Well, it had to happen. I go and name one sweater after a character in a book, and all the other characters are clamoring to have their own sweater named after them!
So I present to you – Karis – another character from World Without End. Yes, I’m boring – when I’m in the middle of an audio book it’s not uncommon for me to listen to the same chapter over and over again. I just like hearing someone talking, I guess…
It’s a short cardigan – cropped – and I’d originally intended it to be a trifle longer but ran out of yarn (see, now you know the truth!) so I had to revise my design.
It’s a brand new yarn from LL (the same Organic Wool as the other sweater, but in a different color) and they only dyed what I’d asked for (which ended up not being enough – when will I learn?)
But when all was said and done, I was really happy to have such a nice, short sweater.
I personally feel that a lot of folks won’t consider wearing a shorter garment, but it can be SO flattering – especially layered (and especially for those of us who may have thick-ish waists…) I love to wear shorter things over a longer top, and I’m glad to see it as a fashion trend right now.
This is also a pretty straightforward knit – not a lot of shaping, relatively simple charts, and all of the charting is written out as well as displayed in symbol format. It’s a lot easier than Gwenda – and also easily altered for length and size.
I’m not going to open this up for a major test knit – simply because I’m leaving for TNNA in a few days and I don’t think I have the energy to shepherd a new yahoo-group type project. I worked it on size 7 needles in a dk weight yarn, and it worked up pretty darned quickly!
So – with any luck – when I get back from TNNA I’ll have this available for you as a pattern for sale. You know, I think I’ll knit one up for ME while I’m traveling, thereby giving me a nice cardigan and test knitting one of the larger sizes. And I will, of course, display my progress here. Oooh – I’m getting giddy!
Malabrigo Coat Redux
Remember this behemoth that I was working on last year? I put it away when the sh*t hit the fan, and hadn’t really thought about it much since then…
Well, on a recent visit to Coldwater Creek (where, incidentally, I saw an exact copy of my circular shrug from VK for sale for $100…) I bought a jacket on sale for $30. A beautiful jacket – so stunning. And also inspiring.
It inspired me to drag out the felted mess of a coat and get out my scissors and cut and sew it into a real garment.
The fact that Project Runway was on didn’t hurt, either. I would SO be rocking that show. But, it IS for the best that I was – [sigh] – turned down…
I’ll have this jacket at TNNA in the Malabrigo booth in case anyone there wants to see it! There will NOT be a pattern available for this, it’s a one of a kind!!
Mayo Redux
Today we drove down to Mayo to pick up a disk of files; xrays, scans, etc. for Gerry to take to his new back/bone doc tomorrow. We’re both sort of holding our breath, hoping against hope that this doc may provide a micro-flash of hope that we may find a way to deal with Gerry’s chronic back pain.
I feel such guilt when I’m away because of his pain – there’s so much that he has to do on a daily basis that I don’t think twice about, but which can be overwhelmingly painful. When I’m not here not only can I not do it for him, but I can’t help him feel better (run up to his room with pain meds, berate him for doing too much, or just giving him a rub and an easy hug)
This is the main reason I hate to travel – and here I go off to CA for 3 days for which I’m not even being paid.
I’ve been compiling my finances from 2007 for taxes, and – as much as it seemed I traveled all over the place – my teaching was about half of what it was in 2006. We’re dandy – I’m not complaining – but it’s amazing how quickly work begins to dry up when you don’t actively seek it out.
And speaking of Taxes, I’m going to give a shout out to any TC folks who may know of a good accountant who deals with freelance and self employed type folks. Our taxes are so much simpler than they’ve been in previous years, I’m almost tempted to try Turbo Tax (the las
t time I used that was when they had the major computer bug that threw off everyone’s taxes about 5 years ago… )
We’ve used an accountant since then, but without Gerry’s income and all of his job expenses (and his many, many W4 forms) it will be a simpler process.
My 1099’s are also more limited this year, less designing all around. But – on the bright side – so much more family time, which has been an amazing blessing. So if you know of an accountant who may fit the bill, let me know!
And now – off to my new knitting project. Hmmm, I wonder what yarn I’ll use…