Monday, February 20, 2006

Day 11: Resisting temptation

I finished the collar for my Olympic cardigan last night and started the first sleeve this morning. I am so impressed with how this project is progressing.

When I started knitting about two years ago, my mother in law asked me if I was planning on knitting a sweater for myself. At the time, the only projects that graced my needles were sized for itty bitty babies (and most were from this wonderful book for beginners) and I replied that I did not think I would ever have the patience to knit an adult garment. I guess I figured an adult sweater would take months to knit and would not be very rewarding along the way. Boy was I wrong! It's been 10 days and I'm nearly done. I can see the finish line approaching.

Bonus, right after I took the progress picture above, I lay one of my fitted t-shirts on top of it to check for size (I hadn't actually done this at all yet) and it was p-e-r-f-e-c-t!

The sleeve is moving quickly and even more quickly since the mailman's visit this morning. He brought me 4 balls of the wonderful (and discounted) Noro Silver Thaw from Jannette's Rare Yarns way over in the UK. I was worried about duty on this one. We have free trade with the US and I occasionally still end up having to pay duty on yarn (how does that work anyway...isn't free trade supposed to be free?) so I was kind of worried about the tax implications for importing yarn from across the pond. I was really pleased when I got the package because there was actually no duty imposed at all. The clever (and wonderful) folks at the yarn shop didn't include an invoice in the package, declared the value at $10 (for 4 balls of Noro?) and identified it as a gift! How thoughtful. That's it, Jannette's is now my number uno supplier of brand name yarn! I am sooo stoked.

Well now that I have these gorgeous balls of divine yarn staring back at me, I am extra motivated to finish my Olympic cardigan so that I can do more than just fondle my latest stashquisition. I'm thinking of using it to knit this or this (if I can figure out the pattern).

And now a little something for daddy who is probably going to take a peek today. This is what Julian did last night while mommy was knitting away and watching the men's hockey game (again!) Thankfully, Torino weather is better today and there are other events to watch. The round-robin is barely over and I am already so hockeyed out that I didn't even watch the women's gold-medal match today. They won anyway...wooohoo!

Knit on!

9 comments:

  1. The cardigan is looking great! You're coming along nicely with it.

    Love that yarn you got today. Be prepared though...I got a gift from a friend at Christmas. He ordered it and it was sent from the states (Texas)...he had it sent from the company. Anyway, last week I got a bill in the mail from DSL saying that I owed a little over $13 for duty!!! I didn't even order it...it was a gift (even said so on the 'invoice' or whatever it was). We got it taken care of and they are going to charge the duty to his credit card....I shouldn't have to pay something that was for a gift...you might be ok though. The people said at DSL that if he were to ship it to me and not from the company, then there wouldn't have been any duty, so you might be ok...I hope.

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  2. Sweater looks awesome. Just wondering...do you use a particular method for finishing up the sweater (putting all the pieces together)? This is currently my biggest area of ignorance (in knitting!). Looks like you put it together as you went. Does that mean you didn't block each individual piece? I really have no idea how to put pieces together even though I've read quite a bit about it. I need someone right there with me, I guess. Just curious! The ribs were yummy, by the way! Come down anytime!

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  3. Hey! Just noticed you added me to your blog list! Cool! Thanks!

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  4. Your sweater is coming along nicely of course. But "oh what a CUTE baby!" ... so sweet. Enjoy while she's young :)

    Thanks for the compliment ... about not looking old enough to be a great-grandmom... but maybe it's coz the mom-to-be is only turning 17! I'm 40 years older than she is,hehe. BTW, I hope I don't loose my nerve ... and get the steeks DONE. Scissors in hand, pause, sigh, deep breath,
    OH NO.....Arrgh!

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  5. Anonymous12:49 p.m.

    You are doing so well on that Olympic Sweater! I am like, proud of you. What a weird feeling to be proud of someone I have never met!

    I learned how to knit for that very same Debbie Bliss book! I fell in love with the photography when I saw the book and bought it (at a garage sale for 25 cents!)

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  6. Your cardi is looking great! I have never knit with Noro, but I plan to do so in the very near future. I just have to decide what I'm going to make with it (and then buy some) ... Maybe a funky cardi or something for myself.

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  7. Anny,
    If we don't feed these virtual pets will they die? My kids had little keychain versions (what the heck were they called??) and they died if you didn't take care of them!

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  8. What a super cute baby you have!

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  9. Oh good gracious!!!! The ticker is RED! When did that happen? I liked the sense of security I got from yellow. Ack!

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