Long Time, No Blog

Oops, I went forever without blogging again. It happens. Part of it is that Audrey has taken forever. It's actually quite a quick and easy pattern, but I wasn't knitting much, and then I spent some time after the front and back were finished dithering over whether or not to attempt short sleeves instead of the three-quarter length in the pattern. But I'm pleased with the result.

Also, note the hair. I finally made it to shoulder-length, which means I can stick it up in a clip or a ponytail, so it's not driving me nuts anymore. I've convinced myself it looks breezy rather than messy.

I can get Matt to take decent pictures, but he's not very artistic about it. You get the front:

The back:

The lace edge:

The increase line:


Pattern details:

Pattern: Audrey from Rowan 35, size 36"
Yarn: Rowan Calmer, in Carnation, 5 skeins
Needles: Size 7 and 8
Notes: I really like this pattern. I like the visible increase/decrease shaping. I like the easy ribbing. I love the detail of the lace at the neck. It fits very well and it's comfy, but nice enough to wear with a summery skirt.

Modifications: I decided on short sleeves. I cast on the number of stitches for each sleeve at the point of sleeve cap shaping, worked four rows, then started cap shaping. It worked beautifully, and I’ll use a short-sleeved top much more often. Based on past comments about the neckband being too big, I made the lace edging shorter than the circumference of the neckline. I really had to stretch the lace around to sew it on. It worked perfectly - I love the neckline on this. It stays up well, but isn’t too tight.

Other knitting:

The start of Camisa in Calmer in Garnet:



Oh! The garden has been coming along:


We built two raised beds, each 4 feet square, using this template. One is a salsa garden, with tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, peppers, and cilantro. The other has squash, peas, strawberries, arugula, and carrots. Lilah and I are having a great time with gardening.

Reading: I'm behind on the book blog again. Hope to catch up this week.

Writing: Some. Lilah had her spring break last week, which is the opposite of spring break for me. I'm producing on the murder mystery, and noodling with snippets of other things.

Cooking: Oh, two months of cooking? Geez. Of note are the Natural, Homemade Thin Mints, which are a bit of a pain but absolutely fantastic. I also made Dutch Crunch Vienna Bread from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Lovely, delicious bread. I'll be making it again, along with Reinhart's sourdough and bagel recipes. Love him. I also made pina colada muffins, which I've posted about before. I think those are the highlights. I'll try to remember to blog more so I can remember recipes :)