Rusted Root On Fire... A Real Class Act

Ok... I am having a ton of fun knitting this sweater! As some of you know... I don't do sweaters. More than two years ago I knit this sweater. It was just a couple of months after I first learned how to knit, and well... allow me to recap... As most new knitters, my gauge was ridiculously tight, so I was very careful to swatch and get the correct needles so that my sweater would fit. It was knit in the round, from the bottom up. Somewhere about half way up the torso of the sweater... after knitting 14 inches or so of 2x2 ribbing (besides being bored out of my skull) something amazing happened! I was cured of my wrist numbing tendency to knit super crazy tight! But I had NO idea of that until I was all done with my sweater. I was SOOO excited to try it on... I had gone out and found the perfect ribbon to thread through the top... It was HUGE! The top half of the sweater was gigantic. Way too big to cinch up with my fancy silk ribbon. The thought of ripping back and reknitting that 2x2 ribbing... I would have preferred to watch an episode of American Idol... which for me, would be akin to having my eyes ripped out of their sockets. SOOO.. I hooked it up to the ball winder & frogged the hell out of that mother!
So back to Rusted Root... All of the details are there on my ravelry page. I am loving it! I am still obsessing every 10 rounds or so about the fit... Will the chest be too tight? Will the sleeves be too big? What if I screw up the waist shaping? Is the neck too high? The area between the neck and the start of the sleeve should be bigger... UGH! I modified the hell out of the sleeves. I had read everywhere that people were losing the pouffiness of the sleeves... which HELLO... is the entire feature of the sweater. Lace panel?? What-eva! On the 8th round you are supposed to increase each sleeve to 37 stitches (medium). I increased mine on the 8th and 10th rounds for a total of 49 stitches. How much pouf can one girl handle? I may wind up with too much pouf... we'll see. I am being my usual anal self, using not ONE... but TWO row counters... one to mark the beginning of the round, the other to track which row I am on in the lace panel. So now I am beginning to decrease the sleeves. I am 6 rounds away from slipping those babies onto scrap yarn.


How about some more of that amazing Downtown Oakland architecture?? OK, since you all asked so nicely. This building makes me swoon whenever I pass by. The photo does no justice to it whatsoever. Those tiles SHINE.... oh how they shine. And it's the most gorgeous midnight blue. And the silver... oh man... that silver. HAHA They are in the process of refurbishing it right now. btw... it is not a part of the Sears.
Don't forget.... I will be teaching the coolest summer class this month. Check me out at knit-one-one. Come on down and learn the magic loop. (kinda sounds like a dance at the sock hop) The magic loop method simply rocks! For those of you who are not familiar with this godsend of a technique... it is knitting small circumference items, socks (two at one time!), gloves, cuffs, preemie hats, the tops of adult hats, etc. Basically, if you hate double points or just want to expand you knitting horizons, the magic loop is for you.

We will be making the very cool little lace cuff. It is knit out of a cotton elastic yarn, stretchy and cool for the summer. It can be worn sweet an demure... a little touch of lace at your wrist. OR PuNk rAwK pUrL style... one tough rockin mama (or daddy). (note the cuff in the photo above is not the little lace cuff, it is the little cabled cuff. maybe a class for the winter. hehe)