[announcer] “Are the dreams of a hand knit designer that a flattering and wearable hand knit bathing suit might be possible in this day and age to be realized? Let’s visit the chaise & see how the story is developing”
[reporter]We’re here at the sofa where Annie Modesitt has just completed knitting the body of her White Fixation bathing suit. Annie’s had a rough week, ripping out and reknitting several parts of the suit to create the fit she wants, but she may have overplayed her hand at the top of the suit, because it’s looking a little long to me. This could be especially dangerous as she’s already taken the bold step of sewing down the facings and weaving in the ends before she’s tried it on her fit model! 
We’ll have to wait until the finals tomorrow to see if this strategy has paid off for her, but at this moment she can’t hide her trepidation as puts the bathings suit aside and moves on to the next two projects in her de-swatch-athon; a man’s colorwork hat and a knit dress.
Yes, I’m going to swatch the dress, and may even knit it myself. I struggle with this – I worry that I’m being too hands on, can’t give things away, but I also don’t quite have certain details solidified in my head and I really need to be able to work this out – up close and in person – so my feeling is that of all the projects in the Romantic Knits book, the dress is probably a good one for me to work up.
The bathing suit is looking good – I’m happy with the shaping and the overall knitting, but I’m worried about the upper back and bust fit. A good (very good) friend is coming by tomorrow so I can slap this baby on a human form and get feedback on whether it’s comfortable, whether it feels like it “should” and to see how much – if any – I need to rework the top of the suit. I’ve been working a faux i-cord edging along the back edges after the mid-back separation, and ended with an i-cord bindoff at the top of the suit in front. My plan is to use i-cord to create a X-back look – yeah, that’s the plan…
I just swached the crochet jacket – I’m very happy with the yarn I’m using (Artyarns Ultramerino 4, I know that’s a shock…) it just works up like buttah, I tells ya… I may use a crocheter to work this up, I’ve got the pattern just about written and it’s always such a good test to have someone else run through the instructions. It involves some thinking – no very hard techniques, but breaking down what needs to be done to create the roses and working through the process step by step.
BREATHING
Still hard, still wheezing. Lung capacity is better, but still stinks. I absolutely DO intend to check out the herbs with my doc before I take them, but they all seem to be pretty OTC from what I can find in my research.
I took a walk on Friday to my friend’s house to see the Valentine he put up for his wife’s on their garage roof. Tomm creates the most AMAZING valentine’s for her (last year it was a 1930’s style fruit-box billboard for “Jersey Tomatoes” with her image, and some juicy red love apples, displayed prominently – and it’s still standing in their backyard and looking great) He is blessed in his wife, Holly loves him and adores what he does for her – and I’m so lucky they live near me (and the neighborhood guys grit their collective teeth when they see how far Tomm outshines them – shades of Apu!)
The walk was good – it was in the 50’s here on Friday – but when I got home I felt like Bode Miller at the bottom of the hill (totally winded and no medal to show for it…)
NASCAR?
I don’t get it. Why not just set up a yard chair by the NJ Turnpike?