Allegra dumped

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Help me.

Here is the front of Allegra after having just done the tie-twist. Knitting the front took a lot of effort up to this point, and now that I'm at this point, I'm totally not into this piece anymore. After all that work, it just looks unsatisfyingly...weird. I've had so much stop and go with Allegra that now I'm thinking we just weren't meant to be, so though I loathe to do it, I'm dumping it. Sorry dude.

What do we think of this bolero jacket, from the new Debbie Bliss Simply Soft. I saw this last week at WEBS, didn't buy it, but have been thinking about it everyday. It uses the new Cashmerino Chunky, and I definitely want to have something in Cashmerino. This would be perfect for the chilly to really cold weather transition.

What I do not definitely want is to pay $16 for a so-so book with hard-to-read instructions for that one pattern I want. So um if anyone who has a copy of Simply Soft um wants to do a one-for-one pattern swap, like a copy of the bolero jacket for a copy of one pattern from whatever books I have, so that I don't have to buy the entire book, DO NOT (as in please DO) give me a shout.

Woo! I have a name!
And it's not Mona Lisa

Hey! I have ID'd the ubiquitous knit model. Aren't you excited, because now I can finally shut up about it. I found another blog that was wondering the same thing, and the answers were the same, different but funny to me, identical in the difference: she's Pam Allen's daughter, she's some relative, no she's a good friend, no her name is Christina Allen, no her name is Caitlin Fitzgerald. I had to find out once and for all.

So. I got caught in a sudden rainstorm while in Harvard Square on Friday, ducked into the bookstore and decided to do some sleuthing. In America Knits(aka Knitting in America, circa 1996), there is a contribution by Pam Allen, and her "daughter Caitlin" is modeling the piece. The girl looks about 10, 11 years old in the photo, sporting an open-mouthed smile. Ah, so it starts young. The grown-up Caitlin does only Mona Lisa smiles, and even though the hair looked exactly the same, you still couldn't be sure if it was the same girl.

I grabbed another book next to it, Weekend Knitting, and boo yah wouldn't you know it, there she was again. I think the editor was the same as for America Knits, and again Pam Allen had a few contributions. I flipped to the acknowledgment section in the front or back hoping to find names of the models used, and noticed one "Caitlin FitzGerald." It had to be her. Crikey does she have to model in everything her mother does? I'm starting to get a little annoyed/jealous at this point.

I took Scarf Style off the shelf, found the acknowledgments, and there was CF again.

Thus my super powerful skills of deduction leads me to positively say that the girl we see here and there and everywhere is Caitlin FitzGerald, daughter of Pam Allen. I'm guessing she's probably 20, 21, and does not color her hair. And that's the scoop. THE END.

Comments [15]
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Saturday, August 06, 2005 10:53:50 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
http://www.theblowup.com/summer2005/centralparks/

Girl all you needed was google
Sunday, August 07, 2005 5:04:42 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
Sorry about Allegra, Li. It still looks pretty but if you're not happy with it, it's time for a breather and for something new. BTW, Bonne Marie (chicknits) just launched a similar but nicer (IMO) design to that DB one, perhaps you can check it out?

http://www.chicknits.com/catalog/cutaway.html
Sunday, August 07, 2005 11:25:59 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
also she could have gotten married w/ a different last name/different papa. anyways great detective work li! :P
anna
Sunday, August 07, 2005 2:52:34 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
Sorry about Allegra. But I applaud your courage to ditch it after so much work.
Sunday, August 07, 2005 3:38:14 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
of course i tried googling first, though it's kind of hard to get results when you don't have a name to go on...
Monday, August 08, 2005 10:55:57 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
R.I.P. Allegra. Will she be frogged or buried as is?

I think the Debbie Bliss would look great on you. If I had the book I would offer a swap, but when I browsed it locally I wasn't blown away by it, so I didn't buy it.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005 6:14:39 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
True that. I meant googling to find out if she was christina allen or caitlin fitzgerald
Thursday, August 11, 2005 1:04:33 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
well, wouldn't cha know. I've been tracking that girl for about two years. She messes up everything I knit.

Each time I see her modeling something, I have to knit it. Quick. And then I'm stymied. She hides the flaws. She hides the flaws.

She must be a perfect model or something. Or maybe she has her mom insert snake oil in the pages of her magazines and books.
Thursday, August 11, 2005 12:42:15 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
ah HA! I've been wondering about that very same model. Thanks for sleuthing for us all. She always looks like she has a big secret, and how the secret it out. heh.
Monday, August 15, 2005 7:21:56 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
there's a discussion (w/directions) of a similar shrug at:
http://www.chicknits.com/catalog/cutaway.html
lucy
Monday, August 29, 2005 6:48:12 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
I foolishly dropped a whopping $18 for that book just for that same pattern. If you're still looking for it, send me an e-mail. I'll save you from the same fate.
Friday, October 28, 2005 2:24:04 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
(sorry for the months-later comment, but I just found your site today)

That's so sad about Allegra. If you're sure you want to give up on it (and if you think the yarn would recover from a careful frogging), I'd be interested in taking the yarn and AV Spring 05 book off your hands.

If there's anything I love better than a brainteaser, it's a blue v-necked sweater. Email me if you're interested.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006 12:16:47 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
hello! i really enjoyed your post and got a chuckle out of it, being that caitlin was my roomate at NYU freshman year, and yes, her last name is different because her parents are divorced and get mom kept her maiden name i'm assuming. caitlin is so embarrassed about all of her 'modeling' in the knitting magazines. she signed with tom ford a couple years ago, but i dont think she's going to be persuing that much longer. i just wanted to say and contribute a little. :) have a good day all!
Thursday, April 27, 2006 9:30:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
I knitted the shrug in casherino-very hot and pills like crazy. You might want to think of a substitute yarn. I was a little diappointed after spending so much money on the yarn.
Saturday, May 20, 2006 12:08:34 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
Just couldn't help leaving a comment on how you dumped me!(ha ha!) It's weird to see my name in print when it doesn't have anything to do with the allergy medicine!
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