Read, knit, write, knit...

Throw in job searching plus figuring out how I'm going to pack for the move back to the other side of The Pond and this pretty much sums up my life right now. Things are busy and stressful, but I still knit here and there to help keep from going crazy. (By the way, thanks for the nice comments on the argyle stockings! I really appreciate the feedback.)

I finally installed a zipper into Saranac, and it was my first time doing so. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be but it's not something I care to do again in the near future, either. I'm sure I've mentioned this before but I am simply bad at anything that involves a needle and thread. So even a small task such as sewing in a zipper is very frustrating. However, I took my time and I got some passable results. It's not perfect but the imperfections are unnoticeable on the outside. That's what counts, right?

As shown in the sidebar, I'm now halfway through Orangina (for Mom). I've mostly been knitting this at knitting group or while waiting for research documents to load into .pdf format for downloading. It's going by fairly quickly as the lace pattern is easy to memorize and my mom is much smaller than my dad (never making him a sweater again). I decided to join the front and back at the base of the armhole rather than at the beginning of the ribbed section. This will save me from having to seam the sides and cut out some purling time. I generally don't have any issues with purling (unless I'm knitting Continental style), but this yarn is a little difficult to work with, especially when purling long rows. Normally I wouldn't just work any lace garment in the round as the presence of seams would give it more structure. However, the lace pattern seems pretty sturdy and it's not a large piece so I'm okay with knitting it in the round.

I also broke down and bought 12 balls of Rowan Cotton Rope in "parma" that were on sale for less than £2 each. To be fair, though, I did buy it with a project in mind. I've been in need of a simple cardigan or two and was eyeing a couple patterns in Rowan 39--once I was able to differentiate between the, um, extra styling and the actual knitted garments, I noticed quite a few nice patterns such as Antoinette.



Of course, this doesn't really help me with my packing issues...