Tres Chic Veronique

Lately, all my posts have been proudly displaying an FO. Well, I felt like posting more than once a month, so this time, you'll get to see some WIPs!

I started making the Socks for Veronik from the sold out IK Holiday issue. I felt like I had no choice, really, since they are almost named after me, and since the designer, Mona Schmidt and my sister share a name! I lusted after the STR in the color Brick, after seeing it at Rhinebeck, but the line was way too long, so I purchased it online. I immediately noticed that the yarn *might* be a little on the thick side for this pattern, but trudged along nonetheless. You know what happened next, right?



Yes, the socks are too wide... Luckily, a little stash diving unearthed some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in the Purl custom color Sunshine Stripe. Perfect!
Oh, and the sock blockers? I got some for Marie for the Spider's party, but you know, if you pay for shipping, you might as well get more items, right? Right. The eBay vendor Chappy's Mom was fantastic.

I've also been working on Olga's cover jacket from Sensual Knits. I'm using DB Cashmerino Aran in the discontinued and awesome color 609 (a rusty, glowing orange), and recalculating for my gauge. See? I really do like knitting math!
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Check out the serious waist shaping!

Labels: olga, sensual knits, socks for veronik

Look what came out early! The release date for Sensual Knits was supposed to be January 2008, but many Barnes & Noble stores shelved them right before Thanksgiving. Heather, the ADD knitter, was the first to call this to my attention. Not only that, but she actually went out and bought me a copy which she dropped off in Brooklyn this weekend. Wow. Thanks Heather!

I have 2 designs in this book. Joie de Vivre has been knitted 3 times. Yup, THREE times. The first was a prototype for myself, in Karabella Margritte that I dyed purple. I submitted this design for publication, but was asked to reknit it with longer sleeves. Marie of Brooklyn Handspun donated and dyed some marvelous wool/silk blend yarn in a lovely icy shade of blue, and Jamie Cary took quite a few glamorous photos (Flickr set here).

When Yahaira saw me wearing this cardigan last November at a knit blogger meet-up organized by Rangsiwan, she expressed an interest in it, but I had promised it to another publication. Well, that deal fell through, so Yahaira snapped it up. But not before she gave me some red bamboo yarn (similar to this) and asked me to ditch the zipper. I loved working with bamboo yarn! It's so fluid and shiny and soft... The overall effect is very kimono-like, which is completely different from the wool/silk version. I can't decide which one I like best.

The other design, Tranparencies, was knit in silk/mohair yarn. The sample was made with Shibui Knit's Silk Cloud (color Rust), and I'm currently re-knitting it for my aunt in Habu's Silk/Mohair (I was totally tricked into it! That'll teach me to show off...).


There are so many designs in there that I want to cast on for right now! Olga's cover jacket is definitely on my list.

Bravo Yahaira! The publishers were so impressed with her work that they asked her to prepare a second book. And I have another design in there :)

Labels: sensual knits

Remember all the secret knitting I've been talking about? Well, here is my big secret: I have 2 designs in Yahaira's book, Sensual Knits!
Here's how it went down: Yahaira asked for design submissions back in November. I gave her 2 sketches and pictures of one completed project (which was originally destined for an online knitting mag, one that you all know, it starts with a K and ends with a Y, but although the editor told me she would publish my design, she inexplicably bailed. I've since heard that this is not uncommon with her).
I can prove that this book actually exists: the Amazon page is up!

One other contributor is Mim (designer of the Icarus and Seraphim shawls). There plenty of others, most of whom you've heard about, but I will wait (impatiently) until they announce it themselves. (I somehow feel that I'm not allowed to "out" anyone). OK, fine, I'll give you a few hints: one of them takes "Fiber Fix" photographs, one lives in San Francisco, one has a line of alpaca yarn, one made a gorgeous Weekender bag, one is becoming as obsessed as I am about Habu yarn, one makes cool knitting pouches that sell out the day they are posted, one makes self-striping yarn that sells out just as fast if not faster, and one is british.
I'm so excited!!

Labels: sensual knits