Monday, October 24, 2005
I love the internet. But feel sheepish now for that silly previous post of mine. Thanks for leaving your opinions though! I listened to the masses and went with the sash. I also didn't listen and wore Butterfly too, ha. Tucked in. I know, the horror! The whole point of being for Butterfly is that hem. The thing with that sequined tank top though is that it's basically a gussied up wifebeater, and once I brought it home I decided no way could I go to a wedding wearing underwear. Knowing me I'd probably spill red wine all over the front during the reception, fall on my face, and look like the perfect toothless drunk. So I wore that to the previous night's rehearsal dinner instead which was definitely more of a sequined, wifebeaterly type of hoedown.
Are you still reading?
I'm scared of the internet. Check this out. Someone took the pictures of me in my bolero, blew them up bigger, posted it on their site and then typed stuff in what I think is Turkish. There is something being said in Turkish about the bolero on the internet. And maybe how horrible it is.
Waaah why? What's she saying?
Filed Under: Bolero | Life
Friday, October 21, 2005
Indulge me for about 5 minutes more on this issue of the wedding dress. I decided that the red polka dotted dress isn't the way to go. Yes too red, too summery, too tea-time at the Ritz and not evening city wedding in autumn. SO. I hit the mall again with my mother and after finding nothing at the big name department stores, I came up with something pretty decent at Anthropologie. Anthro always comes through.
The woman on fitting room duty told my mom that that skirt reminds her of s3x & the city. I'm pretty sure my mom has never heard of that show, so in her mind some stranger just told her that the dress her daughter is wearing reminds her of secks. I was laughing in the fitting room.
 
Exhibit A Exhibit B
But which outfit? Exhibit A is the flouncy brown skirt with its lovely coral silk sash, with a sequined tank top. Exhibit B is the skirt without the sash, paired with - look! - Butterfly. Mom and Duck have already put their vote in, but I can't decide. I love that sash, but can't wear it with Butterfly. Also it might be too party party. Decisions decisions.
Help. Which do you prefer?
Filed Under: Life | Butterfly
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Is it OK, or not OK, to wear a red silk dress with white polka dots, to an October wedding, in the Deep South? And with white heels. Or offwhite heels. And perhaps a white shawl. What if I told you that for all the polka dots, this dress is way chic, in the way of say, Valentino? What if, even though it is fall, the weather is forecasted to be in the summery 80's? Would I still be breaking all the fashion rules?
I really do not want to do anymore shopping for something to wear.
Filed Under: General Knitting
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Instead of going to a real sporting goods store for those biking shorts I so desperately need, I decided to knit a pair myself. Why the hecks not. The super chunky factor will make for a more padded, gentle riding experience, while the pure wool factor will keep her toasty in this chilly fall weather.
Or...This is the beginnings of Kooch from Rowan 38. Very unfortunate name I know.
Isn't funny though that there is this designer knitting magazine featuring things such as "Kooch" and "Kid Acne" at the same time? Can it sound anymore unknitterly? But let's not dwell.
These are the back vents. Later there will be a moss stitch border added to each side of the vent, which will hopefully get rid of the bike-shorts-with-roomy-crotch look.
We haven't ridden our bikes in ages. First it rained for like eight days straight. Then we had 40mph winds for several days, still ongoing. I was doing some downtown shopping recently and while walking between two tall buildings (aka Wind Tunnel of Hell), I was actually lifted airborne for the longest 0.5 second of my life. And then I ran the rest of the way. Not voluntarily though.
I have so much to talk about but so little time to make it coherent. I've been trying to shop for something to wear to a wedding I'm going to this weekend, back home down South. I can't find ANYTHING. This season's inspiration seems to be the balloon, in the deflated state. It's disgusting! For 4 whole hours my credit card was straining to break out of its wallet confines, whining to be swiped and swiped good, I had do something to shut it up.
So I went into a yarn store.
I'm on the Electra bandwagon. Fall is the color. And being the crafty cheapskate that I am, I went for "generic" brands - Grignasco Tango instead of Rowan Felted Tweed (exactly the same material composition), and Kathmandu DK instead of Rowan Yorkshire DK. Kathmandu is a merino wool, silk and cashmere blend. Ooo la, doesn't sound so generic does it? I only call them generic because they were around $6 per skein, as opposed to $10 per for Rowan.
And for the KSH component I plan on using some leftovers I have of Pearl and/or Liquer. Tink tink tink I hear money leftover in the piggy!
The only problem was, I didn't have the book with me when I picked the colors, this being an impromptu purchase and all, and the store didn't have a copy either (grrrrrrrrrrr). So though I tried mightly to recall the color pattern in my head, in the end the colors I picked were not the wisest.
The gold will be the main color, so the accent stripes will be the cream and the wine. Which are the exact same colors as KSH Pearl and Liquer. Which will be used with the cream and/or wine color for the fairisle component. Which you won't be able to see because DUH they're all the same colors. ERGH! I tried different combos and it's all the same. At some point the cream colored yarn will be adjacent to the KSH Pearl, or if I use Liquer, then at some point the wine colored yarn will be adjacent to it, etc. etc.
So instead of exchanging one of the yarns for a more opposing color (making exchanges - or anything involving the cash register for that matter - at this certain LYS is a NIGHTMARE. But more on that later), or buying a different colored KSH, I have decided to use something from the stash. It will be ORANGE! But. Red yellow orange cream...Will it look too Fall crazy? Or worse, too Ronald McDonald?
By the way guess what I did today? I subscribed to Rowan International! I'm officially a Rowan fan. Free gift! A couple more skeins of KSH never hurt nobody either. Also they're jacking up the price of admission soon, so get it while it's good.
Before I sign off, thanks for your very kind comments on the bolero. Many of you are the type of conscientious bloggers who take time to reply personally to each commentor. It is very polite and so charming. Unfortunately I am no such blogger. :(
I'm off to Atlanta tomorrow for my high school buddy's wedding. Hopefully I'll find something non-balloony to wear at one of the many strip malls near my parent's house. See ya'll later!
Filed Under: Rowan | Electra | Kooch
Friday, October 14, 2005
Pattern: Bolero from Simply Soft by Debbie Bliss
Yarn: Cashmerino Aran, 7 skeins + another couple yards
Gauge: 18 sts/4in on US8/5mm
Well, it's done, and it's...aight. I think I obsessed over this pattern for too long before buying it, like it was The Knit of the Century, and of course it's just a little bolero. I like it, I do. Just not head over heels for it, like I thought I'd be.
The Cashmerino, such a soft, beautiful yarn, seems sort of a waste on something like this. I know it's a bolero so it's not supposed to cover you completely, but when I was wearing this I kept pulling the front together to get more cozy cashmerino goodness around me, and I thought, why didn't I just make something with more cashmerino coverage? Something like a cabled cardigan or turtleneck, something snug and squishy, something like the toddler seed stitch and cable jacket, but longer?
Blah blah blah. Blah. Blah. I'm just down on Debbie Bliss patterns. As you are aware by now I'm sure. It's No More Bliss After Thiss!
I think it looks better "buttoned" at the front. See? Too bad it will never be buttoned. I do have a single eye and hook fastener I might try. Or I just might try to be happy with it as is and leave it alone.
Only thing of note on this project: I used Aran instead of Chunky weight yarn. I did no adjusting of the pattern to account for this, except to add a couple extra rows in the armhole shaping. This sizing still came out fine. And I used JUST over 7 skeins. The original pattern called for 11 of chunky. Look at me, I'm so economically sized.
The color is nice though, no? I call it aubergine. That's fancy talk for "eggplant" by the way. In fact the paint color of our dining room wall is aubergine profonde. That's fancy talk for "super PROFOUND eggplant."
Thank you Duck for all those super profound angle shots.
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Debbie Bliss | Bolero
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
 Dang. Has J.Crew's demographic suddenly been narrowed down to only Anna Wintour or something? First it was lovely but totally unnecessary handbeaded camisoles for like, $500. Now, again for no reason other than to make me sad, it's ENDANGERED SPECIES attached to your perfectly-fine-as-it-was aran sweater. Now let's just calm down here, J.Crew, shhhh. Stick to your little Oxfords and chinos, and leave the happy forest creatures be.
I wonder if people out in the West Coast are receiving the same catalog as I am here on the East. I can't imagine it would sit well. Mink? Coyote? This is madness.
 Not that I need to be adding more projects to the queue, but elann.com has 100% cashmere on its list of yarn. For cheaps! I was thinking how luxurious it would be to make a cabled sweater out of cashmere, sans coyote fur of course. This sweater from Adrienne V Fall 2003 would fit the bill, or anything from Phildar Irlandais. I have the most magazines from Phildar and still have yet to knit a single thing from any of them. Boo hiss!
Filed Under: General Knitting
Monday, October 10, 2005
Rubadubdub, check me out in the tub.
WHAT is Aimee doing in the tub? Because the tub is clean. Here at Chez Knitty McKitty, we finally have the power of Pine-Sol!!! Feel free to come over and let your baby crawl on my kitchen floor. After I finish the post, I will wetblock Aimee in the toilet, just to prove to you how clean our house is now. Sniff sniff sniff, ahhh. So that's what clean smells like.
I don't know how you guys run your household, but we don't. There are no cutesy "Laundry Wednesdays" or "Vacuum Fridays." We've tried though. We are just not routine people. Clothes get washed when they can stand up on their own, things are put away when the cats have puked on them at least twice. Unlike some crazy people I know, I find therapy in not cleaning. Duck is the same way, so between the two of us, we are very very dirty (although I very much remember while we were dating that his room was always SPOTLESS. Hmm. Interesting).
So we have housecleaners now. I KNOW. If you tell my inlaws about this they will kill us, my dad would pinch his nose because the idea stinks. My mom would be cool though. She understands that time is money. The DIY method has had us using up an entire weekend to clean this dumb house from top to bottom. Gross! How many sleeves, scarves, socks could be knit up, how many miles on the biketrail could we cover in that time? Probably bajillions, if not gazillions.
I like how the housecleaners move the furniture so they can get at the corners, where large amounts of Dust Kittens are most likely found, metastasizing quietly in the dark. They really are relentless.
The bolero is coming along slowly. I knitted it up some more in the car, on our way to and back from Grammy's funeral.
(She had the perfect Irish sendoff - it had been sunny and dry all week, then on the morning of her funeral the sky and the bottle of Jameson opened up, and everything turned to slosh, just in time and just for her.)
I finally finished the ribbing around the front and neck. It's very squishy and yummy. But the slopes in the ribbing don't seem to be as smooth or gradual as they look in the picture. Mine are kind of abrupt...I'm going to blame the instructions again and not my technique. I seamed in one sleeve and really had to stretch the cap to get it to fit in the seemingly larger armhole. Luckily it looks alright when I tried it on, but this is for sure the last Debbie Bliss thing I make. I hate her instructions.
Filed Under: Debbie Bliss | Bolero | Life | Rowan | Aimee
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Duck's grandmother passed away today. She lived a long and healthy 97
years, and was charming, witty and lucid til the end. We should all be
so lucky. But we know for the last several years, especially with her
dwindling eyesight, she's been waiting...waiting...waiting. People to
see, places to go...We're relieved that you're finally at peace Grammy,
but we'll all miss you terribly!!
Filed Under: Life
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Recently on the train I sat next to this chick knitting. Now that I knit it's always fun watching other people knit and see what sort of techniques they use, what they're making, the yarn they're using. 9 out of 10 times I see novelty yarn (why people why?), or skinny dpn's sticking like a voodoo ritual through mittens, which is very ambitious project to undertake in a vehicle that jerks violently every 5 feet. Once I saw a woman crocheting with a hook SO LARGE, I mean truly enormous that it looked like...something battery operated. Wink wink nudge nudge.
So this chick I was sitting next to, as I was watching from the corner of my eye I noticed something off in her knitting mechanics. Something strange, something off-kilter. It took me a little while longer of spying to realize that she was wrapping her yarn the other way around -- clockwise, rather than counterclockwise. Twisted! (Although if you inserted the needle in the back of the loop and wrapped the yarn clockwise, it would turn out ok right? Hmm. Let's ponder that one.)
Do I say something? Do I mind my own business? If you were doing something wrong you'd want to know sooner than later right? But I said nothing.
This got me wondering of course whether it mattered how you wrapped stitches, or maybe wrapping clockwise was the right way and I had been kitting incorrectly all this time. The horror! After I got home I tried wrapping clockwise (funky!) and it came out twisted. So phew.
Filed Under: General Knitting
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