Giselle

It's taken me awhile to post about this sweater for a couple of reasons. It didn't live up to my expectations as a finished object and therefore I was not satisfied with the pictures I was getting of it. These were the best ones after several attempts at photographing it.


Name of Project: Giselle by Marnie MacLean
Yarn: Tilli Tomas Plie and Tilli Tomas Voile de la Mer from Dreamweaveryarn.com
Needles: Size US 7 (4.5 mm) Knit Picks Interchangeables
Estimated Time to Complete Project: 2 months

A few things I would like to say about this pattern. I loved the thought of it. It looks so renaissance and drapey and beautiful. I was a little disappointed with the end product because of a few things.

The yarn called for in this pattern is silk. It had absolutely no structure when I took it off the blocking board. I had to reinforce the entire neckline and waist-join for it to not fall off of me. I slip stitched with a smaller crochet hook to reinforce. I wish I had thought to take a picture of the before.

I took the yarn into consideration when starting this project, and I made the small. I am not a small woman. I’m 38 inches give or take with a DD cup. I should not technically fit in a small. I know wrap sweaters are VERY forgiving in fit so it’s a little hard to gauge. I feel like the gauge should have been tighter for this yarn to hold shape and size better. The loose knit gauge just added to the unstructured nature of the yarn.

The other part that I had a hard time figuring out was how to tie it in the back without the side front gaping open. I searched and searched for a picture of the back that could show me how people had done it, but was unable to find a satisfactory fix. I ended up weaving the ties in and out of the crochet joins.

About the pictures of me - I’m wearing a corset under the sweater. It was the only thing that would hold the sweater up on my body.

In other news, my lace shawl is still progressing. I am loving working on it, but am having a hard time finding the time and places appropriate to work on it. I'm carrying the Queen of Beads socks around in my purse and am working down the foot towards the toe. They are very close to being finished. I was hoping I would get them done before the next shipment came, but no luck. Which is a shame, because I wanted to start these right when they came.

Rogue Roses by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Oh Yarn Harlot, how I love thee. This colorway is called Gertrude Skein.

I think I'm so lucky that I have so many cool projects to knit. It's a constant source of happiness and entertainment.

Not my first Vogue

I will be able to show up at Stitches West next week wearing a sweater that is in the current issue of Vogue Knitting!

Name of Project: #04 Raglan Jacket from Vogue Knitting, Winter O8/09
Yarn: 4 hanks of Lambs Pride Burlyspun
Needles: Size US 19 and US 17
Estimated Time to Complete Project: 5 days
Pattern Notes: After working the lace bottom part, I only increased one stitch for a total of 72 stitches. Then when I got to the armholes I increased two stitches on each front to give a little ease to the top.

Arms: Worked for 8”, increased, worked 6 rows, increased, worked 6 rows and increased (a total of 3 increases). Then I kept knitting until the sleeve measured 21”. I have long arms. Attaching the sleeves and to the body was easy and it was a piece of cake the rest of way.

After decreasing for the neck, I knitted a few rows of garter stitch so it would match my sleeve cuffs.

I'll be easy to spot at the airport, no one will be able to miss me in this thing!

I've got my outfits all planned, I just have to wait for Giselle...

My beautiful Giselle...

On the blocking board, daring me to remove the wires before it's completely dry, just to try it on once. But I won't. I'm feeling disciplined when it comes to this one. It just cost so much and took so much time, that I can't scrimp on the finishing.

I think I'm going to bring my Queen of Beads socks to knit on while on the plane, but am still kind of stuck as to what else I should bring. I want to have something kind of cool to work on, but not something that requires full attention. I still have to do my homework for my classes but that won't take long. Santa Clara is going to rock!

Rainy Day

My son came home from school today and asked me if I could get him some rain boots for tomorrow. It's actually raining enough to contemplate the need for rubber boots. I know it's not going to last though, so I told him not to worry about it. Seeing it rain and clean all of the trees and landscape has been wonderful today. The temperature has dropped enough that even my wool sweater is just not warm enough on its own. Cuddled up with my boys playing board games and eating warm things, that's what I call a good day!

Some of my Christmas things that I normally do aren't going as planned, but I did manage to finish the Wonderful Wallaby for Son #1. I've layed it out to block, but the cold temperatures have really hindered the drying process. This is the third day and I can still feel a little dampness when I hold it.


Name of Project: Wonderful Wallaby by Cottage Creations
Yarn: Wool Ease and Vanna's Choice
Needles: Size US 8 Knit Picks circulars
Estimated Time to Complete Project: 3 months, although it was really more of a side project and I'm sure it would go a lot faster if I worked on it continuously.
Pattern Notes: I really love how this sweater came out. I tried it on him before I put on the hood and it's going to fit him beautifully.

Since I had a handmade gift for Son #1, I wanted to make sure Son #2 didn't feel left out. He helped me pick out some yarn and I decided to try this pattern out of Cat Bordhi's book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters.

Name of Project: Marcelo's Seven-League Boots
Yarn: Socks That Rock Heavyweight and KnitPicks Sock Garden
Needles: Size US 3 Knit Picks circulars
Estimated Time to Complete Project: A few days

These socks are super cute and easy and my son is all excited about them. He keeps walking around with the one sock on because I haven't finished the other yet. His new nickname, "One Sock". It actually rolls of the tongue quite naturally. It's going to be hard to not just give them to him instead of keeping them for a Christmas present.

In other news, when I thought about not signing up for the 2009 Rockin Sock Club, it was before I saw this.

Do you see who the designers are? I think it's going to be a fabulous year and I just couldn't miss out. Of course when I lamented to my husband about it, he was more than willing to get it for me for Christmas. It really made my day when one of the packages came, and he used to put it someplace where I would see it, but wasn't necessarily obvious. Like on top of the window valance, or around the corner on the stairs. He knew it was special mail and that I would be excited when I saw it. It made it all the more fun. So there it is, I am an official Rockin' Sock club junkie. I can not resist the club and the happiness that it brings. I guess I could have worse addictions...Merry Christmas to me!

No Ballet for Me

My ballet top is finally done! I've been sitting on the sleeves for weeks. I was up to the point where you start increasing for the cap and just left it there until I could get a few minutes to figure out how long I needed the arms to be. I decided I just wanted to get it off my WIP list and sat down to finish it.

The pattern was from Patons and used Patons Lacette in Black. I used my Size 15 Knit Lite needles. The Knit Lites were particularly handy when working with this yarn because it helped me see the stitches better when they are lit up from the inside.

I'm not sure if I am ever really going to wear this. If it looked like the picture during normal wear, I would include it in my normal clothes rotation at least once a week. But...the cap sleeves did not quite fit in the armholes and so it has this weird place under the arms where it bags. And because the sleeves aren't quite right, the shoulders don't stay up where they're supposed to. When I put it on and arrange it the way it's supposed to be it looks good. Unfortunately when I started moving around it showed it's imperfections immediately. Oh well. It was a challenge to knit with the lace weight yarn on such big needles and I just don't think I want to try again.

I found a cute little video on You Tube featuring the Knit Lite Knitting needles. It can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld9WuvIfKAw.

On another interesting note, I joined the Six Sox Knitalong group on Yahoo. My Best B showed me the sock pattern that they are currently working on and I really wanted to try it. They make six socks a year so I've got to get knitting if I want to be a part of this current pattern. It is called Springtime in Paris and looks very cute. I just hope my sock knitting (or pattern-reading) skills are up to the challenge.

Spiraling out of control

Yesterday I had a little time to myself, so of course, headed to my local yarn shop. I had bought the Sahara pattern from Stitch Diva a couple of weeks ago but hadn't acquired the yarn for it yet. I had searched around for a little while on the internet perusing my options but have not had the guts to drop almost $200 on the Tilli Tomas yarn used in the sample. Yes, it was beautiful, georgeous and completely perfect the way it was made, I'm just not sure if my current skill level warrants that kind of spendage. I might have still bought it if any of the yarn stores I frequented carried it. They had a few of the skeins that I would have used for the trim, but not the Tilli Tomas Pure and Simple. And not in the dark blue I have decided to use for the sweater. I thought that I would see it, feel it, and maybe somehow, justify it to myself. It WAS my 3rd sweater, I kind of understand how it works now. But it didn't matter, because it wasn't available to fondle.

I knew that the nice lady at the yarn shop would be able to help me pick a substitution out that I would still feel good about. The pattern calls for Tilli Tomas Pure and Simple and Tilli Tomas Rock Star. The yarn is just magnificent but...see above. So I decided to go with Berroco Softwist in Midnight Blue and Trendsetter Yarns Sunshine in Blueberry Hill. I think it will still be the beautiful sweater I am envisioning.

I also have completed a little project from Leigh Radford's book Oneskein 30 Quick Projects to Knit and Crochet. I made the Spiral Rib Bag. It came out very cute but it was a little smaller than I wanted it to be. I could have just kept going and made it taller but I only had the one skein of yarn and wasn't sure how much yarn the bottom was going to use. You knit in the round with a 16" circular needle, then bind of the top, then complete the bottom. It was my first experience knitting with such a short circular and was a little uncomfortable at first, but after a little while it got easier. I would have rather used Dpns, but I'm always open to trying new techniques. And I have an enormous amount of needles inherited from my grandmother that I feel I should at least try.