yay yay

11 Jan 2005 in journal

hello and happy mid-week to you all ~

despite what that pic to the right shows (first time using the automatic pic-taking abilities of my camera!), i’m in a very cheery mood for several reasons:

• ~ today was my first day of class called intro to info. tech. which i’ve been anticipating for weeks, and which (happily) did not fail to get me all excited again about interactions between computers and libraries
• ~ that same class ended an hour early ;P
• ~ i’m going to eat & then take a nap in about twenty minutes
• ~ a classmate pointed out a great article in the l.a. times reaffirming my enthusiasm for this profession i’ve chosen
• ~ missing the boat last time and determined not to do it again, i remembered to sign up for secret pals 4 – for you non-knitters, it’s a yarn-and-such-gifts exchange – or as a friend said ‘it sounds like a cult’ – and for you non-u.s. folk, it’s international this time, yeah!
• ~ as i type this, it has not been raining for the last 12 hours or so and the sun is out and shining. amazing.
• ~ and the big news: as you can see, i finally finished my very first sweater! for the second day in a row, i’m wearing it proudly, happily, and a tad scared (that i’ll snag it, dirty it, etc etc).

the pattern is a simple great one from phildar’s tendances summer 2004 and it took a little over 2 skeins of inca organic cotton worked on size 9 circulars. i lengthened the arms by about 4 rows and i love the effect – it’s like a security blanket for me, being able to grab on to the cuffs at all times. the seaming isn’t beautiful on the shoulders (some have already exclaimed over my “pretty puffed sleeves”!) but i knew if i didn’t finish and wear it soon, i’d be in danger of getting very discouraged knitting-wise.

my same concern i had earlier remains, oh boy does it: the pattern calls for a cotton/acrylic mix and i used 100% organic cotton. the word is this particular yarn shrinks up to (hold your breath) 30%! though i made this sweater in a larger size (it’s supposed to be much more body-hugging), i really like the way it feels and fits now so i’ll definitely be spotcleaning this sweater as long as i can.

update: hmm, while i’m waiting for some yarn to be delivered (hopefully next week!), i’m loving this beautiful scarf/stitch – maybe it’s time i tried some manos del uruguay yarn? (oh and i really like this pattern but can’t justify the expense just yt . sigh.)