Decisions!

I'm trying to decide what to make with the Rowan Pure Wool DK I got on sale at Knitting Arts the night of the meetup.  I want something a little sophisticated (or at least with clean lines).  It also should be a tee, tank, or vest.  I only have about 1230 yards, and it's warm outside anyway.

 I like Rusted Root, but that's usually done in yarn that has at least some cotton, and I'd probably prefer a different color for that pattern.  I thought I'd definitely want to go with green, but I like some of the pinks on Ravelry.   I like the sleeves and being top-down, though.  Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece is the original yarn and it's pretty cheap, so I may do this pattern as intended at a later date.

Zephyrgals photo from Flickr.

I've also found myself getting obsessed with cables.  I liked the Gwen shell from the Louet catalog Margit gave me, and I'm pretty sure I'd have enough yarn.  The downside is the

pattern's no longer free.  It looks like the minimum you can pay to download from Louet is 3 patterns.  There's definitely more Louet patterns I'm in love with right now, but I don't think I feel like buying 3 patterns at the moment.  There's also the sleeveless issue.  My arms are way out of shape.  I was trying to demonstrate this to Bryan the other day, but he didn't believe me.  He pointed out that the cat has much worse "wings" of arm fat than I do.  I'd probably wear it under a jacket anyway.  The cabling (and wool) would probably make it too warm for a warm-weather tank anyway.  I sort of like the traditional aran vibe, but it doesn't make for a pattern that's instantly recognizable.  I sort of feel like jumping on a bandwagon.

Jandjgagnon's photo from flickr.

I think I've talked myself into Catriona by Debbie Bliss.  It's so amazing.  The pattern is also available free through a magazine's website.  The cabling is really different and I like the little sleeves.  If I use this pattern, I'll chart out the cables and work it in the round.  That could be a useful learning experience.  The only thing that was holding me back was the fear that I wouldn't have enough yarn.  Then I looked at the "to fit" versus "finished measurement" numbers and realized that it's designed for a whole lot of ease.  Over 6 inches for the largest size!  I'll definitely be knitting a smaller size, especially since there's no waist shaping.  I think I'd be swimming in the thing if I made the "proper" size for 

my bust measurement.  Plus I think it looks cuter without a shirt underneath.  I figure the worst case scenario for running out of yarn is snipping off the bo

ttom ribbing and redoing it shorter or redoing it and the remaining ribbing in a different dye lot. 

Susiesparkle's photo from flickr.

I thought I'd share something that made me laugh today.  While I was checking out the USAID-funded, Johns Hopkins-hosted portal for reproductive health research that had apparently been censored earlier this week (though maybe not at a literal request by the government) , I found this-

Title:  Contraception in the cosmos: The combined oral contraceptive pill in space.

Author: Murad A

Source: Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care. 2008;34(1):55-59.

Here's a choice tidbit from the abstract. 

"Whist there is no official requirement for them to do so, the vast majority of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) female astronauts chose to use the COC [combined oral contraceptive pill] whilst in space (P Stepaniak, NASA Flight Surgeon, personal communication, 23 October 2006)."

I bet P Stepaniak's about to get a lot of phone calls from magazine reporters wanting to know about sex in space.