There are all sorts of exciting new things here at compulsive knitter… first of all, a finished chevron rib tank:
I have to say, all in all I’m very pleased. It did turn out a little big, as I suspected, but just big enough to make it a better vest than tank top. (Some people probably like their tanks a little on the loose side, but I’m just afraid of exposing too much that way.) I’d make the tank again, but I would try it in the medium size and perhaps in a different yarn. I love the cotton (it’s *very* soft), but since it is so loosely spun it does shed a lot if you’re not careful. Anyway, I think it’s a great pattern and it would be great to play around with it a little. I already altered the straps a bit from the pattern – the pattern was kind of vague in that respect anyway – and liked the results. I really, *really* like the three-needle bind off and may use that whenever possible on shoulders in the future.
Not far behind (in terms of my excitement over) is my new laptop!
I’ve named it “Old Fogey” in honor of the phonetician Peter Ladefoged. It’s what he uses for his email address, and I appreciate anyone who has a sense of humor about his or her name, seeing how my last name is Klopfenstein. (You can imagine the nicknames I had growing up.)
It’s pretty and shiny and had everything I need! I decided that with all the traveling I’ve been doing (for both conferences and fieldwork) that it would be indispensable. Let’s just hope that I was right that I could afford to buy it!
And even though I just spent all this money on a new laptop, look what came in the mail:
I just couldn’t help myself: when I thought the new laptop thing wasn’t going to happen, I ordered some goodies from Elann in my despair. Bad Marie. But now I have some yarn for the clover lace wrap from SnB Nation, the latest IK and new needles. Those are the kind made out of casein (a milk protein) that I love and can’t find anywhere else. I like that yarn moves easily along them, yet doesn’t fall right off of them like on metal needles.
That leaves me with the dilemma of what I should knit next. Whatever I choose, I know I should go back to my poor neglected peppermint twist. Maybe now I can face ripping out the back and re-doing it over again… I also can either make the SnB wrap or a boobholder. The boobholder would probably provide more instant gratification, but I’m afraid I’m going to screw up the pattern, since it is not written in the help-out-the-poor-dumb-novice-knitter style I require. I read it carefully today and figured it out that it is worked from the top down, so maybe I’m good to go!
Compulsive Knitter 