Fashionista

I got an email today from a friend saying how fashionable we are. Her justification? A link to a $1400.00 sweater.

No kidding - they really are asking $1400.00 for the sweater. And $1400.00 for the skirt, $55.00 socks and $495.00 for the shoes. That's $3350.00 for the outfit, not including tax or any undies. I'm sure they're extra - they're called foundation garments. I call 'em skivies.

I also don't pay out the nose for them.

A sweater like that takes some time, but having the self-satisfaction of making it yourself is priceless. And the SOCKS! $55.00! Are you out of your mind?!

We've been making things like that for a while. Recipients of our handmade items have politely said thank you and then stuffed the item in a drawer somewhere, never to see the light of day again.

I don't know ANYONE who buys clothes at that price. But if you do, send them my way - I can cut them a great deal on a handmade sweater or pair of socks. ;)

Malabrigo

It's 104 out today and what am I doing? Playing with some Malabrigo, of course!

The new 1st Fall Issue of Knitty is out and I wanted to play with a couple of patterns in it. The first one is Purliue and the other is Lamia - both of which would make excellent Christmas gifts. (OK, Christmas? I know, it's JULY. And hot. Really hot. And working with 100% heavy worsted weight wool is not going to help any with the heat. So why now? I'm starting now to see if I can make things up in time for Christmas. Don't want to wait until the last minute like I always do and not get anything done. Gonna try, anyway - we'll see how it ends up.)

I really do like working with the Malabrigo. It's soooo soft.

Hat Score Update

Well, the Beaumont hat & I have come to terms. It won't hide the pretty colors if I don't knit too tight.

I'm knitting with no stranding technique, just letting the non-used color float in back. It's really helped the colors to "pop" out. It's hard to let myself knit so loosely - I feel like it's going to be full of holes, but when I look at the hat (in progress) it looks fine. I just gotta let go of my tension...

Pictures to come later. Got a new PC and have to install the camera software, but I have to find afore mentioned software first. There's always something, isn't there? :)

PTBL

Ok, one more thing: go check out http://www.ravelry.com/twir/77/ask-a-knitter-20. How many of you know how to do a ptbl? Great video demo of this.

I Just Need to Go Knit

It's Friday night once again and I tell ya, I have been really stressed out this week at work. The whole drive home I was thinking, while clenching my jaw and doing the death grip hold thing on the steering wheel, "I just need to go knit for a while & calm down".

So I got home and did some knitting.

Know what? It worked. Just like magic. I could feel the stress flowing out of my body.

I love knitting. It's cheaper than therapy, nobody gets hurt, and I don't go to jail. How did I ever cope before I started knitting?

Going back to the needles now....

Beaumont - Part 1

I got going on the Beaumont hat and knit up about maybe 3 inches of the colorwork pattern and realized that the colors were just not popping. The colors pop in the picture - so why not in mine?

After consulting with some friends at lunch today (yes, I have a knitting group at work - I know, a sure sign of sickness) I was told by the Colorwork Goddess, Carole, that the problem was:

1. my tension was waaaaay too tight, and


2. I was doing stranded knitting, which is not needed in a hat ('cause it's not going to catch on anything like a mitten or something like that would). Also, since I'm using a Navy blue and white combo, the whole light/dark color thing - twisted stranded knitting does not help with this.

Carole was also good enough to send me a very useful link from Knitty on Color Stranding, which I though was way cool. Thank you, Carole!

So now I've ripped out the work so far - score is currently Hat: 1 and Jen: 0. But it's only the first quarter. More news to come as it happens.

June Updates

June has gone by so fast! We've had another child graduate high school and had lots of family visits & traveling to visit other family out of the area, so I haven't had too much time to post.

I picked up some yummy Alchemy Haiku yarn (color is "Fern" - slightly variegated deep greens) as a memento of our visit to Ft Bragg and then got the Cascading Leaves Stole pattern to knit it up with. Even thought I think the designer meant it to be more of leaves, that pattern reminded me of the ocean and seaweed and other swirly water-type things. Not sure how long this will take to knit up - it's more of a challenging pattern than I've done before. The lace is knit up on both sides, not just knit or purled on the back. Yikes!

The other project I'm currently working on is Jared Flood's Beaumont hat. The pattern is pretty and the yarn is scrumptious (yes, I got the Classic Elite Fresco yarn that the pattern recommended and it feels incredible to work with), but so far my hat isn't looking as good as the picture. Maybe my tension is off? Stay tuned for more later.