fo post: bellevue!

Even though I’ve been knitting for close to six years, I still get such a sense of awed surprise when I finish a sweater and it actually turns out the way I hoped it would. In other words, my Bellevue is done. And I bought a remote for my camera, so that I can take pictures of myself in it!

This is the fingering-weight version, made with Malabrigo Sock in “Impressionist Sky.” It’s the first fingering weight sweater I’ve knit, and I’ve got to say, I’m pretty well sold. I think this will hold up a lot better than my Featherweight did, but it’s still got that light, drapey feel that I think means I’ll be able to wear it in warmer fall and spring weather.

The one change I made to the pattern was to include full-length sleeves, because I really like sleeves. (I was one of those kids in high school who stuck their thumbs through the sleeves of their hoodies, okay? It’s a thing.) This was dead simple to do, since the pattern already has directions for cropped sleeves, but for the interested, I’ve written out notes in my Ravelry entry for this project.

But, overall? This sweater is awesome. It makes me really happy. I’m thrilled that it turned out the way I hoped it would, and someday – when it’s not summer anymore – I will wear it lots and lots.

what i did with my summer vacation

So this summer, one of my goals was to make sure I traveled at least a little. This is year is the last one where I’ll have a “summer vacation” before I start studying in earnest and need to be a responsible grownup, and – since it’s been a goal of mine, for a few years now – I thought this year would be a good one to go to Comic Con with a few friends.

It. Was. Awesome.

I saw a lot of people dressed as superheroes, and met up with rad knitters for a bit, and saw a lot of really, really excellent panels that I can’t believe I was allowed to go to. One of the really interesting things about going was seeing the odd sort of subculture that develops within the convention itself – basic social rules suddenly change the second you get that badge and actually step into the convention hall. For instance, despite the fact that I’m sure most of the people at the convention are not three hour line sorts of people, once you’re there, it becomes totally reasonable to wait in line for something (like getting to see a panel with the cast of Fringe, be still my heart) for two or three hours. This may have happened to me more than once over my four day trip.

This is my Bellevue. When I left, I’d finished the body and most of one sleeve. Thanks to all of those long lines, it very nearly became The Sweater I Finished At Comic Con. As it is, I’m moving merrily along on the yoke (which goes quickly), and getting very excited about having this in my wardrobe.

less spinning, more sweatering

I have yet to learn how to use my wheel, unfortunately. However, I started this cardigan a week ago, and it’s quietly becoming my new favourite thing to knit. This is Bellevue (a name which, as an aside, is kind of rad. My grandparents used to live on a Bellevue Ave!), in Malabrigo Sock. I’m enjoying the yarn – it’s a little finer fingering-weight than I usually go for, but it’s nice and soft like Malabrigo tends to be, and the colour is lovely. Good blues always get extra points in my books. This yarn is also plied, so I have high hopes that it won’t be quite as felty as the Malbrigo singles I’ve worked with in the past.

The lace portion at the bottom of the body I found a bit fussy – I don’t know why, because I’m used to knitting lace on hundreds of stitches in fingering-weight yarn, and the lace pattern is actually really easy to memorize, but I guess doing it while I was in “sweater mode” instead of “shawl mode” made it harder. (Also, it’s been brought to my attention that I did the decreases on the purl side wrong, because I’m bad at reading – Laura’s version of this lace is much, much neater.) Now that it’s done, though, I really like the look of it.