2008 knitting in review!

As we put 2008 to rest, I thought I'd post pictures of my finished projects...

above:

sphere, Finally finished, stuffed, and given to my dad as a christmas present!

Below: "Flicca" , as modelled by a newly padded out Myrna, was knit in Elite Classic Duchess. I am really happy with how this turned out, despite my botching the short-rowed collar and ham-fistedly weaving in the ends. Some improvements to work on in 2009..

Here is my finished version of Teva Durham's Corrugated Vee neck. love the pattern, love the color, HATE the yarn. Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Bulky. it pills when you look at it. the sweater looks ok in this picture, but in reality looks like muppet fur. I was told it was hard-wearing and machine washable. what it was was EXPENSIVE.

Other draw-back- I made it too big- it stretches slinky-like and falls off of my shoulders. shoulda made it the size I originally though but was worried about being too small. live-and-learn.

Blue belle: in classic elite monteza alpaca. No complaints here- I love this sweater and wear it all the time!

it fits like a dream, best of all, I made it without a pattern, and learned all kinds of things including how to steek!

A detail of my gussets- the skirt swing flirtily and gives me a TINY waist!

Side view with belled sleeves and peplum!




Neck detail and slightly more accurate color-

I thought I'd mostly wear it zipped up high(wattle-hiding don't you know), but actually love it like this. The alpaca is a bit too warm otherwise!

I steeked(cut) the front after knitting it whole on circular needles, then put in a zipper and faced it with velevet trim. Yes, a lot of work, but I've barely taken it off since it came off the needles...

back view

I am well pleased all in all and may make another with a few variations!

radical knitter gets into trouble at Canadian Border!

Is there no story that escapes the hawk-like eye of Stephen Colbert?

knitting's subversive underbelly is explored in recent video!
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/212027/december-03-2008/nailed--em---radical-knitting

A more *ahem* serious article on the incident can be found here, at sew girls.com:

http://www.sewgirls.com/yarn/US-Customs-Detains-Citizen-Over-An-Art-Project-Sketch-25826-.htm

an example of Zemple's work, this crocheted tank for a project with the Gunk Foundation.

hopefully Us custom's and border control will go back to "the old normal" under the new administration

peruvian vampire cats in action!

Here is little H in her sweater!



Given as a baby shower gift, and posted here as a finished item on 2/17/08, she is finally big enough, and it is finally chilly enough for her to wear it!

I think she looks stunning, and am delighted with the fit, color etc. Little H has lovely large blue eyes that go very well indeed with the body color of the sweater.

The vampire cat design is one I made using an ancient peruvain textile as inspiration. Anyone wanting a copy of the design, graphed out, just contatc me and I will be happy to pass it along.

I am well pleased.

Here's hoping it washes well!

blue belle's arms...

Here, once again is the lovely Myrna showing off my progress so far.
The plunging stock markets, world wide economic crisis, and the bankruptcy of ICELAND have done wonders for my knitting. Now, more than ever, I need to knit.
The sleeves, hem and neck are not done yet. all of that has to happen before I get to the STEEKING!!!!

Here's a good view of the back gussets(with string looped through the stitches

- not very photogenic, I know).


I am very pleased so far- it's just working beautifully.
HOWEVER:
I have just been reading alarming and worrisome reports on other people's blogs about alpaca- it apparently stretches and sags like crazy, making all of my elegant shaping for naught.
here is hoping that MY alpaca will not behave that way????
not too happy about this- after my fiasco with the Debbie Bliss chunky cashmerino for Teva Durham's corrugated vee neck, am still feeling burned.
So much work, and It looks like a stretched heavy floppy pill-ed Muppet after only one washing!
Argh!

blue belle!

Here are the first photos I've taken
(as modelled by my lovely assistant Myrna)
of my current project "blue belle" Myrna is a bit slimmer than I, so the work is a bit drapier on her than me.
On me, it is quite fit-and-flair, and very flattering indeed.

This is knit entirely in the round with increases and decreases for shaping. I was under the impression that I'd posted my sketches for this one, but that does not seem to be true.

So, see below for my artist's rendition of what I'd like this to be like:

Still to come are: Arms- sleeves- I've got 'em, even if Myrna doesn't, and I intend to cover them. They will be long, slightly flared with purled trim.

Also to do:
A high ribbed turtle neck, purled trim at the hem, and, the coup de resistance( or, perhaps, the coup de grace), steeks up the front and a zipper!

In layman's terms it means that after all of this hard work, I will risk it all by cutting up the center seams to open the garment up into a cardigan!
whoopee! I do live for danger....

This project has been so much fun-
and the beauty part? No Pattern!

just knit, try on, knit try on, adjust, add, try on.
how freeing....
(I take NO credit for "designing" this garment-The basics for this came from Stephanie Japel's excellent instructions on her Glampyre knits site for the raglan swaeter from the top down, plus many other inspirations and advice already out there. )

What does not show up well in the photos:
how lovely the llama/alpaca wool is, how rich the color, and how unbelievably frigging cool those gussets are!
I love gussets anyway, and these just shape the whole thing so marvelously....
this is (famous last words) truly painless sweater making.

This is indeed the same yarn I had in my shower all those months ago- for once I did as I said I would, and am USING UP MY STASH!!!

How very virtuous I feel. Not really- this stuff is so lovely and tempting it would be impossible NOT to use it. I have lots of other stuff that require more imagination and foresight...

Okay, so onwards- sleeve it is!

spheres...

OK, so here is my "soccer ball" in progress, an odd, knobby affair with pointed sticks and glowing green rubber ends.
Now I am in the stuffing stage, and hope to post the finished object very soon indeed.
I learned a lot doing this project, and feel very confident about making all kinds of 3d structures.
However, this project was likened by it's author on the site "needle exchange" as being "the Garfield the Cat of Knitting projects", translated, this means it's easy and great for the very lazy among us. I am not lazy but am, apparently quite stupid: I had to redo constantly on this- I would blithely knit up a 5 sided shape when a 6 sider was needed, etc....
this is luxuriously knit in hand spun hand dyed goods from "Done Rovin'" farms in Maine- the dark red is wool, the Monet colored hexagons are silk and alpaca. The wool was nice, but the real reason for the silk and alpaca becomes clear the minute it's on the sticks: it glides and flows like water cascading, and it pure tactile poetry on the fingers....



This picture shows it semi-stuffed- I ran out of cotton balls mid way.
It has, as you can see, a charming sputnik-like quality, pointy but not terribly fierce.

Yarn mobiles!

These pictures show my bathroom a week ago, festooned with "mobiles" of washed and drying alpaca yarn!
Note the technique here:
A hank of yarn is tied into a large loop, gently hand-washed in warm water and a dollop of baby shampoo, and carefully rinsed. Then loop the yarn over a coat hanger and hang in the shower to drip dry. Subsequent hanks are treated the same way, but with their coat hangers hanging on the yarn PULLING IT TAUT!
A bag with a weight is hung on the bottom hank, to pull it too.

Why all of this palaver?

well, true to my last posting on the dreaded "mulesing" issue, I have been prepping wool I already have to be used. Stash depleting excercise in action here.

This yarn, a lovely chunky blue alpaca had been mostly knit by a friend into a very dense bulky sweater that I was not inclined to finish, let alone wear.

She had generously given me lots of lovely yarn but some had already been started into projects.

When you re-use yarn, you must wash and straighten it first, to release the "memory"- the kinks from the already knitted loops. This is a bit of work, but not at all difficult.

First:

frog your UFO, unraveling it, then winding it into a wide hank of yarn. Tie in three places with bits of string.

Second: hand wash the hanks in warm water with a bit of baby shampoo, and gently rinse.

Third:

hang to dry, with weights to pull the yarn straight, as shown!

viola- your yarn, is clean, straight and fluffy.

Ready for that fabulous new project!

This works for vintage sweaters you want to re-use the yarn from, projects half completed, ready to be frogged(unravelled), or any other yarn you wish to prep for knitting.

you know the mantra: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

on that note,

check out this terrific website/store: http://www.earthfriendlyyarns.com/

Earth Friendly Yarns has a wonderful range of yarns and accessories all guilt-free!

Mulesing

Amend my last posting.

I am going on a stash-purging spree instead, and will be frugally making stuff with what I've already got.
Why? you might ask...
Is the reality of the recession finally hitting me?
Well, yes and no.
I HAVE been buying too much yarn with abandon lately, but that is not the real reason for my sudden abstinence and puritan rigor within my craft.
No indeed.
It is something much more horrific,
something that I had not even considered until I saw a link on the Knitty.com site.

Unsavory and cruel practices regarding sheep, called MULESING.

Read about it here:
http://www.savethesheep.com/animals.asp

Here is what wikipedia says:
"Mulesing is the surgical removal of strips of wool-bearing wrinkle skin around the tail of a sheep.[1] [2] Mulesing is common practice in Australia as a way to reduce the incidence of flystrike on Merino sheep in regions where flystrike is common.[2]
Veterinary opinion considers muelsing a necessary animal husbandry practise in providing for the general welfare of sheep in areas of Australia[3] however some animal welfare advocates strongly oppose mulesing, and say mulesing without anesthesia is cruel and painful, and that more humane alternatives exist.[4] It is expected to be phased out in Australia by 2010,[2][5] and has already been phased out in New Zealand.[6]"

This is a nice way of putting it, as any of the pictures on the animal rights pages will show.

Do a Google search and see for yourself. This is no way to treat ANYTHING, let alone a social, sentient creature with nerve endings and a family.


I am truly disgusted and angry about this.



I started knitting as a peaceful non-violent craft, meditation and pass time.
It is a form of therapy for me, as it is for many others out there.
I always thought that sheep LIKED being sheared, and have a city-person's idealized view of country life.





In other words, I am an ignoramus when it comes to farm-life.



like many of my upper-middle class, citified brethren, I do buy a lot of expensive hand-spun and dyed stuff from small farms, where, I still believe, the flocks are treated respectfully and well.



It is, as ever, the big production animal husbandry folks who on a grand scale are the culprets committing unspeakable atrocities. For example,The US meat industry is truly disgusting, and foreign ones no better.



Buy small-scale for more reasons than one.
Pay more for carefully and respectfully reared organic meats and one should be OK, or at least that's my theory.
Wool I had not given a thought to.





I HAD thought about the negative environmental impact sheep have when grazing- they destroy all plant life in their paths, eating it all down to the quick, and leaving barren land that erodes behind them. Small wonder that sheep herders were traditionally nomads.



Nowadays shepherds are not nomads, and no longer want to watch their flocks- therefore they are up in arms about wolves and coyotes and bears and any other predators that might come by. As the sheep are kept in pens it's like going to the superette for the carnivores. I am less-than-sympathetic with all of this.



We must all live together, and if they were doing their jobs on a reasonable SCALE, that is with flocks of a watchable size, that migrated, and had shepherds with them, this would not be happening.



But now this:
Mulesing.



And I HAVE bought Merino from a big company in Australia recently. To make matters worse,
it was expensive and has not worked well for the sweater I knit from it. I need to check and find out if this brand is culpable or not. The idea makes me sick to my stomach.



Therefore:
I am using what I have.
If any damage has been done, it was done a while ago.



I have some lovely blueberry colored llama wool a friend gave me, that I am planning a top-down steeked(!) cardigan with. it should be gorgeous.
and a laptop cover with LOTS of colors,
and my huge seashell, in a lovely ropey white wool purchased long before any awful painful, bloody sheep cruelty entered my consciousness.



I am not sorry knowing- it is better to know about such things and act accordingly.
But-
I am sad.
How come human ingenuity so often results in barbarity?
Why are we so drawn to it?
Water boarding is, it seems, only one lovely example of our creativity.

what I am thinking about making...

Okay, so here's the problem with using MODELS on these pictures....

I KNOW that I do not resemble them, and that they have nothing to do with the garment they wear, but I suspect I am still swayed by them and that their attitude and good looks have a stake in my selection process...

This one below, is the sweater I THINK I am going to make next, after I finish the dauntingly long and big cardigan coat I am currently plowing through...

It is pretty but tom-boy wearable enough for me, a good summer knit, and a chance to play with cables. Plus, I want it.







These pictures are all from from Taki/Stacy Charles

(SEE: http://www.tahkistacycharles.com/dyn_category.php?k=74276)

which has some really stunning patterns and wool that comes in colors I'm not really fond of. Lots of bright mixes. However, their patterns rock...Here was my second choice, which is from the most-excellent genius Teva Durham. Loop-d-loop has yarns and patterns on the Taki/Stacy Charles site. This one, which really looks SOOO Joan of Arc to me, is only marred by the model and what she is wearing with her gorgeous jacket.

(see- it DID affect my thinking...)

this in some tweedy/mossy/muddy color or maybe a garnet red...

mmmmm.....



I swear half of the charm of knitting is THINKING about knitting (and playing with one's stash- oh- and hoarding...)

Ok, this last example, above, also from the Taki/Stacy Charles site, knitted in something called "cosmos", is really fetching, but not me.

Really- when and where would I wear this????

I love this slit sleeves and shell buttons, but think this is WAY too feminine a look for me.

Also, I am SURE in this instance, that it is just because I would like to look like this model: look at her coloring, that mouth! she is really, really pretty, and it's getting in the way of my sweater judgement. If I make that sweater, I do not automatically gain her coloring or looks, I just get me in that sweater.

Conclusion:

despite how really alluring gorgeous photography of beautiful models in lovely settings is- I would really prefer to see the garment plunked onto a bust form with a plain background.

Except that- bust form don't have arms, have idealized bodies too, and no skin tone at all.

so-

what's the answer?

Dunno.

I have been enjoying Interweave Knits "Knitting Daily" messages, which often post "galleries" of different women with different body types wearing the same sweater. They discuss how to make various adjustments for better fit to each type, and it is illuminating to see how different everyone looks in the same garment. The way the color works or does not work with the wearer is also fascinating...

WHAT I AM MAKING now!:

This beautiful cardigan Flicca, is from designer Anna of "My Fashionable Life" (see: http://needleandhook.co.uk/journal/fashionable_life_knits_patterns_to_buy/)

I pinched this photo from her site and hope that she doesn't mind as I am no end of complementary about her work!

Her company , Needle & Hook Offers stunning and subtle patterns to buy, or you can commission her to make one for you. She has excellent, restrained but stylish taste. I am really looking forward to wearing this coat, which I am making in charcoal grey wool. It is not, however, so exciting to knit. I like more variety. Having said that- I am not at the challenging bits yet: the short rows, which I've never tried, doing the collar on huge circular needles... many challenges await with this one. Her directions are clear and easy-to-follow and it's nice to be buying an original pattern form a talented and real person not a huge company. I thought I was ok with a bigger project, but am getting daunted...

peruvian vampire cats!

Well, I've finished it-
though I did not get a picture of the back, which features a mama and baby cat...
it is super-soft, and should fit for quite a while, given that the ties can easily expand the circumfrance of the wee one.
The shower was today, so I can safely post this.
I am really pleased with how it came out and hope that it keeps baby H cozy and snug.
That "Baby Yoda" pattern is a wonder-
look it up on "Dogs Steal Yarn".
I love the web for the way people are so willing to share, and how one can see how many really talented, creative and generous folks really are out there. Quite heart-warming, really.

All about Gilded Lily

"Gilded Lilly" is the rather over-the-top evening bag I just finished.
Here is how she came about....















When I started working on "Gilded Lily " I had two completly different aesthethic
influences at work.

The First one was:
1950-1960's Hollywood, as epitomized by Natalie Wood...
This picture in particular, or rather a variation of it, were what stuck in my head.
In the other version ( unavailable on-line) she is sitting at a dinner table checking her makeup with a knife. You can seel the whole place setting, crockery, etc.
As is this version, she is very pretty in a fresh way, and yet, not. She is self-conscious of her beauty, perhaps anxious about it, and has chosen to check herself out in the reflection of her dinner knife.

This was apparantly a habit with her, and a really odd and psychologically loaded one at that. She looks "good enough to eat", and yet as an actress concerned about maintaining her figure at a dinner party, in all likelyhood, not about to eat much.
She is not so much concerned with eating, she is narcissistically with others looking at her, and the impression she makes.
So, ultimately not-too-flattering, this.
Yet I was inspired by the odd juxtapostion of real natural beauty and youth and the kind of jaded, corrupted world she occupied.
The jewelry, eye-liner and brocade dress all add up to the message in this picture, and I can easily imagine her carrying a clutch bag like "Gilded Lilly" with her- complete with unused compact mirror!

Influence number 2:

Perhaps less odd:


















The gilded and mosiac clad San Marco in Venice!
During my stay in Venice last springI was reading the most excellent "Venetian Colour: Marble, Mosaic, Painting and Glass, 1250-1550"by Paul Hills, a superb analysis of the spectrum used in Venitian art, and the cultural and historic associations of such a palette.

The section on gold was particularly good, and the way the mosiacs shift in the light, becoming firy and vibrant, and then dull and retreating into the gloom, depending on ones angle and movemement.

This yarn i've used for the purse body , Berrocco "Quest", is truly the most metalic yarn I've ever seen, and seems to embody this quality perfectly.
The geometric lozenge shapes are somewhat byzantine, and echo some of the extrordinary floor mosiacs and the jeweled Pala D'Oro screen in the back of San Marco.




















The glass bauble on the bags front, which hold the ribbon and hides the magnetic closure is a hand-blown little something from Murano.

Which leads me back to 60's Hollywood and kitsch.
How can something so magical and intrisically lovely be used for such appalling ends?
Just the name "Murano Glass" conjure up images of swollen coffee table clowns, huge parrots on ungainly glass trees, and jelly-fish chandliers studed with flowers.

hmmm, maybe the two aren't so unrelated after all....



In that same spirit, I purchased these shoes (at a very low price, I may add- thrifty and fashionable, I am....) first ogled by me in a venitian shoe store window, and dismissed as too frivolous.
However,
somehow,
I just had to have them.
and they do go together, right?



For more photos of "Gilded Lily", please see the previous posting below.

shell pix redux

Okay, so I've already posted photos of this project, but I was unhappy with their quality...

Here is the shell pillow in all it's glory, looking very fetching on my grey-blue sofa (a felicitous, but not intentional outcome!)...

so, I am ready to start a giant one as soon as I feel justified in making another yarn purchase.

shell pix redux

Okay, so I've already posted photos of this project, but I was unhappy with their quality

It’s been a mighty long time since I posted here, and many knit-related events later….

First:
Finished the hat, just in the nick of time for noel, found a candy-cane striped tube for it as well.
Blocking it- with steam iron, improved the shape almost instantly, and all of the little holes and flaws magically disappeared.
I think I came up with something festive-but-wearable, it actually looks good on, not just funny or silly.

Having accomplished this I THEN started to worry that it was too young for adorable niece Frances, who has sprouted up several feet since last I saw her
(6 months ago) and is most definitely, a young Lady now.

However-she yelped as she undid the ribbons, promptly put it on, and wore it the whole time I was in town- and not for my benefit, either, though she is pretty polite.

She even wore it when visiting with her friends, so I take it to be a hit, not a miss. And it really did look charming on her, though she could wear burlap and still look charming, could Niece Frances…

I am trying to get a photo of her in it sent over to post here.

And on my end, I hit total pay-dirt in terms of knitting x-mas gifts this year.

here’s a photo !

From D & TH.: Beautiful hand dyed, hand spun alpaca from a local Maine farm, in soft muted hues. Adobe, grey-blue, grey...

And from Anne: lovely, exquisitely soft and fine cranberry colored silk/alpaca blend, from the pacific north west- am thinking of trying out some lace with this, I have a not-too-frou-frou “pinecone” pattern I like…

From my mom:
Some sparkly, tortoise-shell mottled angora Lurex fancy fluffy stuff and a copy of Teva Durham’s Loop-de-loop!

I have been coveting that book since day one, and while in Seattle, on my way back to NYC went into the rather deluxe knit boutique “So Much Yarn” (see: http://somuchyarn.com/)
and purchased enough Debbie Bliss cashmerino chunky yarn is a delicious chocolate/violet color to make the “corrugated asymmetric vee-neck” sweater, which I am now wearing as I write this. That’s how behind I am….

I had trouble following the rather eccentric directions, but eventually got it right. I made the biggest size (and I am NOT the biggest person) because the others seemed just too tiny, but the thing stretches like a slinky, so is, in fact rather too big.
Nonetheless, I feel this pattern is an excellent combination of cozy, big and comfortable, while still being sexy and slinky. No mean feat that.

Note to self:
This is the second sweater I have made with Debbie bliss cashmerino. I am NOT allowed to buy it anymore, despite the lovely feel and texture and array of mouth-watering colors. Why? It pills almost instantly. I HATE pilling, and it attracts lint and bits of flotsam like CRAZY, so it very easily looks dirty- yech!
I need crisper, more hard-wearing yarns.

Now, with picture:

Peruvian vampire cats!!!!
I based this design on a very ancient Peruvian textile I fell in love with. It’s for a friend (to remain un-named, on the bizarre off-chance that she reads this blog), who is expecting.

I am making the wonderful “baby Yoda” wrap sweater from “dogs steal yarn” (see http://dogsstealyarn.com/, ) it’s a great pattern, very simple and adaptable. The blue ground is a very soft mystery yarn, something synthetic and very soft that knits up into a cozy, fleecy terry-like substance.
After that?
Dunno.
It doesn’t make much sense to pre-decide, since I almost never actually make what I declare I am going to.
I do have leftover cashmerino, and have been thinking about making a matching corrugated scarf for my sweater, a good idea since I wear scarves daily in the winter.
I am TRYING to make garments that I actually will wear.

Gilded Lilly.
She is almost done. I am heading to M&J this afternoon (see www.MJTrim.com )
For hardware to finish her up. She took ages because I was unhappy with what I’d come up with for straps etc. but once I wrapped this gorgeous turquoise silk velvet bow around her, and held it in place with this Murano glass bauble, I was hooked. The bag looks like a super deluxe gift and is SO much nicer than anything else I’ve seen on the market it hurts.

the photo above is truer color-wise, and below shows the Chanel-style velvet entwined chain strap...

A bit gaudy & flash perhaps, but oh baby, so shiny!