Summer

"They" always call Memorial Day the "unofficial start of summer." I know there are a lot of places where school's out by Memorial Day, so for those kids, it really is their summer break. My kids have another month of school before they're out, however. The pool opens for weekends, but during the week they're trapped in school. By this point in the year they're not doing too much learning, either. Standardized testing ends and the remainder of the year is for easygoing review, fun projects, parties, and other end of the year stuff. They pack it full of stuff for parents to attend, too, just when we're frantically trying to get in all the appointments, errands, and other things we need or want to accomplish before the kids are out of school.

I suppose we'll hit the pool tomorrow, grill tomorrow night, and wonder where this whole year went. It's almost time for me to start crying about how I have a son going to high school next year.

Just in time for summer, I finished up Mary Jane, and had a chance to get Mr. T to take some pictures. I really like how this turned out. I modified the pattern a bit, eliminating the puff sleeves and elongating them until they hit just below the elbows. I also eliminated the line of yarnovers at the raglan increase lines, because I didn't want holes there. I raised the neckline about an inch and a half or so, put in a little waist shaping (which I don't think anyone can see, honestly), and cast on 4 stitches at each underarm for a little more movement in that area.




And now I have to put it away for a few months, damn it!

Specs: Pattern: Mary Jane, by Sarah Moore, available through Twist Collective. The yarn is Squoosh Fiberarts' Merino Cashmere Sport, in Oil Slick. For the locals, I hear that Fibre Space is now carrying Squoosh yarns. And I have a GC... hmmm... Anyway -- I think I used just over 4 skeins of yarn for this, including swatches. I knew it would grow, being a superwash yarn, so I accounted for that in my swatching, making sure to wash my swatches to get an accurate gauge. In the end, however, I threw the wet sweater in the dryer for a few minutes on low heat to keep it from growing too much. When it was mostly dry but still slightly damp, I laid it flat, patted it gently to shape, and let it dry. Perfect.

It's been busy here, so there really hasn't been any new knitting or spinning to share. I was hoping that there would be some time for that this weekend, but so far, no.

What I have been doing is summerizing -- getting the handknits washed and packed away for the summer. This is what my bathroom looks like right now:






















You can't see it in that last pic, but there's a sweater soaking in a bin in the tub, too.

Yes, this is what I do with my holiday weekends, sigh.