Call the media…. I stitched up Eris.  I did this prior to blocking.  I know, that’s weird but the thing was knitted in the round and the sleeves are knitting right onto the body. So it’s not like I’ve got a lot of individual pieces here.  Anyway, I did it.  I may regret it.  I doubt it.  It does need a serious bath. 

Here’s a current shot, sorry for the bad photo.  I didn’t get finished stitching until the sun went down so I had to decide between washed out with flash or dark and weird with no flash. The latter allowing you to see some (not much but some)  of the detail so it won out.

One inspiration for getting this thing done is first I was feeling a little bit ridiculous. Second… and of higher importance… I didn’t want that freakishly ugly scarf being the intro photo for my finished objects album on the sidebar.  I needed to get something else completed so it would be the lastest F.O. and thus, the intro photo.  Yep.  That’s what finally convinced me.

Moving on….

I wound up this skein of medium weight STR.

The color is Water Lillies and I’ve got it wound into two balls for knitting up a pair of socks.  Unfortunately I didn’t do such a hot job when it came to getting the yarn divided up evenly so one sock will likely require a yarn splice somewhere near the toe.   I’m going to knit just a basic sock.  Haven’t decided between ribbing or stockinette but I’m  leaning toward stockinette.

I dug out the pattern for the  Telemark  sweater and started reading the directions.  They are detailed but not detailed.  In other words the designer was inspired by the writings of Elizabeth Zimmerman so she has you figuring out the number of stitches to cast on etc. yourself.  Kinda freaky since the thing also has a steek.  I considered for a moment whether this was too much for me…
    1. My first fair isle/stranded knitting project
    2. My first steek.
    3. Being a bit more liberal with me figuring out some things during a project where I should probably have a little more supervision.

I considered my options and then decided to be a man about it and go for it.  I almost didn’t do a gauge swatch.  Brilliant, eh?  I always do a gauge swatch and I’m going to choose now… my first stranded colorwork project… to skip it?  Yes, I came to my senses.

The directions have you do a bit of an elaborate swatch while knitting in the round.  Mine is a bit larger than what they intended but I didn’t want to fuss with the circ that much.  Nevermind.  Here’s the picture of my progress on my swatch.

When I was doing the bi-color ribbing I toyed with trying to do the purl stitches continental style.  Hated it.  Went back to doing the whole thing in my usual redneck throwing style. FYI, the darker color isn’t navy.  That’s just the flash making it look funky.  It’s actually a dark charcoal.

The swatch instructions have you do the ribbing and then 4" of what they call the "lice" pattern.  Can I just say as a pediatric nurse practitioner who has done entirely too many "lice checks" on kids that I hate that name.  May I suggest a name change????? Anything is better than "lice pattern".

Anyway, it’s going slowly but I’m 95% sure I’m doing the stranding right and I’m really loving it.  Very fun.  Very, very fun!!!!  I see an addiction taking hold.  Whoot!

The directions in this pattern also state not to measure yourself but to find a sweater that you love and measure it.  It gives instructions for doin’ the math etc apparently per EZ’s teachings.  I don’t have a sweater that fits in a way that I can say I love it.  I have a bunch of sweaters of mine or of Dana’s that are way too big but I wear them.   Not going to use one of them as my guide.

I looked at various ones and finally found a sweater that Dana hardly ever wears.  I like the bagginess of it because I wanted this sweater to be roomy.  Not too roomy but roomy.  I figured if this sweater of Dana’s was 2" shorter in length and had 1" less length in the sleeves it would be about right.  So I’m using that as my guide.  We’ll see how it works out.

One thing is for sure… with this new way of figuring out the size and this huge gauge swatch I guarantee that I’m bound to run out of yarn.  If nothing else, at least I’m consistent!

In other news I’m trying to lose some poundage.  I’ve put on 10 or maybe 15 pounds since moving up here.  I think it’s the desire to hide under the covers and eat chocolate because it’s freezing cold outside.  Who knows.  It became obvious that maybe the added weight is the reason that I didn’t feel so great and I was having more and more trouble keeping up with you know who. So I’ve cut my serving sizes (I’m so hungry!) but more important I’m trying to get more consistent with exercising.  Namely, sitting on the Concept 2 and rowing.  So not only did I stitch up Eris today but I also rowed a 5K.

If I would just keep rowing 5K’s I could probably eat whatever I wanted.  Hey, it’s my blog and I’ll dream if I want to!