Aqueduct

Alex - my beautiful son who loves to hold my yarn while I knit but never, ever wear anything I make.

Corset contest update - WOW, I can’t believe how many people are interested. The contest will be open until Midnight on Wednesday, January 4th. I will draw a name on Thursday and email you if you won.

EDIT: COMMENTING NOW FIXED!!! Feel free to stop by and wave hi.

Guess What? Something happened between when I ordered and cast on for my fantastic corset and when I cast off. Can you guess what it is? My work out efforts resulted in a more drastic reshaping than I anticpated. What started out as negative ease for a size 18/20 chest is now way to big. Rather than butcher the lines or rip it all back, I thought I’d start the new year with a contest. If you are a plus size diva with a great rack and are looking to show it off in a sexy, hand knit corset made of Alpaca and Silk, with an all Alpaca trim, drop me an email and you will be entered to win the most beautiful garmet I’ve ever made. *

*Best not be a stickler for a perfectly made sweater, as it shows evidence of a small learning curve that could not be corrected.

This week between Christmas and New Years is one of my favorite. Life seems slower, it is ok not to get caught up on everything on your to do list, you can spend the day reading or knitting.

Me? I sucessfully relocated my armholes on my corset, using an after thought pocket technique to pick up the stitches where I wanted the new armholes to be. I carefully undid the I cord bind off from the old armholes and then grafted the pieces together. Right now, I’m blocking the living daylights out of it, and will model it once I get the buttons on.

Rather than exchange gifts, Dave and I took each other out last night. We dropped the kids of with my parents, walked across the Boston Common to the Lowe’s Theatre for a late matinee of Casanova (not nearly as good as Brokeback Mountain - a movie I am still thinking about) followed by dinner at Petite Robert Bistro. This was an exceptional experience. The menu may appear a bit pricy to a non sprawlopolis resident (that beltway from Portsmouth, NH to Washington, DC where you can’t get a good dinner out for two for under $150) but for Boston, this is a great value for the best French food I’ve eaten outside of Paris. A trio of pates, a healthy salad with blu cheese, scallops for me, venison for DH, and crepes for dessert. Yummy.

And in book notes, one of the nicest things about marrying into DH’s family is that they are book people. DH and his family always gives me the best books for Christmas. This year was not exception.

Now on my bookshelf:

Rising up from my corset disaster, I cast on for some easy, selfless knitting, hoping to put some positive knitting energy into my hands, heart and home. DH has an aunt who was clearly the black sheep of her family. She has been wonderful to my children, and serendipitously, was my best friends’s boyfriend’s housemate in rural vermont. Small world, no? In addition to a few small items, I cast on for a scarf from yarn I received as a thank you present for hosting the GSRP. This was a lovely handpainted wool/silk/mohair mix and was just calling out for a luxurious scarf. I cast on 20 stitches, knit till it was almost gone, then bound off, not before dropping four strategically placed stitches all the way down (this actually took longer than knitting, as I forgot how much mohair likes to stick.) Attach some fringe and voila, the perfect gift for a very kind woman.

Next, I cleaned out my box of unclaimed knitted items, a small black cashmere neck warmer with fur trim, a child sized racer back vest, a pair of fingerless gloves and a really big felted hat. I decluttered the stash of a few odd skeins that were causing more guilt than pleasure and off the package went to our local Tea Shop, which serves as a donation center for Erin’s Afghan project. While I was there, I also treated myself to a new fancy tea cup, complete with strainer and cover and some tea. (A reward, for getting straight A’s this semester in school.)

All of this was after a refresher spinning class at the Iron Horse Farm. I took a lesson from Debbie last year, spun off and on until I started school again in the fall and then stopped spinning. In the mean time, I seemed to have forgotten what I was doing and how to play with the tension. Debbie got me back in the saddle (or in the spin of things … ha ha ha) and I have a lovely bobbin to show for it.

The knitting goddess must have been smiling on me, because last night I attacked my corset with a new plan and have one amazing new sleeve, located just in the right place. Tonight, DH will document my attemtp to match a second sleeve and I will hopefully have blog fodder tomorrow.

I finally cast off my corset last night, while catching up on the new Showtime series, Sleeper Cell. I quickly stripped off my clothes, standing in my living room in just a bra and jeans. I put my arms through the holes and could not believe my eyes. My armholes are located about 4 inches too far forward, so now the bust is way too tight and there is enough room for two of me in the back. I checked, double checked and tripple checked my instructions and there doesn’t seem to be an error there. I checked with my husband, and he doesn’t seem to think I am oddly proportioned. What am I to do?

I am thinking I pretend this is a fair isle and go for my first steeking experience. cutting horizontally rather than vertically, then graft the previous armholes togther. I will not rip this back, the yarn just (knitpicks andean silk) will not obey, and as I don’t know anyone with boobs on their back and not their front, I can’t regift it. Stay tuned for late breaking news.

If you aren’t loving your current bra, or need to update your collection, Bitch, Ph.D. has a great post about getting the right bra. I can heartily endorse her claim that Wacol is the best bra on the market at that price point. I love my Wacol bras and dream about the day I can add a few more to my collection. And, by the way, I am awful to mine — wash, dry, hot cycle — really awful (my loving DH actually rescuses them from the laundry pile, puts them in a special lingere bag and pulls them out after a few minutes in the dryer). They are no worse for it. (not that I’m saying buy a $50.00 bra and proceed to destroy it, but if you do, by accident, send it through the hot cycle, the bra will survive.)

The Sunday before last, we piled the kids in the car and headed west by north west. Our first stop was the Stow Airfield in Stow, Massachusetts, were we ate breakfast at Nancy’s Cafe while watching little planes fuel, taxi and take off. The kids loved it and the breakfast was good. With bellys full we headed west by south west to The Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Boylston. This hidden gem, located just outside of Worcester, is breathtaking. The grounds are fairly extensive, but we began inside at the orangery.

This was such a peaceful place to be on a cold, blustery November day. We then took a walk around the grounds, DH took this photo of me overlooking the Wachusetts Reservoir, modeling my new wardrobe staple, the purple sweater.

See, I promised knitting content! I’m still working away on my corsett, but school has kept me quite busy and I find I spend my knitting time learning to design better web pages. I’m quite jelous of all the people who are able to actually knit holiday gifts. Not me, not this year. I think this will be a very Target Christmas

I hope this new look works better on your browser. If it doesn’t can you let me know [don't forget to tell me which browser you use] and I can look into debugging.

I took the kids to the Worcester Art Museum today. They were hosting a family day and had a children’s chorus, a scavenger hunt and a really cool hands on activity for kids using painter’s tape and the walls - the kids created their own installation, which was excellent. The museum itself is wonderful and if you are in New England and looking for an off the beaten path afternoon, combine it with a trip to Tatnuck Booksellers for lunch and your day is made.

knitting news tomorrow - i promise

This Friday is a school weekend, which means that I’m busy working on projects and not knitting. I know this site needs a major rehaul, as I’ve heard a few people can’t see it or it falls apart on certain browsers.

Rather than troubleshoot for browsers, I will strip off the fancy coding later this weekend, when I return from school.

If you aren’t reading Cathy Young over at The Y Files, you are missing one of the wisest women blogging. Be warned, she makes you think, never a bad thing.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I’m a little late to the party, but if you haven’t checked out the new site The AntiCraft, you might want to link on through to Curse Your Boyfriend. This is the perfect antidote to the knit boyfriend sweater = destined for a breakup urban legand. In my knitting news, I’m back to Annie’s Corset, and am up down to the waist shaping. I just started my third to last skein and am crossing my fingers that I’ll have enough.



Last night I was out at my book club’s revival meeting. The two other original members and I all brought 2-3 new women to the group, we dined on a lavish spread, drank plenty of wine and picked Graham Greene’s Travels With My Aunt for our December meeting. I seem to remember having read Graham Greene in high school, and am exited that we picked an author I’m not familiar with.

My primary recommendation last night was March: A Novel, by Geraldine Brooks. I think I may add it to my library list for the new year, after I finish up Crimson Petal and The White which stalled out on my nightstand when I picked up Freddy and Fredericka, by Mark Helprin, which had me laughing out loud in a public coffee shop.