Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Obsessed

I really hope I am able to get November's Burda WOF magazine. I am obsessed with this dress. I really must have it! Sigh!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

New IK is up!

And you can find it right here.

What do I think about this issue? I know you won't rest until you know MY opinions. ;-)

It looks pretty darn good to me! I do miss the redhead, though. But I adore the Bettie Paige looking model. Here are the patterns I liked best, along with the ones I may knit (no, they're not always the same thing).

Alicia Tabard (why no bonus photos for this?) - I love it! It makes me think "knitter's Miss America" what with the diagonal cable and all, hehe. I think it's very cute, but I doubt I'll knit it.

Henley Perfected - I think this is my favorite pattern in the issue. I love the lace! I will be tempted to knit it. But I really think the model's expression sucks. She does not look like she is happy wearing that super cute sweater! Maybe she realizes the color isn't the best for her. ;-)

Sweater Girl Pullover - Who won't like this one? It's so classic. I'm betting this one will be popular.

Colette Pullover - Really cute design, and I can't decide if the pattern is Transformers or kitties... but either way, awesome! This looks pretty Anthropologie-esque to me.

Celtic Tote - I love this! A must-knit for me!

Ivy League Vest - I always love Eunny's designs. I love this vest! It's so cute and timeless.

El Sol Pullover - I really love the neckline of this pullover.

Farrow Rib Cardigan - I love the texture on this cardi! A really cute design, too.

Gathered Pullover - Love it! This is a must knit if I see that it looks nice on busty girls (I'm worried about the cables being RIGHT THERE, ya know?). There's that disgruntled model again.

Rosemary's Swing Jacket - I adore this... I really, really wish I had the type of figure that could pull it off. It is so, so cute.

All in all, a great issue!

Btw, things are still going well with Serrano. I've got about 1.5" left to knit before I get to the armhole shaping, I think. That's really good, considering that it's knit in one piece thus far.

Also, I got some samples from Artfibers to swatch. I got some Sylph and some Andromeda. I knit up the Andromeda, and oh my, is this yarn wonderfully soft! And so, so beautifully drapey! GIMME! :-D

Also, it was so cold today! I wore Gretel out, and got a nice compliment. That was cool, and the hat is nice and warm. Yay!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Thinkin' about new projects

So, of course I have a million wips, but as always, I am thinking about new projects.

One thing I really want is a Twinkle Shopping Tunic, except in fine (fingering or sport at the most) gauge bamboo or some other fine yarn with equal drape. I have no idea how to go about doing that, but I think it would look nice. Nicer, for my body type, than a chunky wool yarn, and a fine gauge bamboo would be a million times more wearable in this climate than chunky wool. Anyone know of a pattern similar to this? I imagine the change in gauge would be far too drastic for the Twinkle pattern to work.

I'm also still thinking about a Tilted Duster, and since the yarn I'm considering for it is at home, I will only think about it till Dec. :-)

I want an Estella, and but for lack of yarn and money for yarn, would be knitting it now.

I also want a Peasant Cap (warning: PDF!), but have the same hindrance as for Estella.

And of course, the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, for which I do have yarn, but am one ball short, sadly (if anyone wants to get rid of a ball of Rowan Felted Tweed in cocoa, lemme know). I really wanted to knit it in rage, but it's pretty lucky that I have even the cocoa color. My LYS never had the rage to begin with, had only the cocoa left, and I got it before the TYC pattern was released (the reason for my being 1 ball short).

I think before I get to the TYC, if I can, I will be attemping to knit Venezia by Eunny Jang. I saw a couple of modifications that make me even more in love with this sweater, and all I want is to get everything out of the way and work on it. I'm going to do it in only 2 colors (dark gray + light pink? dark brown + light pink?) and make it with a v-neck instead of a boat neck. The original is lovely, but as I've never done much fair isle, I don't know about managing so many colors, and a v-neck will look better on me, I'm hoping.

Oh, and I want to make that braided scarf that's on the cover of a VK.

Ok, there are a lot more, but those are the main ones.

Regarding Serrano (I know y'all are dying to hear how it's coming along):

I think this sweater is re-teaching me project monogamy. I've been working only on this sweater, and it is going by so much more quickly than I expected because of it! I have hardly even had knitting time, so I haven't gotten much farther than my last update; actually I'm now on the waist increases. But still, thinking on how slowly it normally takes me to finish a sweater, I'm doing very well. :-) Still having a bit of trouble with the whole shaping and keeping the lace pattern looking neat thing, but again, hopefully it won't be obvious to anyone but me. That's all I'm going for here. A sweater that fits well and doesn't look like someone who doesn't know what the heck they're doing made it (although that's pretty much the case - when it comes to lace, I don't really know what I'm doing, even with a stitch pattern as easy as this). I'm surprised at my ability to work on this so devotedly. The pattern is beautiful, but while KP Palette is a nice "workhorse" yarn, it is not very soft, so there's no "OMG I LOVE WORKING WITH THIS YARN OMG!!" like I get with Malabrigo, Swish Superwash, or the Merino Cable I'm using for Rapunzel. And it's black, so there's no "OoOoOo... purdy colorz! Me likey!" that I get with particularly lovely/exciting colorways. And the gauge is small, so there's no "OMG I can't believe I am almost done already!" feeling. But I am still really enjoying this knit. And that is saying something about this pattern!

Oh yeah, also! I have really warmed up to the Gretel hat I knit, and now I am starting to like the way it looks on me! This is great! I think I just needed to get used to the look of a slouchy hat. I had this same reaction to the 2 slouchy hats I knit before (the Pithy hats). I never really gave them a chance, and left them at my mom's, thinking I'd never wear them. Now I wish I had them here, so I could see whether I'd like them as well! When I go home at Christmas, I am going to find out. So thanks, y'all, for the compliments on Gretel. I think y'all are the ones who changed my mind on that matter.

Last thing (I think!): When perusing Louisa Harding books online (love her designs!), I saw this one picture and I really like the model they chose for it. She is really gorgeous, but she doesn't look like a model (imho, and a good thing - I feel some times like modern "model" beauty is the only kind we really appreciate now, seeing this girl as a model reminds me that we don't only appreciate that kind of beauty - although she is very lovely, but maybe you'll get what I mean).

Monday, October 15, 2007

A Ransom Note

From Flickr:

Hey knittin_bayou! About your photos...

You've run into one of the limits of a free account. Your free account will only display the most recent 200 photos you've uploaded. All of your photos beyond 200 will remain hidden from view until you either delete newer photos, or upgrade to a Pro account.

None of your photos have been deleted, and if you upgrade, they'll all come back unharmed.


Doesn't this sound kinda like a ransom note? ;-) So does this mean now that my older pictures can't be seen, even if they are linked?

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Serrano progress

Yeap, I started Serrano, as all my projects were really discouraging me to the point of frustration. Unfortunately, that trend is continuing somewhat into this project as well. I'm past the waist shaping, and have 3 problems. One was with the waist shaping - keeping the pattern while doing the shaping was very hard, and I am not sure I accomplished it too well. It's knit all in one piece, so you have to interrupt the shaping in order to do the decreases, and as I am not a lace knitter, I don't really know how to do this too well. So let's hope it looks ok. Before that, there was even another problem. Very early in the pattern, I apparently accidentally put in some random yarn overs in places they don't belong, and didn't notice it until now. So... yeah. Third problem. One front side of my Serrano has the lace edging extending to the front bands. The other side... not so much. I didn't have room for a final repeat, so there are several stitches between the lace pattern and my front bands. I hope the asymmetry of the lace on the fronts doesn't end up looking poorly. None of this is the fault of the pattern, I'm sure. I've seen lots of lovely Serranos on Ravelry, and no knitters who complained of any pattern problems. So please don't think I am criticizing the pattern! I am certainly not the world's best knitter. In fact, I'd say I'm a pretty poor knitter, as is evidenced by my lack of flawlessly executed FOs. I'm knitting this in black Palette from KnitPicks. It is strange... none of the other colors of Palette I have are scratchy in the least, but this one is rather scratchy and is definitely going to need some conditioner or something. Serrano is going surprisingly quickly for a cardigan with a lace pattern, knit in fingering weight yarn.

Sooo... something else is on my mind. I read a lot of people talking about how they are "process knitters." I'm not sure I understand the idea of this. Process knitter as opposed to... what? I don't want to offend anyone, and maybe I'm mistaking the idea of the terminology, but to me "process knitter" sounds a bit redundant (not sure that's the word I want, but it'll do for now). Why would one knit, if she or he didn't enjoy the knitting process? I mean, have you ever heard anyone say "I hate everything about knitting and it really bores me, but I'm going to knit this sweater"? Or scarf. Or hat. Or whatever. Even if you love gorgeous hand knits, you're not going to stick with knitting if you don't enjoy doing it. I've known plenty of people who were entranced by the idea of being able to knit their own items, and then turned off by the actual knitting of said items. If you don't enjoy knitting, you're not going to want to put hours and hours into a project, no matter how much you want that sweater or hat. If you're knitting, I think it's pretty automatically understood that you must enjoy the process of it, or you wouldn't do it. Am I wrong? :-)

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Finished Object: Gretel

I finished Gretel! Thank goodness, for I needed a finished object. I'm not sure how happy I am with it - the yarn (Malabrigo) couldn't be nicer, the pattern is so well written, and the hat itself is lovely... but I am still unsure of how wearable it is for me. I made the slouchy version, and I'm afraid that it may be TOO slouchy.

These pictures were taken on my camera phone, and seriously suck. Hopefully, better photos to come, when I get batteries for my digital cam and after the hat has finished blocking.




Now I've been struck by the desire to finish the long forgotten Sideways Spencer, but I've lost my place! I have no idea what to do there now and hope I don't have to do anything drastic, like start over. Ugh. I really want to finish one of my sweaters now!

Monday, October 01, 2007

Update

Sorry, once again, I've been a bad blogger. I've just been so disappointed in everything that it is hard to even talk about projects.

Right now, I'm working on Gretel, and I've picked up the Ella Scarf again, after deciding the darn thing needs to be finished. Gretel I started because I really need a FO now. I'm pretty far along on that. For Ella, I made a deal. I've been trying to get at least 3 medallions done in a week. If I do that, then I'll have it done in a couple of weeks. Of course, nothing is limiting me to 3 medallions, so I could finish sooner.

I worked exclusively on Josephine this weekend, though I didn't get much done as most of the weekend was spent working, preparing for fishing, and then out on the marshes actually fishing. I did not catch anything weird this time, but I did catch two really big redfish, which was awesome. I love to catch redfish because anyone who thinks that fishing is easy in any way has never dealt with a redfish. Anyway, it was a great time.

I've kinda given up sewing right now. I don't know why except that nothing seems to work as I'd like it to, so I haven't felt like messing with it. I figure I'll just ruin more fabric that I really like and paid good money for. So I am in the sewing dumps... let's hope I can get out of that soon.

I've been stalking the Tilted Duster. Please, someone, tell me how unflattering it is going to be on me before I end up trying it and being heartily disappointed. I know there is no way it could look good on me, but it's such a gorgeous design! I thought maybe adding some room in the bust would make the whole thing lie flatter and closer against me, but I would have no idea how to do that. The concept of short row darts continues to elude me.

I need to go to class now.