FO: Athena Sweater

A quick summer pullover.  Completely nonsensical and unseasonable.  Yup.  That's what I think I'll knit.

I needed a quick break from my current projects, this yarn was annoying me with all the space it was taking up in my stash bin, and a week later I had a very 80's beachy pullover.

 I kind of felt for a beach day, so I created a beach cover-up.  Too bad I twirled around once and had ENOUGH ALREADY of being out in the cold with this on.  Not that it was a terribly cold day, but just not t-shirt weather.  

I don't think it's the most flattering thing I've ever knit, and due to its construction, it's kind of hard to alter.  You knit it from sleeve to sleeve, with the ribbing added later.  So- no waist shaping, no option to shorten of lengthen.  As it is, I made the smallest size the pattern offered up, and it is quite big.  I mean, it's supposed to have some ease, but batwings are in, right?  RIGHT?

 Ultimately, I think it will pair with a bathing suit and a sarong quite nicely, and naturally, some sort of perfectly icy spiked drink in a red cup.

 Also, I'll be perfectly tan, but not unhealthily so.

Wishful thinking, this is.  But alas!  The end of February is in sight.

The pattern is Athena from the Rowan All Seasons Chunky collection.  It used 6 skeins of the aforementioned All Seasons Chunky in the color Dune- it's a weird, highly twisted ropy cotton that makes for instant gratification and nearly impossible seems.

FO: Isabella D'Este socks

Crafting rut begone!

I don't know if it was because it was summer, or I just have a bunch of tiny-gauge make-no-visible-progress projects on the needles, but gah. I need to get working on some woolies. It is autumn, and the chill in the air means I'm going to be needing a few wooly layers to get me through.

The fact that we have a skylight jammed open isn't helping. Oh, that skylight. It's killing me. We opened it on the first day we moved in because that is what they are for. AM I RIGHT? Yes. You move into a place with skylights, you should be able to open them because they are fantastic for ventilation when you don't have AC and you live on the top floor of an ancient walk up. It was a little alarming that once said skylight was open, we couldn't get it to close again. The problem here being that it rained all of June and most of July, then I was away for a while and now it's getting cold. We told the landlord pretty quickly about this problem. "You shouldn't have opened it", he informed us. The skylight repair people didn't get around to fixing it before they went on summer holiday, and to this day, the skylight remains jammed open. I go to bed at night fully clothed and with a hoodie up, and I generally sleep in a flannel bathrobe for good measure.

So yes. They are pretty. They are warm. I am happy. I knitted these all throughout my travels this summer, so they are also a sort of reminder of that. While I was too knackered to try to knit on the trail in Norway, I did have lots of plane and train rides to get started, and then I got to the heel at some point in Prague, and was almost finished by the time I was leaving Hungary. A travel journal of the most practical sorts.

They are the loveliest socks ever. The pattern was a wonder to knit. A picot hem on the cuff, an easy floral motif.

Then a graceful arc of twisted stitches that travel and cease the floral pattern above the heel and concentrate it at the front of the foot...

Once the heel is turned, the gusset decreases are hidden in the final touch: a pretty medallion to wear on your foot.

Voila! My new favorite pair of socks, in a bright sunshiny puckery lemon color.

Isabella D'Este socks from the Knitter's Book of Socks. Made with one skein for The Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga in the Oleander Nymph colorway.

Fire Island

It seems that at the tail-end of summertime, people party it up extra hard. All those weeks of ultrahot weather that made it impossible to roll out of bed without losing half your body weight in sweat are well behind us now. The prospect of it getting chilly soon inspires everyone to get out and do the things you won't be able to comfortably do in another month or two, and the people who they've been promising to get together with all summer long. Nothing motivates like a deadline.

A gorgeous day out on the water was called for. We headed out to eastern Long Island to play on Fire Island for the day. We are lucky to have our good friends and neighbors to facilitate. They are truly the most hospitable people that I the privilege of knowing. Also, they are the only people that I know that I was able to find a google map of where they keep their boat. Surprise! You can't get rid of me once I have the information.

After a false start because of a sinking jet ski, we were off across the bay to a remote beach.



Fire Island is a long barrier island. Most of it is a part of the National Seashore, so it's a long stretch of dunes and sand that isn't accessible unless you have a boat (or willing to walk for a couple miles). It all adds up to having a big empty stretch of near-private beach practically empty. It's wonderful, and a rarity to have a beach to yourself anyplace this close to the Hamptons.



Being on the water makes me super relaxed and happy. Growing up, most summery days were either spent on the beach or on the boat, so I always feel a little nostalgic motoring around the coastline.



After a long hard day of playing in the waves, it's nice to swim back to your boat and grill up some burgers.



This is Tom. Not only does he captain a seaworthy vessel and chef it up out to sea, he is a handyman extraordinaire who fixes my roof and faucet when it leaks.



And this is Cheryl, who took all these awesome pictures because I'm too afraid of what the sand and salt will do to my camera:



But she also does a much better job than I do getting good shots, so I'm happy to leave the photographs to her. I was really happy to find the place we currently reside in Brooklyn because she lives right next door. She's all sorts of crazy fun.



I also got to sit back and get a bit of work done on my Broadripple socks.





If you took summertime and distilled it down to its essence, this day would be a pretty perfect representation of what it's all about.

FO: Insane Clown will Eat Your Brains

I made a sweater. I dislike the way it turned out. It's the Caftan Pullover by Norah Gaughan from the Spring 2006 issue of Interweave Knits.

It was supposed to look like this:

Pretty, right? It's all bohemian floaty and comfy. I might go to a gallery and spend the day decoding some modern art and then sip cappuccinos and nibble little cookies which cause me to not gain weight or have wild mood swings because of my blood sugar crashing afterwards. La vie est belle.

I cast on for it and started on my way. I do love Norah Gaughan and cables and sweaters and I'm even starting to like silk a little bit more. The cables are fun, and I liked the yarn despite the yarn being a slippery silk novelty yarn- Berroco Ultra Silk. It's a silk knit tube with a nylon roving core. Using size 9 needles this moved along nicely. It's such a pretty shade of summery beach blue.



I made the front, I made the back. I seemed them up. Then I realized: because the front is heavier than the back with all those lovely cables, it stretches out alarmingly more than the back. Even though I made them the exact same length and seemed the armholes so they match perfectly, the front just hangs down lower, like a tumor. A floppy, heavy tumor.





Also, because I still have a bit of dignity left, I seamed up the front panels instead of leaving my ta-tas to awkwardly flop around in the breeze. One the model, it works for her, but she's doing nothing but drinking soy half-caf skim lattes and batting her eyelashes at the off-duty fireman in the corner. Also, because the yarn is mostly silk, there's no way to keep the neckline opened up and keep from rolling over. Silk has not structure and it just wants to collapse in a heap. So it got seamed.

Except, seamed, the two front panels create a face.



A deranged clown face. This is almost as rich as people seeing the image of the virgin Mary in their toast or other mundane everyday objects- except this one isn't a peace and comfort to anyone. Insane Clown is Out to Get You.



It can not be unseen. I put the sweater on and then I break out in a cold sweat, get twitchy and then spend about 20 minutes trying to get this thing off me. Like it's a cicada clinging to me. GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF ME! Sadly, it does not. Insane Killer Clown Face is here to stay. It terrifies me, and I can really only blame the book "It" for all this.

Also, I didn't make sleeves. I couldn't give the clown any more power over me than he already has.

Ah well. You win some, you lose some. Novelty yarn + complicated pattern= the potential for Insane Clown to appear. The Insane Clown will appear to you someday in something you do- or does he just appear to me?

FO: Bamboo Frock Camisole

My A-Z stashdown continues as I plunder my stash for any non-wool yarn that I might be okay with wearing in summer.



I had 8 skeins of Bamboo Tape yarn in my stash. Like so many yarns from Rowan, it's been discontinued, but a almost exact replica will certainly appear with a catchy name like "Tapey Bamboo" or something.

I chose a pattern- after my previous lace project, I wanted something super simple- I wanted to be able to go into a movie theater on an overly warm day, catch a film and come out of the place with most of a garment done. The ribbon yarn did a little twist and coil trick, but otherwise I was as happy as I could be with it (considering it didn't come from a sheep). You just have to pick the right project for the yarn in order to love it.



The yarn basically has no shape- it just becomes this drapey mass. It would be impossible to do lace in this yarn. Just let it hang out and drape. If you fight it, it will win. Let it move like a jellyfish.





I used 7 skeins in the color "Tissue" for the Medium size. It's so pretty and purpley. The whole thing took less than 570 yards. I used size US6 needles.



The pattern is called Frock Camisole by Katie Himmelberg. It's from the Spring 2010 Interweave Knits, but they also have the pattern for free up on their website. It's a really simple piece- really, if you get gauge you can whip this up with no issues while you are taking a nap. It has a line of purl stitches running up the front and back to give it a neat seam. There's a tiny bit of shaping, you work the fronts and backs of the yoke separately and knit up the straps in reverse stockinette. The only real finishing involves tacking and sewing the straps to the front, and you're done.

I love it- it's wearable and comfortable. The fabric is dense enough so I can wear this without a security shirt underneath, lest my bra show through. It's a bit heavy but I'm really in love with it. As far as cute summery tops go, it's pretty much instant gratification.

I like it a lot better than my other Bamboo top, the Lotus Blossom, from a couple of years ago. This one is much more flattering.

FO: Jordan Lace Tank

I have a huge backlog of knitwear to show you. It's embarrassing, really. I made all these cute summery tops and it's been too hot to wear anything but the barest of barely there garments. Most of them require a bit of an undergarment or cami underneath- lace knitwear can be quite revealing and, uh, I just don't want to draw that kind of attention to myself. So camisole layer it will be!

Here's the first one I finished.



It's the Jordan by Wendy Bernard. It's a fun, easy lace knit. You make a tube and then attach two sleeves. Voila! Instant shirt. It's the same front and back, and aside from seaming up the sleeves to the top edge, there is no finishing.



I used 2.5 skeins of Louet Euroflax Sportweight in Aqua for the medium size. Linen is interesting to work with- you get such a nice, crisp lace pattern with really perfect stitch definition. It does show unevenness in your stitches though- any plain stockinette sections irked me. It does work perfectly for lace. I used size US4 needles to get gauge.

It did tend to hurt my hands a bit- it has no give or bounce at all, so I couldn't work on this for long stretches of time without taking a break. The yarn could also be quite slippery. You do not want to drop a stitch with this stuff...you'll find it somewhere near the bottom every single time. Curses.




It did soften up quite a bit after a wash and it's drapey and swinging nicely. I really enjoyed making this and I want to wear it all the time. I have a few more skeins of this in my stash and I'm trying to decide which cute linen top to make next. Ahh, maybe next year. I've already had my non-wool fill.



Linen looks great with a little bit of a tan and a cocktail in hand. I love the way this turned out. The only modification I made is that the sleeves are slightly shorter than as written- I just did one less lace repeat.



Also- the necklace can be had from my Etsy shop. It's a double strand of Garnet gemstones and simply gorgeous.

I did get some Knitting In...

...Just not very much.



Most of it was while I was sneaking out to sit by the pool for a few minutes. I was working, after all. That's the beginnings of a lace linen top. Perfect for summer, or summer-like climates.



After such a long NYC winter and a rather cool spring, I was pretty psyched to be absorbing as much Vitamin D as possible- with as much sun screen as possible. I went through several bottles. Also, several bottles of tequila.



Margaritas are alway a great way to spend a day, especially after hiking around the hills nearby.

Here's some more gratuitous scenery. I have too much real work to catch up on to have a coherency to my thoughts, so all you get is pictures.
















(I thought that was a Wallaby, but later was told it was a jackrabbit. Derp.)

Making Ugly Knits Pretty

I'm not a huge fan of dyeing or over-dyeing entire garments. It presents too many challenges that apartment dwellers find hard to overcome. Usually, you need a pretty big dyepot in order to get the dye evenly distributed. Like a vat. I have a stockpot that is at least a 12 quart, and it's not really big enough to do a sweater. The second issue is the seams. Any place where the garment has a seam, it will be harder for the dye to get to. You'll end up with really funky strips of the original color any place you have stitching.

Saying that, I thought this garment was a good candidate for the dye pot:



Oh, the horror.



Someone (a non-knitter, specifically) had given me 4 different colored skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in rather Easterish colors. This was waaay back in 2004. I found a pattern that called for 2 skeins, with two strands of yarn held together. So I picked out the two skeins that were the most complimentary and used those together- a pale blue-green and a carnation pink. That is how this monster was born.

I never wore it because of the hideousness and awfulness. Plus, because the yarn was mostly cotton, I needed special Procion dyes.

Finally, over the summer, I took it out and decided to dye it. Procion dyes need no heat to set- just a day or two to cure. Running the stove for hours in summertime is never a valid option. After soaking the tee in washing soda, I mixed the dyes and got a pretty bright raspberry pink that was saturated enough to cover the existing color. I laid the wet garment out on layers of saran wrap and hand-painted the dye on using an application sponge. Once it was saturated with dye, I wrapped it up in the saran wrap and let it sit for a day.



The results were nothing but sweet.



The dye covered the former heinous color evenly and with no hint of the monster that lurks beneath. It's cheery and summery and wonderful.



Because there were no seems at all on this garment, I didn't have any trouble at all getting the dye where it needed to be. It was almost too easy, really.



The specs:

The pattern is the Ballet Tee from Teva Durham's book Loop-d-Loop. I used 2 skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece held together. I don't remember the needle size, but it was probably whatever she recommended in the pattern. It was a super simple pattern worked completely in the round.