WIP: Ondrea Prototype

  

After almost two years of sitting around waiting to be finished, this cardigan is finally on its way again. I knit the second sleeve last week, and this week I crocheted the button band on using math, a crochet hook waaaaay too small to be pleasant, and a fair bit of determination. Since this was a design that I created for my senior fashion show in 2013 - and thus, never meant to be a written-up pattern - I took incredibly crappy notes, which I promptly lost. Because of it, this last bit of work has been pretty much improvised.

It's been a slog, but I think it's worth it: I'm super happy with the way it's turning out. Louet Gems Sport, while a total pain to work with, settles into a heavy, luxurious fabric after blocking; the crochet button band, which made my left index finger cramp and put an indent in the palm of my right hand from working it so frigging tight, is firm and stable and precise. The fit is exactly what I wanted, and I think this sweater will get a fair bit of wear once it's finished.

Now all that's left is to finish setting in the second sleeve, weave in a million ends, give the button band a spritz-blocking, and attach the buttons.

Think I can do it by Sunday? Who knows, but I'm gonna try.

Happy Friday!

<3

Cory

FO: Gabrielle Collar

 

To start with, I might have a bit of a collar problem at the moment.

I've had one ball of this nutty Trendsetter Arabesque in my stash for years and years, and it wasn't until my recent collar excursions that I started eyeing it again. I've wracked my brain about this yarn for years: it was an impulse buy, and it's just fluffy and odd enough that it would be overwhelming as a larger-scale accessory, much less a full-sized garment. It's also sort of spidery and weird to work with, and well... it's eyelash yarn. (Enough said.) And yet, through stash purges and moves between and across countries, I kept it, because somehow, the flippy, impractical stuff still spoke to me.

So it sat, and it waited. And this week, as I knit my first collar, the seed of an idea began to form in my brain. What if instead of fighting against the ridiculousness of the yarn, I worked with it: paired it with another yarn with a more classic texture to create a fabric inspired by the flashy & classic pairings of a Chanel jacket trim?

So I grabbed some pink Kidsilk Night that I got from a friend's destash, held it together with the Arabesque, et voilà! Just the right balance of sparkle and substance - and finally, this stash orphan has found its purpose.

Happy Friday!
<3
Cory

Deep Stash WIP: Nest Cross Stitch

A million years ago, before I was ever a knitter, I loved to cross stitch. My mom made some really beautiful cross stitch pieces as gifts when I was little - maybe four or five years old - and I used to stand over her shoulder to watch. I loved the way a larger image slowly grew out of so many tiny stitches, and as soon as I had the dexterity, I started doing my own projects. My finest achievement: a fastidiously copied photo portrait of my brother and me, translated to cross-stitch and given to my mom as a Christmas gift when I was ten. (I started my overachieving dorkiness early.)

Even now, I can see echoes of deeply rooted creative joy in it: the methodical process, the colorful & complex charts, the tedious attention to detail - decades later, all of these things still make my heart sing.

Way back in there somewhere, I picked up this piece that my mom started. I think it's been in my stash for ten or fifteen years - and even through multiple purges, this neatly folded and color-coded project (thanks, Mom!) has remained. It's a picture with four panels and a leaf border, and even though I have no idea what the finished object could be, there's something about it that I love - maybe the delicate flower motifs, or the unusual dark background?

In any case - in the tradition of overachieving dorkiness - I think I'm going to try to finish it.

Happy Monday - and happy February!

<3

Cory

WIP: Alpenglühen - A Body

 

It always blows my mind a little, how terrifically hilarious a well-fitting garment looks on the hanger. Absent a 3-dimensional figure, shape-skimming darts fold awkwardly; ribbing throws great poofs of fabric into the body at the point where they meet; armholes & necklines gape and roll unattractively.

You would never know that this misshapen blob of yarn is actually a lovely, hourglass-shaped cardigan until you throw it on a person - and there the magic happens. All of these confounding shapes and crevices stretch and snuggle into place, gently hugging concave and convex curves alike. Something that was ugly comes alive, and in doing so becomes beautiful.

Although I've been shy of knitting sweaters for the last few years, watching this cardigan come together has reignited my love for the knitted garment. It's easy to get intimidated by the prospect of a badly-fitting sweater, and I think that's where I've been for a long time - but unlike so many other things in life, yarn has such give. You can knit it up all wrong, and still it has potential; all you have to do is unravel and begin again.

And that is pretty damn cool.

Happy Wednesday, friends!

<3

Cory

WIP: Minty Fresh Alpenglühen

 

On Christmas day, while we ate aebleskivers and drank mimosas at home in our pajamas - which is, in my opinion, the best way to spend a holiday - I cast on for a new cardigan, a pattern called Alpenglühen. Because I like to live dangerously, I didn't swatch, and just went ahead and cast on for the 40" size. I also decided to throw in some extra shaping in the front, and change up the cable detail at the center front... needless to say, I am a paragon of immorality and bad sweater-knitting habits.

(I swear I will do better next time. Maybe.)

And on the subject of immorality, the yarn is some Malabrigo Worsted I've had sitting in my stash for about five years. I have a bad habit of getting sweater quantities of yarn and never knitting them because I'm afraid of screwing them up, when really, the best way to learn how to do things well is to screw up. I tell my students this exact thing every week - how failure is an opportunity, how it builds skills and confidence to fix or adapt your mistakes - and yet I can't take my own advice, because... well, because I am a paragon of immorality and bad sweater-knitting habits.

On the other hand, my sweater does look pretty good so far. I guess yarn crime does pay, after all.

FO: Mother of Pearl Mitts

  

Unlike every other project I ever work on, this one was really quick: pattern and yarn picked out, knit, ends woven in, and photographed - all in about a week! High five, self. High five.

Details on Ravelry here.

WIP: Mother of Pearl Mitts

 

In an effort to clean out my deep stash, I started a pair of Churchmouse's Welted Fingerless Gloves out of some Manos Silk Blend I got years and years ago at Smith's, my local yarn shop in Oberlin. The colorway is Adobe, but it always reminds me of mother of pearl: the dark, textured outer shell and the pale pink glow of the interior. The yarn is knitting up without any pooling, and the cleverness and brevity of the pattern is keeping me on my toes.

The weather has turned in Seattle recently: the leaves are starting to fall, and in the daylight the streets seem larger and brighter - leaves carpeting the sidewalks; empty branches reaching towards the sky. The rain has come, too, and with it a cold bite to the air that can only be cut with a thick layer of wool.

And so, with a little knitting, I'll have another line of defense ready to tuck into my jacket pocket soon enough.

FO: Scully Tee

  

This little vintage-inspired blouse was a lot speedier to knit than my last excursion into the genre, but no less adorable! I started knitting this Krista Tee by Joan McGowan-Michael - also called the Shaped Lace Tee from Knitting Lingerie Style - in October of last year, then I lost a bunch of weight and decided to rip it out and start over. I restarted around April and finished knitting it a few weeks ago. Once my blocking boards were freed up, I blocked the sleeves, set them in, and voila! A cute little cotton blouse just in time for summer. (Funny how quickly things go when you, uh, do them within a reasonable period of time.)

It's a relatively short top, and I would have had enough yarn to lengthen it a bit, but I'm happy enough with it that it's staying. I knit the 33.5" size for about 2.5 inches of negative ease, and it fits just about perfectly. I converted the pattern from knitted flat to knitted in the round, with columns of purl stitches to mark the side seams.

I love the dramatic scooped neck and the pretty lace details. This blouse was knit from some deep, deep stash KFI King Tut cotton from my LYS back in Ohio, so I'm really happy that it's finally reached its full potential!

Details are on Ravelry here.