I Grape and Black Cherry Kool-Aided some Bare Merino. The dyeing didn’t happen quite the way I had planned. I had a couple beautiful Black Cherryish skeins and 3 that had some weird Grape stuff happening. I over-dyed everything with Black Cherry. It’s all beautiful, except one reject skein that I may not even need. I don’t know if I burned it or if it just had a few over-saturated spots. I’d like to start knitting soon!

It knits up BEAUTIFULLY! And it’s so, so soft. I love it! The fabric is a little stiff, but I think a wash and block will do the trick. The stockinette will get old fast, but it looks really good, so I know the finished product will be well worth it. My gauge is spot-on too! How often does THAT happen?!

This thing needs a name….

I kept my guy company last night, knitting while he transferred 40-some female betta fish from their moving tupperware to their tanks. I can’t believe how vibrant those little fishes are! They make my fancy dyed yarn look so dingy! I was going to name the sweater after them, but it’s clearly not worthy. I’m almost to the underarms (yay!), so I better find a name soon!

Got it: named after a repeated line in The New Pornographers “Moves”.

“These things get louder.”

I’m going to have to do the sleeve cuffs provisionally and try to bind off the i-cord because it is just not working for me. I’ve tried 7s, 4s, and a mixture of the two to no avail….

It’s done and blocking and beautiful! I used almost every bit of yarn. That means the edgings and pockets are the reject skein. It shows. My Friday night ladies liked the contrast. I’m undecided, but it’s growing on me. I think I’ll make another some day.

The buttons are a fun story: I went to JoAnn’s to see if I could find any I liked and I found these great mother-of-pearlish buttons with a maroon streak through them. I accidentally popped one off it’s paper thing as I was testing it in the button-hole and SURPRISE! the back was EXACTLY the same color as my sweater! The boy and I deliberated long and hard on which side to use. We decided the silvery side was too much flash. These buttons are so perfect, I can’t even begin to explain!