knitting along again

In spite of the almost-four-months old babe on my hip, I’ve been getting a surprising amount of knitting, sewing, and reading done.  

I want to catch you up, especially on all of the Alabama Chanin-inspired hand-sewn jersey around here, but today I’ll stick to knitting.

I've revisited the sweater I began planning for Pete almost a year ago.  After measuring one of his heavy winter sweaters thoroughly, I crunched the numbers, using Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting without Tears for guidance.

Thanks to the Olympics and a trip to California, I've had lots of time to knit lately.  One dark grey sleeve is all but finished, and I'm finally past the body's infernal ribbing, which is pictured above.  The trouble is that I've nearly run out of the dark grey, so I see a frantic search in my future, probably at this year's Rhinebeck.

As for books, I've been devouring old episodes of the podcast Craftlit, which consists of a little crafty chatter followed by a classic lifted from Librivox.  Heather Ordover used to be an English teacher, so she has great insights into the literature, which I've really been enjoying.  So far I've listened to the episodes containing Pride and Prejudice and a number of short stories, including The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  I'm just about to begin The Turn of the Screw.

Plus!  (I know, right?) I just got all of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's books out of the library.  I stayed up late to finish up Knitting Rules! last night.  Incidentally, her books are all tiny and light, ideal for one-handed reading whilst nursing.  Which is finally going well!  My sad tale of nursing woe will have to wait for another day, as, you know, I actually have to go do it now.