Tag Archives: knitting

Fair Isle elves

Whale sweater progress

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Whale sweater progress

Whale sweater progress
ravelry page // pattern: Sweet and Seamless Sweater // yarn: LB fisherman’s wool & Knit Picks WotA 

One of the biggest lessons I learned when I started knitting bigger projects was that if I catch a mistake, even if it’s on row 3 and I’m all the way at row 57, I should always rip and fix it. Unless you can fix without ripping, of course. Some people can tell themselves that they love it for its imperfections, or that they won’t notice the error. I can’t do that; I always notice.

The thing with fair isle knitting is that even if you’re doing it totally right, it looks absolutely awful. The entire time I’ve worked on this sweater, I’ve had this ongoing argument with myself over whether or not I need to rip and start over. Maybe I’m pulling too hard. This part’s uneven. Why are these stitches leaning that way? It’s not even comforting to watch Youtube videos of the experts or to look at other people’s progress photos because I always seem to be able to convince myself that they’re knitting gods and I suck.

And yet inevitably I bind off, toss it in some warm water for a soak, and when it dries it’s lovely and even and I feel silly for ever doubting myself.

The moral of the story is that I need to photograph all my fair isle projects while they’re in progress so that when I start a new one, I can look back and see that the gorgeous sweater I finished and blocked used to look like crap too.

Or that wet yarn attracts small magical fair isle elves that unravel and re-knit the whole thing evenly whilst I sleep.

4 Comments knitting - - - - -

My weekend

It’s been a teensy bit busy around here but I’ve managed to squeeze in some fun stuff.

My roommates and I did Secret Santa a few nights ago and it was a great success! We had some infused vodka drinks and chocolate kisses and squeed over our new toys.

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My one roomie and I got each other as Secret Santas, and then the other two got each other as well, which worked out strangely nicely. I bought an octopus ring a while in an attempt to fulfill my dream of always wearing tons of rings (I have no idea why) and she remembered and bought my octopus an owl friend.


(Excuse the wrinkles, I clearly need to learn to moisturize..)

She also got me this adorable little guy to put my rings on. 🙂 There was also a flower ring that hadn’t come in the mail yet and I forgot to snap a photo of it. Whoops!

I couldn’t resist squeezing in at least one Christmas knit so I made her a pair of fancy mittens. Knitting beads in was surprisingly simple! (I used the dental floss method, which cracked my dental school boyfriend up.)

Andd then we went to see the Hobbitses, which pretty much means I sobbed into my sleeve for three hours. (I may have mentioned that I was the weird girl in high school who wore elf ears to school and Lord of the Rings is the reason I learned to sew.)

Tonight I will *hopefully* finish up my last paper and then in the wee hours of tomorrow morning (read: 4am) I will be traipsing bleary-eyed off to the airport to go home for a few weeks! Hopefully once I’m settled I’ll be able to start posting more regularly.

In other news, I’m usually great at packing light but right now I love all my clothes and I’m having such a hard time not packing everything! Someone please explain to me why eight dresses and six pairs of shoes is overkill for a two week trip.

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Insta-update

   

1. This is my favorite breakfast in the world. I’m by no means a morning person but ever since I discovered this stuff I’m up at 9am every morning out of sheer excitement. I’m not exaggerating. I use Country Choice Organic Steel Cut Oats, half a cup of the huge Costco bag of frozen mixed berries, half a cup of unsweetened almond milk, and half a cup of water. Sheer heaven, I tell you.

2. Remember like ten years ago when I announced I was making bunny slippers? Well, felting one slipper was apparently too traumatizing and the project has been sitting in a box gathering dust until last week when I went to the store (which is exactly 0.75 blocks away from my house, I might add) and picked up a pair of gloves. And now I have a complete set! How adorbs are they??

3. Remember like fifteen years ago when I decided to make a sweater (nearly) from scratch with my own handspun yarn? Well I randomly got on a spinning kick two weeks ago and made a ton of yarn..

4. ..anddd started knitting a sweater from it! The pattern is this one by Pickles and hilariously calls for a yarn called Thick and Thin, which I find funny because I’m so bad at spinning that my yarn comes out that way by default.

It’s been a good day. I had two papers/projects that I needed to get done by today and while I was skeptical that they would get done, I was somehow sucked into a magical tunnel of productivity and finished both before 4pm.

Crossing my fingers I’ll have time for a sewing sesh this weekend, I’m getting antsy!

<3

2 Comments life - - - - -

Kittens

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Last week I was oggling some Kim Hargreaves patterns and decided that I needed to own a mohair sweater. One of those lofty ones that look like clouds.

So I went looking at yarns and decided that as much as I enjoyed the idea of buying a ton of Rowan Kidsilk Haze, my sad and abused bank account should probably not be subjected to that right now. But then I found some mohair yarn on ebay and all was well. Considering it’s 50% synthetic, it’s fairly soft. If the Rowan were knitting with kittens, this would be like knitting with a feral cat. Whose owner decided to dye its fur once or twice for fun.

Yes.

Anyway, so far the front and back are done, and I’m slightly stuck on the sleeves. I also can’t decide whether I like it with the stockinette facing out or inside out better. Hmm.

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Finished Project: Georgia

Georgia

Pattern: Georgia by Jane Richmond
Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll sock in Basalt Heather
Started: August 15, 2011
Finished: January 29, 2012

Ravelry page

There is some sort of fairy magic conspiracy associated with stockinette stitch.

When I first started this sweater I knitted half of it in three days. And then it dragged on and on and on. And then there was some frogging. And then I was all done except for the sleeves. And then three months went by where I could hardly seem to put a dent in it.

And then I picked it up two weeks ago and finished it in two days.

Fairy magic, I tell you.

Georgia

(Sorry for blurry, camera phone..)

This sweater took me two tries. I think the first time I started off knitting a size 36 which was waaay too big. It’s possible my gauge was wonky. When I started over I knitted a size 32 until the sleeve separation and then starting knitting a size 28 for the rest. I also added a few inches to the body.

Georgia

And now I have to decide what color to make the next one in.. Maybe a ballerina pink? Or bright red? or green? (Knit ALL the colors!)

PS Happy Valentine’s Day!

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