitting.  Although I was very disappointed that the people with me were unimpressed by this sudden appearance of pockets.  I might steek everything now.  They’re really cool.

My shoulder plan is working out well too.  I knit the armhole about an inch longer than the pattern said (on purpose!) and instead of having to figure out what to do with the sleeve cap, I decided to work the sleeves top-down.  I seamed everything then picked up stitches around the armhole and worked short rows for the cap.  I’ll write more about this process later.  I can’t believe all sleeves aren’t done this way… it looks great!

Left front went off without a major hitch and pretty fast, given that pretty much all I’m doing is knitting on this.

Er, except that I forgot to put in the pocket.  I really wanted pockets.  So, this is what I’m thinking: steeks.

It’s ok, you can resume breathing now.  I haven’t done anything yet and I might decide that this is an outer layer that doesn’t need pockets.  Ha, who am I kidding?  I will pass up something I truly love if it doesn’t have pockets on it.  I’m going to practice on those seven swatches that I made.  My CPH is made with 100% wool, so it has some good “stickiness” to it unlike superwash.  It shouldn’t be too hard… right?  I mean, knitters have been steeking for hundreds of years.  I figure I’ll decide where I want the pockets once I do up the shoulders and side seams, sew down the right columns, snip, cry, pick up stitches, and bam!  Pockets.

I can hear you laughing at me, don’t think I can’t!

(I’m still working on the lever-style knitting videos.  The tripod-behind-my-shoulder plan does not seem to be working very well.  I think that I will need to trick someone into manning the camera for me.)

As much as I appreciate Kif’s guest post the other day while I was… indisposed, it was very hard wrestling the laptop back from him.

Now that I have it back (I think I will pay for this ousting with a midnight hair-ball) I would like to share this with you:

That’s right, an entire completed Central Park Hoodie back!  With short-row shoulder shaping, every cable turned the right way, the right size and everything. I win! (…but I really shouldn’t say that in print until I’ve finished it, lest I anger the knitting gods again.)  I’m on to the left front now, just finished the ribbing for it.

In other news, I haven’t told you about my fun trip to Weaving Works.  I went there with my mom while she was visiting.  I hadn’t been there before, even though I’ve lived in the Seattle area for 6 years!  I don’t have any pictures of the inside, sadly, but I can describe it for you!

When you come inside, there’s a massive wall and shelves full of yarn like Noro, Lana Grossa, and Sirdar.  There’s a great selection.  And then there’s the back third of the store.  Fiber and thread, in bulk.  Undyed cotton, nylon, wool, bamboo, rayon and more in all different weights and then there’s the dyed selection of those threads!  And the fiber!  Silk, wool of different breeds, yak, mohair, hemp, even milk and Firestar; it’s enough to drive a spinner mad.  There’s pre-dyed wool for felting and spinning and tons of undyed/natural fiber for dying yourself.  Silk in hankies and in cocoons if you want to do the reeling.  And some blends of fibers that are just great.  Sadly, not even the prices helped me decide- all the fiber is really well priced!  After a lot of indecision and burying my hands in bins of fiber, I decided on a few things.

	About an ounce of 80% merino, 20% bamboo blend, undyed.  This one’s just for experimenting.  I love knitting with wool/bamboo blends so I’d like to see how it spins.
	2.5 ounces of pure, undyed Blue-Faced Leicester top.  It’s soooo soft.  I thought I’d dye it myself, something fun.  Of course now I can’t think of a good color combination; blue or purple or brown?  And I can’t decide if I want there to be subtle gradations, stripes, or just a gentle switching of shades as I spin.  Any ideas?
	About 2 ounces of a pre-dyed 70% merino/30% silk blend.  I can’t stop petting it, it’s so luscious!  I even braided the hank so that it looks all pretty in the photo (notice I didn’t do that for the others!)  They had a small sample spun up at the store and it was beautiful.  This is what I’m going to spin as soon as I finish the CPH.  And what am I going to spin it on, you ask?
	My brand new, top-whorl spindle from Cascade Spindle Co.  I love their spindles and they’re all inspired by mountains in the Cascades!  This one is Mt. Baker, which is north of me, and we went skiing there a few years back.

The spindles are in the last part of the shop, with the spinning wheels, extra bobbins, niddy-noddys, and knitting needles.  Oh, and the books!!  So many shelves of books about anything to do with fiber.  This is my new favorite store.  It’s a good thing it’s not too close, otherwise I’d be overrun with fiber in no time!

I am Kif, The Cat.  I will be writing this post, since my human has broken her brain.  At the moment she is sitting in the corner gibbering something about a ruler conspiracy.

Apparently this madness started with her desire to make a jacket.  If she had warm fur like me, she wouldn’t need a jacket, but that is neither here nor there.  She wanted to make a jacket and she wanted to make it fast.  She spent time making toys for us cats, which she called “swatches.”  She dunked them in the sink and then put them in the Secret Room that we aren’t allowed in (even though I saw her let Arwen in the other day!)  The next day, she would come out of the secret room muttering that the stupid knitter who designed this jacket must be the loosest knitter in the world.  Then she’d make another “swatch” with larger tasty needles (I really love the purple tails on those things, they taste like chicken.)

She finally decided on some needles, even though she said the “swatch” didn’t get “row.”  Then she ordered string and some needles that don’t have tails.  (They came in a box that smelled really interesting.)  She made another “swatch” with the tailless needles, got it wet, and hid it in the Secret Room.  Then she yelled something very, very bad.  Then she started making more “swatches” with the tasty needles.  This time, she had to use smaller and smaller needles.

I tried to tell her that if she had given up on the idea of using the tailless needles originally and gotten the string sooner and only had to make one “swatch,” she’d be halfway done by now.  But she thought I was just squeaking at her to be noisy.

This morning, she exited the Secret Room.  She threw a “swatch” to the floor and huddled in the corner.  I have deduced that this “swatch” was knit with the needle size suggested by the pattern and got “stitch and row” on the first try.  She keeps saying that the ruler must have gotten longer, since this couldn’t be possible and how could she have had to knit seven swatches only to end up with the suggested needle size?

Hopefully this will pass and she will remember to feed me tonight.  I’m sure if she can dish out cat food, then she will be able to write her own blog posts.  This job is so beneath me.