Monday, August 28, 2006

What I've been working on lately

I know I promised a picture of my fiber fest spoils, but that will take too long! So, this is a drive-by posting to show the progress I have made on my latest project, the "Under the Hoodie" sweater from Stitch n' Bitch.



As you can see, right now it is basically still a square... another few inches and I'll get to do something exciting. But I am enjoying the endless stockinette and I am pleased with my color choices. I am always nervous ordering online, which is what I had to do to find any Lamb's Pride this time of year. I was terrified that the red was going to be orange-red or purple-red or brown-red... but it ended up a nice red-red. I like-like!

I picked this pattern as my first knit sweater because of the almost complete lack of shaping to it. Hoodies are one of the few things that look good when they are boxy and not form fitting. I didn't want to add the "let's make this flattering by doing lots of decreases and increases" into the equation, so this pattern seemed perfect.

Now, back to the stockinette!

Monday, August 21, 2006

Tease

The lack of blogging (and commenting on all of your blogs!) will probably continue for a bit. Super busy at work. Knitting a sweater in stockinette, which is super boring to photograph right now. But. When I return, it will be to report on the Michigan Fiber Festival and to show the bags of loot I obtained at said festival.... (That is known as a teaser. Are you teased?)

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Books, books, books

I recently checked out two knitting books from my library. Despite its very 1980s cover fashion, The Knitting Experience: Book 3: Color by Sally Melville has some great patterns in it. I am not crazy about the sweaters (which do tend to be boxy and a bit out of style) but there were two skirts, several bags, and some placemats that I loved. And the instructions? Phenomenal. The photos for working intarsia and Fair Isle were in color, so you could really see what yarn was supposed to be going where. I think when I am ready to tackle these types of knitting, it will be to this book I turn. It is on my “to buy” list.

The second book I checked out was Debbie Bliss’s Special Knits for Babies: 22 Gorgeous Handknits for Babies since I have a few cousins and friends with babies and some good stash yarn for a wee one. The designs are lovely. But, I admit to finding it frustrating that every pattern called for an expensive Debbie Bliss yarn. I know, I could swatch with what I have and figure out all the math, but... is it so hard to list several yarn options? Maybe I was just in a grumpy mood, but I ended up just feeling very blech and lazy about it all and will be returning the book w/o having made a single item.

Besides knitterly books, I am reading volume I of Samuel Pepys' diary. I don’t know if I really have the desire to read all ten (he kept a yearly diary from 1660 to 1669) but I am enjoying this one. I love reading old letters and diaries. I am so nosy!

And I am taking breaks from Pepys with an “easy on the brain” mystery by Ngaio Marsh called Dyed in the Wool. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any knitting in it.... just a corpse in a bale of wool! eeeeeewwwww.....

Monday, August 07, 2006

Back to my first love

Ah yes, back to some crocheting. What did you think I meant? ;-) I took a look at what I have been doing over the past few months and it has all been knitting since my Spider Stitch Shrug (finished in May). This is partly due to the joy of my growing ease with knitting, partly the small projects I have wanted to do have just happened to be knit, and partly because (shhhh... don't tell any one this) I am finding that I just like the look of knitted fabric better than crocheted. However. I still really enjoy crocheting (and in many ways find it more relaxing because there is less tension concerning dropped stiches and it so much easier to rip!) so I was eager to start another crocheted project. Enter: the Bacon Blanket. No, I am not turning into Lady Linoleum ! ;-) My hubby took one look at the wavy chevrons and colors of my afghan and dubbed it the Bacon Blanket...


No pattern, just the chevron pattern from the Crochet Stitch Bible. We'll see how it turns out... maybe it will need an egg pillow to go with it?