le Tour de Gansey, part deux: Stage Nine

Thanks, everyone, for the sympathy about my poor camera’s possible demise. I’m going to see about getting it fixed, and if it’s going to cost too much, we’ll probably just save up for a little while to replace it with a DSLR; the blog may be a bit low on visuals for awhile until we get the situation resolved. But for now, let’s pretend that we’re just having some interference with our camera signal, as they sometimes do in le Tour, and I’ll do my best Phil and Paul impression and try to fill in for the lack of pictures with words. So with that, it’s time for:

Stage Nine: Sleeve #3

Of course, my gansey doesn’t have 3 sleeves…but y’all remember my little Tour Schedule mistake, right? So, yes, the second sleeve of the gansey, also known as Sleeve #3, has been finished, because apparently feeling upset about having broken our camera has been a great motivation for knitting (perhaps one could say that I turned my pedals needles in anger today?). I just knit and knit and knit this morning whilst listening to Phil and Paul, and it was a pleasant distraction from all of my frustration.

This Ninth Stage of my Tour de Gansey was much like today’s stage in the Tour; fairly straightforward, but with just enough little hills to climb to keep things exciting for me as a knitter. The pattern motifs section of this sleeve was actually much easier than that of the previous sleeve, not because they were different (my goal, as is to be expected, was for matching sleeves, after all!), but because after having knit the pattern motifs of the body and the first sleeve, I’d become acclimated to the patterns, and could practically knit them on autopilot. It also helped that I had worked out the rate of decreases while knitting the first sleeve, so I didn’t have to think about that, either. All told, it was a pleasant, low-stress stage, just like Carlos Sastre’s stage today in the Yellow Jersey.

Since, as I’d hoped, my second sleeve is identical to the first one, if you simply cannot live with the pictureless coverage of this stage, you can re-read my Stage Eight coverage, replacing the relevant references to Sleeve #1 and “first sleeve” as necessary, and imagine that the completed sleeve is on the right side of the sweater, instead of the left. Or, you can settle for this:

That’s right, I busted out The Gimp just for you, my dear readers. I’m actually sort of ridiculously proud of my rendition of my almost-completed gansey; for having drawn it by hand with my little trackpad mouse, it really isn’t that bad, if you squint! At this point, it is all but certain that I’ll finish my Tour before the cyclists finish theirs, which is a feat I wasn’t quite sure I could manage. All I have left is my neckline finishing, and the requisite weaving of ends, followed by a bath to give my gansey the lovely, almost-felted finish that this yarn takes on after it blooms in the wash. And then I will have myself a beautiful traditional gansey, designed especially for me (and by me), which I will proudly wear once the cold weather comes.

My parents are coming to visit, and will be arriving tomorrow, so there’s a chance (if they brought their camera) I might be able to have photos as well as words in my coverage of the final stage of my Tour; if not, you’ll just have to use your imaginations!