We interrupt this study session to bring you ~

!!GLEE!!

Pattern ~ Glee by Zephyr Style

Yarn ~ Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk I love, love this yarn. Very soft and light. It makes a great light summer sweater. I didn't even find it that slippery to knit with. The whole sweater required less than 6 skeins, and that's with longer sleeves and a longer body! Plus, an added bonus was the sale price I paid for the yarn of only $3.50/skein. Holy cheap sweater.

Comments ~ I'm so happy with this sweater, but like other knitters of Glee (G.Bella and Blue Garter), I found that it was really (really) silly to not include any waist shaping. So I added my own. Just decreasing on the sides when appropriate, and using my experience with the Sunshine sweater as my guide. I'm also happy with the longer sleeves (the pattern calls for short sleeves). Since I wanted a sweater that would keep me cozy in cold cafes and chilly summer evenings, it had to have some sort of sleeve.

I knit the smallest size of the pattern, and it fits fine, but if I knit it again, I think I'll decrease the bust even more. My gauge was right on, but still I feel that the sweater could be more snug on top. Plus, I think that if I had it snugger on top, I might not have had to come in so much with my waist shaping. Or, I might try just going down a needle size and not decreasing the number of stitches. I think this would give me the spring I want without complicating the math.

**notice that the neck is held together with safety pins, I still have to add the eyes and hooks.

Up next ~ a short and quick summer knit and more philly love.

City Livin'

Is so delightful when the weather's nice and there's nothing to do but brunch and stroll, which is just what we did this morning. Of course, I took some pictures along the way.

Center City Philly has some really great houses. Sometimes I feel like a tourist, stopping to look at the architecture and then looking up to see the roof lines. What really draws me in is that within any one block the houses are not identical! Even from one house to the next you see different styles and lines. There's so much variety that in the 7 years I've lived in or near the city, I still walk slowly down the street taking time to look at the details. Yet another great feature of this city*

The shots:



And the brunch? Just as amazing as the stroll. What brunch isn't delicious when you start with a platter of oysters? Notice the tiny forks just waiting patiently for the oysters to arrive. slurp.


Ooh! And Glee is done. Here's a shot before blocking: A detailed Glee report will come once I have some pictures of the final item.

Right now the sweater's pinned down and drying, but maybe she'll make her debut at the Dar Concert Under the Stars tomorrow!

Now I'm out the door for a run before the thunder cracks.

~~ Extra, Extra, Read all about it!! ~~

I have some exciting news today: Winter Foliage was the featured blog in a story on the BU Today website. You can find the short story here. I was excited to answer some questions for the article and even more excited to mix my school and blogging lives!

Glee Update:
The Body and Sleeves are done. I just have to finish the ribbing around the neck and buy some hooks. More on that later.

Next Project:
Another neck-down sweater. This one of my own design, and it'll be knit in a super soft alpaca.

Today's Weather:
Perfect. Warm and Sunny with a bit of a breeze. Great for a bike ride through the park!

Busy bee, but not much crafting...

Look at what can happen in ten short days!

An amazing little girl was born to an amazing mom, and I was fortunate enough to experience the event!


Then I ran off to see someone kick butt in a bike race:


That was followed by a large graduation and picnic event. Congrats to all 2007 grads!


And, from event to event we rode around on an awesome red bike:


And between the fun, there was some work, some research, and some (very little) knitting. I finished the body of Glee, but still have the sleeves to work on. There will definitely be a Glee posting this week. I promise. There's also going to be some fun vaca planning. Our current plan is to drive from PA to Mexico to Colorado and end up in Berkeley. All of that should provide a lot of material for posting, so this dry spell is officially over!

And I can't resist, one more pic of the cutie:

road trip header

Almost Done!!

I submitted one final today and just have one project left to go! In between writing and programming, I took some time to enjoy the weather. Here are a few shots until I get back to knitting:

Home Invasion!

This has been one rough week ~ full of papers, programming, and modeling of energy stuff. The work continues for another week, so unfortunately I may not finish Glee for it's big May debut. Although, once the work is done, I'll be having a lot of fun!

Because of the lack of crafting, I don't have many pictures to share. I do want to mention that I've invaded Veghead's house, as soon as I walked in, I saw piles of crafty goodness! The makings of a quilt and some kick-ass bags where the dining room should be. A basket of yarn by the fireplace. Crafty magazines and books in every nook. I'm in craft heaven. Not to mention that the company and lodging is great.

I'm so excited to be here, hanging out, finishing my semester, and waiting on a big arrival!