8-31-2010: All finished! I wound up with 5 grams left over.

Sleeve mod: Left stitches live instead of binding off, went back around and picked up 2 stitches from the underarm gap by grabbing a leg from 2 adjacent stitches to make each new stitch out of. Knit 2 rounds of stockinette, 8 rounds of garter, ending on knit round, bind off purlwise.

8-20-2010: Thumb seems to be mostly in working order now. I’m into ball 2-of-3 of the yarn, and nearly to the part where I’m supposed to bind off the little cap sleeves. I’m considering leaving the stitches live, so that if I have yarn left after reaching the desired length for the body I can go back and make the sleeves longer. Otherwise, I may even do an i-cord bind off on the sleeves, just because it’s so nice-looking and pliable.

8-4-2010: I want to work on this so badly, I’m already to the second buttonhole, but my left thumb base joint is getting really stiff. I wrapped my hand and wrist in an Ace bandage and took some ibuprofen before bed, and it’s feeling better this morning. I’m going to force myself not to knit for a day or two and see if that helps.

8-2-2010: Just finished washing and blocking my Edelweiss tee, so it’s time to cast on for this! I’m using a US-7 needle, knowing my gauge will be airier than called for, so I’m casting on for the 40” size, even though my current actual bust size is 46”.

7-30-2010: Spent all day completing the spinning on this project. Did 1/4 of the singles and all of the plying in one sitting, while rewatching Doctor Who episodes. Ended up with 620 yards of fingering weight 2-ply and probably about 15 yards of 3-ply navajo with the uneven end of the first bobbin.

The pattern notes say that she got 680 yards from 8 oz. of fiber, so my WPI should be pretty close, and due to the top-down construction of the garment, I can knit until I run out of yarn and it will still be cute even if slightly cropped. I will also probably loosen the gauge to get farther with my yarn since this is a layering garment and does not need to be opaque.

Waiting impatiently for the jumbo 8 oz. skein to dry so that I can swatch!!!

I could either weave ends for the Starbuck Gloves, or finish the yoke on my Amethyst Edelweiss. I suppose I should finish one lacy garment before starting another, but I’m too excited about this not to at least swatch.

7-28-2010: Dyed this roving last week, started spinning it when I couldn’t sleep last night. Started with two 4-oz. braids of superwash BFL in complimentary colorways. The first one starts with a soft brown, transitions through a pale lilac and winds up with a deep plum. The second one starts with dark purple, heads through a lighter purple with flashes of pink and then changes to yellow and burnished orange.

I’ve divided each braid into 16 slivers and I’m spinning them in pattern: Brown-purple/purple-orange. This will eventually be a 2-ply for subtle striping. I’m currently 2 slivers from finishing the first bobbin. My yardage goal is 700 yards per 8 oz of wool.