As Promised - More Catching Up

Often, I wonder how long it takes other bloggers to post an entry on their blog.

For me, it seems to take a long time to take the photos, gather my thoughts, write it all up and then edit everything here on Kent’s Craft.

And as I’m pecking away at the keyboard, I can see my partially knit sweater calling my name, next to the nice comfy sofa, beckoning me to come for a visit and linger awhile. It keeps saying “You can post later.  We only have so much time together before it’s time for bed!”

Since I ran out of time last week, there are a few things that I didn’t get to cover in the previous post.

First, I wanted to share with you the wonderful and delicous gift that Vanessa sent to me.  Along with armfuls of magazines and letters, a pristine and perfectly wrapped box greeted us on our return from Cozumel.

Inside the package I found the delicious Lupicia ‘Paradise Green Tea with tropical fruit flavors’:

And ’Genmaicha with roasted rice and matcha’ (I used the macro lens so you can really see the roasted rice):

Thank you Vanessa! Just when I thought I knew all about green tea, you found something very special and shared it’s ‘magic’ with me.

As you can imagine, the Paradise tea has an amazing fragrance and flavor.  The second tea, with roasted rice and matcha, turned out to be my favorite.  It sounds like an unusual combination, but once you pour a cup and cradle it in your hands, the warm toasty vapors of the roasted rice envelop you, making this tea even more appealing and tasty.  You would swear there is a toasted bagel hiding right behind you, waiting to be snatched up!

Ok, now I’m running over to the counter to pour some magic into my giant teacup.  Are you ready for some knitting content again?

In the last few weeks, I haven’t made much progress on the cabled cardigan.  There just didn’t seem to be a whole lot of time.  Right after getting home from work, the evening just dissolved into dinner, dishes and a path that led directly to bed.

To slow the progress of the sweater even further, I was getting wary of how the yoke decreased with the cables I selected.  Somehow, I had more stitches, rows and decreases than what was given in the pattern.  At this point, I’m going to be more focused on how the decreases create the measurements I want and ’tweak’ the pattern accordingly.

Just know that I was nervous and second guessing the fit:

Last week, I had my first knitting social-engagement ever!  After joining my LYS Renaissance Yarns group on Ravelry, I met fellow knitter and Raveler extraordinaire Dollyce.  I was so honored and pleased to get an invitation from her to attend Renaissance Yarn’s Friday night knitting social.

Thanks to Dollyce, it was a truly wonderful experience.  I arrived at the shop early (when it was quiet) and was able to spend quality time with both her and Nancy (one of the owners of Renaissance).  They were both really sweet and kind to me, saying nice things about my sweater and even offered their expertise with selecting a border once it’s been steeked.  I’m really trying hard to finish the majority of the sweater so that we can get to the fun part, the finishing ‘touches’.

Isn’t this what knitting groups are for? An opportunity to share projects, collaborate, teach and help one another. It’s so obvious that I need to get out more often! 

Another thing that Dollyce did that night, was introduce me to the wonderful world of Elsebeth Lavold.  I didn’t have much exposure to her patterns until I saw the Tordis sweater on Ravelry.  I fell instantly in love with that pattern.  It just seemed to have the right proportions to me, a perfect balance of stockinette panels to ‘inset’ cables (almost appearing chiseled into the stockinette background).

Because Dollyce is such a kind and generous person/enabler, she actually gave me a copy of the book that has the Tordis pattern in it (along with some intricate, almost esoteric increase techniques that EL provides within): 

This is how much knitting I accomplished that night (this is while I was trying to talk and observe my fellow knitters all at the same time):

I was hoping to post my Grand Marnier French Toast recipe, but will have to wait until the next post.

Once again, out of time.