A kind of antidote.

So, I was knitting and knitting on the ubiquitous Y-chromosome-approved hunter green wool boring to knit (but fast) straight-forward Cobblestone Pullover. As you might have read (because my bitterness sometimes seeps out), I had knit the whole thing and it was WAY too big for its intended.



I mean look at this, the first attempt being worn by Obie Boy. Yikes.






It would have fit Poem-Man, the father (pictured right), but not Obie-boy, the son, who is a runner and has no body fat (hence the need for a sweater).

But now I've finished the sweater, but Obie-boy is at pre-semester x-country camp at college, so I'll mail it off with the hope that it fits and keeps him warm. I really shouldn't complain. He's wonderful young man and when I offered (somewhat sheepishly and skeptically) to make him a sweater (I mean, I'm not his mom, after all.), he got kind of excited (well, in his way), saying, "I was jealous of all the the warm-looking hand-knit sweaters that my roommate's Mom had made for him, and now I'll have a sweater." Aww...

Pattern: The ubiquitous Cobblestone.
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash, 5.25 skeins
Yarn enabler: Webs,
Needles: Size 5 Knitpicks Harmony Circulars
Time I spent knitting this when I should have been knitting it right: Ok, the first time was from July 26-August 7th. (I knit almost an entire sleeve during Mamma Mia!). The second time took from August 16-August 20. Ok, I didn't really rip the sleeves all the way out and spent a lot of time watching the river and waterfalls from the Brooklyn Promenade.


Anyway, I needed an antidote to all this boringly manly, dark green austerity of a sweater. My girly, summery responses are as follows:






I heart my completed Ravelympics sweater (Go Team SitnKnit NYC!) in a big way, especially considering my initial displeasure with the splitty yarn. I solved the splittiness issue, to some extent, by doubling the yarn, thus allowing for bigger needles, faster knitting, and an entirely different pattern from the project for which it was intended. I basically knit this sweater in between version 1 and version 2 of the Cobblestone.

Ah, I should mention that I totally changed the lace pattern from what is in the pattern since I was going to run into the same problem I whined about before. It is the perfect weight--airy but substantial, soft on the skin. What's not to love about silk and bamboo!


Pattern: Hey, Teach
Yarn: Elann's Soie Bamboo in Voile Pink, about 2.75 cones. April 2008
Needles: Size 5 Knitpicks Harmony Circulars
Time I spent knitting this while shamelessly being moved to tears by the Olympics: 8 Days. (See, it's all about the Chinese love of the number 8--cast on at 8 am on 8.08.08 and finished in 8 days!)

Speaking of "TEACH," my summer vacation ends in Sept when we all go back to school. My endless mornings/days/evenings of knitting will end, so I'm casting on more girly, summery, colorful projects like crazy, see--



Details to follow--probably after I come back from Rehoboth Beach. Yeah, BABY!

Final wrap up and new beginning

There was a flurry of finishing in December. I've already blogged about the hats, the sweater, and now, my new favorite piece:

Pattern: Felted Stained Glass Fan Bag from knitting dream
Yarn: Noro Kureyon

Yarn Enabler: Yarns Down Under

Knitted on: Size 8

Time spent knitting when I shouldabeen caroling or something: 1 month

This piece is turned out beautifully. It was both enjoyable and fiddly to knit. I pulled all the individual colors of the skein off the Kureyon and made little bobbins of yarn from which I chose the next color to knit. I knit-wove the ends in as I went so that there were fewer things to do at the end.

I felted it twice. I got too excited and nervous the first time and pulled it out off the washer and air-dried it for two or three days. Then I looked at it again to put in the lining and noticed it was too big, too loose, and the stitches too obvious. The second felting, I threw caution to the wind (because I was leaving to return home the next day) and washed it for 15 minutes and threw it into the dryer for an hour. Perfect.

The lining is even pretty good. Not the award-winning stitching, but it works. I also think that the felted I-cord handle is not long-lasting, if I find some other handles that will work, I may go with that.

AND I LOVE IT!

Then there's the TORTOISE and the HARE. Which would you like first?

HARE, baby! I cast this replacement for Poem-man's lost Cap Karma New Year's Eve afternoon. After some knitting on the subway when travelling to the different parties we attended and then aftermath couch potato knitting on New Year's afternoon, I was done!

Pattern: Koolhaas

Yarn: Karabella Superyak

Yarn Enabler: Purl's Yarn Emporium
Knitted on: Size 8 on the ribbing and Size 10 for the rest.
Time spent knitting when I was recovering: 1 day! woo hoo!

So, TORTOISE: Really, I'm a little tired to blog on it. Too much party. Too much holiday. Too much work to go back to. My tortoise is JULIET. This girl has been giving me trouble. She should be done, but NO, she's had to be re-knit TWICE. Talk about star-crossed. She is the Tortoise who will probably win the FO love race, but not yet.....