Tres Chic Veronique

Oops. Temptation was too strong...
I accompanied my roommate Jess to Habu, and managed to convince myself that she absolutely required my expert advice. As if Jess doesn't know anything about yarn...
I needed to buy mohair/silk yarn for a sweater that I'm making for my aunt (I boasted about one of my designs for Sensual Knits--out January 1008!-- and she paid me so many compliments that, the next thing you know, I'm knitting her a sweater. Yes, I get cajoled easily). As my aunt is paying for the yarn, that purchase is allowed according to the guidelines of Knit From Your Stash 2007.
And then ... I found some black tweed lace weight yarn on sale.
Tweed lace?! I've never seen such a thing! All of a sudden, I felt a competitive buying urge. I *had* to buy it before Brooklyn Tweed saw it! (Don't feel too bad for him though, there was a cone of similar yarn that I didn't buy, and I emailed him about it). Somehow I rationalized this purchase because my aunt was paying for it. It was a little gift from her (that she doesn't know about)! Right? But when I had to make my roommate promise she wouldn't blog about my purchases or tell the Spiders, I knew, deep down, that what I had done was wrong. Well, wrong in the sense that acquiring gorgeous yarn can be wrong. Which it's not! Right?

One week later, my friend Liisa decided to make the leap into sweater knitting. She's only knit more straightforward items such as squares for a blanket, a feather and fan scarf and a cape. Liisa has a tendency to improvise with any instructions, and when you're in the beginning stages of a craft, it can turn against you. (I found this out the hard way: the first 3 sweaters that I knitted were absolutely unwearable). For this project, she vowed to get the yarn called for in the pattern and stick to the instructions to the letter. After emailing back and forth, she selected the Minimalist Cardigan from this Fall's Interweave Knits. We went to Seaport Yarn this weekend to buy Lily Chin's Park Avenue yarn. Well, the next thing you know, I found some Louet sock yarn in the most unusual shade of blue, a vivid turquoise (destined to become Esther's socks<--Ravelry link. Cathy just sent me this amazing pattern!)

A lace yarn that I love and cannot find in any bricks and mortar store (Ornaghi Filati's Merino Oro). I've used this yarn for the Mystery Shawl 2, purchased at One Fine Yarn-- $16 for 1,300 yds! It is so soft...

and laceweight linen (surprisingly soft!) in an icy blue color...



I have no excuse whatsoever.

Labels: knit from your stash

My friend Sarah Schaffer, who is not a girly girl, decided it was time to jump into this intriguing and oh-so-pretty world. Since she admired my black heart dress, I offered to sew her a summer dress, and she did not hesitate to say yes! After a long internet search for green polka dot fabrics, we shopped at Purl Patchwork on July 3rd, and came out with... brown fabric with light blue flowers. Yes, fashion works in mysterious ways.
Once I got home, I immediately washed, dried and ironed the fabric, then cut out the pieces and did some basic assembly. I knew from experience with this Simplicity 4170 pattern that both the bodice and the skirt would need to be pinned on her to ensure a perfect fit. (Our male friends were very curious about this process, but we told them this was a girls-only event. Sorry guys). On July 4th, Sarah came over to my new digs, we made a few adjustments, and voila! A dress in one evening and one afternoon! (The zipper is seriously wonky though, oops. Also, this dress fits Sarah in a completely different way than it fits me: the waist actually hits her waist, whereas I am apparently too tall and get an empire waist effect).
In exchange, Sarah will take me on a row boat in Central Park. We plan to take a day off of work, wear our dresses (and hats) and drift...
Sarah seems very happy with her new dress, don't you think?

It's even comfortable enough to take a nap in!


Next up was Sarah's husband Mark. Again, the Schaffers were so vocal in their admiration of something that I was making that I made one for them. (They are very clever). Here is Mark moping his brow with a Mason Dixon Warshrag during one of his shows at Arlene's Grocery. It was a rocking set and he made good use of the Warshrag! You can check him out in action in this brand new video (I was actually present at the shoot!).

Labels: schaffers, summer dress

Although I feel like I'm more of a sweater or big project knitter, but I cannot resist the call of self-striping sock yarn...
I signed up (just in time!) for the Yarntini sock club, and drooled over the first shipment. As you might recall, I tried several stitch patterns until I finally came to my senses and decided to knit all stockinette.

(How do you like my new Ikea lockers?)

Specs:
Yarn: Yarntini self-striping yarn in Pure Breeze.
Needles: Addi size 1 (2.5 mm), 40" length, magic loop.
Pattern: As I was winding the yarn, I counted the number of white stripes: 28 total. Therefore, I planned on knitting 14 white stripes per sock, and to work them toe up to use this gorgeous yarn to the last drop. (Kaitlyn thinks I'm crazy, but really, it was the thing to do, no?).
I started off with a figure 8 cast-on. I love this cast-on: it's completely invisible and so neat! --When Grumperina raved on her blog about Judy's magic cast-on, I became very curious about this cast-on to beat all cast-ons. Not to mention jealous that someone knew a cast-on that was better than the one I knew. Turns out that they are one and the same! *Phew*--
Started with 16 st (8 on each side), increased to 54 for the foot. Misocrafty heel (and got NO HOLES for the first time ever). Once I got to the leg, I realized I had to fit in some increases to accommodate calves. So I threw in 2 increases at each dark blue stripe, for a total of 10 st increased.
I finished off with k1p1 ribbing, and bound off with a tubular bind off. Although it's the best bind-off for socks, it's quite tedious...
Another thing that's quite tedious? (You know this already). Taking pictures of your own legs. Here was my first attempt:


As soon as I was done with one pair of Yarntini socks, I only wanted to do one thing: make another pair! Good thing that I received the second Yarntini sock club installment, a variegated merino/tencel blend in "Mojito Mint". I decided that this was a perfect summer sock yarn, and that I needed an open, airy sock pattern. Hedera!
Here's what I have so far:

Why, yes, I *do* have a fire escape in my new apartment. Why do you ask?

Labels: socks, Yarntini