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!

Because one can't knit ALL the time...

I got a little tired of knitting. I know--call me crazy. Here's the story: I finished a Cobblestone Sweater in about 13 days--just in time to start a new sweater of Ravelympics. Unfortunately, the Cobblestone ended up being two sizes too big, so I ripped it out. You know of course, that means that it could have taken me even LESS time to knit the damn thing in the first place. Argh. So I got tired of knitting--I could not face miles of dark green Cascade 220 superwash stockinette. So sue me.

So instead I went to my new fiber addiction--dyeing yarn. Lookie Lookie!

"Buttered Sunshine" in worsted weight: "Too Blue for Skool" in sockweight:"Last Daffodil" in sockweight:
I've added Arteco Spectrum Gel Food Coloring to my arsenal of Lemon-Lime, Pineapple, Mango, Lemon, Ice Blue Raspberry, and maybe some other flavors of Kool-Aid. I better start to want to know rather than just accumulate self-dyed yarn.

Got any ideas for what to make out of this yarn? Oh--and if I ever do get all my knitting mojo back I could use these that I made this morning in my summer vacation stupor:

But I did cast on for my Ravelympics sweater at 8 am on 8-8-08! And I'm just about done. Not sick of it--I am loving it! Here's a pic for now--more when I am actually all done. I even bought the buttons and everything--

What goes around comes around.

I love to knit. No, I REALLY love to knit. And apparently I like to knit the same damn thing--or at least variations on a theme. Or two degrees of separation from each other.

I just finished the Henley perfected in this lavender color with this lace pattern.

Of course, in 2006, I knit a lace shawl in the same dang color. (and dare I say the with the same lace pattern in part of it?)

And now, I'm in the middle of knitting a different lace shawl with the same damn lace stitch in most of the shawl.

Now notice the color of lapis blue of that shawl.

Does that color bear any resemblance to this yarn that I am going to cast on for the Ravelympics (Go Team SitnknitNYC!) for this sweater?

If the February Lady sweater turns out to have the same damn lace stitch in the pattern, I may just take up cross-stitching!

I'm getting nowhere...

I'm knitting and knitting with, I think, not so much to show for it. For example, here's a month of knitting, from here:



to here:
Not much to show for a month, is there? Ah, the vagaries of lace and the patience required. I do love the color and texture of the yarn, though.


Whatever! I did knit a clapotis, two hats, and part of a sweater in that month, too, right? That counts, yes? Oh, ok, here's the sweater:

I'm a big girl--it takes a long time to do a sweater. Mind you, I'm doing the entire body in one piece. Once I'm done here, I'll only have two sleeves before I can put a fork in it!

BUT! My AWOL sock jonz is back! Well sort of--

These I like a lot--the yarn, the fabric, the pattern. I'm so crazy about the yarn, I ordered it in 4 more colors. Stash vow, shma-tash vow. I figure multiple skeins of the same yarn counts as ONE YARN, right? Also, this isn't really a color that appeals to me, but my mother might like it in socks. Her birthday is in two weeks, so I gotta keep crackin' at these. These are, as one might graciously put it, a HOT MESS.

Anybody know what to do with Tofutsies yarn? I thought it would be nice to have less-woolly-intensive socks, and I like the general colors, but it's a unmitigated, variegated disaster! I'm taking suggestions. WILL FROG FOR GOOD SOCKS!

Wrap it up, Part II: How did that happen?

So, in my Ravelry-induced mania to record and 'get credit' for everything I've ever knit, I asked my Mom to get out everything I've knit for her. I have NO idea how this happened, but I think my mother has more sweater knit by me than I do. Now, I like knitting for other people to some extent, but I'll be honest and say that I like knitting for myself more--does that make me a bad person? Yet somehow, my mother has managed to come away with some really nice and difficult-to-knit items made by me. I guess she birthed me and everything, but whatever! I suppose it helps that she has a bust size that has ranged from 7-15 (!) inches smaller than mine (my bust size changed, mind you). so it was easier to knit her small/medium sweaters than to make behemoths for myself at one time.

Let's go in reverse chronological order. You'll notice a chromatic theme, however....

I finally finished the Katherine Hepburn sweater. I finished knitting all of it about a month ago, but needed buttons and real-life assurance that it would fit before finishing the whole thing. Pretty much, it's perfect if I do say so myself. The color--the yarn--the texture--the fit--the sleeves. Ok, there's a little wonkiness on the top of the button band, but what can I do?

Then there was the Icarus Shawl. In all honesty, I did not start out knitting this for my mother, but when it turned out slightly smaller than I wanted for myself, she became a grateful yet unwearing recipient. She had actually forgotten about it until I asked her to get it out. Whatever. It was a learning project, and she has new appreciation for it, so maybe Icarus will fly yet.

Then there was this time that I thought, why not learn how to do stranded work on the fly? Mom really liked this sweater, and I figured the stranded work was localized and voila. I like this sweater a lot, and it came out pretty well. I almost like it enough to make one for myself, but who needs big ol' bi-color flowers parading across her ample bosom?

That sweater actually was in the same pattern book as this red-pink sweater that was the original reason for buying the booklet. Again, the lace rib was really nice, and this linen-cotton-poly blend yarn (now unavailable I think) was a great spring-weight sweater for Mom. Notice the color....

And finally, this modern aran delight. I remember NOT enjoying knitting this heavy mercerized cotton shoestring yarn. And it was the first time, I think that I knit an aran pattern and learned to use the chart.I remembered it being a little dumpy. But it has held up well, looks nice, and there's nothing much else like it. Go me!

So that totals FOUR sweaters and a lace shawl that I've knit for my rather perfectionistic mother. Ok, I have four me-knit sweaters I wear and three that I have to frog because they're way too big. Not one of them has color work. I do not have a lace shawl. I do not have a spring pullover. I better get crackin'!

Long-awaited debut

She's been waiting so patiently, this beautiful scarf-shawl of recent completion, to be shown off to her advantage in the blogosphere. I was a harried knitter, recalcitrant blogger, and spending my time being the busiest woman in public school show biz, but we're all ready for our debut: This was a fun, fun, lovely, lovely knitting project because the pattern is easy and creates a beautiful texture, and because the yarn color and hand is so rewarding.

Pattern: Clementine Shawlette from Interweave Knits, Spring 2007

Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle in "Vergissmeinnicht" (Forget-me-not)
Yarn enabler: The Loopy Ewe, September 2007
Knit on: One 40" Knitpicks Size 3 Circular Needle

Time spent knitting when I should have been eating more vegetables: Oct. 3rd-31, 28 Days.
Size: 72 inches by 8 inches.

So, a little bit about my process and alterations. First of all, I did not knit this in the weight of yarn called for (I went for fingering instead of DKish-sportish), so it turns out to be more of a scarf than a shawl. If I were to do it again, I'd probably have gone two more repetitions wider and lived with a shorter shawl, though I do like the length I have.

The pattern calls for knitting two identical pieces, both starting from what I call the 'teardrop' ends and then grafting the two pieces together to form the middle seam. In order to be sure they actually were identical and that I would use up all the coveted yarn, I knit both halves simultaneously, one feeding from the outside of the ball of yarn and one feeding from inside the ball of yarn.. I just kept knitting until I was out of yarn--like when Lady and the Tramp both inhale the same strand of spaghetti and end up kissing. (Did any of y'all actually catch that reference?!?!?) I was dreading kitchenering the two together along some 70 stitches or so. In the end, I decided to do a three-needle bind off. I had meant to do a 'reverse' three-needle bind-off so that I'd have a purl bump row that reflected the pattern, but I couldn't to it because of where I was in the pattern or where the yarn was or something. In the end, I liked the result and the ease of execution, so I'm sticking with it!

I hate to add to the whole Wollmeise craze, but holy cow, I love this yarn. I know some feel it's splitty. I am not one of those people. Some think it's a little cottony even though it's 100% superwash merino. I say cottony in a good way--i.e. fairly smooth, even a little slick, and not itchy. And it's hard to see in the pictures, but the lapis blue of this colorway is kissed with teal green that just adds to the depth of color. I would advise you to buy Wollmeise, but only if you buy some for me at the same time or at least get the hell out of my way as I rush the e-commerce doors of any establishment that is carrying it. It might be worth a trip to Germany....