Weather-induced insanity

Normally I'm not a big complainer when it comes to weather as I figure there's nothing I can do about it anyway, except dress appropriately. But I'm really glad the Bay Area is having a short respite, because my online shopping has gone overboard. See, normally I don't enjoy shopping, going downtown is always accompanied by pangs of anxiety due to crowds, and I don't like accumulating so much stuff because of my nomadic lifestyle (less stuff means easier moves), but the rain has kept me staring at the computer screen instead of out the window, and for the last few weeks little packages have arrived containing old buttons and vintage fabric from ebay, more fabric from Reprodepot.com, an out-of-print book by my favorite photographer, Sarah Moon, and yarn!!! Not just any old yarn, but four skeins of Sundara yarn, ordered from Yahaira's new online shop, Pure Knits.

From top to bottom there are two skeins of cupid and two skeins of bisque sockyarn. Opening the package was like unwrapping a present, so beautiful in pink and brown tissue with lovely ribbon. I sniffed the yarn, thought about Purly dyeing and Yahaira sending it, two fellow knitters whose blogs I've been reading for a long time, looking unsuccessfully for a little Simon or Eddy fur in there, and just felt the love. It is gorgeous, and the first time since last year that I've bought yarn without a project in mind. So yes, while the shopping has been most gratifying, the crafting has been all over the place with not much to show for. My top-down Big Wool cardi is still only a few rows long. I've spend a lot more time recently with this:

The weekender bag by Amy Butler (really though, this is more purse-size by my standards, all the stuff I need for a weekend would never fit in there!). I may be in way over my head with this one, but it is so cute I had to give it a try. Underneath the pattern is my main fabric, from Amy's Sunbloom line. If you haven't been to her site recently, she's just put out a couple of new lines that are very pretty, with muted colors that I like much better than some of her very bright earlier designs.
It took me two weekends to find all necessary supplies for the bag, though I'm cheating with some. Instead of Timtex I got Peltex at JoAnn's. It's pretty stiff and should work just as well. The next problem was locating a 30" non-separating zipper, so I ended up getting a 36" separating one which I'll just shorten. I found it in the parka zipper section, lots of color choices there, though mine is just plain white to go with the green and white fabric. Cutting all the pieces out is taking a long time, and I've been secretly fearing my sewing machine may not be up to the task of chugging through a quarter inch thick layer of material. I'll find out this weekend.
I wanted to add a thank you to all those who left a comment on my Kathy cardi, they made me very happy. I'd gotten so many emails from people asking for sock patterns, after Grumperina had posted about my Mata Hari's, that I was quite overwhelmed. I sent over a hundred emails to people, but the comment thank you's suffered. So, thank you :-)

Kathy Cardi

It's been gloomy inside and rainy outside, adverse conditions for a photoshoot, but last evening offered a few dry minutes. Here is the Kathy Cardigan:



Pattern: Kathy from Rowan's 'Cork Collection'
Yarn: 12 balls of Rowan Cork in 'Chilly'
Needles: US 10.5
The pattern calls for US 11 needles which I got perfect gauge with, but really, my stitches looked a lot better with the 10.5's and the gauge wasn't that much off. There is often a bit too much ease for my taste in Rowan patterns, so it worked out just fine. I shortened the front and back by about 4" and added some length to the sleeves. The sleeves are knit using two alternating skeins. I had purchased the bag of Cork some time ago and needed two more balls, which I found on ebay. It wasn't the right dyelot but at this point I was happy to have found that colorway at all. The new balls were a little lighter, but the yarn is heathered and you can't tell. Finishing took forever, there were soo many ends to weave in. I re-did the sleeve cap because it was a little short, the three-needle bind-off didn't look good with the ribbing so I undid both shoulders and used backstitch. Now I'm glad I did, the yarn is pretty stretchy and backstitch provides a little more stability. I'm happy with this jacket. Though it wasn't a love at first sight project, once I started I enjoyed the process so much. Cork feels a little crispy at first and my stitches looked wonky, but it blocks out very nicely. It's so soft! And warm, though the fabric is light.
What now? I'm feeling lost, like a dancer who just finished a great show and now sits in her dressing room in stillness, wondering where the magic went. The next project is already waiting for me in its bag, but somehow I can't start just yet, I need a little more time to...I don't even know what. Maybe I should finish my skirt for Isew?Iknit! so I can start planning the next sewing project, a bag. I've picked a pattern but I may be in way over my head with this one. More about this soon.

Work of Art

All pieces of my cardi are knit, the body is sewn together and just waiting for its set-in sleeves and the last ends to be woven in. I'm very excited, it fits beautifully. Hopefully I don't have to wait until the weekend for photos, but we're about to break a record here in SF for having the most rainy days in March since 1904. I'll leave you with this truly stunning work of art, a woolen coat by Balenciaga. I wish I could see this in person:

Red Sweater Bearing Tree

Wow! Thanks so much for the great compliments on my Mermaid gloves. I'm excited about all the comments and have discovered lots of new (to me) blogs.
While I was working on the gloves my imagination got a little carried away and I thought about a whole knitted skin-tight Pomatomus outfit. For Halloween, of course. Yes this is a crazy idea and I'm not considering it seriously, but it's just a cool thought, just picture it.
Last week one of the blogs I read featured photos of the Redsweaters Project. I had heard about it, but didn't know it was just a few minutes away from my house. Driving up the street all of a sudden a bright red tree pops out from amid the greenery leading up to Bernal hill.

It was a beautiful sight, and at this sunny carefree Sunday it was hard to think of its reason for being. When I went to the website last week, 87 more sweaters were needed. Today it is 93.

Here are a couple of links I wanted to share with you:
Quilter Ian Hundley has currently a show in New York. His quilts are influenced by aerial views and maps. I think I saw a link to another quilt artist who works like this on whip-up the other day. Unfortunately there is only one quilt on his site. I'm particularly fascinated by these types of quilts as they remind me of a childhood thing I used to do on train or car rides. I'd be staring at the side of the road, watching all the shapes and colors meld together and wishing I could make it into fabric. Wouldn't that make some interesting clothing? I'd still love to do this someday.
For my birthday last month I gave myself a subscription to Selvedge, a British magazine featuring all things textile. Purchasing it at my bookstore here has always given me pangs of guilt as it is rather expensive, but a subscription is much cheaper. You save even more if you go for the online version instead of the paper. Maybe you could get your local library to subscribe to it. The last issue had articles on vintage feedsack clothing, the Jaipur Arts festival, silk walls, the Korean craft Poyagi and other textile artists. The photography is beautiful. I always learn something new and it is tempting me to go back to school to get a degree in Textiles.

Mermaid Gloves

I've been working on so many projects all at once that I needed a little helper with my Mermaid gloves, aka Pomatomus sock turned fingerless mitts:

"I'm tired, you try kntting with no thumb. Now where's that tuna she promised me?"

I love, love, love this pattern, it's so beautiful. The first glove took me about two weeks because of a broken dpn that needed replacing and because I figured out a neater way of doing the increases after I completed the thumb gusset, which then got ripped.

I was afraid there would be a snafu waiting, some place where the pattern just wouldn't work for a mitt. But it didn't happen, it worked perfectly! Yeah!

I inserted the thumb gusset between a horizontal pattern repeat and made it one vertical pattern repeat high.

After I completed the gusset, I knit one more pattern repeat, followed by a row of k1p1 ribbing before starting the fingers, which allowed the pattern to sort of flow into the fingers.

Can you tell I'm really excited about these? My first FO for myself this year.
Specs:
Yarn: Koigu in a light silvery blue shade, I always lose the ball bands at my LYS when I wind the hanks.
Needles: 2.25mm Crystal Palace Bamboo dpn's for arm and palm; 2.25 Brittany small dpn's for thumb and fingers
Pattern: I figured out the gloves on my own after checking out glove patterns all over the internet. The stitch pattern is from Knitty's Pomatomus socks.
I cast on the same number of stitches which, combined with a smaller needle, makes for a snugly fitting glove. Despite the thin yarn, small needles and lacy pattern, these gloves are very warm and squishy, due to the ribbing I think.
My Kathy cardi is just missing its sleeves. Since there are no cables on the sleeves I'm hoping to complete them this week so I can have a seaming party next weekend and hopefully pictures.
My skirt...ahem. I got another pattern, more swingy and made another muslin. It ended up being so long and full that I just need a matching top to have appropriate attire should I consider becoming a nun. Good thing there is another weekend before the deadline.

Lot's of WIP's

I've been hit by that cold that seems to be going around everywhere but thanks to some mean sinus medication my head is working at the moment. So what have I been working on?
The Koigu Pomatomus fingerless mitts are being renamed Mermaid gloves. They are my first pair of gloves and I was a little scared as I couldn't find a pattern using dpn's and thin yarn, but in the end I think I got the concept and now I'm halfway on the thumb gusset. This pattern is so beautiful, it's hard to put the needles down. The project had stalled a bit because one of my dpn's broke, and though the socks are knit with four, I prefer five needles. In the mean time, I've been working up my Rowan Cork. It's reached its final incarnation, Kathy, from the Rowan Cork Collection.

I think Barbara Walker was getting to me with her talk about listening to what the yarn tells you. I really had my own ideas what this yarn was supposed to be, first, self-designed stockinette sweater (it turned out to look like a sack), then Raindrop from the Plaid Collection (didn't really work gauge and lookwise) until I looked through the Cork Collection booklet I'd gotten as a freebie when I ordered the yarn. And there it was, a cardi that was pretty, for sure, but didn't really blow me over. At this point my need for de-stashing this yarn was greater than my need for the dream cardi and I cast on. And finished the back in a week and the left front. It's such a fast knit and I'm loving it more with every row. I'm a happy knitter right now! But I'm not a happy sewer. I'm not happy at all with my skirt pattern. When I cut the tissue pattern I was already suspecting that this skirt might not be as A-line-y as I'd like it to be. Yes, it is smaller at the waist and then slightly flares out, but it looks more like an H when I wear it, making me feel sort of compact. Good thing I made this out of an old sheet first before cutting into my lovely silk wool. This pattern would work better for a stiff cotton, so I need to look for something more swingy that brings out the drape of the fabric.
Thanks for your great suggestions on chocolaty places to go and brands to try!

Color, Chocolate and Jewelry

Mmhh, rolls right off the tongue. My chocolate consumption has gone up quite a bit lately, not because it was Valentine's day, but because I found a new love: Dark chocolate. I never used to like it, but for Christmas a kind coworker gave me a sample box of the most delicious dark chocolate by Vosges Haute Chocolate. The Oaxaca bar has bits of chili and pepper in it which combine so well with the dark chocolate. I'm also curious to try their
Red Fire bar with ancho&chipotle chili peppers and Ceylon cinnamon or the Black Pearl Bar with Japanese ginger, wasabi and black sesame seeds. On top are two bars by another favorite, Dagoba. On a trip to Anthropologie long ago I found Marie Belle's Chocolate Rose Tea. So yummy. This makes me sound like a chocoholic...I'm not really, but these are so tasty! I eat my bars very slowly, so one lasts about two weeks. The Oaxaca is long gone, but I got the two bars of Dagoba for my birthday last weekend which are current wip's. There was also a new yarn purchase. I know you want to give me a hard time when you see the photo because you think it's socks....

nooo, I'm making fingerless mitts, using the Pomatomus pattern from Knitty. I was going crazy not having a portable project (a Big Wool cardi is not portable whatsoever. I've tried) but didn't want to do socks. The silvery aqua Koigu was so pretty and really asked to be knit up in that wonderful pattern. It's gorgeous, and easy to memorize. I'm using US 1's instead of the called for #2's and so far the so.., eh, glove fits perfectly. I'm getting a little creeped out at times when the veins in my hands are popping, because their color match the yarn exactly. Can you see it?

The Big Wool cardi is still not progressing because I keep changing the design. I'm reading Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English and she's making me a little insecure with her expertise. I wanted a sweater with purl side out but Maggie says this creates funny bulges. Maggie also says that 2x2 rib is a bad idea for a button band, because it will stretch out infinitely. Now I'm not sure if I believe everything she says, but it's hard not to listen to a woman with so many years of experience. Just from reading blogs alone I've learned a lot of what not to knit. But come on, a 2x2 rib button band? They're everywhere! And unless you have a toddler pulling your cardi all day long, how much can it really stretch out? I'm going to ignore the button band advice.
Here is the necklace I've been making for my co-workers, just a simple gold wire circle on a delicate chain. There was no morning sun and I took this myself, but you get the idea.