Transitions

Wow, so it's been a pretty long time since my last post.  It's just been a weird summer, guys, what with all the job hunting, quitting, settling into a new job.  I am doing pretty well in my new position.  There are a lot of quirks to get used to and, since I'm still "in training," I don't quite have enough responsibility yet.  I'm really not liking the change from knowing everything about how a place works to nothing about it, but I'm going to hang in there and will eventually reach that level in this company. 

At least my new bosses are much easier than my last one.  Less procrastinating, less yelling, more independent, more tech-savvy. and, best of all, no comments about what I do and do not eat!!  Although, I have lost about 5lbs just from the lack of stress and having to walk more around the building and the city--I have to take walks to the bank and the courthouse sometimes, just awful in the warm sunshine with the breeze coming off the water, horrible I tell you.  Of course I miss (some of) the people I used to work with, but I think I'm going to like it here.

Switching up my off-duty routine hasn't been easy, either.  We all know how well I handle change!  I had to find a new yoga studio (sorry Vicki).  There's a lovely one across the bridge, but they only offer one style, which means I will still trek up to Brunswick for some Bikram practice (yay!)

I have yet to find a good LYS down here, though.  I know, I know, it should have been easy in the larger city, but maybe I'm poorly situated?  Any Mainers have good suggestions for Portland LYSes? 

And that is why I haven't been posting--I had two cardigans that were waiting for buttons before I could wear/post them, but nowhere convenient to buy them.  I know, my life is just so darn hard.  I finally bit the bullet and drove out to a Joann this weekend, so I finally have some FOs to show you!

This is the cardigan I referred to in my last post, Madrigal:

"Why is there no action shot?" you might be asking.  That's because it came out too big.  :(  I even tried washing it in the hopes that it would shrink.  It did not.  Now I'm stuck with a beautiful purple cardigan one full size too big.  Sad.  Some (slightly larger) person is going to be very lucky this Christmas, I think.  Oh, well.

The yarn I used for this one is KP's CotLin, a tanguis cotton/linen blend.  It feels a little scratchy at first, but it softens amazingly with washing and the colors, my goodness the colors!  The linen just soaks up the dye like silk does, so you have beautiful vibrant colorways like that purple up there! 

My other rave for this cardigan is the source: Twist Collective.  I mentioned it in a previous post and it's still true--TC is now my go-to knitting pattern source.  This pattern in particular was very well-written and completely in the round, yay no seams!  Man, I love TC so much that I waited a whole week after receiving a birthday gift certificate to KP before ordering because I wanted to see the Fall 2011 issue.  So many things to love this season!!!  I ordered yarn for two of the patterns and have several more in my queue. 

Dang, that yarn's arrival would have made a good blog post, wouldn't it?  Maybe I'll take some pictures later so you all can enjoy some yarn porn and we can ooh and ahh over all the new TC patterns?

At any rate, I have another finished cardigan to share with you in a future post, which won't be a month from now, I promise!!  Now that I'm back into a more regular schedule, I should get back to (mostly) weekly posting.

Glad to be back!

Cheers,
-Allie

Oslo Walk Shawl

I did it.  I'm done!  My last day with LOMAF was on Friday and I start my new position in Portland on Wednesday.  Hurray for progress!

I went in for some training last Tuesday and I can already tell how much of an improvement it's going to be!  I am SO excited!

Knitting: This is what remained of that huge cone of lace I bought for my wedding shawl.  That gigantic amount of yarn was enough to make both my wedding shawl and Mel's wedding shawl with enough leftover to make the following, the Oslo Walk Shawl by Susanna IC.  Now my stash entirely consists of yarn bought after May 2011.  Yay for stash-busting!

Pretty, right?  This was probably the fastest shawl I've ever knit.  Not only was it knit on size 7 needles, but crescent shawls are amazingly fast.  Susanna IC has recently published a number of crescent shaped shawls--in Interweave Knits, Twist Collective, and Knitty.  I've also knit her Hawthorne pattern from TC Fall 2010.She has a great variety of difficulties, too.

This particular pattern was pretty easy.  You should be able to read charts and read your own knitting--so you can recognize your place in long, long rows, but it would be a good second lace project for someone.  A great pattern for a quick gift knit.

They are my new favorite shape.  You start at the bottom of the lace edging and then knit the rest of the shawl in short rows.  You knit fewer individual rows, so the pattern is always interesting, and the crescent shape is a lot easier to wear than a triangular shawl.  I will absolutely be knitting more of these in the future. 

Since I already have a pretty scarf in this exact yarn, I'm not sure what exactly I'll do with this shawl.  Probably give it to some lucky lady for Christmas...we'll see.

For next time, I'll have a new cardigan to show you.  It just needs some buttons :)

Cheers,

-Allie