Good-Looking Surprise

Just when I think I know what I want to make in the near-ish future, I come across something like this.

I have got to get hold of a copy of Fitted Knits.

Think Of The Future

I am swamped in a sudden avalanche of midterms (so much so that it's got me mixing metaphors), and so not much knitting is going on lately. At the moment I'm dreaming of Wednesday afternoon, when everything will be turned in and I can sleep the sleep of the accomplished. However, there is a certain finished object blocking in my dorm room as we speak (pictures and post coming soon). Until then, I leave you with a picture of what I look like in my fantasy world (as opposed to real life, in which I am disheveled, sleepless, and full of coffee from the cafeteria that is so strong I swear they must be brewing it with cocaine or something). Ah, to be graceful.

Making Eyes

Earlier this week I began to contemplate summer projects. As some of you know, summer is the time when I like to let loose and make something really complicated, with lots of cables. I like to choose a project that I wouldn't usually have time for, what with school and all. And besides, what's the fun of summer vacation if my hands aren't full of heavy wool? Still, as I've been bopping around the internet lately I haven't seen anything of that ilk that has made me say wowEEE!

And then it hit me. If I choose simpler projects, I'll have time to make two new things to wear in my last semester of college/first months of Real Life. And so I hereby announce Claudia's Prelimiary Summer Picks:

(1) The Union Square Market Pullover. Eunny Jang, my knitting hero, has one in her archives with the clever and sleekifying modification of narrowing the bell sleeve, which I really like. And that neckline is just too cool. Maybe in a deep purple or chocolatey brown...

(2) Simply Marilyn. (I am so about Interweave right now.) I"m picturing it in Lamb's Pride Bulky in Charcoal Heather, because an oversized dark-grey sweater would be eminantly wearable. And this way I would still get my cabling fix. And then of course there are socks to make, Anemois to fair-isle, projects to plan, dreams to dream.

Questions? Ideas? Comments?

Scholastic Interlude

I have so beaten the system.

The great thing about a fiction project is that working on it is mostly fun. Unlike most of my peers, I don't have to wrangle any 'real facts' or 'true answers', nor do I have to keep a scrupulous bibliography. At the end of a paragraph I know that the next block of text can consist of whatever I damn well please, at least within far less confining strictures than most other senior projects.

As such, I have found in my project not only a chance to grow and develop as a writer while earning my degree, but also a great way to put off far less enticing work. Yes, I should probably be working on my paper, but technically I am working. I'm not really procrastinating, in fact I'm making progress.

Insult To Injury

Although I never sympathized with Cinderella's wicked stepsisters, I always wondered why wickedness was so directly linked to having big feet. I had no idea at the time that I would grow up into a pair of size 11's. Still, I was reminded of that early confusion yesterday, when I attempted to try on my first Jaywalker.

Aaaah! Nooo! It won't go on my foot! Thank goodness I hadn't gotten beyond the heel, so I only had one week's worth of knitting to frog. I like to try the sock on after turning the heel because it's so very satisfying to feel my own heel lock into place, cradled by perfect short-rows. Plus, variegation made for the best heel.

Anyway, I ripped it out and started over, this time making the bigger size. It turns out that my gauge is tighter than that of the pattern, and that that, like, matters. I don't mind frogging when it will make for a better finished product (in fact I start most projects at least twice), but frogging because of my own stupid mistake makes me crazy. At least I have a seminar this afternoon, the perfect chance to make up for lost time.

Oh, Fortune

How you mock me.

Look at the wonderful progress:

Yes, it is just a taste. Anyway, I got the yoke done over the weekend and now all that's left to do is sew up a bunch of seams (including reinforcing the raglan shaping, which is a little laddery) and work the edging for the collar. I'm going to do an echo of the 3x2 rib that I used on the hem and sleeves, with some white stripes. It'll be about 10 rows deep, crossed over at the front and... oh dear. Look how much yarn I have left:

I know it's hard to see how little there is in the photograph, but suffice it to say that there is simply not enough. It's completely irritating; that sweater could be blocking right now if it weren't for the stupid yarn. But that's okay. ever one to make a good situation out of a bad one, I used the fact that I was already paying for shipping to justify some needles and the yarn for Clessidra. At least for that project I will be prepared.

Questions, Questions

So as many of you know, my good friend Liz is graduating in May, only a few days after her birthday, and I want to make something for her as a graduation/birthday gift. Although I had thought about making her some arrr-gyles, I started to think that maybe she would like something else better. Something a little more luxurious. Something kind of grown-up and fancy that she can wear when she's working in galleries an such. So I've narrowed it down to two options, upon which I need your input.

The first option is a mini-Claoptis done in Shepherd Worsted in the Irving Park colorway. I would make the scarf half as wide as the pattern calls for, but keep the length. I frankly do not have time to make a full-sized Clapotis - the rows are 107 stitches long, for heaven's sake. But half-size would go fairly quickly, and it's fun to drop stitches on purpose, it really is.

The other option is a little more uncertain, but still is the one I'm leaning toward. It involves getting a skein of Regal Silk in colorway 114 and making a triangular garter-stitch scarf. Or, with a little budget-stretching, I could get two skeins and do a parallelogram (or a bigger triangle. Or a shorter mini-Clapotis. Hmmm...). What excites me about this option is the idea of working with pure silk, and the fact that I know Liz would love both the fiber content and colorway.

I honestly don't know what to choose. What do you guys think? I'm completely torn.

They're Everywhere

It seems that everywhere I look these days beautiful sock yarns and patterns are coming out of the woodwork. First, there's Cookie A, whose patterns are making me drool. German Stocking, Rhionnan, Twisted Flowers, they're all so beautiful. Then there's The Loopy Ewe, selling the most beautiful variegated sock yarns ever. Not to mention the most gorgeous sock yarn in the world at Kpixie. And then there's this great tutorial on dying your own self-striping yarn that makes me want to bust out the Kool-aid right now and make something blue and green and red and orange. Something you can see from space.

In other news, I've finally begun the yoke of my bird sweater. I know, you thought I'd forgotten about it, but not so. The short version is that sleeves require fortitude and great strength of character, especially when they're knit flat in a plain rib from the cuff upward. *yawn* I like working on sweater yokes; who doesn't love a home stretch? I'm hoping I can finish it before the snow melts so that I can take pictures of it in a wintry forest (for the future pattern). And then the much-anticipated $1.50 Cardigan. I'm really loking forward to that project - finally a sweater without vast plains of plain stockinette to be trekked over. Lace, cables, a pretty color in a nice yarn... I can't wait.

Beyond My Control

Something weird happened on Tuesday morning, after I'd written the last post. I happened across Jaywalker, and I looked at my partially-cuffed sock, and then I looked at Jaywalker, and I looked at my sock, Jaywalker, sock, and before I knew what I was doing, this happened:

At least it made a pretty yarn-noodle. Anyway, I started over and by yesterday morning I had this:

It grew some more yesterday, but the light is terrible right now so I can't take a picture. I think this pattern makes the yarn look much, much better than the previous incarnation. Also the brioche stitch was a little loose, and this is a nice, dense fabric. All in all, highly satisfying.

And now I must go because my computer is running very slowly and it's making me insane!

It's The Little Differences

Finally, my first pair of socks is complete!

It's true that there are certain ...shall we say... asymmetries, but still, they're done, and that makes me happy. And the intended recipient is a non-knitter who will (probably) never know. My one major complaint was that the yarn split more easily than a summer camp friendship, but it has the virtue of being machine washable, which puts me in a forgiving mood.

Tonight in class I started my first Roza Sock. Really what I'm doing with these is borrowing the stitch pattern and applying it to the sock pattern in Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. The brioche stitch pattern doesn't show up quite as well as I would have hoped, but I'm still really enjoying doing it.

The effect in the end is that of a slightly fancied-up ribbing. Highly enjoyable. And the yarn is great to knit with - nice and springy, with colors changing often enough to keep my interest going. I don't know how well it shows up on the screen, but the colorway is super-vibrant. Yum.

Other than that, I just returned from a super-excellent weekend in New York with Boyfriend. We were very busy the whole time, mostly with going to see long movies that had nothing to do with each other. We saw Zodiac, which gets points simply for being a movie set in San Francisco in 1969 without being set in San Francisco Land! (TM) Way to dodge a bullet there (so to speak). Also I love watching Robert Downey Jr. do his thing. The movie took a definite downturn once he was no longer in it. I was also able to finally see Into Great Silence, which I havebeen looking forward to for a while. It was absolutely beautiful. The film produced a lot of yawns, but was just gorgeous nonetheless. After 2.5 hours with monks who engaged in a total of maybe ten minutes of dialogue, it was a very strange feeling to re-emerge into New York at night. Also, can you think of a greater treat than seeing a group of largely solitary monks with the most ascetic lifestyle of any Catholic order cut loose and go sledding?

I didn't think so.

Precious...

About a week ago I splurged a little and ordered myself some sock yarn from Knitpicks (because I officially can't get enough of sock making). Today I went to check my mail, and there it was.

First, some machine washable Essential Tweed, destined to become Monkey. I love the texture of those socks, but I am of the belief that one must choose between texture and color as the focus for a project. I can deal with subtle variation, but I would not want to knit something with tons of texture in a yarn that won't let it show (variegated).

Behind door number two, some Memories in the Morning Glory colorway, which will become a variation on Roza's Socks (scroll down). I like this pattern a lot, but it will need some adjusting for my gauge. This time it'll be subtle texture, lots of color. I think I'm actually going to do these ones first, because the merino is so nice to be around, and I just love knitting with a variegated yarn.

And, of course, there is a new issue of Knitty that must be reveled in. As usual when the new one comes out, I immediately looked at the patterns and fell upon one in a Gollum-esque frenzy. Tucked in at the very bottom... Clessidra. We wants it, we wants to knit it so very, very much. We are thinking we needs a luxurious yarn like Gloss in Cocoa that will look good with all our shoes. *sigh* We already loves them so.

ARRR!

And now it turns out that Liz loves argyle. And skulls. And here I've been wondering what to give her for graduation.

Score one for Captain Luck.

Argyle On The Brain

Okay, I'm really starting to have an argyle fixation. It's just that it's all coming together so perfectly. First of all, Knitpicks makes a sock yarn in a billion colors, the colorcard for which happens to be arriving by mail sometime this week as part of a previous order. Then I discover that the inexhaustible Moth Heaven contains both an argyle sock chart and an argyle sock tutorial. What's a girl to do?

I have to make them. They're just... so... simple...

First Sock Done!

I finished my first sock yesterday!

It was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to starting the other one tomorrow. I grafted the toe, which didn't come out exactly to my liking; perhaps I'll try a three-needle bind-off for the second sock.

For the cuff edging I cast on all the stitches onto two needles held together, then removed one and worked the first row like this: k1tbl, bring yarn to front and sl1 purlwise. After the first row I divided the stitches onto four needles and started the ribbing. Generally, a successful first sock.

Also, I found this great skull-gyle (or is the correct term arr-gyle) chart on Moth Heaven. I think it would be really cute across the front of a sweater, or maybe down a sleeve. I've been seeing a lot of cool-looking argyle charts lately. They're starting to give me ideas.

PS - Thanks to everyone for the comments! I love getting commented on - it makes me feel special.

PPS - Check out the lovely new Weather Flapper, keeping my faraway readers updated on exterior conditions. Any suggestions for a flapper name (besides Zelda)?