Pinky-land

What's going on in Pinky-land this week? I am slooowly crocheting the rings for Interlocking; I was forced to take a break last week when overcrocheting caused a shooting, searing pain in my right wrist, and I was also having "crochet dreams" every night. I wonder if that's why my wrist hurt, perhaps I was making crochet motions in my sleep? Already I have done my requisite two rings for the day, plus a couple extra to "catch up":



Oh, my pretty red and black snake! Since it likes to twist all over itself, it doesn't look very impressive to passers-by as I diligently add more rings. If I spread them out a bit, you can see the whole "interlocking ring" principle start to emerge:



The bodice is finished and all seamed up! It looks pretty lame on its own:



Observant readers will notice the way the bound-off edge around the neck is curling like mad. Yeahhhh... a super-loose bind-off will do that to you. Fortunately, sewing on the rings will keep things from curling down, and I hope that means it won't be so darned gapey (that's why you get an exciting bodice-on-a-bench shot and not a cleavage-revealing bodice-on-me shot). Otherwise the fit is fine, the waist shaping hits where it ought to, and my wee gauge issue did not present any fitting issues. Whew! Now, to crochet more rings...

In the meantime, I have been charged with two projects for my coffee-friends at work. I don't have any deadlines for these so they are to be considered "ongoing." First, some pretty blue Rowan Wool Cotton left over from the Big Rowan Blowout at LYS a few weeks ago:



If Lisa behaves then she might get a blue cabled hat someday soon. IF.

Elizabeth, bless her little heart, has heard me prattle on about knitting countless times. I harass her because she is a knitter, too, but not a total freak about it. She has in her stash about a sweater's-worth of Harrisville Designs wool/silk/alpaca blend and wants to make something... but hasn't really been excited about any patterns she's seen. Foolishly (drunkenly is more like it) I volunteered to write her a pattern if she could let me know what size and style of sweater, and if she would kindly make a swatch for me:



For the measurements she brought in a sweater whose fits she really liked, and we are taking it from there. The plan for now is a simple stockinette pullover with raglan shaping and ribbed edging (we're thinking something NOT 2x2 but maybe 3x1 or something "different"). I'm not sure if we will be going top-down or bottom up, but I think top-down seamless projects are more likely to be finished by the knitter... (Although I think Elizabeth herself would finish regardless, because she is divine and lovely and probably a more concientious knitter than I am.) I don't think this is going to be a terribly difficult project, the problem is getting around to it.

In the rare moments in which I am not knitting, I've been reading Anna Zilboorg's Knitting for Anarchists. I can think of a lot of knitters who ought to be exposed to this book or something like it, something that will let them know that the "rules" are not rules at all, and the whole point is to make something you enjoy making. I think next up is Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English, which I've owned forever but never read in its entirety. FYI, I learned to knit from her Knitting In Plain English so I feel that I owe a great debt to this lady. Before that particular book I was quite unsuccessful in learning to knit. (Purling is a different story, I was taught to purl by a six-pack of Shiner Bock, and that's no lie.)