FO: Aidez

Hello!  I haven't had a lot of free time or reliable network lately, as I am still in a hotel waiting to move in to a more permanent home.  It's been...less than ideal.  This might be a personal record as far as living out of suitcase goes for me...two months now.  

 

Did you know this was created by the Ministry of Information to get people through the Blitz?  It makes every other use of it seem trivial.  

I'm liking my new adopted home, but I think I'll just like it more when I feel more settled in these next few coming weeks.  I think I miss cooking the most- not having a fridge, a coffee maker or even a hotplate means I'm getting awfully sick of ready-made sandwiches and salads.  

I made a sweater!  I started it while I was still in Paris and just finished it up and blocked it.  It's a welcome addition to my very limited wardrobe.  A nice little mid-winter pick me up for when I'm sick of the same five things that I have, along with the panicky few pairs of clean undies I have.  Launderettes are few and far between here, as it is pretty standard to have a washer drier crammed in the kitchen.  I guess the good thing about having to make the schlep is I did get some knitting done, and a nice older Italian woman commented, "Oh!  A jumper!"  Sweaters are jumpers here.  Pants are underware.  It's a flat, not an apartment.  The flat has a lift, not an elevator.  

It's the Aidez sweater, which is somewhat ironically the French word for "Help".  "Aidez-moi, si vous plait!" is quite the useful phrase when in France.

The yarn is a souvenir from my trip up to Maine last summer- it's Quince & Co Osprey.  A lovely cushy Aran-weight wool yarn that is really quite fun to knit and the 3-ply structure really made the cables pop.  The color is "split pea", which is kind of an atypical color choice for me as I usually go for greens that are darker- more hunters and forests and olive greens.  It's a fresh, bright color. In wintertime, this makes me insanely giddy.  

The pattern is straightforward- I finished the sleeves in a matter of days, then the back in a few more.  I hit some hiccups as I ended up knitting two left fronts (distracted and drinking when I read those instructions, I was) and had to rip one back, but then that progressed quite nicely once I saw the err in my ways.  

I blocked this piece by piece in the hotel room sink and on the bath mat, and seemed it up using hair pins to keep the pieces in place.  Now that I think of it...it's kind of a miracle that this worked out at all.  

I love it so.  It's very warm, and cozy.  I am thinking about discreetly adding some hook-and-eye closures to the inside once I have my sewing kit.  I think it would be more wearable if it fastens in the front somehow, but I like how clean it looks without a button band or buttons to distract.  The sleeves are very fitted, which I don't mind, but if you like some ease to your sleeves, you might want to go up a size.  

I made the Medium size (40") and used 1020 yards of yarn, which was six entire skeins.  I still have one skein left that I have to deal with, which will be a hat or a cowl eventually.  

I've been taking lots of walks with my camera, especially on the odd sunny days.  I'm having fun exploring and browsing all the shops and food markets and trying to hustle and get things done before the dreaded tube strike this week.