Just when things were going swimmingly
Veste Everest, originally uploaded by jda127.
Isn’t this a lovely chunk of knitting? It’s the cabled back portion of Veste Evereste by Veronik Avery, knit in Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Thyme. The knitting seen here represents about two evenings of work and a skein of wool. It was also knit by someone suffering delusions of her actual girth.
I knit it according to the directions for the 34″ size, thinking that a wee bit of negative ease would be just peachy. But I knit it on size 6 needles, per the pattern which, of course, calls for a totally different yarn. Doh! So, this bad boy might have fit Greta some day but not yours truly, the knitter.
So I ripped it out and cast on for the 41″ size, thinking that positive ease is a good thing in a vest that may yet get worn over a shirt of some kind, and used size 6 needles for the ribbing at the bottom and size 8s for the body. Holy whacking huge, Batman. So I ripped that sucker out after 10 rows or so.
I’m now 5 rows into the cabled back of the Veste Evereste, using size 8 needles and the 34″ directions. With any luck, I’ll finish it by fall. Or the yarn will begin to protest and felt together in my hands after I rip it out the seventeenth time.
Harlot at the Tower
It is true, dear Harlot readers. I was in London (not for the IKnit event, alas) and on my free day roaming the streets, I went to the Tower Hill area to take in the first stage of the Tour of Britain. I found some lovely older English gents to talk to about cycling and American politics. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see a clearly recognizable figure: the Yarn Harlot! I interrupt my conversation to accost her. I actually said out loud: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and she swears she thought it was the voice of god talking. (She HAD just been to Westminster after all, perhaps the great spirit was paying attention to her?)
So, we took sock pictures and truly astonished those nice older British gentlemen. In all my fan-girl-ness I cannot tell you who won the stage.
It seems like the entire knitting blog world was in London this past week to see the Harlot and go to the IKnit event. I managed to see the Harlot and go to IKnit while missing the event entirely. Once you have sated yourself on Ysolde and cosmicpluto’s pictures of London, I shall return with some offerings of my own.
Oh–and I bought yarn at IKnit, too.
Um, oops
Another February Baby Sweater, originally uploaded by jda127.
Observe: very cute baby sweater. Pink cotton. Sleeves may or may not be wonky lengths. Generally, however, adorable. I began knitting this when we got a birth announcement from one of D’s cousins in the mail–she has had baby #2 and something must be knit for it.
So, yesterday, upon finishing said sweet something (still needs buttons), I went into the kitchen to look again at the birth announcement and realized SHE HAD A BABY BOY!!! Everyone I know has been having girls lately, so it didn’t even occur to me to read the announcement that closely. His name is Jackson. I’ll knit him something else. Sorry, little man.
Ravelry!
In my quest to slowly but surely turn this into a forum for knitting. . .
I just received my invitation to join the Beta testing group for an on-line knitting community called Ravelry. I assure you this sounds so much more geeky than it is. Ravelry is sort of like MySpace for people who knit, spin, and crochet, but it is also like a personal database for each of its users. This is SO COOL.
So, you set up a profile (which involves the dreaded user name. God do I HATE the user name. I never come up with a good one. I have the same problem with passwords, all user IDs. Hates hates hates.) and provide a little sketch of who you are and what your craft is. You have a notebook, in which you keep your projects (currently being worked on), and your queue (things you want to start), as well as your yarn stash (some people out there have A LOT of yarn), your needles or hooks, etc. The site is designed to be used with lots of images, cuz knitters want to see what other knitters have made, and for each of your projects you can drag and drop pics from your flickr account. They’re automatically linked–coooool. And then there are groups one can join (Ivory Tower Fiber Enthusiasts, anyone? or Dolores Devotees?) and friends to be made and kept track of. You can send messages, communicate via forums, etc.
So, apart from taking pictures of all the knitted things around my house and uploading them to Ravelry, I’ve begun a queue of things to knit. This is awesome, as I plan on using it in Netflix-esque fashion. I will simply buy the yarn and knit the next thing on my list, without getting distracted by some bright shiny thing to knit over there.
I’m trying socks again, after the disaster that was the pair I knit for Greta. (gauge issues meant the socks were two totally different sizes.) I’m trying them on 2 circular needles, which looks so magical and fancy. Wish me luck.
A Post With Pictures
I’m sure I promised at some point to never ever turn this into a knitting blog. Hah. Oh well. Knitting makes for pretty pictures.
Here, for example is a picture of some lacy fingerless mitts I am knitting for Donna.
The pattern, Delicato, is easy to follow and were it not for the fact that I am knitting with what amounts to alpaca floss, would be a breeze to knit. If I go blind by the time I reach 40, blame Donna and the mitts.
And here are the completed parts, waiting final assembly, of a ChildHood cardigan I’m knitting for the baby of friends. Baby Rose was born in February, so this will fit her through this winter and maybe the next. The yarn requirements were a wee bit off and I ran out of the contrast color near the end of sleeve #2. Baby won’t care, I’m sure. We’ll call it whimsy.
And, in order to garner sympathy for my next project, is a shot of the sock yarn with which I will knit a shrug for Greta. Note the NEON colors. She picked it out. Kenita, owner of the local yarn store, sympathized with me that Regia did not include ibuprofen with the yarn for treating the inevitable migraine.
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