August 2016 – The Adventures of Captain Picot

Sweater Quest Part 4 – The Left and Right Fronts

August 12th, 2016nigel0 Comments

This series follows my efforts as I knit a sweater for the very first time. Check out my previous posts on choosing a design, yarn, and knitting the back. Let’s be frank here – sweaters are notoriously long projects. Even with my speedy Continental technique, knitting the back alone took me more than a whole week. It doesn’t help that I’m a pretty big guy. Just seeing the sheer amount of fabric I am producing to fit my body is making me reevaluate my diet and fitness choices… Sometimes, after the long hours plopped on the couch half-watching Netflix, it …

A Day at the OC Fair

August 3rd, 2016nigel0 Comments

Having grown up in New York City, I never experienced a county fair proper. We had street fairs – small, 2-3 block celebrations of a particular neighborhood and its culture – but nothing like the sprawling orgies of fried food, livestock contests, questionably-fair games, and scary rides that mark the height of summer and draw people in from all over the state. It was time to change that! This month, I headed to the OC Fair. Located in Costa Mesa, it’s one of California’s 70+ fairs and festivals, which runs from July 15 to August 14. $22 ($10 parking + …

Sweater Quest Part 3 – The Back

August 2nd, 2016nigel0 Comments

In our previous episodes, our hero decided to take the plunge and finally knit his first garment – a hooded cardigan. Having chosen the design and the yarn, the Sweater Quest begins in earnest as I cast on the very first stitches! The Everyone’s Favorite Cardigan pattern is, at its core, a basic raglan sweater pattern. It is knit in parts from the bottom up, then seamed together: Back Left Front Right Front Sleeves (x2) The advantage of this construction is that it is easy for the first-time knitter to focus on making the parts, instead of the sweater as a …