If I ignore certain minor irritations, like the Curmudgeon claiming he didn't know we were exchanging Christmas presents this year and therefore not getting me anything (luckily my girl Peeper-Lou was keeping up with my Amazon wish list like it was her job and saved the day, if you count telling him to tell me that he was going to buy me an electric blanket as a last ditch desperado move as saving the day), I'm basically living a charmed life. More proof of this came last month when my one true love Kate Davies offered me the chance to test knit an up and coming pattern that is going to take the world by storm: F U G U E
The fact that doing this project involved receiving a parcel in mail from the lovely and generous Lilith of Old Maiden Aunt Yarns made the whole endeavor terribly exciting. Special Delivery: the softness, most otherworldly yarn ever!
The Specs:
Pattern: F U G U E (this is the official spelling now for all KD patterns, btw) by Kate Davies, forthcoming. Kate's Ravelled version is here.
Yarn: Bowmont Braf by Old Maiden Aunt Yarns, two colors Hebridean and Blackbird.
Needles: size 3 & 4, 16 ins.
Modifications: None whatsoever
Honestly, this yarn is something special. It is incredibly soft but creates a dense fabric that is completely warm. The yarn blooms beautifully during blocking--I really recommend giving it a try, it's 100% unique.
Like all worthwhile patterns, this one affords the knitter the chance to learn a new technique. For me it was the concept of the knitted braid, one that I am now dying to put on every single thing I ever knit form here on out. It's kind of like mastering the subjunctive, once you learn how to use it correctly, you want to use it all the time. Except it's knitting...
Oh, and for the record? WE ARE ALWAYS EXCHANGING PRESENTS. GOT IT?
In a perfect world, everyone I love would be getting a Meret for Christmas, as they are exceedingly easy to churn out. Everyone deserves one. Honestly, if you start right now can you can easily finish by tomorrow morning, with time out for egg nog and the like. But sadly, my Holiday Handknitting 09 (tm) has consisted of frantically digging through my FO pile in order to pull out a (natty?) shawl for my mother in law. Yes, my holiday knitting is a giant serving of HELLA with a festive, heaping side-dish of NO. Just the way mama likes it!
The Specs:
Pattern: Meret by Woolly Wormhead
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Aran Tweed in #14, 1.25 skeins
Needles: size 8
Size: cast on for the medium but did three repeats total for slouchiness. Like (1).
I could imagine a person going hog wild with the various combos: 'medium size on size 7s with the large repeats/ large size on size 8s with the medium repeats', etc. It's a truly versatile pattern, people. I am quite happy with this iteration, and if I make more, I think I might have found the golden combination.
Here's to hoping that my Freethinking Pagan Pals had a rock solid Solstice and that all my Hebrew peeps had a killer Hannukah.
I know that my Christmas has been made because Peeper-Lou uttered the most Christmasy of all phrases last night under the tree: "...it's like the presents are blood and I am a vampire, tempted by them!". Happy Holidays!
Every once on a while there is a trend on Ravelry that makes the rounds and leaves little impression on me during the first contagion, but after it's hung around a while, suddenly it hits me like a speeding train and it's all I can do to not work on it 24 hours a day. Meret is this pattern for me--I saw many versions on other people and thought 'Huh, sure looks nice on them' and then kept on about my business, which probably involved obsessively checking my Amazon wish list while eating candy canes, because I'm 13 and I love Christmas.
Normally I shy away from slouchy hat patterns, as they seem to not be warm, can sometimes look like a giant sun dial on a person's head, seem at times too close too that scarf thing that Rhoda used to wear and can even be bigger & flatter than these pancakes that my brother recently ate in Hawaii. But not Meret! There are many options with this pattern--as written it's not terribly slouchy, can be made into a beanie but can go slouchier by adding repeats.
The Specs:
Pattern: Meret by Woolly Wormhead
Yarn: Malabrigo worsted, .75 of skein in 'Frank Ochre'
Needles: size 7, 16 inch
Mods: Cast on for the medium size but did the large repeats. As you can see the hat is not gigantic. If I had made this for myself I would have done two extra repeats and maybe gone up a needle size.
Knitting Meret also allowed me to get in touch with part of me that loves to crank out small accessories. I just love making small projects, it's where my knitting interests are most satisfied. Sure, sweaters are super-impressive, but more and more I realize that the short attention span theater in which I have taken up permanent residence dictates that small projects are my thing.
Now that my own kids have dumped me and moved on to other gigs, I had to rekindle my relationship with my friend Sandrine in order to snap some pics, because Lord knows this hat was never fitting on my head [see pancake pictures above for genetic explanation]. I was able to ply her with end-of-the-semester Thai food, and since I knit the hat for her anyway, I figured this was as good a time as any to give it to her. Plus now I can claim to have a real bona fide Parisian modeling a beret on my blog! What's next--a Japanese exchange student donning a knitted kimono? Hey, it's a small world after all...
I must say I enjoyed every one of your comments re: Malabrigo so much. Many of your fave colors were not a surprise to me at all [Impressionist Sky and Tuareg REPRESENT]. But others were totally unknown to me: Pearl Ten, where have you been all my life? I thank you for that. Luckily I actually have two skeins of Bobby Blue to send off [heh heh I am too sekritive]. And as soon as I get the addresses of Jodi and Elizabeth, they will be on their merry way to new homes. Enjoy!
I have basically broken every self-imposed knitting rule in sight these days and am in a sort of WIP free fall, which is not where I wanted to be several weeks before Christmas. Luckily holiday knitting 09 was D.O.A. before it could really take hold. This is a relief. Let's take a look at our list of infractions...
- Knitting more than two projects at once? Pshaw!
-Casting on for numerous large sweater when other large sweaters are laying fallow? Maybe.
-Having to buy more size 7 needles/stitch markers because all your other ones are in use? I'm not saying that didn't happen. Yikes.
-Melting cheese on everything in sight? Wait, different type of infraction. But still, not good.
Luckily such moments can be be rescued by everyone's favorite knockaround pal, the small knitted Malabrigo accessory. One of my very best Besties M made a gentle request for a hat for her son, E, who is basically the cutest kid in America. Apparently he likes to wear the hat I made for her, and so she was thinking that maybe if it wouldn't be too much trouble I could perhaps make one for him, too...is she kidding? DONE.
The Specs
Pattern: IAD Dulles hat, which in my mind is a. a very under-appreciated pattern and b. heretofore renamed the IUD hat.
Size: Children's small
Needles: Size 7 16 inch. See I wasn't kidding about the needle problem.
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in 'Bobby Blue', a little less than half a skein
Please note that this hat is actually supposed to be hippy/slouchy, but it looks like more of a skull cap on our sullen, ornery 12 year old model. I fear my days are numbered as a mother with willing knitwear models. Waa.
I just love this hat, and let's be honest: the yarn is a dream. Malabrigo is made for the small accessory, is it not? And the color, the color...
Bobby Blue might be my favorite of all the Malabrigo colors, which is funny, because I normally don't even like blue that much. While Vaa is the closest color to a mood ring I've ever seen in yarn, Frank Ochre is both flat-out weird and fantastic all at once, and Sealing Wax is quite possibly the most luscious shade of red on the books, for me, Bobby Blue is number one with a bullet.
This leads me to the gimmicky portion of today's post. I love to give away yarn to people that love yarn, and since recent detashing efforts have been unpleasant, shady and soured me on the cheap-assness of many folks, leave a little comment here if you wish & tell me which Malabrigo color makes your heart skip a beat. I'll choose a random pal to receive a skein of my favorite color, Bobby Blue. We'll shut the fun down on Tuesday at midnight. So tell me, which is your favorite shade of Malabrigo?
How could I not participate in an event so appealing as Vestvember? It has all the hallmarks of a perfect knitting scenario for me: a proscribed time-period (the entire month of November), a specific type of project (vest) a nutty name (Vestvember?), and finally the communal daisy chain aspect (hey we're all in this together). The time frame makes the whole endeavor seem time-sensitive which does tend to light a fire under me, and the fact that a vest had to be made makes it a knitting with constraints project, similar to the writing with constraints concept, which I find completely freeing, and I just love me a group project. So it had been written even before the Flickr & Ravelry groups came to be: Vestvember was ON.
I had set out to initially do the Honeycomb, but the finer gauge and the stitch pattern sank my battleship in no time flat. And the increasing/decreasing non-directions didn't help much either. Come on! We're paying you to be explicit in your directions, pattern writer. Oh wait it's Kntty, nevermind:) You know that feeling of futility that washes over you and lets you know that something is not to be? Welcome to the Honeycomb experience. NEXT! [I will add that given that I had to make an xl, I was dissuaded from this pattern, but I know all you size 0s in the crowd would make mincemeat out this lovely pattern.]
Luckily I had a back-up project in the offing and set about making it happen. Last year I bought some Ella Rae Classic to make Leslie's Libby sweater (wizard pattern from a love of a person) but Peeper-Lou's initial enthusiasm ("oh yes, please make it for me!") quickly turned to lukewarm wavering ("I might wear it to church") to downright refusal ("take me to Abercrombie so I can spend my gift card"). Yes, consumer death culture has our children in their grips and doesn't seem to be letting go any time soon. I am now left with the sad realization that the knitting for my own kids window has closed. Leslie: I love you , and my child is not worthy of your greatness. This meant that I had 4 skeins of yarn, i.e., the perfect vest amount.
The Specs:
Pattern: The Back-to-School U-Neck Vest by Stefanie Japel in Fitted Knits
Yarn: Ella Rae Classic, color #117, 3.25 skeins. The yarn is a perfect sub for Cascade 220, which is to say that it's nothing you are going to ohh and ahh about, but it will do you right.
Needles: Size 7
Mods: None! Not a one.
The pattern is a lot of fun and it has it all: ribbing, waffle stitch, hubba-hubba bust darts and a funky garter/stockinette edging. The u-neck is a fun, unexpected touch. The directions are among the clearest and easiest I've ever read. The book also has several other super enticing projects as well, so I highly recommend it.
This past week my parents have been visiting for the holiday, which has afforded me the opportunity to do a father/daughter vest photo shoot. Last Christmas I made him the Dr. G's Memory Vest, a pattern for which I have nothing but laudatory praise and high esteem. The money goes to the Alzheimer's Foundation. If you are looking for a special vest project, this deserves your attention. Madame Kapur is a raving made genius, as evidenced by her newest vest, which has me gasping for breath...
On the heels of all the super-sweet comments you guys made here and on Flickr about the Ingenue and how the color suited me, I got to thinking about my relationship to purple. If you were to ask me to name my favorite colors, I would most certainly say 'green', 'brown' and of course 'orange'. 'Purple' would never come to mind--in fact, I distinctly remember looking down at girls in elementary school that were in to purple--it seemed too easy. Yes, my judgmental nature and me go waaay back. In any case, it is therefore somewhat surprising to me that basically every project I have on the needles right now is purple. Huh? Let's take a stroll through crazy town the WIP/zzzz basket and examine the evidence, shall we?
Diminishing Rib Cardigan: Silky Malabrigo in Wisteria. I know I will come to regret making a sweater out of this pill-tastic yarn, but it's pretty, right?
Tea Leaves: Brooks Farm Mas Acero in some cryptic color. Genius call on the yarn if I do say so myself. Ok--my Twitterpeeps picked this out, aren' t they smart?
Seamless Hybrid: EZ Seamless Hybrid in Berrocco Inca Gold--have you seen this yarn? Such sheen-y beauty, almost seems like a shame to give this one away! But it's not going far, just one closet down from mine.
Central Park Hoodie: Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran--need I say more?
Back-To-School U-Neck vest: My Vestvember project in Ella Rae Classic 'Purple Heather'--how ridiculous can this get?
Sekret Test Knitting: Some Valley Colrain in Grape Jelly. This is top secret: I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.
Bella's Mittens: One down, one to go. This is Ella Rae Kamelsoft. Great pattern. Super soft yarn. Squee.
I guess the evidence is incontrovertible. I am a purple fiend. Perhaps growing up in the land of Darling Nikki and having my strongest sports affiliation be to the Minnesota Vikings might have something to do with it.
I think I might be taking a page of out of my Grandma Dot's playbook here: once on a visit to Florida in the late 70s I made the (foolish?) comment that I really like her Deviled Eggs. From then on out it was Deviled Eggs 24/7. They popped up at every holiday and social occasion imaginable. This of course caused me to despise them. Please don't let this happen to purple.
My Ravelry project notes tell me that I started this project back in August 08, worked on it in my usual undisciplined, distracted way and put it down sometime last January with the prescient comment that "...maybe I'll pick this up sometime next November". And wouldn't you know that naturally being a woman of my word and all I actually did just that, without even realizing it? Cue Twilight Zone music...
The Specs
Pattern: Ingenue from Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard
Yarn: Karabella Marble #35353, 9.75 skeins
Needles: Size 8
Mods: No waste shaping because well HELLO do I really need to go into all that AGAIN with you people? The neckline is a thing of beauty--love it to death. Blocking worked some serious miracles in this sweater & just kicked the whole thing into the zone of pure satisfaction.
In case you're wondering, yes I am aware that I look like a John Waters character in the above picture. I'm blaming the photographer and his unwillingness to take direction.
Babs and I are all about doing the pattern out of the yarn it's written for--I know that this might be some sort of puerile impulse, but occasionally it works out for us. And this is one of those times. Weirdly I happened to have 12 balls of Karabella Marble (a yarn that I could swear was discontinued briefly) in my stash and so cast on with great enthusiasm. Ah yes, that initial enthusiasm...if only we could bottle that and sell it. That I still had the yarn was very fortuitous as I had even tried to destash the yarn at one point, but luckily none of the ill-mannered cheapskates other detash folks wanted it.
Well, I'm about 23 years late to the whole ingenue/gamine party, but I suppose that since the sweater is the opposite of 'matronly', I'm still in the acceptable age range for wearing this--but only just barely. Can you tell that the photographer and I were having some marital issues during the photo shoot? He might have called me 'picky and demanding', and I might have called him a 'negative douche bag'...
I must say it feels good to dip into that 'zzzzz' pile and finish some projects that have been darkening my door and making me feel mentally ill. It's a good thing, too, because I seem to have stepped up my whole maniacally casting on for everything in sight routine--to the point that my 'only work on three projects at a time' policy is being put dangerously into question.
As you can see, we reached a tentative cease-fire by the end of our shoot, but I'm not expecting this to last...
The above-pictured bench is one that we see every Sunday on our ramble in a local state park & is brought to you courtesy of yesterday's lovely weather. Sometimes November can be glorious. Speaking of November Vestvember...have you cast on yet?
Considering that I am basically stockpiling Felted Tweed like it were some sort of nuclear weapon and I were the potentate of a rogue state, casting on with it for a Vestvember project seemed like a foregone conclusion. On my recently concluded overly-short 36 hour trip to Chicago I brought it and the Honeycomb pattern along as I was sure that it was meant to be. Somewhere over Toledo I realized that I had sent myself on a fool's errand: size xl on size 4 needles with two cable rows as well as lazy, nebulous increase directions and my all time most hated knitting directive ever ("...and at the same time"--yo I'm not alone with my dislike of this phrase here) were going to spell trouble. I flashed forward to many hours of bitter, knitting non-enjoyment and had the good sense to rip that mother out. Although it was for the best, I was disappointed as I had been SO looking forward to knitting with this yarn...and then I remembered the most exciting pattern to beat the band had just been released: Pickadilly, people. Pickadilly.
Once in my hotel room with my robobar cocktail and macadamia nuts (what, you don't automatically do that?) I made haste to cast on for Pam's frolicky cardigan. Resolved and pleased to once again feel that glorious yarn felt itself in my hands as I knit, I spent an evening of hotel knitting bliss. And I am here to tell you that I LOVE THIS PATTERN. I haven't been this excited to start something in a long time--I'm even planning on doing the crochet edging, and I am a suck ass crocheter!
Luckily Vestvember is still a go for me because I had the good sense to bring another project with me, one that had auto-pilot written all over it: the Back to School U-Neck vest. This is another exciting project--it's permitting me to use some Ella Rae Classic that I've had for ages. This yarn is Cascade 220's doppleganger as far as I'm concerned, and I'm loving it. One of the reasons that I'm enjoying this vest so much is that I am knitting it with the knowledge that I won't have to do sleeves for it, because sleeves are a knitting buzz kill. A sleeve is all that is standing between me and my little gamine Ingenue, and let's just say that things aren't looking good for either of us. Phooey.
When the opportunity to test knit the newest Through the Loops pattern presented itself a few weeks ago I absolutely jumped at the chance. My fantasy of what test knitting would be like involved knitters in Underwater Laboratories type settings, knitting away while wearing Clinque-counter lab coats checking off boxes on papers attached to clipboards.
This vision quickly then gave way to another one, no doubt shaped by my childhood in the Twin Cities, where every Brownie troop visited the Betty Crocker Test Kitchens. It was one of my first visions of domesticity, and I was fascinated by the women in aprons testing cake batter in different themed kitchens: the Polynesian one was a personal favorite and in my mind it is where Pineapple Upside-Down cake was invented. At the end of the home ec type tour, we each received small Easy-Bake Oven® cake mixes (sadly I didn't have an actual Easy Bake Oven because, you know, OH MY GOD that light bulb was dangerous) and a giant plastic red spoon--I'm sure gay men everywhere have made that thing a major Ebay collectible, despite the unfortunate plastic aspect...
You can see that the bar for test knitting was very, very high. And I was not disappointed! But not because the above-mentioned fantasies were fulfilled, but rather because the Miller's Hat is one kick ass mutha of a pattern. It has everything: totally rad herringbone stitch, cushy purls sts & best of all serpentine cables that rock so, so very hard.
The Specs:
Pattern: Miller's Hat by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Brown Sheep Shepherd's Shades in #784 'Rain'
Needles: size 5 and size 7 addi turbos
Mods: I only did one cable repeat as I was making this for my daughter. I also somewhat foolishly used a yarn that just edges toward being a bulky, on size 7 needles, so the hat a. is not as slouchy as I would have wanted and b. hurt like hell to knit. My mistake! My next one will be in Malabrigo on a size 8 which I’m sure will be slouchy perfection.
The herringbone stitch was a first for me and I must say that I am really pleased with how it turned out, although it did require that I put down the Twitter and the iPhone for 5 minutes and actually pay attention. And I'm so glad I did!
Now that this hat interlude is over, I am free to devote my attention to Vestvember. Are you ready?
