Mona Makes (It, Obsessively)

Moving!

2008-03-01T09:11:00.002-05:00

Hi! So this was my first blog ever and I love it...but I'm graduating to wordpress with a different title and structure....I wanted to be able to rant about anything and feel like it fit.

So here it is:
http://textilesandbicycles.wordpress.com

tada!

All the posts from here are already over there, so it'll just be different from now on.

Hope to see you there!

Buona Sera

2008-02-29T19:10:00.004-05:00

This was my favorite thing to hear in Italy...the sing-songy and warm way in which it was said was so lovely to hear.
So I'm back from my trip to Delhi, Rome and Venice.
I was in Delhi for my cousin's wedding, which as I predicted was absolutely exhausting. From a combination of the jetlag, the traveling from the bride's city to my cousin's home city twice, and all of the many long ceremonies, I must have gotten 10 hours of sleep the entire week. No joke.

My cousin and his lovely wife:

They seemed quite happy even though they were no doubt 100 times more exhausted than I was--and seeing that was exactly why I went. Totally worth it.

The real fun was when I met my man in Italy and traveled around Rome and Venice.
Rome may be my new favorite city. The architectural beauty was something I always heard about and after 5 years of high school Latin, the ancient city was something else that I knew was a draw.

But there were other things I found fantastic:

1. The urban form
I'm an urban planner and the fact that everyone drove smart cars or walked was so amazing to see. This was what I thought was great about Venice too--nothing motorized off the water. It was a complete pedestrian city.
I love that this was an actual street with it's own name in Venice:

2. Attention to Detail
While Italy seems to be filled with gorgeous details like micro-mosaics (which are incredible), gilded ceilings, and massive sculptures, there were other little details I thought were so cool:

This isn't the best picture, but in Rome (and possibly elsewhere in Italy) they would actually take the time and resources to paint the scaffolding on buildings having work done...

My favorite detail was this:

The little girl on the sign has a bow in her hair.

I love Rome.

I'll have more to come on this trip. Such as, in Venice, I happened upon a yarn store and bought some gorgeous cotton/silk/viscose Italian yarn for my dress version of Nora Gaughan's Anais. I haven't made enough progress to share yet though.

Check out my flickr page for more photos of my trip.

New Twinkle

2008-02-07T19:00:00.003-05:00

Upon googling Twinkle's Weekend Knits in an attempt to find images of the patterns before buying the book (which I don't think I'll be doing) I found this on Marie Claire. I think it's from Wenlan Chia's new spring collection, but I really wish it was in one of her pattern books. I love it and would make it in an instant if there were a pattern...unfortunately I don't think I'm experienced enough to figure out the bottom edge or the top netting. And I can't quite make out the bottom rows of pattern. Sad.

Actually now that I think of it my next project is a dress version of Nora Gaughan's Anais, which has a netting on the top that is sort of similar to this. So maybe I can incorporate some elements of the Twinkle dress into the skirt--mainly the YOs I think and maybe the scallopy bottom edge if I can find out how to do it!

Finished! Twinkle Dress

2008-02-02T15:55:00.000-05:00

I like it. I like it a lot.

This was really fun to knit. I had never done dropped stitches before and I think the effect is lovely. I also had never grafted, which was surprisingly easy thanks to this great tutorial.
But. I'm still considering redoing it, and this is where I need your help.
I'm thinking of redoing the cabled skirt part to be looser--so it fits when it's worn the way it looks when it's on the hanger.

I do like it the way it is and I'm a little afraid that making it loose will be like wearing a big fluffy sack.

Should I redo it?

I think what I'm envisioning now is closer to the runway version, which another blog talked about. Initially I had decided to incorporate just a couple of elements from the runway version: to add more ribbing to make an almost empire waist instead of having all that cable business across my chest--which i think would've looked horrendous on me. So I added 10 rows of ribbing before joining the sleeves. I also added about 4 inches of length to the whole thing b/c I wanted it to hit right above the knees.

A couple of other notes:
the pattern says to cast on more stitches for the medium version than the small.
Obviously a typo, right? So I went with the smaller number of stitches.
It's not a typo.
It makes for the right multiple of stitches when setting up the cables. Oops. It was easily fixable with mods that are not noticeable at all--I just casted off combinations of 3 and 4 stitches for the dropped stitch spaces instead of all them being 4 stitches wide.

I also knit the sleeves in the round even though the pattern says explicitly not to join. The piece never blew up or anything so I think it's ok. And yay for no bulky seaming.

Overall, I have to say that I really like it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the color. It's just gorgeous. The raglan sleeves make me look a little like a linebacker, but I'm really happy with the bust ribbing--I actually think it may be a little flattering!
I still think it makes me look like 20 pounds heavier than I am, but at least for this one it's mostly in the shoulders. I can live with that.

2/4: I forgot to add some useful information, so thanks to RunningKnitter's comments:
I used the famous Twinkle Soft Chunky in Sapphire, which is my favorite color I've used so far. I think it took me 3 or 4 days...I think 4 total with one of those days for the sleeves. Either way it knits up incredible fast. For me it's one of those things with Twinkle where right from when you cast on you can see that you're almost done--so it's hard to stop. I could just be crazy though!

2008 trends?

2008-02-01T09:46:00.000-05:00

I hope not:

This is from the Resort 2008 DKNY collection...I really hope this isn't what we see coming out this year in knitwear...
I hate(d) the baby doll look that seemed to exist simply because every single celebrity felt like having baby after baby. Overpopulation anyone? I'm sort of kidding, but not really.
Anyway, I hope the potato sack look isn't what's coming.

In looking through New York Magazine's fashion section I clicked through Chanel's Spring 2008 couture collection. It's amazing. It's kind of Dune meets Jackie Kennedy.

(this is a tamer one, but I really like it)

If anyone else is in love with Lagerfeld's Chanel, there's a pretty interesting French documentary about Karl Lagerfeld, Lagerfeld Confidential.

I know a lot of people aren't into runway couture, but my favorite place is the Met's Costume Institute. And that's what couture is to me--it's costume. I wish it was the way we all approached fashion at least sometimes...with some whimsy and fantasy.

On another note, this is one of the model's from the Chanel show:

I could break her just by breathing too hard.
Whatever happened to that weighing models thing?

Did you make it yourself?

2008-01-30T14:39:00.000-05:00

Some of you Esty-ers may know about this already but there's a cool little contest at StyleMob called Made It Myself.
Submit photos of stuff you've sewn, designed, crafted, etc and then they're voted on. The prizes are Etsy gift certificates.

Not sure if I will enter anything (there are some crazy sewn FOs from a while ago), but I imagine lots of you will have something to contribute to the contest.

sometimes I get angry...

2008-01-28T13:49:00.001-05:00

When I have to defend things that I feel need no defense: like knitting.
I received a comment on my Hillary's Nipple post that ended with a comment about returning to the subject of knitting, with what I interpret as a suggestion that knitting is frivolous.

Here's my question to all that think knitting is frivolous:

What can you do/make that is useful? (typing doesn't count)

Can you actually meet any of your basic needs on your own--food, clothing, shelter?

Maybe I'm alone in this, maybe I'm not--but I've always had incredible respect for people that are able to do these things: carpenters, metalsmiths, farmers, knitters and sewers, among others.

Knitting on a jet plane

2008-01-27T17:28:00.000-05:00

Am I allowed to do this?

If I am, I'm ready for it.

With 6 skeins of Twinkle Soft Chunky in Sapphire--this color is gorgeous (so far I've used the french grey and urchin, but this color is so brilliant and rich), size 17 needles, and the winter 2007 Vogue Knitting. The expected outcome is #23, the Twinkle Dress.

I gathered all these supplies to have ready for a 20 hour flight to Delhi in a couple of weeks. I've already knit the sleeves, so I figured I could actually finish this thing on the plane given the incredible speed at which Twinkle knits can be completed.

But now...now I wonder. If I can't take my nail clippers or tweezers--or face lotion for that matter on the plane, can I take knitting needles? I guess I could poke someone's eye out or something...but I'm not sure how I could use them to fashion a last-minute bomb for high-jacking purposes. I guess I'm not so up on my bomb-making skills though.

Has anyone traveled lately and been able to knit on the plane?

UPDATE:
I found this on the TSA website after some searching:

Transporting Knitting Needles and Needlepoint

Knitting needles are permitted in your carry-on baggage or checked baggage. However, there is a possibility that the needles can be perceived as a possible weapon by one of our Security Officers. Our Security Officers have the authority to determine if an item could be used as a weapon and may not allow said item to pass through security. We recommend the following when bring knitting needles on an airplane:

Circular knitting needles are recommended to be less than 31 inches in total length
We recommend that the needles be made of bamboo or plastic (Not Metal)
Scissors must have blunt points
In case a Security Officer does not allow your knitting tools through security it is recommended that you carry a self addressed envelope so that you can mail your tools back to yourself as opposed to surrendering them at the security check point.
As a precautionary measure we recommend that you carry a crochet hook with yarn to save the work you have already done in case your knitting tools are surrendered at the checkpoint

Most of the items needed to pursue a Needlepoint project are permitted in your carry-on baggage or checked baggage with the exception of circular thread cutters or any cutter with a blade contained inside. These items cannot be taken through a security checkpoint. They must go in your checked baggage.

But I would like to know if anyone's had any trouble traveling with needles...
Unfortunately my 17s are Addis and therefore metal, and there's just nothing that can be done about that.

lys in the news

2008-01-26T14:47:00.000-05:00

So my LYS, Stitch DC, was in the Washington Post today (on page 3):

An article on Quick Study, where she (correction, the author, who is male and I assumed was female--very very bad of me!!) learns to knit in 15 minutes.

This is my favorite part:

"By the end of the two hours, I am emotionally wedded to the needles and the yarn, so I take what I have in my hands to the front of the store to purchase it. The wind comes out of my sails when the total hits $52. (I mean, it's just string, right?) Worth it, I convince myself. Worth it, even coupled with the price tag for the course. In a month or two you'll have a scarf you made yourself, I think. I'll be able to give it to someone and say, "I made it. Me. Not some kid in Indonesia. Me. Boo-yah."

I continue knitting the scarf on the Metro ride home and later in bed while watching Letterman. Boo-yah, indeed."

word.

Finished! Phildar Cardigan

2008-01-26T14:06:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is. Seemed like it took forever after being spoiled with the instant gratification of the Twinkle knits. But this may be the nicest thing I've made--the kind of thing where I wore it to work and people who know I'm knitter didn't assume I made it. I'm really happy with it and pretty proud of it. This was my first Phildar knit and I love the simplicity (and thus wearability) of their designs. The patterns are also extremely easy to follow. The mistakes I made were when I was rushing through something and weren't a reflection of pattern vagueness or typos. The only thing about Phildar is actually getting your hands on the magazines, which for me ended up costing a small fortune--I ordered through Knit n' Tyme in the fair land of Canadia and for 2 magazines I paid something like $50!! I've learned through the Ravelry forums that it would've been better to have ordered directly from Phildar.

I used Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre, which I have to say is gorgeous yarn. It has the right amount of sheen to make the piece look so nice in the end. And the alpaca makes it so warm and soft. The yarn gave me a slightly smaller gauge than the pattern called for, but since I wanted it to fit a little tighter than on the model I didn't do any mods. The fit came out generally the way I wanted.

The buttons are ginormous vintage glass faceted buttons I got on Etsy. I had something else in mind but I couldn't find what I wanted anywhere. My next endeavor may be button-making.

The skirt actually is another FO, of the sewing variety from a year or so ago. I love the buttons on it, which I got at Mood in NYC while I was living there. I only wish I had that place at my disposal still. It's a very simple skirt, but finally something wearable. I went through a silk phase where I made all these silk pants and shorts and fluffy shirts that are cool...but in a costumy sort of way. Actually the shorts are cool. Maybe I'll share those at some point.

Stay in and knit.

2008-01-25T10:42:00.000-05:00

I don't know if anyone saw this on Style.com:

Purl Jam
"And how to keep yourself from biting your now-pretty little nails while waiting anxiously for the results of all those nerve-racking presidential primaries? Try knitting. If you've never learned how to knit one, purl two, call Lauren Sheaffer, a Seventh Avenue insider who was hired by Elizabeth Musmanno of Vera Wang to give her daughter lessons for Christmas. A textile designer for a major American designer by day, Sheaffer is an ace with a pair of needles by night. On the West Coast, aspiring sweater sisters turn to Suss Cousins, a native of Sweden. Cousins knits for the movies—her credits include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Matrix, and Scooby-Doo (well, Velma is famous for her orange turtleneck, isn't she?)—and offers classes at her boutique or at your place."

This is def how I've spent my winter...knitting every single day after work right until I go to bed.
"Time for bed?" says Roommate
"Just one more line" says I
"Addict" says Roommate
"Yes" says I

I do think it would be amazing to knit for movies.

I also wish I could just knit and blog about it all day long. every day.

Slow going photography

2008-01-23T09:25:00.000-05:00

In 2003 I backpacked through India and Nepal for 6 months with 2 fantastic friends. I like to think of myself as a bit of a photographer, having studied black and white darkroom photography, gone to portfolio reviews and all that. But in reality I'm not much of one--or I'm a painfully slow one. Since it took me 5 years to have these slides printed. I'm actually going back to India for a cousin's wedding in a couple of weeks, so these photos have really re-excited me. While they have nothing to do with knitting, I do think that having a knitting blog has brought back my photography obsession. I'm going to have to get into the self-portraiture thing for my FOs from now on. In that spirit, I thought I would share some photos I'm proud of:

Boys in Kanya Kumari--the southernmost tip of India where the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal meet.

A soldier at the India/Pakistan border, just north of Amritsar in the state of Punjab.

Chained elephants for a New Year's celebration in Cochin.

A lone sadhu in Hampi (in Karnataka), which is a hippie-filled, but magical UNESCO site.

Autorickshaws--a major mode of transport in much of Asia and the topic of my master's thesis. Ugh.

Hillary's nipple?

2008-01-21T13:27:00.000-05:00

I don't mean to get political, but....

I'll start with this--I'm not sure who I'm voting for. I also do not think that women have to vote for Hillary Clinton.
BUT. This is what this website says:

"Hillary Clinton, the Wicked Witch of Capitol Hill, wants to be President of the United States. Republicans and Democrats across the nation agree that 2008 is the year of the storm, and this hurricane's name is Hillary.
Our nation doesn't have the patience for a wardrobe malfunction, and Monica doesn't have a brother. Do your part to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House. Hillary T-Shirts are here to help."

First of all that a woman can actually be tarnished by the actions of her husband is ridiculous, when in her actions she has never proven to lack the specific sexual moral compass that Americans seem to think is important in leading a country.

Second, I don't understand the wardrobe malfunction comment. As far as I can tell, this refers to the terrifying possibility that we could at some point see Senator Clinton's nipple--or (oh God!) some cleave! This is just not a risk that America should be willing to take by voting for a woman.

So, while I'm not sure about anything regarding this election, I will say this: if Hillary wins, I can see myself being overcome with emotion at the (albeit SLOW) progress of women in this country. Especially when I ethnically come from a country (India) that is perceived to be extremely sexist--and in many ways is, but embraced female leadership decades ago.
I remember being unbelievably frustrated when I was backpacking through India and would find that many cities had public restrooms for men only. Forget that it's women that can't just pee anywhere and have smaller bladders...it's an interesting situation when the female presidents or prime ministers of the past can't find a place to pee in the capital.
Maybe this country is the opposite, but I'm not sure which is better. Is there a third option?

The point is that website makes a stupid sexist point. It may be possible that I'm interpreting it wrong, but I can't imagine what the explanation is.

Brrrrrrrr. I hate winter.

2008-01-20T20:09:00.001-05:00

Damn gloves. Didn't help too much. It was like 11 degrees today...or something. But it was sunny and I wanted to take my film camera out and test some different aperture settings...it's been a while and I have to refresh my memory on all the photography basics since one thing I'm vowing to do before a much needed trip to New Delhi (for a cousin's wedding) and then Italy (yay!!) in a few weeks is to get my new Crown Graphic 4x5 camera up and running. Which means I need to remember how manual settings work. Which is also how I think truly beautiful photographs are crafted--with direct and clear intent. I guess often it's just luck...but maybe that's what separates photographers from everyone else. Someday I'd like to actually be at least almost a photographer.

Anyway, today's bitter cold was an excellent reason to take my newly completely completed best friend cardigan (and aspen hat) out for a spin. And did she perform. I stayed relatively warm, and with the seams finally looking good, I love her!

But not enough to smile when it's this goddamn cold out.

Nine Inch Nails and knitting.

2008-01-19T20:29:00.000-05:00

Seemingly incongruous, yet not so.
So here's the charted afghan. Unfortunately it's not readable, but if you click on it it enlarges to be semi-readable. Basically it's just a mix of the color pattern and the KBB blanket stitch pattern, but with 10 rows of seed stitch for the borders instead of 6 garter stitch rows. The S=seed stitch, |=knit, B=ktbl, O=purl...I like that all the wrong side rows almost spell boob...(boooob).
sorry.
but I did it on purpose. At least I don't lie, right?

I really like making these charts. This is my second one, my first being on my very first project--a chevron stripe scarf for my boyfriend.

Unfortunately I wasn't wise to the curling of the stockinette stitch, but it's still warm and pretty...in a manly sort of way, given the current owner. Made with Manos del Uruguay yarn...I think 2 skeins of the red and 1 of the grey.

I casted on for the afghan last night and I think it's going to be fun project. The yarn is just great to work with and it's chunky enough that I think this may take far less time than I thought--which is always a good thing. Leaves room for even more knitting...though I'm really going to have to get to a point where I cut myself off.

Planifications...

2008-01-19T15:53:00.000-05:00

My obsessive nature began spiraling out of control with the seaming saga I had with the Best Friend cardigan. After literally 50 or so tries I recently put it to bed with a simple flat stitch. I had been making myself insane trying to do some sort of an invisible stitch, thinking that would make it less bulky. But, it looks fine now and I have my life back.

I'm about halfway done with the 2nd sleeve of my Phildar cardi, and realized that making sleeves is probably a lot like making socks...which I thought would be extremely tedious and unexciting.
Yes, folks, I thought right.
I hate making these damn sleeves. I'm trying my hand at knitting in the round with 2 circulars, which is going fine, but it's slow and I can't wait for this sleeve to be done.

And with that, I'm already looking ahead.

I had jokingly sent a photo of an afghan I saw on ravelry with the Nine Inch Nails symbol/logo/whatever on it: the NIN ( but the last N is mirrored along the long edge) to a friend of mine that I know to be a huge NIN fan.
She then had the brilliant idea of doing an afghan exchange. I would make this for her and she would make one for me. It seems she needed a while-I-watch-TV activity. I interestingly enough took up watching TV as something to do while I was knitting.
In any case. I love this idea and just went over to Stitch DC to get some beautiful Cascade Baby Alpaca for the job.

Now that I have this stuff in hand I'm even more excited to begin. It's so soft and beautiful with just enough fuzziness to blur the color breaks. I also think it's probably a nice irony to make a soft fuzzy Nine Inch Nails blanket. This one will sort of be made up as I go along, but I think I'm going to generally follow the KBB Blanket pattern, which I think is simple enough to go with the color pattern. It will also be substantially bigger, since I'm using size 13 needles and chunkier yarn than the worsted that is called for.

My one concern is that I feel like afghans are a bit of undertaking...it seems like they take months to complete. Given all the time and effort, I'm afraid the exchange will be like giving up a baby. Ok, maybe having a baby is a bit more involved than knitting a nine inch nails afghan. I say tomayto, you say tomahto. Then again I'm not much of a nine inch nails fan...

Another project that will sort of be happening at the same time is the Muir shawl to be made with this gorgeous sea silk I got...I love love love this yarn. It's gorgeous...and I envision an equally gorgeous gold silky shawl when it's all knitted up.

These two projects should only take the rest of my life to complete...or maybe the year.

My New Best Friend...

2008-01-15T09:48:00.000-05:00

I remade this cardi about 5 times.
The first time I made her in a small. And I loved her because she was my first sweater. After some time and a few wearings the novelty wore off and reality set it...there is possibly nothing more unflattering than a too-small chunky sweater painfully stretched across my somewhat muscle-y shoulders and not-small chest.
And so I realized that the larger size would look better. So I made it in a large (the laid flat measurements are for a 33" bust--one inch shy of my size). But chunky yarn does stretch A LOT, so this in fact was too large and looked bulky. So finally I went for the middle ground...the medium. And goldilocks-style, it worked.
The thing is, I'm never a medium. I'm always a small. So the notes about Twinkle sizing matching up with your normal size just didn't work for me. I made the Shopping Tunic in the XS, but think I will remake that in a S as well....I'm going to go with the second smallest size listed rule.

I also joined the Twinkle buttons bandwagon. At first I thought they were insanely expensive and not worth it...but a) they look so much better than the cheap black buttons I had before and b) they are really nice buttons--beautiful and substantial...again, so much better than my cheap plastic black buttons.

I found seaming to be a nightmare. So to eliminate as much as I could I did a 3 needle bind off for the shoulder seams, which worked quite well. The sleeves were another story...I may try and redo the seams for the 100th time. If anyone has any suggestions on how to do this for this sweater (or for chunky yarns in general) I would be eternally grateful.
Aside from the horrible sleeve seams, I'm finally really happy with this. And I can see myself getting a lot of use out of it...and I just really love the buttons...

Finished! Shopping Tunic

2008-01-10T09:35:00.001-05:00

This was a quick diversion from the Phildar cardigan, which I've been delaying because the sleeves are so slow going...
But I guess all the yarn shops got their Soft Chunky orders because last Friday I came home to a lovely surprise of 3 skeins of French Grey. By Monday night I had my own Shopping Tunic...

I don't look quite this pregnant in real life. While the Best Friend Cardigan makes me look chunky chunky chunky, I don't feel that way about this sweater. The tunic maybe gives me only one chunky. I think it's the longer length. Actually, after making this I decided to frog the cardi and make it in a bigger size which I think may help. I love the design and the shape and would hate to see it never worn...
But, as for the tunic, I actually made this in the XS, which is crazy when looking at the measurements given for that size. (Although, I wonder if I should have gone a size up to accommodate my non-model-sized bust.) Before I put it on it looked like a long skinny little girl's dress...but damn do these things stretch! I also only used 2.5 skeins...which makes these knits so much more affordable than they initially seemed.

I loved this pattern (after I got through feeling defeated by the pockets, notes to follow). It's so simple, but the shape is so nice! The sleeves I thought were genius as is the short row shaping for the neck. And there's a ton of waist-shaping, which I think may be necessary for chunky knits like this.

So the pockets.
the m-f-ing pockets.
This was the first pattern where I felt like it was me against the pattern (only for the first 10 rows or so though). I had never made pockets before and this was a bitch.
I thought at first that the pockets would be flipped up and sewn on...but that didn't seem right after looking at others' tunics. But from the model in the book it didn't look like the pockets started at the first row--which they'd have to do unless the pockets flipped up since they are joined at row 7 and are 7 rows long. After several different join attempts I decided to add 4 rows (which I think maybe are supposed to be there in garter stitch, but are not in the pattern) and start the pockets at row 11, sew them down and leave the 7 body stitches on the holder until the end to add the ribbing to.

I think it turned out well. But damn was I pissed for a while.

One last note--one of these skeins was completely annoying with at least 4 knots that I had to join and tons of little stems and stuff...as though my virgin wool was rolling around in some hay. bad. very bad.

Finished! Aspen Hat

2008-01-05T11:11:00.000-05:00

I had made an Aspen Hat (again from Twinkle) a while ago, but made another one for myself.
I made this one with Cascade Magnum in spring green and used these old Czech glass buttons that look like bottle caps.
I love this hat.
It's warm and a flattering shape. And so soft!

I also wanted to report some progress on the Phildar cardigan.
It's all done except for the sleeves, which I'm doing on 2 circs for the first time. It took a couple of tries before I got rid of some gnarly ladders. She's looking good so far...I even sewed the buttons on already.

I've also decided that I will indeed make the Jcrew dress below in Blue Sky Alpacas organic cotton...I think in Pickle, a bright green (much like this Aspen hat).
I will also stick to my pledge for 2008 using only organic or socially responsible yarns.
yay.

I Can Make That

2007-12-28T09:39:00.000-05:00

Part of why I'm excited about my newfound knitting skills is that I can at least try and make many of the things I love that are available in stores I refuse to shop in because of political/social practices (like Anthropologie*) or that are made in China (like some stuff I reluctantly love at JCrew).

The Twinkle knits are an example of the former and the following is something I'm pretty sure I can make without a pattern from the latter:

I figure I should start simple with my experimentation given that I'm relatively new to knitting. But this seems to just be a long sweater...with some buttoned on waist strap things...

I used to go through stores with overpriced clothes and brag to myself about how I could sew those things myself...it's nice to be able to do it with knitwear now too.

*note...just in case someone was wondering, the owner of Anthro/Urban Outfitters financially supports extremely right-wing causes (such as those of the aggressive anti-abortion variety)...meaning that shopping there is indirectly supporting those things as well...which is sad because I did love that store...did.

We Can Do It?

2007-12-26T18:30:00.000-05:00

I saw this parked across the street this morning. A maid service car..."Maid to Clean".

I find this usage of the "We Can Do It" imagery, a symbol of women's liberation, to be really just wrong.

Finished! Fad Classic

2007-12-26T17:44:00.000-05:00

This was another relatively quick knit (though I guess not compared to the Twinkle knits). I really love how it turned out. This is probably the most wearable thing I've knitted yet and I'm actually really excited to wear it. It's a little bigger than I would like, but I think that may be ok.

The pattern was really interesting--worked in one piece from the top down. The lack of seams is great, because I suck at seaming. Unfortunately there's a lot of picking up stitches. Which I also suck at. But I think it turned out ok on this one.

Onto the Phildar cardigan (#13 from this winter's issue)...I'm almost done with the back, but I'm now wishing I had done the front pieces and the back together instead of seaming all the pieces. I guess practice makes perfect.

Deliveries

2007-12-21T13:16:00.000-05:00

Things have been very exciting lately. My new Phildar catalogues arrived today!! Meaning the orange cardigan in this Winter's catalogue is my next project, but it will be the black cardigan I've really been needing lately.

About 5 more knitting-related deliveries are expected.

Someday Classic Elite will have more soft chunky and my order of French Grey will arrive in my recycling bin...(Reggie, my postman is amazing and leaves our packages in the recycling bin with a little note slipped under the door so we don't have to go to the post office to get our packages)

I also just discovered Etsy. I'm late on this I think, but I have 3 packages on the way as a result of this newfound addiction.
Some lovely stitch markers:

A lovely needle case:

And a cute dress:

I love this handmade/vintage revolution. It's such a great idea to have this marketplace for unique things made by actual humans...ones not in a sweatshop or something equally dehumanizing. It also makes sticking to my no-buying-anything-made-in-China rule much easier--though I should say I've strayed a few times...Twinkle yarn is made in China...boo.
People always ask why I do this...
Is it the human rights violations?
Is it the lack of environmental standards?
Is it the fact that because of lax US standards we get the stuff from China that the EU rejects? You know...all that stuff with lead in it (like candy and lipstick)?
I always think this is a funny line of questioning. As though I'm supposed to pick one but be alright with the other truths.
They all pretty much suck. So I try to not support it.
I haven't cut out buying US products made in developing countries altogether, but that may be a next step. The thing is the Chinese share of imports into the US is astonishingly high and overwhelmingly the largest (at least for consumer goods).

In other news, the Fad Classic vest is almost complete and looks fantastic so far...hopefully it fits.
The yarn used was not made in China. We can all rest easy now.

Numchuck skills, bow hunting skills...

2007-12-10T09:21:00.000-05:00

Yes, I have skills. New skills. The Italian tubular cast-on! I found a great tutorial here.
I didn't even know there were all these different ways to cast on.
But I love this method. It was a little hard to get used to, but I'm now using it for a new project I'm starting. More Twinkle, of course.
I'm doing to Balthazar vest, but with Rowan Bamboo Soft (in Beaver) and Kidsilk Haze (in Majestic) on size 7 and 5 needles.
I'm attempting to convert the pattern from a super chunky gauge to a 5 stitch per inch gauge. I just calculated what each stitch and row in the pattern should equal in the bamboo gauge and am then multiplying the pattern stitches and rows accordingly. I'm hoping it'll work and will be an interesting experiment. I also hear that this pattern is especially vague so maybe that's a good thing since I'll have to make some things up as I go anyway.
I love the yarn and the colorway...and think it may be a little more wearable for me than all the chunky stuff in Twinkle.
Though I have been inspired by other projects on Ravelry to begin the Twinkle Shopping Tunic. Apparently Classic Elite is out of the soft chunky, so I'm waiting for an order I placed to come in sometime in the next month so I can begin. I've been into muted colors, so I'm doing this one in the french grey.

I'm still working on the Fad Classic vest, which after all the Twinkle knits seems SO slow going.
I've been having some trouble working with the yarn (Cascade Sierra), especially during some K2T right after a cast on (like for the neck lines). But I think the pattern is so interesting, especially the fact that it's knit completely seamlessly--which is great for me since seaming is definitely not one of my stronger skills.
But all in all it's looking really good. The color is a lemonade-y pale yellow and I can already envision its contribution to my wardrobe.

Knitting While Feminist

2007-12-06T17:52:00.000-05:00

I just read an interview with Nora Gaughan the other day that I unfortunately now can't find where she discusses her feelings about having studied the hard sciences yet choosing knitting as a career. She touches on this issue of feeling uncertain or even guilty for choosing a traditionally feminine career path and the pressure of having to choose a field where women are traditionally underrepresented (such as biology).

It's an interesting problem that I completely identify with. Feminism (to me) is supposed to be about choice, about eliminating socially constructed gender roles. Yet I personally feel this pressure to be respected by taking on what are supposed to be male roles and by rejecting things that are traditionally assigned to females. The thing is it just puts women into a different constrained box, instead of opening up all the choices possible (not that men don't have similar gender constraints...). Not to mention the belittlement of those "feminine" activities, which can often be huge accomplishments.

It's the loss of choice. Like the mommy wars--where now we have women fighting with each other over each other's choices (which in that case I think is more of an unwillingness on both ends to accept these choices have trade-offs, but that's another discussion).

The reality of it is that things like knitting and sewing represent the things I most respect in anyone: cultivating a truly technical skill and creating beautiful and inherently useful things with one's own hands. I think both of those things transcend gender and are just accepted as human efforts worthy of admiration because they engender so many honorable qualities: diligence, patience, and hopefully some talent...

Maybe that's why I've been able to embrace them so fully...despite my warped sense of feminism.

Possible new projects...

2007-12-06T14:58:00.000-05:00

Although I have a bunch of vests on the horizon, I have some other possibilities in mind.

Particularly these 2 that I can't decide between:

Or (from Vogue's 25th Anniversary Magazine)

I can't decide...
Which should I do??

Finished! Diamond Scarf

2007-12-05T17:53:00.000-05:00

This is another FO from a few weeks ago. I made it after using the leftover yarn from my Best Friend Cardigan to make this and the aspen hat for a friend. I ended up loving them both and had just enough yarn to make the scarf for myself. I wasn't sure about it at first. I thought the size 35 (!) needles would make it so holy that it would be strange looking or not really that warm. Both are quite untrue. The pattern is so lovely and after some steam blocking it really looked nice and defined.
And it's so cozy and warm.

We had our first snow in DC today.

Biking through all the falling ice was nothing, as I was toasty warm, wrapped in my soft Diamond Scarf.

That's my catalogue caption.

I do want to say that after living in NYC for the past two years I forgot what babies Washingtonians (mostly the DC suburbanites) are about the snow. People couldn't make it to meetings, there were alerts and alarms and warnings, yet even now, at 6pm there remains to be any actual accumulation on the streets. Maybe in the suburbs there's an inch.

All I know is I'm not going to work tomorrow.
I could break my neck in all that snow.

Finished! Twinkle Biker Vest

2007-12-04T09:40:00.000-05:00

This was another quick knit...about a week and half even with several rip-outs and re-dos.
There are a few screw-ups, but I don't think they're that noticeable, so overall I love it.
The pattern says to pick up 140 stitches around the edges for the garter stitch border, which caused me the most trouble. First I didn't pick up enough stitches so it turned into a balloon-like piece. So I ripped it out and picked up more....it was not longer a balloon, but my picking up of stitches was a little messy so again I ripped it out and redid it. It looks much better, but picking up stitches and seaming fabric that isn't in simple stockinette seem to be my biggest weaknesses.
I do really like the lace pattern and I love the fit.
Onto the other vests in my queue.

This last statement is interestingly enough quite the annoyance to my "roommate." It seems knitting has diverted my obsession away from him..."you'd rather be knitting," he says just every once in a while.
But I don't feel guilty.
If only he knew the meditative satisfaction, the visual and tactile stimulation.
Ah, yes.
But I think involving him may mollify his frustrations. He's becoming my photographer and perhaps with time he'll embrace this role and attack it with artful intent.

Finished! Best Friend Cardigan

2007-12-03T10:03:00.000-05:00

I've been pretty anxious to post about some stuff I've actually finished. It's like a virtual trophy case...and it's so nice to have trophies I'm happy with! and I have to say, I love Twinkle for this reason. I had never made anything complicated, just scarves and hats and when I discovered this book (which was one those moments of realization when you know the obsession will now take over your life because it's just too good...) I jumped on the Best Friend Cardigan. I finished it in about 4 days in early November and save some issues with setting the sleeves in (mainly making the seams look seamless, which never happened), it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be and it turned out pretty damn good...I mean, it's chunky. And therefore I look chunky. But it's like my first baby...I'll love her no matter what she does to me. Plus, the soft chunky is just beautiful (as is the color, urchin).

I feel like this is a cheesy Twinkle testimonial, but Wenlan is right (in her intro to the book)...now I feel like I can knit anything!
No really...it's a nice feeling to be able to examine things in stores and know how they were put together--and feel like I could do it just as well myself. Hey, I'm as good as some factory in China.

One more note, for the small size, this only took 2 1/2 - 3 skeins of the soft chunky, though the pattern called for 4. But I think this follows the consensus with Twinkle patterns...they seem to take less than the pattern calls for. I was pretty excited to learn from Knitlit that the Shopping Tunic only takes 3 skeins....rather than 7.

In other news, the Biker Vest is almost finished...I had some trouble picking up all the stitches around the edges for the garter stitch border and had to rip it out a couple of times. But I think this time may be it.

The Vest...

2007-11-26T16:38:00.000-05:00

...is quickly taking over my life. I'm working on 1 and have 2 more on the horizon. The thing is--in the interest of full disclosure and complete honesty--I'm kind of a sweaty person. But, if I'm not sweating, I'm freezing cold.
Unless I'm wearing a vest. The vest is the wonder temperature regulator. Keeps you warm without overheating, and most importantly without all the extra fabric under my arms to make me even sweatier.

So, given my respect for the vest, here are the upcoming vest endeavors:

#1

From KnitandTonic, I love this. Simple, but totally clean and classic. I tend to wear lots of color and patterns, so this could be good for balance.
I'm always looking for balance.

#2
Look familiar?
Yeah, it's not so different, but I'm going to do it in browns with tan bamboo and dark brown/grey/purplish mohair (worked in with the bamboo for the ribbing), so think it'll be a little more interesting.
This one's from Rowan's Arabesque, which I like, but not enough to buy the whole book. I think the pattern is simple enough to just wing it, though I've never made something other than a scarf or hat without a pattern.

Exciting new challenges.
Whenever I do this with sewing it never quite turns out the way I expect. But I think I could just follow the first pattern but with stockinette for the body.
Yes. It's a bright future. Full of vests.

On the needles currently...

2007-11-23T21:25:00.000-05:00

The current project is more from Twinkle (my obsession of late)--the Biker vest. I wouldn't have thought I would have particularly liked this one, but it started to call out to me...And then I saw a couple of gorgeous ones on Ravelry (another new obsession) and it became my new favorite thing. I had some initial problems with the lace pattern and as a result the bottom is a little screwy, but I'm keeping it--it looks kind of interesting and almost intentional--a little like ribbing. Also, after ripping it out a few times already I'm sick of starting over. I'm using two strands of Aurora Bulky in teal on 17 needles, which looked bad at first because of some sloppy knitting. So I ripped it out and started with a single strand, but it just wasn't substantial enough.

This is going back to the two strands, with some more careful knitting and it looks pretty good. I should say, the pattern calls for size 15 needles and 4 strands of Twinkle Cruise. The cruise is quite nice, but surprisingly expensive--and also doesn't seem to come in the same variety of colors as the Soft Chunky. So this was, and still is I guess, a bit of an experiment. So far so good...

Start.

2007-11-23T18:58:00.000-05:00

I feel like ownership of a blog is like buying a house. Everyone I know seems to be doing it and therefore, so must I. Of course, I haven't actually bought a house. Someday there will be a beautiful old run down house in need of my imaginary time in Brooklyn....Williamsburg, Park Slope, or I'll be a late pioneer in Crown Heights.

But for now, I am in Washington, DC, sort of back home, where, because the city isn't quite my "scene," I have endless amounts of time to create...a blessing that I'm hoping this blog will keep me from squandering.

A friend gave me my first knitting needles and some Manos yarn almost exactly a year ago and since then knitting has become a second obsession, after sewing, which has been known to delve into sweatshop-like depths. No eating, no drinking, just slaving away until something is finished. This usually ends sadly because I start to get sloppier and sloppier in my starved and parched haze. But leaving something unfinished for later is torture. I'm not quite this terrible anymore and have slightly more self control. The knitting projects of late have been so satisfying. More on those will be coming...