Tuesday, August 30, 2005
The baby jacket was a hit at the baby shower this weekend. I think. I'm not sure. What I think is obviously fabulous may be out of whack with what other people think is fabulous. Someone at the shower thought it must have took me 6 months to make the jacket. Compliment, yes? I'm so insecure when it comes to giving other people handmade crafts (not that it stops me from doing it every Christmas), especially to people who don't craft. Anyway mine was the only handmade, not-from-registry item. Unique at least. But maybe they thought I was being cheap. If they only knew cost of time and materials that goes into a knitted piece, right?!
Here's the progress on Butterfly, in all its lacy glory:
Instead of knitting through the back loop (SO DIFFICULT for me with this wispy KSH), I'm doing ssk. Is that OK or am I committing some knitting faux pas. Whatever, both techniques lean to the left so it's all good in the neighborhood.
Since I'm feeling comfortable with Kidsilk Haze, I went ahead and bought a few more for Aimee from Rowan Vintage Style, in Liquer. Beautiful color.
So. I really have to cut back on knitting for awhile. As I say this I might as well cut out my spinal cord instead. No more coming home from the office to an evening knitting on the couch. I have tons of other (paying) work I'm procrastinating on. Tons! And I'm procrastinating right now! Shoot me, this is going to be murder on my willpower. Boo hoo why can't paying work involve knitting?
Filed Under: General Knitting | Butterfly
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Pattern: Cable and Seed Stitch Jacket from The Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (how I love this yarn), 6 skeins for size 12-18 months
Gauge: 18 sts/10cm on US8
This jacket took a lot longer than I had anticipated, mostly due to finishing details like the collar, sewing in the pockets, finding the perfect buttons, sewing the buttons on. The end result though is a super adorable, super cozy, and super plush little jacket that I hope his mommy will like. Damnit, let me be frank here: I better see the kid wear this jacket every Thanksgiving and Christmas for the next 2 years.
 
I know pockets might go unappreciated by a toddler, but I think the jacket wouldn't be quite right without them. They are so cute. I'm hoping Baby will fill his little pockets with pebbles, or sticks, or whatever interesting knick-knacks he finds. Frogs included.
This was the first time I made pockets, and a collar, and the first time I knit sleeves from the top down. Since there's no armhole shaping nor sleeve cap shaping, I figured it would be easy to just pick up stitches for the sleeves at the arms, and work down. I just reversed the directions for the sleeves, and it saved me tons of time in the seaming that I didn't have to do.
Shut up.
Well isn't this sad. I couldn't resist trying it on myself. Imagine the delight/horror to find that this jacket for a 12 month-old kind of fits across the back and front of a scrawny 29 year-old (baby things are ROOMY, aight??), and doesn't look all that strange cropped. Hello bolero with uh...one-third sleeves! If Baby doesn't like this jacket, shit give it back to me and I'll wear it.
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Debbie Bliss | Baby Jacket
Sunday, August 21, 2005
LOOK!
It's the beginnings of a hem!
Rowan Butterfly in Pearl, using US6 needles.
I've finally conquered by battle with mohair. I'm so ecstatic I could cry! And I would except, after 8 repeats of the hem lace pattern, I'm totally exhausted. I'm knitting extremely, excrutiatingly slowly, counting each stitch out loud, re-counting each stitch again after a row, my arms and neck are stiff from being so careful.
KSH definitely takes getting used to. It's been my Achilles heel. Like with GGH Softkid, I'm having problems getting under the stitches for k2tog's, p2tog's, and oh god you can forget about me being able to p2tog tbl successfully in ten tries, much less one. But what I've been doing is using a small tapestry needle - something thin with a nice point - to help me get through those loops and loosen them up enough so I can then get my needle through them. It slows me down a lot, but it works great.
The stitches look so much better from a distance than up close. Up close the everything is a jumbled, indiscernable mess. But step back a few, and ah. Lace. So pretty.
Filed Under: Rowan | Butterfly
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Cute and cozy
One more pocket to sew in, buttons to attach and I'm done. When I started this I thought I'd be done in plenty of time, but it looks like I'll be done only just in time for the baby shower in a week. Phew.
Filed Under: Debbie Bliss | Baby Jacket
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Now that we've gotten the happy crafty anniversary celebrations out the way (thank you for all your lovely comments!!), I have a confession to make.
I didn't actually make any of those pieces. I paid someone to do it so I could have a knitting blog. It's cost me a ton of loot but totally worth all those lovely comments that I get from you.
Just kidding. No, it's a more serious confession. Are you ready? Here goes...
I do not like Rowan patterns.
(...pausing as I wait for the boulder to land on my head...)
Joy! I've said it outloud and I'm still alive.
It's been awhile since I've flipped through a Victoria*s Secret catalog, but they used to have this casual wear section in the last half of the magazine, where they'd model jeans and sweaters and high-waisted trousers. It was like a total frumpy yin to the sexy yang of the lingerie section. I remember this one photo of Stephanie See-More in a very provocative pose - one knee on the couch, shoulders back and hair half in her face. The problem was, she was fully dressed, and not even well-dressed at that.
The outfit was a baggy sweatshirt that looked like it had already taken 12 spins in the wash, and a pair of stirrup leggings circa 1988. What the hell are you doing in here? Ugly! Bleh! By now I've forgotten about the pages and pages of thongs in the beginning. After the sweatshirt/leggings spread, the whole magazine just seemed goofy.
So this is kinda sorta how I feel everytime I open a Rowan magazine. I expect one thing but get another. Whatever the expectations, we got off to a bad start. I'm a newbie knitter perusing through a knitting store for the first time, looking through books for inspiration. Nothing in Rowan strikes me the first time I flip through, so I move on. A few minutes later the yarn store owner, giving the rundown of what's what in the world of
knitting, pulls me back to them. Rowan, she says, is VERY designer and VERY popular. Everyone loves Rowan (and you will too).
With context in place, I look through them again, this time expecting Something Spectacular, but still, just not wow'd by anything. The pieces remind me of Talbots, or a 3rd grade private school teacher named Mrs. Worthington. Lots of boxy cardigans with intarsia flowers and bobbles that would make you a champion knitter, but not exactly a stylish champion knitter. I check the price tag. Yikes. Overrated and overpriced.
Bill Cosby wants his sweaters back.
A year later and I'm still trying to reset my attitude about Rowan. I mean, ten billion happy members of the Cult of Rowan can't be wrong, right? But there are still way too many Bill Cosby sweaters for my tastes (who is this Kaffe Fasset character? Keep your patchwork on the quilts and out of my sweater, you). They're like VS, trying to sex up the homely sweatshirt.
OK now that I've got my Rowan hate fest out of the way, now that you all hate me, I just want to tell you that I had a lookie through the latest No. 38 at the yarn store yesterday. And guess what, you Rowan-lovin' freaks. Guess what.
I LOVE IT.
I promise I'm not the asshole goes out of their way to hate what you like and like what you hate. I really really REALLY love it. Look I'm starting to type in all caps so it has to be true. I too could do fine without the weird Urban Outfitter stuff towards the end, but still I'd take funny Penguin Boy (or whatever that thing is) over Basket Weave designs. Everything else from beginning thereon is so different, so special, so designer, so stylish AND for once, SO WEARABLE.
Duchess
Yes that crazy intarsia cardigan in No. 35 or whatever is special, but it
ain't wearable, no. But the strange pink cardigan in No. 38, with the little
eyelet heart thingy on the left panel? So weird, yet SO WEARABLE.
Miss Maple!
And what about this one, the one that looks like a poncho, a kimono, a
cardigan, AND a kite? So weird, yet SO WEARABLE.
And Pandora? LOVE HER.
Kooch (?!)
But the one that really makes me hot for teacher is this coat. Now that's what I'm talking about! I love that belt, I love the collar, and I love the model and I love her nose!! (The name is not so hot though.)
I don't know if I'm a total Rowan convert, but things are definitely looking up. I plan on making Butterfly from No. 37 - fingers crossed that I can deal with KSH - and after that I'm getting my hands on No. 38 to make the coat. And we'll just see where we go from there.
I (almost) heart Rowan!
PS. I hope I didn't offend anyone who shops at Talbots or is a 3rd grade private school teacher named Mrs. Worthington, or is Kaffe Fassett, or is a Rowan fan.
If so, direct hatemail to:
youandyourknittingsuckbigbumpyballs{AT}catduckperiodcom
PSS. I have always loved that name. (Rowan, not Kaffe) It's a character in one of them Anne Rice novels, and I decided way back when that my daughter will be named Rowan. Just a little factoid for you.
Filed Under: General Knitting
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
My very first crochet scarf.
Thanks for modeling, Bunny! | Hey! It was August of last year that I learned how to knit and crochet! Bust out the confetti, it's Happy Crafty Anniversary to me! And all the squirrels playing ping-pong in my attention-deficit-disordered head can scarcely believe that interest in ONE craft has been sustained for so long. This ranks up there with landing a long-term boyfriend.
Today, and maybe everyday hereafter, we're talking about the amazing, satisfying, beautiful craft of knitting. KNITTING. Knitting. I have taken up a lot of things in my lifetime, all sorts of things that after a few weeks were abandoned for interests in other things, only to be abandoned for interests in yet more other things, ad nauseum.
Second crochet scarf, with flowers.
But knitting! Knitting trumps them all! And it was such randomness that decided to learn. Wasn't wowed by a handmade piece of knitwear, wasn't swayed by some knitting movie that was based on some best-selling knitting book, nothing like that. I was at my mom's house, saw a piece of yarn next to a pair of needles, and said, "Ma. Show me." The dormant domesticate in me just woke up that day and decided it was time to understand the mysterious construction of the doily and the afghan (neither of which I have made, btw).
More scarves, and a hat.
Left: Own "Neopolitan Ice Cream" scarf - first time with cables!
Right: Plain hat in Rowan Polar - first time decreasing and seaming!
A year later...how I love knitting. Love it til my teeth hurts. Love it til my knuckles bleed and elbows creek. Love it til I just want to quit working, quit sleeping, quit eating so I can keep knitting.
A year later is a good time for a retrospective/critique of the pieces I've made. What turned out great and what turned out not so. Shall we? From the beginning...
Simply Marilyn
Made with alpaca, wool blend. My first sweater, so soft and cozy, will always hold a special place in my heart. I wore this plenty of times during the winter. The yarn isn't holding up terribly well though. Lots of pilling. But I still love it.
Sweater with Diagonal Ribs
Made with Lion Brand Kool Wool. I wore this several times, ignoring the linebacker shoulder pads from the messy seaming I did with the sleeves. I'd knit this sweater again (but not in Kool Wool).
Savanna
Made with DB Merino Chunky. A definite favorite. Love the pattern and the yarn, even though it took like 10000 skeins and ended up costing a million dollars. Extremely warm and cozy, and not itchy. I wore this a couple of times before the winter was through.
Rebecca Eyelet Cardi
Made with Classic Elite Lush. Well, here's a downer. I've gone from loving this piece, to not at all. It's too big. And the more I wore it, the fuzzier it became, like cotton candy, except cotton candy that did not dissolve in your mouth. Rabbit hair in the back of the throat and in the eyes is not pleasant. Lush was not an appropriate yarn substitute for GGH Softkid (duh), but I wanted to make it work. It did for a little while. I wore this piece at least 6 times before the fuzziness became out of control.
Rebecca Apricot Jacket
Made with Cotton Fleece. I wear this piece all. the. time. I've lost count. I wore it this weekend in Vermont in fact. The color is fading a little, but overall Cotton Fleece is holding out well considering how much I wear it. And the buttons are still intact.
Dianne
Made with Adrienne Vittadini Dianne, cotton and acrylic blend. I realized after this sweater that I'd have to be really careful with sizing. Ease is appropriate with winter sweaters, but not with summer ones. Dianne was a balloon. I wore it once, hoping to love it and I didn't. Next spring I plan to rip it and start over in a much smaller size.
Coral
Made with Cotton Fleece. I didn't seem to learn from my previous mistake. Too big. Haven't worn it once. Sucks.
Orangina
Made with Filature di Crosa Mirto. This is when the resizing fiesta begins. I sized Orangina way down and tada. It's MY FAVORITE PIECE OF ALL TIME. Perfect yarn for perfect pattern for perfect fit. I have worn this a million times.
Loop-d-Loop Ballet Top
Made with Organic Cotton. It's ok. Worn it once and it stretched to my knees. Once I wash this we'll see how I feel about it.
Celia
Made with Rowan Linen Drape. This piece was an accident. And it turns out to be my SECOND FAVORITE PIECE OF ALL TIME. Generally after I've worn Orangina, the next day I wear Celia. They tag team. I love this piece.
And that's the year in knitting. Here's hoping to at least another year. I think I just might make it.
Filed Under: General Knitting
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Dude. All the answers were on page ii.
Caitlin wasn't so elusive afterall. This excerpt is taken from the acknowledgment section of Knitting for Dummies, of which I OWN. While this book was just sitting unopened on my shelf, I was busy googling and sleuthing elsewhere for this girl for days. Hello?! Ba ha. OK now I will drop this subject for good.
We're off to Vermont for the weekend. Bye!
Filed Under: General Knitting
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Debbie Bliss Cabled Seed Stitch Jacket, using Cashmerino Aran which is so YUM.
This cute little number is for the nephew who will be arriving in October. My SIL's baby shower is at the end of the month, so I'm hurrying to finish. I should have plenty of time, but I have not and will not have an entire weekend to myself for a looong time, and the hours at home after work have been short. So far I have the back and one front finished...eeee.
I really love DB Cashmerino. I need to make something for myself in it. But, the yarn is really the only thing about DB that I love, really. Her pattern books drive me mad. No schematics, hard to read row-by-row instructions that leave you crosseyed, and TONS OF ERRORS. I understand the one or two typos, but please. Take this jacket for example. Entire sections were completely left out. The book I have is like a second edition with the errors corrected, but only some. Can't get it right even the second time? If you breeze through her website's pattern revision section, you can tell this is a common occurance. The revisions are in 5 paragraph essay form, dude. For a "high-end" knitting retailer like DB, I find this a huge turnoff. Am I getting what I pay for? This is why I keep hemming and hawing about buying Simply Soft.
By the way, I got the Baby Knits book from the library. Now I'll get off my soapbox.
Filed Under: Debbie Bliss | Baby Jacket
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.
Filed Under: Adrienne V | Allegra | General Knitting
Thursday, August 04, 2005
DAMNIT. Lately I've been receiving referrals from SPAMMERS and now they've managed to leave comments. I HATE THEM I HATE THEM SO MUCH.
So now I've had to enable Captcha in comments to prevent these disgusting filthy bastards from infiltrating. To submit a comment you'll have to enter one more field - please don't let that stop you knitters from commenting though!
Ergh.
About that popular knitting model. It turns out afterall that all those publications I mentioned below DO have something in common - the author/editor. I didn't even notice. Pam Allen. Would make sense if the model was her daughter. Nepotism is a good thing.
Filed Under: General Knitting
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
OK this has been driving me coo-coo for awhile. Can someone please ID this model? She in every other knitting book/magazine on the planet, across different brands or publisher or whatever. Why does everyone use her? Who is she?!
Hi, I'm ??? You've probably seen me in
publications such as Knitting for Dummies, Scarf Style, and all the Interweave magazines.
I am very wispy.
Filed Under: General Knitting
Monday, August 01, 2005
Another reason to love summer besides ice cream is summer cocktails. We're big boozers here, and during the summer, the mint out back is flourishing (mint is scary aggressive like a weed, but a weed we're happy to have around). So in addition to the requisite glass of wine or pale ale at dinner, our livers are working overtime to break down the vast amounts of mojitos and mint juleps we're knocking back. Yeah!
The mighty mint julep
Growing up in the South I had always thought mint juleps, along with Coca-Cola, as one of them Refreshing Southern Drinks for Civilized Ladies, Particularly Those from the Civil War Era Who Wore Petticoats and Owned Slaves. I thought it was some special kind of lemonade. Excluding the slave part, everything about a mint julep screamed Southern gentility and charm.
That was until I actually had one. We were 19 and my friend and I drove to Louisiana JUST after they increased the drinking age from 18 to 21, but that didn't stop us from trying to get ourselves into any bar in the French Quarter. Eventually the popular Pat O' A Brien?slet us in without checking our ID's (suckers!). I ordered a mint julep and ah yes when it came, in a tall hurricane glass, stuffed with mint and icy condensation beading along the side, it looked delicious and refreshing and exactly how I had pictured a mint julep to be. I took a big long swig, and gagged. Coughed, choked, eyes watering, nearly died. Southern ladies drank THIS?! That liquid swirling like an oil slick in between the sprigs of mint was 110% straight up bourbon. In a decidedly non-genteel and suddenly vulgar HURRICANE glass. I kept at it anyway, hoping the more I drank the more I'd like it, when really the more I drank, the more my vision blurred, the more I felt like I had been conned. Mint julep, you were supposed to be dainty.
The back of Allegra. Underneath is my first attempt at the back, in the petite size that's still too large.
Back to knitting. I've finished the back of Allegra and am in the middle of the front. Pictures of the front to come. It's a very interesting construction. I had to read the instructions a million times to understand it. I like having a preview of the outcome in my head before I actually do it, but it turns out if I had just followed the instructions as written it would have all fallen into place.
The back piece has a little hole smack dab in the middle, of course. It was an errant yarn-over. I noticed it maybe only 5 rows after the hole was made, but did I rip back to do it over? No. Am I stupid? Yes. This hole is going to be SO noticeable when the piece is on and stretched. I will figure out a way to sew the hole shut later.
This weekend we were in western Mass for a birthday party. We stopped at WEBS, the most glorious discount yarn store on the East Coast, and ladies and gentlemen, I came out of there EMPTY HANDED. I had loaded up my basket with some DB Cashmerino and Classic Elite Lush (it's not even on their website yet), but had nothing specific in mind for any of them. So, after wandering around asking myself Do I want or do I need? I put them all back.
Now matter how reluctant I was to walk out of there with nothing, at the end of the day I dislike stashing. It's a pretty recent discovery. I find myself getting stressed out about yarn that's just sitting there, continuing to be a yarn ball and not a sweater. And I know myself. Unless I will cast on within 5 minutes of bringing the yarn home, chances are, I won't use it. Chances are, I won't love it anymore. Then it becomes backup, or something you feel you need to get rid of, and I want to treat my yarn much more nicely than that.
It's weird the things that drive me nuts (yarn stash) and the things that don't (extra YO hole in sweater). I think most people are the exact opposite.
Filed Under: Adrienne V | Allegra | General Knitting | Life
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