Fabulous Timing (and a FO)

It is my real-life job to be organized and make things work precisely. If I didn't have this skill or lacked it in any way, my boss would have no real reason to keep me employed unless I chose to resort to blackmail. Which I haven't had to yet.

When I have a personal blunder that involves scheduled, I try keep it very quiet. Like the time I showed up a full week early for a flight to Chicago. D'oh.

I had a weird week recently where I couldn't get my timing right. I showed up hours late for some things, missed other events completely, and then showed up hours early for other appointments without realizing it. At one point, I sat in the doctors office for more than an hour, quietly knitting fuming and wondering where my brain was at.

Luckily, clocks and calenders only seemed to perplex me for that one week. It was a weird phase or mindset that I couldn't shake. I just had to ride it out, and as predicted, I'm back to my regular punctual and organized self.

So I finished a hat. When I started the hat, it was 30 degrees out and freezing sleety raining, and a stranded warm hat seemed like a great idea. A couple days later when I finished the hat, it was 60 and sunny and I couldn't think of anything but shedding layers down to a cami.



Ahh well. It will be put away for next winter, when I'm sure it will be cold again. That's the risk you take when you start something toasty and warm in April.



The pattern is the Fake Isle hat by Amy King. I used a half a skein of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter and a half a skein of Noro Silk Garden that was leftover from a sweater I made last year. If I had to do it again, I would go down a needle size for the ribbing as it flares out a bit from the rest of the hat. It's warm and cozy, and a great way to use up scraps and odd balls of yarn.

FO- Winter Romance

It's the time of year where I get a wee bit stir crazy. That winter doldrum sets in and I start dressing more for comfort than style. I dream of the day where I won't need the soft gurgling of a humidifier to lull me to sleep, and hat hair would be optional.

I had 12 skeins of a discontinued color of Noro Silk Garden in my stash, waiting for a little inspiration.



I loved these colors together- royal blue, turquoise, peach and a deep purple balanced nicely with more neutral browns and grays. The whole effect reminds me of a cold winter dusk turning into a long dark night.

Try as I might, I couldn't find a pattern that I felt was right for this yarn. There are tons of patterns out there that utilize this kind of yarn, but I found a great deal of them unflattering or awkward. I wanted something a little sexy and, above all, flattering. Something this colorful needs a simple design but I wanted to make the stripes work with my shape.

So I sat down with a tape measure, graph paper and a calculator, knitted up a gauge swatch and started to design my own.

The end result:



I did not want horizontal stripes around my mid-section. No matter how much time I spend at the gym, I can not banish the feeling that my Buddha belly is here to stay. I can't help it. I love my carbs. On the other hand, I really don't mind appearing bustier than I actually am, so I was pretty okay with the idea of horizontal stripes across the boobs.

I started out by knitting a panel, grafted it into a tube and then picked up stitches along the top. I then did bust shaping- I found this guide to be most helpful when it came to placement. I also wanted to show a bit of skin, so I made a deep V-neck at the same time I started the raglan shaping. The sleeves are fitted until the wrist, where I increased them to a bit of a flare. I finished it by picking up stitches along the bottom and the sleeves for a couple rows of purl, and a row of single crochet along the neck. I have to go back and fix the top edge of the collar as it likes to fold down.



It fits me perfectly.



It's graceful, romantic and warm. Exactly what I want to wear this time of year to get me out of my winter funk.




I'm in the camp of "math is hard, it hurts by brain". Once I got over that fear, I found it really simple to figure out how to do the math on a sweater. Since the math was applied and not abstract I could get my head around it.


The specs: I used all of 9 skeins of Silk Garden- 1098 yards- on a size 7 needle. I went down to a size 6 on the trim. It took me a hair over two weeks from start to finish. I started out using EZ's percentage system but once I figured out how the game was played, I went along with my gut and invented my system based on my personal measurements. I tried it on quite a bit as I went to figure out how far I wanted the raglan decreases to go. That helped me make little tweaks for a better fit.

Scatterbrain

I finished the FLS sweater! I'll have pictures once I've blocked it and sewn the buttons on. It was a fast knit, but I got bored with it really quickly. I'm happy with how it came out though.

Aside from that, I've been really scattered with my projects. I'll sit down and start to spin for a few minutes. Suddenly, I'll spy my combs sitting on the table, and then I'll be off to comb some fleece. Oooh, and what's that over there? I should really not neglect my weaving.

I don't exactly have a lot of free nights at home, so any time I do have there, I get a little overwhelmed with all the stuff I could be doing. This leads to pretty much nothing getting done, or at least I don't feel the sense of accomplishment if I would just focus on one project.

I did cast on for not one, but TWO more sweaters. One is the Belle Cardigan from Interweave Fall 2007.



It's cute, but I know how "chunky is as chunky does". This might not be terribly flattering in the end. However, it will use up my stash of ropey Rowan Big Wool that I've had lying around for years and years. It's actually making me sneeze as I knit along because the yarn is a little dusty.

The second sweater is one I'm excited for. In a flurry of creativity brought on by frustration, I started designing my own sweater using some Noro Silk Garden. I really love Silk Garden. I've made a giant Clapotis and the Sunrise Circle Jacket from it in the past.



I love the colors and the long stripes, but I was having a hard time finding another flattering pattern using the yarn. I had a few patterns that I almost liked, but I was worried about them being unflattering or a little too hippie-dippy looking.

I got out the graph paper and a calculator and started swatching and sampling. Then I washed and blocked my samples- this yarn tends to grow quite a bit once it is washed, so it's a good idea to make a big swatch and wash it before you take measurements.

I have a few shapes sketched out and all my measurements worked in. I'm hoping to have some time this weekend to really get cooking on this.