A little lamb told me...

K,

I have heard through the grapevine, and by this I mean checking your email in the checker, that you have been sent an invite to Ravelry! Now, I've not been talking much about it, because you both have my name and password to slink about it yourself, and I didn't want to make you jealous. However...you are not on Ravelry. From what I have heard, you are carefully pondering your name, diligently waiting until it is perfect.

Get on Ravelry already! I need some more friends. I'm too shy to friend anyone I don't really know on there but you and my cousin.

I had a great time this weekend visiting Kris and watching Christmas at Luther with his family. We watched a bit of the republican debates, and I realized something. Spinning fascinates men. Especially spinning on a spindle. I think if there were a wheel they would feel it was a bit too Sleeping Beauty, but the spindle drew all their eyes. Not that I was trying to attract attention, I was just spinning my yak, but they were entranced, I tell you. I should say we listened to the debates rather than watched.

Kris and I went to a rather enjoyable party with some Mudslide Martinis, which I could seriously drink forever. I could get pretty sliquored up on those, let me tell you. Especially with a dash of mint, they were just beautiful. We also had some mulled wine, which I am going to get the recipe for. I think they just threw it together, but it was delish. I'm a big fan. And Brenna and decided we want to visit you at some point and go to Vegas! Or the beach. Somewhere warm and delightful.

Before the parties and fun, however, I decided to get serious with my life. Perhaps you are not aware, K, but I have a bit of a guilty pleasure, and it is called "America's Next Top Model." I really can't stop watching that show once I've started. So, since we all know that I secretly want to be a knitting model, I decided to do photo shoot for you with my new Merino Blue Sweater. Now, of course, since this is a competition, it can't just be any regular old photo shoot. Oh no. While it may look like it is snowing, it is not. Nope. That's ice pellets, ma'am. Something resembling sleet, but not quite. Little ice razors hitting your skin, cutting you off from anything resembling warmth. But, of course, I'm a model. I have to do shots in all kinds of inclement weather. Even when the National Weather Service issues a Severe Weather Alert.

Grrrrr.

This is one of my tried and true poses.


Maybe I'm not ready for the show yet...I need to learn how to find my angles.


Wardrobe malfunction! Bottom cuff flip!


Even with the wardrobe malfunction, I'm dreamy.

Look at those seductress eyes.

Fierce. I'll keep practicing.
Pattern:Fair-Isle U-neck Pullover, by Mari Lynn Patrick, in Vogue Knitting, Fall 2006. This included no Fair-Isle, and a decent amount of modifications. I started both the body and sleeves shorter than they were, and later snipped them, picked up stitches, and lengthened them. I shortened the room in the body between the armpit sleeve shaping and shoulder shaping by about 2 inches so that I didn't have baggy armpits. I also changed around the shaping of the body just a bit to fit me a bit more. If I could go back, I would add some better bust shaping with short rows. I'd also probably use a different yarn, as this was already pilling by the time I finished even knitting it.
Yarn: Knitpicks Merino Style, Dusk about 14 skeins
Needles: US 4
Gauge: 6 stitches/inch

The cabled sangria gloves I made over J-term for Vienna travels finally were around for a photo shot!


I even completed the outside for the entrelac gloves and merely have the cashmere liner to go.


However, I've gotten distracted by working on other things as well. Do you remember way, way back when there was that tapestry wool yarn on sale at Vanberia in those little boxes, with 10 little 4.5 gram skeins per box for a buck each? I really adore Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts. But I really don't have the time to follow a pattern and look at what I'm knitting. Thus, the Random Island Mitts are born. I'm modeling the idea of Eunny's, but I'm not following her pattern or the chart. I'm actually just knitting whatever stitch comes to my mind whenever it does, keeping in mind not to have too long of floats inside. So far, I really love it, and it's working out well. Plus the wool is fairly soft, especially for random tapestry wool!


Lastly, I'm working on fixing my favorite fair isle floral gloves that I love wearing every winter. They are the perfect pop of color. I noticed the thumb was wearing thin on Monday. On Tuesday it was worse. By Wednesday some strands had popped. It needed some darning. However, the teal has since faded since I first Kool-aid dyed it. You can really see the color difference here. Strangely enough, the other colors have stayed pretty consistent.


Status: currently passing biochemistry. Keep sending your chemistry smartness my way.

Love,
A