mayflower

Finishing a project deserves a big "wheee!" but finishing a project that fits well deserves a whole chorus of gleeful "wheeeeeeeeee!"s :D I'm one thrilled chica, even if it did get to 80 degrees today!

pattern: Snowflake sweater from Paton's Indigo Days booklet (I ordered mine from Joann.com)

yarn: Paton's Classic Wool 3/4ish ball 'natural mix', 1/2 ball of 'new denim', and 3 and a smidge balls of 'worn denim'

needles: sz 7 addis

notas: my tension was off (I don't think it ever is right on!) so I fudged the pattern quite a bit. I knit everything to my measurements and my tastes (longer non tapered sleeves, waist shaping etc.)I knew my neck would throw a fit if I knit the turtle neck it called for, so I changed it to a sleeker, cuter boat-ish neck.

Blocking did AMAZING things! The stitches evened out, and the whole sweater relaxed quite a bit.

Here's a pre-blocking shot...

Crazy! I heavily blocked the sleeves with some McGyver-ed blocking wires :D If only all fibers blocked like this!

This was my first foray into fair-isle, and I'm hooked! More color-work sweaters are definitely in my future!

Here's a detail shot....

still not completely flat and even, but I'm okay with that!

things I'm not 100% lovin':
* I loved knitting w/ this yarn, but it's a little high on the itch-factor (I have a very low tolerance!)Its soaking date with some nice Lavendar Eucalan did soften it a little, but not enough!  Since it has a sleek wear-alone shape, I'm thinking of lining it with a nice, slinky fabric. Being merino, it's already started to pill and fuzz up a little, though nothing like HPY pill-machine merino.

*The snowflakes don't line up at the seams! The booklet shot is the same way, so I really could made adjustments. But I'm not THAT big of a perfectionist about knitting, so it's all gravy baby! (it's been awhile since I heard that phrase!)

All in all, it was an easy and fun knit! The sweater is a really basic raglan construction, so I'd say even newbies (maybe advanced newbs) could tackle this! Fair Isle knitting is a lot easier than it looks, though in this pattern you are FI-ing on the purl rows, which is a small annoyance.

And for all of you who were "awwwww"-ed by Ms. Alice, here's a picture of her getting snuggly w/ J!

awwww....and she had just met him an hour ago!

Next time....further sock woes *sigh* and new projects!

It's SPRING BREAK!! ....more like Spring-work-my-butt-off-break :( Remember I had mentioned knitting the snowflake sweater to wear on my fabulous Spring Break skiing getaway? I had to choose between 1. spending lotsa money or 2. staying and working (on the job and DOG-SITTING!) and of course being the poor college-kid that I am, I chose the latter. It would have been so nice to take a vacation, but who am I kidding? I have sooo much work to do in the studio and besides, I really need to save up for CHICAGO! Wahoo! A group of studio buddies and I are headed that way for a week in May for an art conference :D Anyway...

So you know I can get a smidge overzealous when it comes to starting projects right? Well, it was getting to the point of craziness, so I reached into my bin of UFOs and pulled out a couple projects that I had completely forgotten about. The great thing is that the majority of them are 85%-99%  completed! A little knitting time, and voila, a brand new FO! Instant gratification!

pretty curves...what could it be?

Here's one i started while I was home in San Diego over Christmas. I actually finished 75% of it while I was there, but  never got around to blogging about it! It's knitted with a beautiful and dreamy wool-cotton-nylon(i think) yarn from Joann's new Bellezza collection.

mmm, so soft, especially after working w/ Paton's classic wool (which is soft-ish, but has nothing on this stuff!) Any guesses as to what this mystery project could be? ;)

The Rebbecca eyelet sweater was temporarily abandoned in my fair-isle frenzy...but now this baby is finally getting some sleeves!

mmm, yummy merino!

I'm DONE DONE DONE with the snowflake sweater!! I'm waiting on posting because I've yet to block it (and oh my, does it need a blocking!) But this hasn't stopped me from wearing it everywhere! I ABSOLUTELY love it! It is by far my favorite thing I've ever knit, and frankly I'm pretty darn proud of myself ;) Be sure to swing by soon to check it out!

Whoa, I'm making all sorts of progress on the knitting front! It may seem like I either 1. knit allll the time or 2. knit really really fast, but in reality I don't post all that often, and I got a lot done in the few weeks before studios started getting hectic :)

whew, someone needs a good blocking! Since this is my first fair-isle project, my tension is pretty darn wacko...In the same panel, I've erred on BOTH too tight and too loose :( It started out tight, I realized this and of course over compensated. I'm not super-anal at all with knitting, so it's all good :D I'm using Paton's Classic Wool and i LOVE it! It's a soft and earthy wool that's wonderful to knit with. I think I love the way it's smells the most..nice and woolly without being too sheepy! BUT since I seem to be a little sensitive to wool, I know it'll be a little scratchy as a sweater :( JoAnn.com is having this stuff on sale at 4.49 a ball (over 200 yards!) Sometimes they have this special with FREE SHIPPING! It's a great deal! (I just found a free shipping code valid until the 28th! Here it is:GREETING020625 It's a great time to buy yourself some! )

Even Bonnie, the whippet princess loves this stuff! At 14, she's all (very spoiled) princess. Only a princess would have a pretty sweater, a soft leopard print blankie, and a pillow of merino wool! And of course there's Flame, a very sweet greyhound (i love this goofy pic of him!). I spent the past week dog-sitting these babes! When my crazy life settles down, I'm definitely getting a whippet or a greyhound (maybe both, like Wendy!)

         

Taking four studios while battling waves of senioritis and dry creative juices has been tough, especially with the pressure of GRAD SCHOOL looming ahead (eeee!). My professors have told me to "just paint!" "just play!" "don't be so serious about your work!" but the little voice in my head says "nooo! your work must be stellar! you need a fab portfolio to get into a good grad program! no playing for you!" *sigh*  I may be loosey-goosey with my knitting, but school is definitely another story. BUT I feel like I'm on the verge of a nice sprinkling of creative juices, so I'm optimistic :D The coming year scares me...graduation/grad school?/move?/boyfriend?....eep! But eventually everything will fall into place, right? I guess you'll all just have to stay tuned :D

Happy Knitting!

Welcome to mayflower's new home! i'm still in the process of moving and tweaking, so bear with me :) I had issues importing my xanga archives to typepad, because the posts had to be converted to a movable type format. I found a script that ran in python that automatically converted posts for you, but of course the script had a bug and didn't work. So, I ended up cutting and pasting posts (back 4 months or so) , and typepad for the most part kept the formatting (yay!)

I'm also having trouble getting the webrings to work like it should. I copied the code, and it goes from this page to the next site on the ring like it should, but it doesn't work backwards. For example, in the acrylic annonymous ring, if you click "next", it takes you to carrieoke's, but when you click "previous" from hers, it brings you to my xanga site. I've deleted the code from xanga, but this didn't help much. Am I supposed to contact webring admins to change my site code? Any insight?

Anyway....without further ado....

tiny cables on the job at Hester Books!

thinking of working....

    

I decided to lengthen the body quite a bit, since my last few cardis have erred on the just-a-smidge-too-short side. To complement the length, I added waist shaping (I'm short so a straight, longer jacket would make me look very stubby!) Tiny cables run on both sides of the zipper

working hard...

back view

I love the little details in
this jacket! A ridge runs down the back, and is

flanked by  a row of
delicate tiny cables on each side. The raglan construction and cable-decreases add extra detailing (though I still think they're a little bit on the big side) The original collar is folded in and sewn, but I decided to leave it out, which i think complements the bottom ribbing.

hardly working...
side/sleeve view

Once again, beautiful detailing! The same ridge/tiny cable motif is repeated on both sleeves. I started the sleeves wider than what the pattern called for (ya know I hate super-tapered sleeves!) and knit the rest according to my measurements..or knit knit knit...measure against my arm...knit knit knit
(like my holey painty pants? ;) )

What I'm really not digging...
wavy zipper action part 1
the edging on the front panels is 2 purl stitches(mm, u know what I mean)....After my grueling 2 hours with the zipper on this baby, I came to the conclusion that you cannot possibly install a neat hidden zipper in this kind of edging.. impossible I tell you!(I'm sure some of you zipper-pros disagree...so do tell me the secret!) A nice seed/garter edging, like the one on the merino cardi would work perfectly. This edging just curls and looks plain ole messy no matter where you sew the zipper in at.

Wavy zipper action part 2
The zipper, most likely due to some installation error (*sigh*)  tends to poof and wave.... wahoo! instant love handles!...or a frontal love handle to be more exact. Sometimes, depending on how I'm sitting/standing, the lump travels up and turn into a third boob, other times it falls lower and gives the end of the cardi an irritating little whooosh. BUT, this waviness really is a tiny issue. Most times it dissapears, so it really doesn't bother me that much.

pattern
#22,  the "zippered jacket" from the Winter 04/05 VK Overall this is a GREAT pattern! It's a simply, classy, non-boring every-day jacket with beautiful attention to detail. If you knit it, definitely change the edging of the front panels to a garter/seed stitch.
yarn
LB's Cotton Ease in Icy Blue (I think about 4.5-5 balls) I LOVE this yarn!  It's soft, smooth, and provides just the right amount of warmth for our mild mild winter
needles
addi 8s

anddd....I started a new project! Yes, I know the count is really rediculous (check the ufo album on the sidebar to see for yourself!), but it's okay! :) I really wanted to have an fair isle sweater to knit and wear this season.It's the snowflake sweater on the cover of Paton's Indigo Days booklet . J and I might go skiing for Spring Break, so this will be the perfect sweater to wear!   

I'm working on art photo-albums (metals and painting), so be sure to come back and check 'em out! Progress on the Rebecca cardi and my new painting studio next time!