a true friend

The spring + summer knitty of 2011 had not one, not two, but actually three patterns for cardigans that I actually want to knit! When I see great patterns I usually put them in my ravelry queue and then they stay there and wait, sometimes for years. But when I saw Amiga, Corinne and Daedalus, I just knew I had to have all three. Especially since I have lots of yarn for Amiga, given to me by a friend of my mother's.

I started my Amiga in basic black. I cast on the numbers for the mediums size and it knit up rather quickly. Soon I came to the row where the arms are split from the body. And that is when I realized that as wonderful as that cardigan is, the original garment was knit in a "small" size. Then the numbers were scaled up mathematically and suddenly my medium cardigan had huge armholes. Now in retrospect, it might have been my gauge. I hardly ever check gauge because I dislike knitting gauge swatches (yeah, yeah, I know) and I probably knit a little loosely with this yarn.

So I grew very, very annoyed. It's always easier to blame someone else - like oh say, the designer (well, I'm still annoyed with the giant sleeves, I gotta tell you that). I ripped back a few rows to get back to the numbers for a small size, put the arms on hold and increased a few stitches under the arms to make space for my boobs. At that moment I still hated the whole garment. Of course, since I didn't rip back to the beginning, the back was much broader than intended (yes, I could have probably omitted those increases under the arms) and anyway, it was somehow loose and frumpy and annoying!

But my mother thought it was great. And since my mother likes her jackets on the looser side and has a birthday in July, well ... hello birthday present (plus a mug - my mother doesn't read this blog so I can say this). So I knit on. And on and on and after a very short while - it really knits up quickly - the thing was long enough. I picked up the stitches for the collar and once that was done, I started liking the jacket more. And more ... and more! I mean, apart from the loose fit, it is a great jacket. I did not, however, use Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind-off, because a) too much of a bother and b) a loose normal bind-off is better for this jacket, *I* think. (I always know better, check out the first panel in the third row.)

So I will be knitting this again - with the right numbers (small size) and a few adjustments. After all, I have the yarn for three more jackets. But since I don't need three Amiga jackets, I'm giving one of those yarn collections to a dear friend of mine who is just getting into knitting (she's an absolute crocheter), because Amiga is quick, simple and satisfying.

Right now I'm still on the arms. At first I knit them both at the same time might because that saves row-counting, but it's not as quick and convenient as knitting them one at a time. And my mother likes long sleeves, so I'm switching.

In other news: guess who got a haircut!

In the ongoing process of turning myself into the adult I always wanted to be which started last spring, this is a huge step forward. For the second time in my life I went to a professional hairdresser and now I have hair that is about 10 times more daring than I am. 

Lifelong learning. It's a bit scary, but fun!

Those two pictures were taken almost right after the cut, when I had about 20 5 different styling products in there. Today I washed my hair and only used a bit of curling spritz (tee-hee) and while it is still adorable, I can totally see why styling products are necessary now, since my soft curls will grow fuzzier and frizzier the longer the day is. So tomorrow - new wash, new experiment (styling foam).

unbearably warm

Ah, Vienna. Vienna in the summer is hot and humid (except currently it's warm and humid and stormy and partially rainy) and the less said about it the better.

Kuro has flown the nest (or yard) and has done so apparently so successfully that s/he lost her/his parents. They came to our yard to look for her/him, but no Kuro. And after all the love and care we gave that bird ... tssss. Anyway, I'm sure Kuro is quite alright and while I hope that the parents don't drop another baby bird in our yard next spring, I'm also kind of curious to see if they'll do it again.

In the meantime, knitting. Yes, despite the heat. I just do it where or when it's cooler (the country, Starbucks, during rainstorms). I finally knitted something that for some reason I haven't knitted for myself until now. Legwarmers, that is. When I restarted my knitting, after the first bad experiments (did I talk about those yet?) I made legwarmers for my mother and for a neighbour ... but not for me. And I have suffered cold feet and cold ankles for many years and always thought "Gee, I knit, right? Why am I not knitting legwarmers for myself?"

Actually, considering I don't wear my woolen socks that often, why didn't I just knit legwarmers with the sock patterns? I guess sometimes I'm so set on FOLLOWING THE PLAN that I don't even see how a very small deviation from that plan can make everything so much better. I'm pretty good at deviating in general, but sometimes ... sometimes it doesn't happen until quite some time later.

So, the Spiralling legwarmers. And how they paid off already. At first I thought a rather involved pattern like the very pretty Unraveling Ribs Socks would be cool, but that required a whoooole lot of purling and chart reading and the yarn just didn't really like the pattern. Then I looked at the beautiful Sinusoida socks and fell in love. I actually love the slip-stitch fabric so much that I'm wondering where else I could use it.

The yarn is an older edition of Lana Grossa Meilenweit "Party" and is therefore a little scratchy. But when I saw the colors, I just had to have it, although looking at them now, the pictures are again much too blue. Damn that camera! I really like this combination and the pattern just mixed up the stripes beautifully. And I just need to weave in two more ends and cut off that one end ... finishing ... never one of my favorite activities.

Now I need to get back to work - the letters are almost almost almost transcribed, but due to very complicated circumstances I can't print out the last ones. And tomorrow I start doing historical research for the book project about the recipient and author of those letters.

Celebratory kitty!

surprise guest

Hardly any knitting happening here, since I am busy transcribing extremely inane letters written in an old German writing style into word files. Anyone who said that email, texting and twitter will lead to the loss of great writing ... read these letters. They were written by hand in 1878 and great writing they ain't. Ah well, it pays the rent. 

But I do have things to tell. My mother and I are shuttling back and forth between Styria (where we have a house that needs constant work) and Vienna on the weekends, because Austria has lots of holidays in May and June and particularly this June almost every weekend is a long one. Two weeks ago we returned from the country to find a dead young crow in the courtyard and were consequently sad.
 
Last Sunday we returned from a lovely brunch (oh doesn't this sound fan-tas-tic ... and so fashionable ... brunching with my mother) and found a live young crow in the courtyard! This one was older than the last one and was hopping around on the ground.

That's Kuro, meaning black in Japanese and it's also the way the English word "crow" is pronounced by the Japanese. S/he is a lively, pleasant fellow and loves it when you talk to her/him. If you don't talk and just walk by, s/he becomes agitated and will hide in funny places.

Like here. It's not a very good perch - Kuro hasn't quite learned yet what makes or doesn't make a good perch, but today s/he showed me a very funny maneuver - I wish I had caught it on video.









I did call the clinic of the veterenary university to see whether there was something we could do. Kuro wasn't hurt, but you know, just in case. But they said to leave her/him be as long as her/his parents were supervising, s/he would be ok and that this was a normal thing for crows. And the parents are definitely watching over her/him! At first they were pretty noisy and even tried to attack my mother but now they're calm. 

As you can see, Kuro is a bit of a show-off. First s/he was hiding by the bikes, but when I talked nicely, s/he came out and assumed this pose. Heh.









 



I don't think Kuro will stay with us much longer, though. S/he has already shown off her flying skills to us and today I saw her/him on the bar that is at the level of our first floor (i.e., the one above the ground floor). One parent was up on the roof of the third floor, watching her/him do stunts on the bar (silly bird).










I am a little sad to see Kuro go, but see, there is this kittycat ...

.... thiiiis kittycat ....

.... this kittycat who is the best and prettiest and cuddliest and snuggliest and the most beautiful kittycat in the world, who keeps me from knitting because he wants to be petted ...

... and he hasn't been allowed to go out in the courtyard because of Kuro, so he'll be glad to see her/him take off.