Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Knitting on

OK. We have paint on the walls. The yellowed synthetic marble has been recoated in white. We have paid an exorbitant sum for the flooring, which should be installed in stages over the next three weeks. And California Closets will be here in two weeks to install our solutions and make my life wonderful.

AND! Our neighbors (They of the Large, Extended Family) have thus far gratefully taken off our hands one armoire, one dresser, two side tables, two sets of “girl” furniture (bed and box springs, plus a toy box and a small armoire) and four huge (and somewhat well-loved) oak shelves. Plus two old-but-not-too-old carseats and possibly they have someone who needs a crib as well. We’re very happy to be able to pass this stuff along; while it isn’t exactly top-shelf, it is perfectly decent furniture with a lot of service left in it.

It feels so good to get all this stuff out of the Den. Already we can walk through the hall without fearing for life and limb; when we’re all done with all this, it will be awesome.

Meanwhile, back in real life – I am knitting on, with confidence and hope, through all crises.

Check it out. I’m finally making the Lillehammer 1994 from the Dalegarn 147 book:

Dale of Norway for Orangutan

It is coming out gorgeous. I’m making this for my husband, so it is the XXL size. It is knitting up remarkably fast, which is good because I have a ton of Christmas knitting to do.

In terms of how difficult a knit this is, well, it is pretty easy for the first half. The part I’m on now is a bit more challenging – there are four unique panels, repeated twice (front and back). The graph is (as usual) a little small, and my glasses are AWOL (probably in a box somewhere).

I’m doing it in KnitPicks Merino Style. It’s soft, cheap and easy to knit with – and the pattern is not desperately hard yet makes me feel profoundly clever for being able to do it. What more could I ask from a project?!

14 comments:

RM Kahn said...

The sweater is beautiful! I can't wait to see the finished house. hang in there, 17 more days!

Kris said...

Beautiful!

PipneyJane said...

The sweater looks lovely. Can't get an idea of the scale from the photo - how big is it now?

- Pam

ccr in MA said...

Oh, gorgeous indeed! Well done; it looks way more complicated than you're making it sound. Beautiful!

Anonymous said...

The sweater looks great! It's a great pattern.
Yeah to getting all the stuff outta your house, nothing better than someone else taking your stuff.

ellipsisknits said...

Remarkably fast no kidding! We don't hear from you for a few days an *bam* there's a half-finished nordic sweater on the sidebar. Dang.
-C

Susan said...

Aren't those Norwegian sweaters great? They make you look like a knitting genius. Glad to read you used Knit Picks yarn. Been contemplating same to supplement some Dale superwash I picked up in a sale a few years back. There's not enough to knit a full sweater from it. The store owner said "I won't be carrying that yarn anymore." I said, "OK." She repeated, "But I won't be carrying that anymore." To which I wanted to reply "Haven't you ever heard of the internet, lady?" but had the rare good grace not to.

becky c. said...

Wow! How in the world do you find the time? (Of course, you have freed up a lot of former dusting time by giving away all of your furniture)

Anonymous said...

Incredibly gorgeous sweater!!

Anonymous said...

Great sweater! If I could conquer sleep-knitting I might have a chance at something like that, but as it is I will have to settle for admiring yours. Hang in there with the remodeling, it will feel SO good when it's all done!

Anonymous said...

That is gorgeous! Someday I really need to get over my fear of stranded knitting.

Congrats on finding new homes for some of your furniture. Once it's all put back together hopefully you'll feel like you have more space to breathe :-)

Science PhD Mom said...

Very pretty sweater! Love the pattern! And you have cleaned out large pieces of furniture as well! Well!!! Productive enough, aren't you?? Hope the rest of the remodel finishes smoothly.

marit said...

It is a beautiful sweater! My 2nd son was baptized on the last day of the Olympics at Lillehammer in 1994, and we had coffee and watched the 50km crosscountry competition. I've forgotten who won...

Yarnhog said...

Holy cr*p! That is a beautiful sweater! But I'm not sure if you're really ambitious or really crazy, tackling that in a XXL. That looks like the sort of project that can only end in sobbing on the family room floor at two o'clock in the morning.