Knitting on the road

We’re traveling to Cincinnati tonight so that Marc can see his Mom before Mother’s day. Going out of town, even if only for a night, always inspires in me a frenzy of casting on for projects. After all, what am I to do when I’m awake for 4 hours after everyone goes to bed at 10 pm? I’m not even sure that I went to bed at 10 when I was eight years old, but to be fair I come from a long line of insomniacs, so my sleeplessness is kind of a family tradition. Marc loves to stay with friends and relatives when we go out of town, and here is one place where we really differ. I like to have my own hotel room, my own tv, and the ability to not feel like a guest in someone’s home (it always makes me nervous, no matter how nice they are… I know my habits are different from theirs.)

All things considered though, I suppose I should just be grateful that Marc doesn’t want to go camping. My last boyfriend before Marc liked to go camping, especially when it was freezing cold outside. It was one cold November morning, huddled around a campfire under a blanket watching him come back from an early morning hike to get excited about eating the MREs his friend gotten for him that I had the thought “perhaps this is not going to work out.” You see, I don’t think that being cooked on a stick automatically makes things taste better, and that is a fundamental philosophical difference.

Fortunately, there is no chance of Marc asking me to go camping, and because of that I think I can live with staying in other people’s houses every once in awhile. At least, so long as they can live with seeing how grumpy I am without coffee made from my own coffeemaker.

Anyway, I have gotten off track (as I so often do… I am very easily distracted.) I couldn’t decide what to cast on for. I have Tuscany on the needles, but I’m not in a hurry for it to get finished – I won’t wear it for awhile anyway. The humidity levels are already beginning to rise here. You know how some people are AC people and some want the windows open? Marc wants the windows open, but I can’t stand how sticky that makes everything. Actually, I’m more of an “AC only at night” person, because that’s the only time I get hot. I rarely use AC during the day because I’m cold natured.

And… off track again. Anyway, I cast on for 2 different sweaters because I couldn’t decide. The first is Joy from Nectar.

I’m really enjoying knitting with the denim, and the pattern is fun. The scalloped cast on took forever, but the effect is really pretty! The only thing I don’t like is the lack of a chart for the eyelet pattern – it’s one of those that says things like Rows 30-37: Repeat rows 1-7. I find those a little hard to keep up with.

At the same time, remembering that I wanted to start another tank, I cast on for the Drawstring Camisole from the Summer IK. And then I messed up the lace 5 times, ripped out and started again. Now I think I’m on track (I was having trouble figuring out how many stitches to keep in stockinette at the edges when I can’t complete a pattern rep in my size.)

This time I seem to be on track.  I’m knitting the XS, which has a 30″ bust.  I hope the size works out ok – my commercially made knitted tanks measure about 30″ in the bust, so I should be fine, it just seems small.  I did notice that my swatch stretched easily, so I think it could use some negative ease.  I love knitting with Cotton Glace, but it is harder on the hands than the denim.  I really love Rowan yarns.  I think the RYC line is often overpriced, but the Rowan line yarns are great quality – I have not been disappointed yet!

And now I must pack.  I hope you’re having a great Friday!