mayflower

Over the end-of-year vacation, I completed what has become my all time favorite project. I used the Victorian Pink Lamb's Pride Bulky that I bought a few months ago from the ladies at Discontinued Yarn. It looks like they have a few colors still in stock for a great price of $4.25 each! My favorite online yarn pusher Little Knits also has a selection on discount at $4.65 a skein.

I really love LP Bulky- it's a soft, cushy, single ply yarn that feels wonderful gliding through your fingers onto your needles. Plus, it knits up VERY quickly! My only complaint is that it sheds like crazy. One day as I was picking tufts of mohair and wool off my black dress pants, a stranger remarked, "It looks like you've been rolling around with a cat!" Oh so true!

Since I was home, my little sister modeled the sweater for me.

Pattern: Sweaterbabe.com's 'Fabulous Lace Inset Cardigan'

Yarn: 6 skeins (I think) of Lamb's Pride Bulky in Victorian Pink

Needles: 10 1/2 Addis

Notes: Super simple and fast. I loosely followed the pattern, but altered the number of stitches and shaping of the body and sleeve caps to fit me. I found the pattern to be a little restrictive. Instead of "knit in pattern for 6 inches" or "work until desired length", it was "work 36 rows". Additionally, the pattern is only written in one size, though you could certainly make some easy changes for other sizes. It is a very simple pattern, so once you read through and get the general idea, you could just ditch the instructions.

I love the sleeves! I do believe I still have a thing for belled sleeves (it was certainly my thing in the early days of this blog!)

I found these GREAT buttons, silvery with a subtle pink streak running through them. Perfect! I have always steered clear of buttons in the past, but after this positive experience, I'm full of buttony love!

I have much more to share, so I suspect my next visit will be sooner than 3 months from now! :)

DONE!!...though it definitely needs a good blocking.

Pattern: Emerald from knitty.com
Yarn:  4-5 skeins LB Wool Ease chunky I've had in my stash for YEARS.
Needles: Size 10 Addis
Mods: The original didn't quite do it for me, but I could envision a very ME sweater after some moderate tweakage.

the original...

Here's what I modified:

- did some calculations and changed the number on stitches on everything to create a more fitted product

- shortened the body

- doubled the rows in the button band/ collar for a slightly more dramatic look.

- increased a total of around 20 stitches purlwise in the last few rows of the shawl collar to add a slight flare to the edge, and to compensate for the doubled rows.

- lengthened the arms to add cuffed sleeves

At first I thought the the cable raglan shaping was too bulky, and thought of ripping it out, and replacing the 3x3 cable with a 2x2 cable, but I think it fits the chunky-funky look of the sweater. Overall, a super quick and easy knit. Too bad the weather has already hit the 80s mark, and this little number will likely not get any wear until the weather drops again later this year. Reminds me of the Snowflake sweater last year!

I'm waiting for the yarn to come in for my next CHUNKY number. Almost instant-gratification is so fabulous right now! Until then,  I've picked up the Rebecca cabled sweater I abandoned a few months ago. I'm actually on my second sleeve, and the fronts and backs are done, and ready for the raglan shaping.

Mindless ribbing is great hospital knitting!

Justin, or as my coworker calls him, "Hospital Boy" is 3 weeks out of the horrific wreck. His strength, bravery, and optimism have been so amazing! Friends/ strangers/ nurses have shared experiences of how painful and terribly inconvenient it was to break a wrist, or a leg...but to have a femur, ankle, arm, wrist, ribs, and a cheekbone go ALL AT ONCE, and ALL needing surgery...I can't even imagine! The most used phrase in that room besides "bless your heart!" (is this a Southern thing?) is "Can I have some pain meds, please?"

That red nurse call button was pushed many, many times. We're all quite unhappy with how understaffed the hospital is (great nurses, just not enough of them!). Apparently there's a nursing shortage everywhere? Once, we waited 1 whole AWFUL hour, pressing that darn button every 5 minutes, his pain level escalating (he's post-op people!!) "Can I have some pain meds, please" turned into "pain meds, please" then just "pain meds!!". Ugh.   

But the worst is over now....YAY!... As far as we know, his surgeries which amounted to 5 sites total are completed. He's quite the bionic man now with metal plates, rods, and screws (9 just in his ankle!) in all four limbs and small plates and screws in his face! He moved into the extended stay floor, where he'll stay and work on rehab until he regains use of his arms. After that he's looking into finally going home!

Happy Knitting!

p/s I'm doing some blog housekeeping and updating categories, so those of you reading through bloglines will have  a bazillion "new" posts. Just ignore it.  :)

Surprise FO!! I finished this undocumented (with the exception of this post) project about 3 weeks ago. I was inspired by the IK's Winter '05 wrap, but I pretty much made up the entire pattern as I went along. I started and then promptly abandoned this sweater almost a year ago! Being the kind of spontaneous-pattern-abandoning "get-your-freak-on" knitter that I am, I kept no notes, so guessing the pattern/ my thought process MONTHS later was a tiny challenge! But I LOVE it!

I worked both front panels identically and seamed them together. The sleeves are lightly belled (of course) It was a very simple and quick (ignore the 1  year part!) sweater worked on Addi 10s. The fabric is soooo soft and warm!

closeup...



A quote from my blog dated at December 21st 2005.... "So I was at Joanns yesterday, and of course found myself in the yarn section, absentmindedly touching the mounds and mounds of frilly, froofy, hairy yarn with a permanent look of "...eeeek!" on my face when I saw this...

beautiful, airy, dreamy, soft, delicious....wool at JoAnns?  My mouth literally gaped when I  stumbled on a whole rack of beautiful wool and wool blend yarns in their new Bellezza collection. They had  beautiful and soft 100% wool, classy wool boucles, and this incredible wool cotton (with just a touch of synthetic something or another). It's airy, light, and soo soft (it is as soft as HPY's merino in my opinion) And it was on sale at 2 for $8, with around 130 yards/ball...meaning I can make a yummy sweater for about $30...SCORE!"

Score indeed :D Loved working with the yarn, and love the finished sweater!

So, in case you haven't noticed, any sort of blog activity, both writing and reading have steadily declined since the beginning of the Summer! At first it was that barrage of life-craziness (losses of many kinds...) and now my Senior show is less than 5 weeks away!! Freak-out mode officially in gear! We've ordered 2000 glossy 4x6 postcards of our show announcement....

The press release/ group statement has just been written...check it out...

 

BFA Exhibition

Art Depot - Alternative Space

1703 Texas Ave.

December 1^st, First Friday Art Trail

6pm-9pm

Refreshments served

BFA Exhibition consists of the work of three jewelry and metalsmithing students in their grand finale.  Sharing the creative focus on craftsmanship and technique these artists explore traditional and non-traditional materials in order to examine the worlds of politics, self and imagination.

In the exhibition, the viewer will encounter three philosophical themes, including a macro-socio-cultural critique through objects and adornment, the microcosmic examination of self and identity through objects with an intimacy of scale, as well as fantastic costume elements from an impossible inner world.

Within these three general directions, various aesthetics are established, ranging from conceptual to spiritual, from simple to geometric structures. Through their intuition and mastery of craft, each artist succeeds in creating a highly individual and symbolic vocabulary.

BFA Exhibition documents the journeys of three unique paths in the field of jewelry and metalsmithing, that the creative possibilities of this medium are endless.  The works on view are by:  <deleted because of google issues!>

YIKES!! We're expecting A LOT of family and friends, so the pressure is definitely on!

I'll definitely try to check in before that :)

Thanks for all your graduation-congratulations and good luck wishes!!

I swear I'll get back to the blog reading soon....I miss reading your blogs!

Diamonique is finished! Well, finished enough....there is some edge stitching left to be done on the neckband...but it's complete enough for a quick photo shoot!

Pattern: Diamonique by Sauniell
Yarn: Paton's Brilliant in Blue Shimmer, 3 1/2 ish balls
Needles: Addi 6s

This was an easy, mellow knit and I'm quite pleased with the finished product!  I changed most of the measurements/ shaping to fit me

It's rained all weekend and the temperature has hung out in the 60s and 70s....Fall is coming!! I immediately started something wonderful out of the Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool I've had sitting in my stash for a few months.

The accurate color is a mix between these two!

I love the texture and fabric created by this wool/ silk mix, and have decided to knit a very simple, classy bottom up raglan. It'll likely have a low(er) boat-like neck and belled sleeves (of course!)

Rows and rows of mindless stockinette! Perfect for lazy rainy days.... I spent my Sunday drinking hot chocolate, knitting away and watching Frida (must see!) Naked World (documentary on artist Spencer Kunick....image google his work!) and Love, Ludlow (a quirky, indie flick) I'm sure I'll start something less mindless soon!

And for something completely un-knitting bloggish and UTTERLY un-May.....

watch out!!

Yes, I'm a bad ass...

My friend James took me to an outdoor range in a small canyon a short drive outside the city to shoot his college graduation present, an AR-15 (yes, this is Texas!) If you haven't picked it up, I'm a very mellow, artsy-fartsy, non-violent sort of chick, and shooting an assault rifle is most definitely NOT my style! The first shot scared. the. hell. out of me. Even with ear protection is was SOO loud and it kicked pretty hard (notice the sandbag I have over my shoulder!). After the initial "OMG!!!" moment (or moments) I was on a roll and shot off about 50 rounds! yikes! It was definitely an experience :D

There were bullet shells of all different sizes, some of which were beautifully rusty from being there for years. I was MUCH more interested in shooting photos than the rifle! ;)

it made a wonderful clinky noise when you walked over them!

I'm off to work in the metals studio....Happy Labor Day!

Woohoo! Knitting content has finally returned! I finished this baby last week, and i LOVE it!

Pattern: Mandarin Blouse by Anne Modesitt in IK's Spring 2006
Yarn: LB's Cotton Ease, about 1.5 balls (I think...maybe more?)
Needles: Addi 8s

close-up of the neckline...

I LOVE the details in this top...the stitch pattern, the collar, the i-cord bind off. A big change I made was leaving off the i-cord ties (mitosis, wormy looking things they were!) and just seaming it up. If I had come up with this solution earlier I would have worked it in the round.

In other HAPPY news, I ran 2.2 miles! 3 weeks ago I decided I would start running. There was going to be a 5k race in 3 weeks, and with the encouragement of some runner friends, I decided to go for it! When I started, I couldn't even run one lap around the track (1/4 mile). I continued to run everyday (a breakup is great fuel for running!!) and yesterday, 3 weeks later, I ran 2.2 miles!!!! I didn't reach my original goal of 5k/3 miles, but I'm still THRILLED. And come on,  what was I thinking? 5k in 3 weeks? I hadn't worked out in over a year and was never a runner!

Every few days I met a new goal, from running 1/4 mile, running 1/2 mile, reaching my first mile, 1 1/2 miles, 2 miles. This has helped me SO MUCH...every goal was a victory for me, not just in running, but also a personal victory over everything that has happened over the last 2 months. Start running...I highly recommend it!

Gotta run, more knitting next time :D