theknittyvritti

red hot winter

The extra day off feels like a second New Years Day, and here's the cake I brought over to a celebratory dinner yesterday. It was as good inside as out...if you're in Brooklyn, check out Betty Bakery where it was just hanging out on December 31 looking for a good time. My kitchen is out of commission, as it's being rehabbed, so I've been doing quite a bit of food crawling when I might otherwise be unadvisedly trying this at home myself.

Not cooking has also meant more knitting. I waited until yesterday to put the finishing touches on this Wintry Mix sweater, made out of Cascade 220. That way, I got a good head start on IntSweMoDo 2012, which I am currently determined to complete. In no way should that statement be taken as a resolution.  I don't make them anymore, they seem to go against the essential grain of life.

The sweater is cozy, comfy, was super-easy to knit, and it's perfect for a skirt I bought without a plan for what to top it off.

Turns out to be perfect. Operations Man thought it was all a bit preppy, not my look at all, and he's probably right, but once in a while it's nice to go out in camouflage. I have a feeling it may unsettle people at work too, everyone jokes in the summer that I'm no longer wearing black, and this much color will be unexpected in December.

I don't know, I'm feeling very excited for the coming year, and kind of in the mood for a red hot winter.

 

 

 

the reveal

It's hard to tell wnhat's going on in the garden until summer really gets under way, so every year there's a suspenseful month waiting to see if I've made any progress on getting it to look the way I imagine it might. This year I've made progress, no doubt, although somehoe I can't stop looking at that bare little corner up front and asking myself why I just haven't filled it in...maybe next week.
A bit like this sweater, Drops pattern 129-3 (free and totally worth it). While it didn't take a whole year to find out, I really had no idea whether I would like it, and luckily, I love it.

There was just so much suspense...the new shape....which now that I've got it, I'd like to have in as many colors and fabrics as I can make.

And the fabric...linen is such a mystery. How does it go from that scratchy stiff stuff to such drapy luxury in the time it takes for a wash and dry cycle? Magic.

Like those flowers, coming back year after year just because they want to. Happy summer everyone.

the shawl of invincibility

 
Here they are, the two things that got me through the recent health dramas.....the Paisley Long shawl, designed by Dorothy Siemens, and the dog.

I've been hoarding this incredible Sundara lace for a year now, obsessively trying to decide on the perfect pattern for it, and fending off Hightest's requests for me to give it to her on the grounds that it really is one of her colors. Well, she can have the 700 or so yards left on the second skein, but for now, this is my color.

 
This shawl is perfect front and back, a real heirloom project. And a potentially quick knit, if you are interested and just happen to be in the rare circumstances in which regular life comes to a grinding halt without a lot of demands being placed on you. Cranked it out in three weeks. I've never done that before, and I hope I never do again.

 
Here's a close up, it shows the color really well.

 
And finally, I was very motivated to have this turn out both wide and long, so I added a few motifs to the pattern. I got about 80 inches in length and 28 inches in width, for a generously sized shawl that wraps me in it's silky embrace and makes me feel like everything will be all right, always. Here's what I did:

 

i know, i know

It's been too long. Really too long.

Not without reasons...most of which have little to do with my knitting, and everything to do with those parts of life which don't fit so well with the blog.

I was amused and  caught up a bit short once when a reader commented.."love the blog, love the dog, love the lifestyle". I knew then that I had succeeded at leaving out just about everything in my life that was more challenging. In genereal, I made a decision early on to keep my daily challenges to myself. It's the shrink in me, I guess, who tries to only talk about personal things that are not too taxing for the listener. Except for challenging knitting, that is.

I am going to leave out some  challenging knitting with nothing to show for it; the three failed projects that have been my month of March. You missed nothing, I assure you. I, on the other hand, had to be there for every wasted stitch.

So....challenging knitting with a payoff!

 

The mediterranean lace shawl is finished.

 
It is unutterably beautiful.

 

I can't quite believe I made it. One cone and a smidge of another of exquisite cashmere/merino/silk cobweb yarn from Colourmart.

 

Every single stitch worth it.  I cannot describe what it feels like to wear it...a real cloak of invincibility in the face of life's challenges.

clever

 

No, not me, silly. My sweater. This one was a fast, fast knit in some Peruvia I bought on de-stash, again, never having touched or even seen the yarn in real life. I did not especially love the yarn but it redeemed itself by knitting up into this really fantastic sweater, I mean really fantastic.

What makes it so fantastic? Well, beyond the knitting experience, which was as easy as it gets, this sweater feels great on, and has a few design elements that are just genius. First, the shaped shoulder, which prevents it from looking like a sack, and second, the slightly high on the waist tie which brings the eye into the center of your body, which I suspect is rather flattering, perhaps on lots of people. Maybe you should try it?

 
Here's the back. Great also....good lines, easy fit, I am happy........

Vogue Winter 2010, #10. When Vogue gets it right, they get it right.

flipperlinty

 
 

Otherwise known as Nesselrode, by Norah Gaughan. This sweater is the first of my IntsweMoDo twelve, the yearlong stashdown challenge. And stashdown it did. I was able to use up my supply of Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed, a yarn I bought having never seen it in real life during my "why not" yarn buying days. A yarn that I do not really like, and a yarn that has been discontinued. Not sure why, but I have my theories.

I'm calling the sweater "Flipperlinty" to call attention to the two things that I don't really like about it.

 
First, the fact that I feel like the arms aren't really arms, more like flippers. They look ungainly, at least for a human, but I think they might actually be very convenient for a lot of things. Most of my oversize sweater have oversize sleeves to match, sleeves that get in the way when you're trying to actually get something done. Sleeves that fall into your soup, sleeves that constantly beg to be pushed up. Sleeves that barely fit into a coat. These sleeves will give me no such problems.

 I wish they were a little wider at the top, but I am not going to undo this sweater and correct these sleeves, as I might for something else.

Why?

 
This yarn has to be the most extreme lint-collector I've ever seen. It should have come with a warning label, "do not buy if you have animals in your home". I don't think I will ever have the patience to lint-brush it adequately for wearing outside of my house, so it is destined to become something I wear only at home. At least I will have complete freedom of movement when I wash the floors while wearing it.

Don't think I'm complaining.....I'm happy enough...it's really cozy, and it's done.

I'm going to see if I can extract a lesson from each of the sweaters I knit this year. Lesson #1 is clearly that I should not buy a sweater's worth of any yarn sight unseen. Check it out at one of the many LYS's near me, or buy one skein on Rav. Lesson learned.

 

 

 

she is learning patience

 

The dog turned two today. When we adopted her, we were warned about the terrible adolescence that she was going to have, the way she was going to test us and try to dominate us,  but my impression is that she quite likes being a good girl. After all, it does result in cookies.

 

While she is learning to wait, I am learning about the pleasures of instant gratification, something I have deprived myself of for too long. When I was in grad school, we studied a series of experiments that tested people's ability to defer gratification. Those who were able to turned out to achieve more. As you know, I have more than demonstrated my ability to defer the gratification of a new sweater by knitting something ridiculously complicated.

Turns out, though, that I quite like not waiting. This sweater took two weeks, has no seams, could knit itself in the dark...

 

The only arguably complicated aspect of it was the three buttonholes, but really, I think that's pushing it. This would be a great first sweater if you've been too afraid to try one. Although it may be a bit misleading about what is involved in sweater construction, since I've never seen anything quite like it.

 

There she is, the birthday girl....and to think I was afraid of her when I got her.......

finally

 

I really don't remember when I started this sweater on size .50 needles. All I know is that it has been a very, very long time, and I am giving thanks that it is done.

I'm grateful that this sweater fits, that I like it, and that I had enough yarn to finish it. I'd say I had about 50 yards left when I was done.

I'm grateful to Sally Melville for her design, complete with grafted on, buttoned cuffs.....

 
And ingeniously designed collar, which is folded over into double thickness and grafted on as well.

 
And I'm grateful that I have something to wear for Thanksgiving. 

By the way,  although I didn't notice it at the time, the blog had it's third birthday on November 4. I haven't really been much for soliciting comments, but I do know that someone is reading, because Typepad shows me so. Just this once, I'd like it if you said hi when you stopped by. Have a great holiday.

 

 

my muir

I found Muir very soon after I began knitting again, and put the pattern away until the right yarn appeared. And appear it did, in the form of Sundara Silky lace Green Olive Tapenade, an indescribably complex and beautiful color that looks at times green, at times gold, at times brown. No matter which color I think it is, it always delivers a huge visual rush.

I worried a bit (because there has to be a worry, doesn't there?) about having enough yarn to make a large enough shawl, but it turned out all right in the end. Although the silk did get quite a stretch....another worry as it is pulled past a point where I think the fibers will hold....scary but also exhilarating as I could tell that they would, in fact, survive my cruel ministrations. As they did, becoming in the process a beautiful browny-greeny-golden wrap that I can hardly wait to wear. It feels almost alive, like wearing a plant or maybe the skin of a lizard or something else organic, elastic, enchanted.

 

living dangerously

Here she is. Kitty from Louisa Harding Summer Classics. In Cascade Pima cotton, a simple white cotton yarn with a beautiful hand. The gauge is significantly different from the yarn called for, but the pattern is simple enough to allow  modification.

The back view:

It's very difficult to impress Operations Man, but he really likes this one. Even if he doesn't notice the tiny details that make it special, like these clever buttonholes (sorry, no buttons as yet, they are coming):

They are knit right into the button band, using a series of knit cast-ons that get incorporated into the cast-off.

The living dangerously part? Obvious. How long do you think a white sweater will stay white? Threats are everywhere.....food, coffee, dirt, pencil and pen stains, I've suffered them all, and doubtless this sweater will fall victim to one or more of them.

But for today, a beautiful pristine white sweater, beautiful white lilies, life is good.