It's pouring again today, and it's as dark as all get out, here. I don't even want to get dressed up to go out shopping, which I need to do. Instead, I'm sitting here figuring out ways I can avoid that. I don't need to drink coffee, right? Eating? Well, maybe tomorrow. It's just that yucky out.
I ordered Sweater Wizard v3 a few days ago, and it arrived yesterday. It isn't everything I wanted, but I'm still exploring it, so that may not be true. I'll need to play around with it a lot more. Lion Brand is also advertising their new knitting software (even though it's out of stock, presently), and there's a thread on Elann about it, asking if anyone knows anything about it. It's a lot cheaper than Sweater Wizard, even without the 30% discount. And it may have more bells and whistles, but it's hard to tell without buying it and trying it. Does anyone really need two knitting programs?
KnitDad uses SW a lot, so I'm thinking I'll be asking him how to get it to do what I want it to if I can't figure it out myself. For the basics, it really is simple. Plug in a gauge, tell it what needles you're using, tell it the basic shape you want, and presto! There's your pattern, with all the math worked out for you. I like that part. I just want to tweak it, of course.
Tomorrow is my "return to reality", and I have to admit I'm not looking forward to it. I mean, I love my kids, but I have also loved being off work and off graduate school for the past two weeks. Even with the holidays, it's been a relaxing break from the frenetic pace my life is. I didn't get done with everything I wanted, but that's okay. I gave myself permission to not set any absolute goals for myself during this time. I have too many of those all the rest of the time.
I've been accepted for Grace's MiniSwap, for those of us who didn't make it into the original CocoaSwap. I don't know who my partner is yet, but I'm excited about participating in this. It's my first swap, ever! And it's chocolate! (That's a food group, right?) I'll let you know how it goes. It's only a one-month swap, one package, so I think that's manageable, even for me.
Don't forget, there's still plenty of time to enter my Blogiversary Contest. It doesn't close until 1/15, so leave me a comment about your favorite knit, and why, and you'll be in the running for some deliciously soft alpaca.
1 comment:
Gloom is right! But I don't actually mind it, except the rain makes driving a bit tricky.
I do use Sweater Wizard once in a while. I used to use it a lot more when I was at the former shop. Where I am not most of the students are still satisfied with knitting scarves. I used it Saturday to make a vest pattern for one of the guys that I taught a couple of years ago. I made some adjustments by superimposing the schematic from the pattern he wanted to make. SW will recalculate based on the new dimensions and give you a yardage figure based on that.
My favorite knitting? I think it would have to be socks. They're fairly quick to execute, they don't take much yarn so they're relatively inexpensive, and best of all, you get to work with some pretty wild colors. Colors that you probably wouldn't use in a big project like a sweater. I'm still partial to double points. I just don't see any real advantage to using circulars. Besides, dpns look so impressive.
I don't envy you having to go back to work and school. It's hard enough just going to teach knitting to willing students. Are you doing your master's program on line?
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