Last week's CMS/Colloquium knitting

My birthday was at the end of February, and my mom gave me a knitting kit she assembled herself: a skein of hand-dyed yarn (naturally dyed with madder) that she got while she was travelling earlier in the month, and a choice of three fingering-weight shawl patterns.  I chose one of the patterns ("Happenstance") and cast on.  It's moving pretty quickly - this is what it looked like at the end of my seminars just over a week ago, and it's grown quite a bit since then.

The yarn is a single-ply merino-silk blend, and it has a really beautiful sheen.  I think this is going to be a really lovely shawl once it's finished and blocked out!

Knitting on airplanes

I knit these socks almost entirely on airplanes and in airports ... they're my job interview socks!  I started them on the way to the Joint Math Meetings, where I interviewed for a whole bunch of jobs, and then continued knitting on my way to and from several campus interviews.  Now I'm finished with the socks, but unfortunately not quite done with interviews.

This pattern, Skew from Knitty, has a very interesting and unusual construction.  The socks are knit from the toe up, on the bias, and then there are some extra increases and decreases, and suddenly you're grafting the back of the heel together and continuing up the leg.

There is a left sock and a right sock.

The yarn is Shibui Staccato Sock, and it was lovely to work with.  I got it from my mom a few years ago, and when I decided to knit socks from it I went on the hunt for a pattern that would show off the color changes in the yarn.  I think Skew was perfect!

Pattern: Skew
Size: one size
Yarn: Shibui Staccato Sock
Needles: I already can't remember - US2 DPNs?
Started/Completed: January 2016/March 2016
Modifications: none

Friday Night Sew-In

I sewed myself a shirt Friday night (actually I finished it Saturday afternoon, but most of the work was done Friday night).  It's the Seamwork Akita.  The pattern claims that it can be sewn up in one hour, which was not my experience at all, but then I'm a pretty slow and somewhat inexperienced sewist.  It took me one hour just to tape and cut out the pattern piece, plus probably a good 3 hours of sewing.

And then when I was done, I discovered that it doesn't fit correctly.  At all.  If you look closely at this picture, you can see that the dart is way too low:

I really like the fabric, though, and in general I like the style.  It's pretty comfortable, and was definitely easy to sew (except that my fabric wouldn't take a crease, which made it a bit harder, but still).  If I can move the dart so it fits me I can see myself making a bunch of these.

I told my mom I would let her have this shirt if it fits her and she likes it, but I think instead I might try cutting it up to make a different shirt.  One thing about it that was definitely a success (but you can't see it in the pictures) is that I finished the neckline with metallic gold bias tape.

Pattern: Seamwork Akita
Size: 8, no modifications
Fabric: a mystery synthetic print handed down via my husband's grandmother and my sister-in-law