Wednesday, September 19, 2007
So I've been on a lying binge lately. I've been telling people that I've been really busy and haven't been knitting lately. That's why I have not been blogging lately...and not reading other people's blogs lately...and not reciprocating when they comment or add me as their friend on flickr or ravelry, lately.
The truth is, I've had time to watch every single Red Sox game on tv, and enough time to knit a whole sweater for myself.
Knit in one piece from the sleeve, to the body to the other sleeve.
I'm going to have to do this more often.
This is the sleeve detail of the "Side to Side Cable Top" from the latest Fall 2007 issue of Vogue Knitting. When I saw this my dormant sweater brain cells fired right up, and was carried back years ago to the Pre-Knitting Era, when I came across a sweater like this in anthropologie and fell in love. The way the thick cables traveled up one arm, across the collar and down the other arm again...I dreamt of a lifetime of wintery evenings snuggled in front of the fire...And then I reached out and touched its sticky, decidedly unsnuggly acrylic fabric, gawked at its yucky, inflated price tag and wept. Nothing could be done about it, I had to walk out.
So the bank didn't break that day, but oh my heart. It tells another story.
I tried to get my mother, knitter extraordinaire, to make a version for me. To my surprise she kinda went Hmmm and I was like, What do you mean you "need a pattern?" What do you mean you can't just Do It? and so she never did and that was the end of that.*
Things are different now. I know how to knit. It's so empowering.
Just the other sleeve to go and then the body ribbing to do, which I might omit for that trendy cropped sweater look we've got going on lately. I deviated from the pattern and used a DK weight yarn instead of two yarns held together for a chunky weight. The yarn I'm using - Cascade Lana d'Oro Tweed - is from way way back; the first bag of yarn that would be the start of my yarn stash, in fact. I bought it from WEBS, and being that I was a newbie and didn't fully understand gauge and yardage and sizing, I let the sales associate convince me that I needed 20 skeins of dk weight yarn in order to make an xs sweater. Ha ha!
By design there's some serious negative ease going on. I'm not going to tell you the width of the bust because you will laugh and I will cry. I'll be blocking the bloody bejesus out of this thing so hopefully it will all work out.
It has to!
And now the Season of Sweaters has officially begun.
*(My mother has knit plenty of her own sweaters on the fly, sans pattern. But I think this one skerred her. Or she was lazy. Don't tell her I said that.)
Filed Under: Vogue Knitting
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
My Sockapalooza 4 socks arrived in the mail yesterday. The socks were impeccably knit and blocked, soft and clean and smelling sweet as a bunny after a bubble bath...For a few seconds there after opening the box I completely forgot how to knit and couldn't believe someone could make something so exquisite with their own two hands.
Knit by: Sara, formerly of knitwerk.com
Pattern: Loksins! I had never seen this pattern before.
Yarn: Sundara Sock Yarn. The red is actually more wine than true red. It's beautiful.
Bonus materials: French soap, cat treats, stationery and semi-solid Koigu! SCORE!
Now I know why my sister-in-law always gives me funny looks when I tell her knitting is really not that hard. It certainly looks hard, doesn't it?
A perfect fit. Swoon.
Filed Under: Socks | Sockapalooza
Sunday, September 09, 2007
A year ago today Duck and I rolled into Santa Fe, where we camped for 7 weeks and got ourselves into all sorts of sun-soaked, chile-soaked, margarita-soaked fun.
On our very first day there the Santa Fe Festival was going full swing in the plaza. There were parades and music and art vendors, like they were there to welcome us into town, and that's when we bought this:
The little bit of Santa Fe in Boston.
A couple of you asked about it on my previous post. It's called Sparrow Disenchantment and when we saw it we had to have it. I wish I could remember the artist's name. She had some really cool pieces.
An entire year ago! I can't believe it. 2 thousand miles way, we celebrated with brunch this morning at a Southwestern restaurant around the corner. I ordered a "Santa Fe Eggs Benedict," smothered in green chile hollandaise sauce atop a biscuit. I had something similiar in Taos except the sauce was deep shade of red from the red chiles and the biscuits were from yams and my god was it delicious. This dish here wasn't bad. It just didn't remotely come close to melting my teeth the way my first experience with New Mexican green chile did. Not wasn't expecting it to. That kind of dish wouldn't be polite in Boston.
The tiniest bit of Santa Fe in Boston.
Luckily we still have a several pounds of the hot stuff left in the freezer and tonight we're going to make grilled chicken swimming in obscene amounts of cheese and chile, the way it's supposed to be!
But I MISS YOU SANTA FE.
I miss the real thing. Hopefully we'll meet again soon someday...
Filed Under: Life
Friday, September 07, 2007
The living room, in the new place.
Furnishings that used to spread out over 3 rooms - so luxurious! - are now stuffed into one. Notice that eyesore of a basement couch and TV stand? Some of them will have to go eventually.
But this chubby little guy is going to stick around to enjoy the view.
All in all, we're adjusting to city livin' pretty well. Even though there's like, no storage space. (One bike leaning against the piano, one against the kitchen wall). Ah so you win some, you lose some. I think I'd take a overstuffed room with a view over closets any day.
Filed Under: Cats | House | Life
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
To prevent this blog from becoming the fetid pond of neglect and sorrow that it wants to be, I give you this.
It is called "A Sock and Hancock."
We match!
Marina Piccola socks, knit from my Koigu stash that before was in Grumperina's stash.
And that's all the Exciting News in Knitting I have for now.
Oh I also started a sweater. A real sweater, with real meat too! But more on that later. We must pace ourselves. I will say that this fall, sweaters will be making a miraculous comeback into my knitting queue. This season, they're going to be the new socks. You heard it here first.
Filed Under: Socks | Marina Piccola
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Where has this month gone? Unfortunately I've been getting used to not blogging.
Dottie soaks up some Provencal sun in the medieval town of Les Arcs, southern France
It's been a real busy month or so, between the moving and the trip (planned MUCH MORE in advance than the move) and work. I've hardly knit, and I wasn't going to blog until my Sockapalooza socks arrived, so at least I'd have something to blog about...They're not here yet though, but I've been assured they're on their way.
Enjoying the flower market in Aix
In the meantime, my sock pal, Faith, has received her Twisted Flowers Socks. The whole package took a little detour before getting to its final destination: my departure date coincided with the deadline, so I decided I'd be all efficient and swing by the post office on the way to the airport. Unfortunately the post office had moved 2 blocks further down, which isn't a big deal but with 100 degree weather and a haul of luggage it might as well have been 2 miles away. So into my carry-on it went for a little joyride to Europe and back. So much for efficiency and finishing early. The funny thing is up until recently Faith was based in Germany (she's in NY for now), and when she goes back the socks in its short life will have traveled across the Atlantic three times.
It's a miracle I didn't lose them. I brought my Drunken Bees with me - very nicely did they keep my toes toasty on the plane - and now I have no idea where they are. :-(
Maybe they escaped and are hiding here with all the other drunken bees.
Filed Under: Postcards from Dottie | Sockapalooza | Travel
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Sockapalooza 4 socks - and some extras - are ready for their sendoff tomorrow! I'm sending them on the early side because they are going overseas...
And so are we. There will be sun, sea, olives, drunken bees in lavender ready for harvesting, lots of wine and good good food. And family. Ah yes it's been a tough lifestyle we've been living these past few weeks I tell you. ;) (Though I have to say, boy am I tired.) Catch you in a coupla weeks...
Filed Under: Socks | Sockapalooza | Twisted Flower
Monday, July 30, 2007
Here at last is the pattern for the Drunken Bees Socks. Fair warning, the pattern is not laid out to a T. I've left out specifics like how to do a cable, how to knit a heel turn and the toe, and all those very macro details like how many stitches to knit across first before you start the heel, how to distribute stitches, etc. If you're an experienced sock knitter - as in you've knit at least one or two socks - you don't need to know exactly how, so I don't want to fluster myself trying to spell it all out!
All you need is the chart and you can work out the rest to your liking.
But feel free to contact me if something makes no sense or looks wrong.
For more photos, see here.
DRUNKEN BEES SOCKS
Yarn: Fingering weight sock yarn. To really show the pattern, use semi-solid to solid colors.
Needles: 5 size 1 dpns (or whichever method you prefer for circular knitting) for S/M foot, Size 2 for L foot.
Pattern is deliciously squishy and should stretch comfortably to fit.
For socks that pull in a little more, you can knit through the back loop of every yarn over that was done in the previous row.
CAST ON:
CO 69 sts. Distribute 17 sts on 3 needles, 18 sts on one needle
CUFF:
Repeat (k2, p1) ribbing until cuff is 1 inch long or desired length.
Begin last row of ribbing with a k2tog.
Now you have 68 sts to work leg pattern.
Slip stitches =
RS: repeat (sl1,k1) to end
WS: sl1, then p to end
LEG:
Work leg pattern chart 3 times, or to desired length (make note of where you left off).
HEEL FLAP & HEEL TURN:
Divide sts so that there are 33 sts for the heel flap, and 35 sts for the instep. Make sure you split in such a way as to allow two "honeycomb" patterns to continue down the side of the heel. I started the divide in the middle of a bee flight pattern. You might have to knit across some stitches to get to the start of heel.
Slip first stitch of every row. Except for the honeycomb patterns and the purl gutters, knit the heel in slip-stitch pattern, until you've worked 26-30 rows.
See chart above.
Follow flap with your preferred heel turn. I used a square heel.
GUSSETT:
Pick up the slipped stitches on side of heel flap, and continue chart pattern for instep.
INSTEP:
The instep is symmetrical. For the first and last 6 stitches of the instep, follow the first 6 stitches of the "bee flight" leg pattern chart (stitches 6-11). Or, just knit them in Stockinette. Or ribbed. Whatever you want.
Continue until desired length, then knit your preferred toe method.
Bzzzz!
Filed Under: Socks | Drunken Bees
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