i think i’ve milked this for all it’s worth. time to move on.
Well this was quick and easy, even including my brain-damaged goofiness that required a bit of frogging and starting over. Sheesh. It’s been a rough new year for finished objects. (Speaking of, I’m going to deal with my too-big Dark & Stormy this weekend, believe me you’ll know how that goes. 
) So anyway, this is my new project, officially known as “a very braidy cowl” (pattern here, rav page here, my rav project page here, ta-dah!) and designed by Maryse Roudier. Mine is named Oh, Marcia. Enough — here it is:
Marcia, Marcia Marcia - a very braidy cowl
The color’s not quite right; it’s more aqua than that, but I don’t have my laptop and I’m lost without all my junk. So this is just the raw shot out of the camera, unadjusted to righten-up the colors. The yarn was lovely to work with (SweetGeorgia superwash worsted, colorway summer skin….shoulda been summer sky if you ask me but she didn’t), and this pattern used .8 of a skein. I haven’t blocked it yet, I just finished kitchenering it together and wanted to throw this up before I head downtown. Will I be wearing it, on this dismal gray day? Why yes I will.
If you ever need a very quick gift that looks much more difficult than it is, this would be your project. Size 8 needles, less than a skein, a few hours’ knitting, and organic braidy yummy soft warmth is yours (or theirs!). Of course, if you make it, you’ll read the whole thing before you start, unlike me this time, so you’ll see the “cast on provisionally” before you start. You’re just so good that way, maybe one of these days I will be, too.
oh, and p.s.: when i pulled it off my head after trying it on, it rested for a second on my head, covering my ears, so i can tell you with authority that it’d make a damn fine earwarmer, too. or hair thing to hold your hair off your face when it’s driving you up the WALL man, and those scissors would just take care of it but then the husband wouldn’t like that because he likes long hair but today it’s driving me NUTS…oops.
oh poopy day (oh poopy day), oh poopy da-a-ay, I’m glad you’re gone (oh yes I am), so glad you’re gone (you’re really gone)…:)
BOY am I glad it’s a new day. Thank you for your sweet comments on my last post; as always, you helped me feel less alone. I really do know, intellectually, that everyone has experiences like mine. But when you just keep doing one wonky thing after another — even though, especially though, you know better — you start to think it’s just you, man. At least I do.
The last comment was from Naomi, who gave the very best name for days like that. They’re poopy days. Yes they are. Poopy, poopy, poopy days. I like that so much more than crappy days, or shitty days. Those two descriptors are as foul as the day itself. But a poopy day, well, you kind of have to laugh a little, feel a bit lighter about it. It’s just a poopy day.
And the good thing about poopy days (or weeks, months, seasons, or years) is that they end. At some point, finally, they do end. This morning I woke up back to my old self, and thus endeth the poopy day, and hallelujah for that. Last night I put in a bit of time knitting my new cowl while I watched an incredibly poopy movie (The Company Men, as cliched and idiotic as you’d expect). Thank heavens for knitting, it salvages lost hours. At least I got something done while wasting time on a stupid movie. Want to see?
oh, marcia cowl -- in sweet georgia worsted
Something’s gone wrong with my big flash for my camera; I’ve replaced the batteries twice, so it’s not battery-related. It’s really too fancy for me — I don’t understand any of the settings, so I’m sure I just goofed with a setting or something. But you can see the result in my photo, which is not well-lit. Maybe my flash is having a poopy day, so I should just wait to see if it’s better tomorrow.
The cowl will be wonderful, I can tell. Just using the brilliant sunny yarn is enough to lift gray spirits, and when I wear it out into the winter, I know that it’ll lift gray spirits too — mine and anyone who sees it, I hope. Because oh yes, winter continues.
I spent the morning grading stats papers — not as much fun as you might imagine — so now I’m going to get to work on a little bit of house cleaning before settling back to my knitting position. Which is my favorite position of them all. Oh yeah? Yours too? You’re in my tribe.
Well! This was really the year of sweater knitting; I finished five sweaters this year. Last year I made two, so this was a dramatic increase. It was nice to start the year off with a sweater, even if 90% of it was completed last year. My first FO of 2011 was the Dark & Stormy cardigan, designed by Thea Colman, knit in Madelinetosh vintage (colorway baltic). The pattern was a birthday gift from my friend Kelly, and I absolutely adore the sweater. This’ll stand in until I get a nice shot of me wearing it:
Continue Reading–248 words totally
Well! This was really the year of sweater knitting; I finished five sweaters this year. Last year I made two, so this was a dramatic increase. It was nice to start the year off with a sweater, even if 90% of it was completed last year. My first FO of 2011 was the Dark & Stormy cardigan, designed by Thea Colman, knit in Madelinetosh vintage (colorway baltic). The pattern was a birthday gift from my friend Kelly, and I absolutely adore the sweater. This’ll stand in until I get a nice shot of me wearing it:
just gorgeous, in every way
It seems to be a blue year, this year; while I was waiting for some yarn to arrive, I knocked out a quick braidy cowl, which I named Oh, Marcia. So corny. It’s the Very Braidy Cowl, in Sweet Georgia worsted (colorway summer skin):
Marcia, Marcia Marcia - a very braidy cowl
In exactly the same colorway, but sock weight (which had been my intention when I mistakenly bought the worsted, above), here’s a pair of socks I made for my youngest daughter Anna’s 20th birthday. She really loves handknit socks, much to my real surprise, which makes it such fun to make them for her. This pattern is Komet:
the komet pattern (free on rav), in Sweetgeorgia tough sock, colorway summer skin
SO MUCH BLUE. Something very different was called for……red. Here’s my “I need something red shawl” (aka LaReine Shawl, by Angela Tong, in OkayKnits Sena, colorway sweetie-pie). I absolutely adore this piece, and wear it all the time:
it's such a vibrant color, and a very nice length!
I had this absolutely gorgeous colorway of madelinetosh’s Tosh Merino Light called filigree, so I used one skein of it to make a Saroyan. I loved the pattern, and loved the yarn, but for some reason it won’t photograph correctly, no matter what I do, what kind of light, etc. So trust me, it’s a gorgeous olive green, not so brown:
IT'S NOT BROWN!!! grrrrrr!!
If this wasn’t the quickest and simplest hat pattern in the world, I don’t know what is, but the yellow and white combo really lifts it into “Wow! Where’d you get that hat!” status. Made for Marnie, the pattern is “My Striped & Slouchy Hat“, knit in Cascade 220.
adorable, right?!
These socks — Angee, by Cookie A, knit in KnitPicks Felici (colorway: green vegetables) — are for my oldest daughter Katie, who (a) loves green and (b) picked the pattern. I love knitting for my kids. Knitting the hat above and the socks below was a great antidote to winter.
angee, in knitpicks felici
It took forever, but I made a second Traveling Woman shawl in tosh DK, colorway byzantine. It’s gorgeous, drapy, squishy, and warm:
Traveling Woman Shawl, by Liz Abinante, in tosh DK
A very very quick little knit, I cranked out the Fetching mitts in a couple hours. The yarn is so soft, Cascade Eco Duo (70% alpaca, 30% merino), in the vanilla colorway. It’s a fun knit, and I know the mitts will be luscious to wear but I don’t know how they’ll hold up, given how soft they are (and the yarn is loosely-spun singles). Still, look:
you wouldn't believe how soft these are!
I love this hot little number: Hannah Fettig’s featherweight cardigan, in Spirit Trail Fiberworks’ “clotho,” colorway deliciously called dragon’s blood. This is a wonderful little sweater, I see why everyone has made it.
the color is dragon's blood
This was without a doubt the fastest sweater I’ve ever knit; it really just took 13 days, even though there was a 15-day break in the middle while I was gone to Vietnam and didn’t work on it at all. This is my Wintry Mix sweater, designed by Amy Herzog, knit in the recommended yarn (Berroco Blackstone Tweed).
Wintry Mix, by Amy Herzog (yarn: berroco blackstone tweed, in evergreen)
A second Thea Colman design, this one the Vodka Gimlet — but since my colorway was Oz (Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted), I named my sweater Ozma’s Delight. I can’t express how much I adore this sweater, I’ll probably wear it every day:
sweater LOVE
When the weather started smelling cold, I realized I don’t have a warm hat, so I knocked out A Hat for Eudora, designed by Alexandra Tinsley. The pattern was a birthday gift from Kelly, and the yarn is Cascade 220. I call it my Berry Welty hat.
the hem facing is blue and purple, but only I get to know that!
Here’s my Laurayana sweater — Ayana by Amy Herzog, pattern gifted by my friend Laura. This was knit in Cascade 220 Heathers (color, montmartre, which is much more dusty lavender than it looks here).
really such a comfortable sweater to wear.
For my youngest daughter Anna, a pair of handknit socks — the only kind of socks she wears, which cracks me up given who she is, otherwise. Not a handknit anything kind of person!
Kai-Mei (pattern by Cookie A), in KnitPicks Stroll Tonal (golden glow)
Her foot is at least a couple sizes smaller than mine, so that sock is stretched pretty far to fit over my foot!
getting control of my excesses
I don’t know if you’re like this, but I have a very itchy mouse-finger. When I see yarn or tools or patterns I like, click! click! click! Right into the electronic shopping cart. Or the Ravelry queue. More, more, MORE! About a year ago, I realized that I could stem the spending tide by putting things in electronic shopping carts and clicking “save” instead of “check out.” That seemed to do the trick, somehow; it satisfied that momentary craving, and after a while, I didn’t really need whatever it was I’d put in the shopping cart. My Amazon account is like that too.
Now, though, now that I’m in the period between having a stable income and figuring out how to have at least enough of an income, it has a new urgency. Frugal is my new watchword, at least in this interim period.
So last night I went “shopping” in my ravelry account. I looked at the excesses in my queue (though I’m not as bad as some! one raveler has 6,182 projects queued and 20,141 things faved. I’m going to have to unfriend her because when I look at my friends activity page, it’s always flooded by her and we don’t have the same taste). Anyway – long diversion there, sorry – I looked at my 183-item queue and put some real order in it. After I finish the projects on the needles, what do I really want to knit? Really?
I have 10 projects ready to go, matched with yarn that’s already in my stash:
- Austin Hoodie, knit with my porcelain tosh merino light
- Sockhead hat, knit with some cool sock yarn my youngest daughter gave me for mother’s day
- A Noro striped scarf, using some really beautiful and soft Noro I stashed
- Inaugural Sweater, with yarn I bought specifically for it
- and A Very Braidy Cowl, with yarn I got from Kelly when she was destashing
1. madelinetosh, tosh merino light (colorway: porcelain), 2. Regia Galaxy – Jupiter, 3. Noro Silk Garden, colorway 267, 4. Noro Silk Garden, colorway 275, 5. Valley Sheffield, 6. crystal palace merino5 color 9454
And 5 more ready to go after those. There’s something that feels so good about imposing constraints, limits, order.
See? No more wedding talk.
.
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