Hugs and Stitches

I've hit a knitting rut. I am just not excited about it right now. Between work being super busy and Project Runway becoming too riveting to knit during, I just don't have time or energy. Also my mom requested a sweater in a yarn that I can't stand to work with. Lion Brand Homespun, how I loathe thee. The pattern is the Fringed Collar Jacket from Vogue, and I was supposed to complete it as part of the Knitting Olympics. Instead, I did a few rows and spent the rest of my olympic-watching sessions drinking beer. Oh well, not everyone can be a winner.

Anyway, I still spend my vege out on the internet time looking at knitting/crafting related sites, both out of habit and a hope that something will inspire me to pick up the needles again. Here's the closest I've come so far:

It was posted on Craftster on the Knitting Discussion forum, under the subject "Knitting on the F06 Runway". It is by Vivienne Westwood. I LOVE the giant hood and the side buttons. It kind of seems like more of a sewing project, but I guess I could try knitting and felting if I start to feel brave.

And another beautiful garment, by Anthropologie. Not that I could ever afford it. So maybe I'll attempt to knit it!



It seems I love things that don't show up in knitting pattern magazines... making them a pain in the ass to knit. But what am I to do? I love things that look fashionable and designed, not just the same ol' raglan pullover. Le sigh.

In more encouraging news, I've made a lot of progress on the embroidered handbag I'm making. Pics soon!

You are Mohair.
You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with others, doing your share without being too weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to change your position once it is set, but that's okay since you are good at covering up your mistakes.

Nerdy quizzes like this are my guilty pleasure, and this one was especially mouth-watering since it involved yarn! I tried it again and again because I didn't want to be mohair, I've never even knitted with it. But the description was the most fitting, and I feel lucky considering eyelash yarn was another possibility... yuck!

Also yuck is my stupid right-hand Broadstreet Mitten. I know I'm picky, but the increases are hideous. The way they look bothers me so much that I threw the mitten into its bag a week ago and haven't looked at it since. In the meantime, here's the beautiful left-hand fingerless glove, sans mitten cap so far:

With the weather staying pretty consistently around 50 degrees, I may not have the motivation to pick up this little f*#$er again!

Here's MY So Called Scarf, months after completion.

Isn't my model ADORABLE?!?! It's Ms. Gloomy, a gift from Dave.

The pattern is free, listed here: www.sheepinthecity.prettyposies.com/archives/000079.html.
It was knit on size 10 needles out of Malabrigo Merino yarn in Purple Mystery, which I found at Loop in Philly. They've always got lots of colors. It's incredibly soft so I've pretty much retired all of my other scarves, which are a tiny bit itchy, and I now wear this one almost every day.

This hat is a Christmas gift for my boyfriend's grandma, Nanny. She is sensitive to wind and cool weather, so I knit up this hat for her to wear when she goes outside. I used Cashmerino Superchunky and size 11 needles, so it was a pretty quick knit. I cast on 60 stitches, knit about 8 rows of seed stitch, then 22 of stockinette, then started the decreases. It isn't perfect, which pisses me off, but I don't have time to fix it. Basically since the yarn is so thick and straight, you can see everything. Up at the top where I decreased there is a spot where I didn't pull the yarn tight enough so it kind of looks like a hole. It's tiny, but I'm a perfectionist. Also, the yarn was broken and tied back together when I bought it (so unfair and frustrating... can they do that?) so I had to weave in ends near the beg. of the stockinette and it looks bad. But it is incredibly soft, and my boyfriend insists that she'll love the "handmade-ness" of it.

I have been knitting furiously between Christmas gift hats and accessories to keep me warm. But instead of taking time to enjoy and/or post my work, I'm dreaming up my next projects. Isn't this a beautiful sweater? I think I'm in love. It's from Rowan #34.

Speaking of love, my wonderful boyfriend is in the middle of law school finals. So I've been doing a lot of knitting in silence (not watching tv or listening to music like I usually do) so that he can get good studying done. I'm almost done with the Nautilus hat for my friend, so it's been a productive but bo-ring couple of weeks.

FO pics soon... I swear.

There are a couple of projects that I was unsure about making because I hadn't seen them modeled on anyone with my body type. Then I read CosmicPluto's blog and was inspired! She has made SO many sweaters. My favorites, which are now on my to-knit list are:

Interweave's Corset Pullover
Annie Modesitt's Corset Tank Top
Glampyre's Boobholder

Currently knitting:
My So-Called Scarf- about 3/4 done
Jaeger's Verona Pullover- Back about 1/2 done, still need to do front, collar and sleeves
Knitt's Broadstreet Mittens- Only one cuff so far, my neck and ears are cold so the scarf is 1st priority
Marnie MacLean's Nautilus Hat- Will start as soon as I find suitable yarn

Pictures coming soon!

I finally have started my very first sweater, about five years after starting to knit. I've always wanted to, but several things have so far gotten in my way.

1. I can be a bit of a perfectionist, so I've been too intimidated to start.
2. I am a reckless knitter. I get so excited about projects that I don't think them through well enough, and end up frogging over and over again. I am also known to *gasp* throw away finished objects if I don't love them.
3. I am a recent college grad, so for most of my knitting life I have been way to broke to invest in more than a couple of skeins at a time...
4. Add to that the fact that I am a HUGE snob about my yarn. I DO NOT use acrylic unless it is requested by someone who I am making a gift for. Even then, it grosses me out (this is also one of the reasons that I failed veganism, I apologize to all of the lovely goats, sheep and alpacas that are sacrificing their wool for my knitting pleasure).

BUT no more excuses because my boyfriend's mom (who is not a knitter) went to her local yarn store, Wildfiber in Santa Monica, CA and bought me 12 skeins of grey/black Jaeger DK Merino. I feel so incredibly lucky that she has such good taste and that the girls at the yarn store helped her pick out something so lovely. I highly recommend the store to anyone in the area, I worked there last winter break and they have an incredible selection of needles, yarns and books, it's definitely my favorite yarn store ever.

So after receiving this amazing gift, I faced a few more challenges. In the past, I've always found a pattern I want to knit and then picked the yarn based on the pattern's requirements. This time I had to do it the other way around and it was difficult. I spent countless hours in bookstores, yarn stores, and online looking at patterns, and found nothing that I liked that used dk yarn.

Finally I fell in love with a pattern, and it was even Jaeger. The problem was that it called for 4-ply yarn. As usual, I have to do things the hard way. I bought the pattern and Stitch N Bitch Nation, which provides instructions for altering patterns, and then I procrastinated for a while. I was very intimidated by the modification process, especially since this is my first sweater.

The book, jaeger JB 16:


The pattern, Verona:


I'm very broke right now after being unemployed for 3 months, so finally I ran out of other projects (I really wanted to make mittens, but I have no yarn). My fingers were itching to knit, so yesterday I cast on! It is going very smoothly, modifying the pattern has so far been surprisingly easy. This is my biggest project by far, and today when I was out, I found myself wishing I was home working on it, I want to get it done! Just few inches into it I'm already in love, the yarn is so nice to work with, so soft.

I just got a job that I start on Tuesday, which is great, but it means less knitting time, so this might be slow going.

The California girl is cold.
We had our first couple of cold days here in Philly, and I'm panicking. I went out in my long coat and was still cold because I had nothing on my head or hands. Luckily, I just bought Stitch N Bitch Nation, for help with modifying my sweater pattern, and it actually had a few patterns I like, too. So I cast on the Basic Cable hat. I used Manos in a beautiful purple, which I had bought for legwarmers that didn't happen.
Here it is, just a few days later:

That's me, looking a little tired.

Here's a better look at the color, and the extra 3 cables I added to make it a hat rather than a skullcap:




On Crafster.com everyone who made this suggested making it a couple of cables longer. I planned to add two to the three that were called for in the pattern. But when I got to that point, it still didn't look long enough... I must admit, I have a pretty big head. So mine had 6 cables before the decreases instead of 3. Warm ears!

I really want to get started on my sweater, having 12 skeins of yarn is making me itch to knit it up. However, I am really, really cold, even though it's only gotten down to 50-something degrees, so I think my Broadstreet fingerless gloves w/ mitten caps (from knitty.com) have to come next.

I have always thought of blogs as pretty dorky, maybe excepting those that are done by really funny people. I am not funny, but I wanted to be able to keep track of my knitting projects and progress and also share my ideas with others.

However, at this point I'm hardly inspirational. Any time I end up with a decent knit, it is a product of pure luck. So my approach is to knit as much as I can afford to and learn from my frequent mistakes. I love unraveling my work, I'd much rather knit something over and over again than end up with something I'll never use.

At the moment things are slow because I'm broke. I am also trying to get back into the swing of things after quitting for a while to focus on my studies. Now I've graduated with a B.A. in Psychology, so I'm unemployed, of course. Here are my latest FOs.

Official Kitty Hat (without ears, I'm boring)
Made with Noro, which I had to mess with to achieve matching earflaps and semi-matching i-cords and pom-poms

Striped Leg Warmers, a mix of a Vogue Knit1 pattern and Knitty's Postmodern Legwarmers
Made with White Misti Baby Alpaca and Black Manos Del Uruguay



Both projects were easy and fun to modify. I rarely want to make something by the book... which makes my life harder yet more interesting.