Wisp, Pre-Blocking

I finished knitting Wisp last night, and cast off just a few minutes ago.  I had to restart the bind-off several times, since mohair is not stretchy at all, and the loops kept on tightening when I was trying to do it with a smaller needle.  I finally grabbed a size 10.5 US needle and bound off very slowly and carefully with it, instead of trying to make the size 8 US work.  It looks a little sloppy unblocked, but I have a feeling that I'll be thankful for the loose bind-off when I'm blocking it out.  Now I just need to find some lightweight buttons to sew to one end!

On a side note, I could not get this color to photograph properly.  It's really a deep turquoise, but for some reason my camera reads it as cobalt, and I couldn't get it to look right in post-processing either.  Which is hilarious, because I've never gotten a camera to read cobalt correctly either.  Rats!

Stash: Tosh Merino Light Antler

 

My love for Brooklyn Tweed is well documented.  I fell in love with Jared Flood's blog back when I was a total newbie knitter, and the beautiful pictures of his simple but well-designed projects and patterns was a large part of why I wanted to learn everything I could about knitting.  Now that he has a veritable yarn and pattern empire, my love is no less intense.  I was going through my individual pattern binder the other day and realized that about 50% of the patterns I've bought are Brooklyn Tweedy.  Holy moley.

Back when he was first putting out more patterns, I bought the Classic Elite pattern booklet, Made in Brooklyn, pretty much the minute it came out.  I still have my sights set on at least three patterns in the booklet, if not more, and the Estonian-flavored stole Willoughby is one of them.  And what better way to knit a pattern from one of my favorite designers than to make it in one of my favorite yarns?

 

I know I said I would be exclusively stash-diving, but I lied - just a little.  Monday I was so excited with my progress at school that I decided to buy two skeins of Tosh Merino Light, and rationalized it with the fact that I'm hoping my wedding shawl can be in this colorway of Tosh, but on Prairie.  I just figured I'd better make sure it was a good color for me first, since it's often hard to tell how a color will look as a garment until it's knitted up!

As you may be able to tell, I am an awesome enabler.

Willoughby photograph copyright Jared Flood.

Pattern Love

So lately I've taken notice of a few independent designers whose work I've mostly found by silently trolling the Ravelry message boards.  Usually I check out groups like Madelinetosh Lovers, Small Shawl Lovers, or Solid Socks, where all numbers of people post their ridiculously beautiful FOs and I get to drool all over them. I end up hitting the love button a whole lot.

So, without further ado, here are 3 designers I'm loving right now.  And don't laugh at my predictability, because there are a whole lot of shawlettes in this here list.

1.  Helen Stewart.  I love her kicky little shawlettes, and I really enjoy that most of them use just one skein of yarn.

Afternoon Tea, from Knitty.  Cute little semicircular shawl, one skein of Madelinetosh Sock?  Yes, okay!

Odessa Shawl.  I have a skein of hot pink fingering weight in my stash that is begging to become this shawl.  I love the subtle striping effect that the lace gives.

2.  Beth Kling.  Romantic, simple, beautifully designed.

Henslowe.  I can't get this shawlette out of my head.  It's simple, but every version I've seen has been stunning.  I love the rustic garter stitch combined with the lacy border - perfection!

Millwater.  This reminds me of Jared Flood with its simplicity and bold design element.  Plus, it looks super cozy.

3.  Laura Aylor.  It seems like the first shawl, Faberge, has been all over Ravelry lately!  I was pleasantly surprised when I clicked through to her design page to see that she is the designer of Lizard Ridge, a beautiful Noro blanket that was published in Knitty right around the time that I started knitting.

Her strong suit is color, and many of her designs are colorblocked or striped.  I can't always pull off colorblocking, but feminine details and subtle colors make these designs really appealing to me.

Faberge.  I really enjoy patterns that you have to look at twice to realize that it is, in fact, knitted.  This is one of those patterns.  Plus it's done in pale pink and brown!  Sigh... so pretty.

Stella Luna.  This is one instance where I like the solid-color version, and I flat-out love the two-color version.  I love that this one combines two very subtle colors, and the cream color gives the effect of an antique lace edging.

All of these patterns make me want to go stash diving and cast on right away.  Must... finish... other works in progress... first...!!!

All photos are copyright to their designers.

FO: Fashion Illustration Class

 

Today I went into school to finish up the requirements for my fashion illustration class.  I started these last fall, so it had been a while!  To pass the class, I had to have examples of sheer, shiny, printed, and fur fabrics done in watercolor.  I mostly worked from drawings of clothes from magazines and books, so these aren't my own designs (except for the green dress).  I did change the colors and generally simplify the designs I was painting.

It was definitely an adjustment to learn how to work with watercolors - I still haven't mastered it, but I'm thinking about getting my own set and trying it out at home.  I think the hardest part, though, was the inking - once something is done in ink, it's done, so you just have to be really careful and not make any mistakes.  I had the hardest time with long, straight lines, and fine details like the faces.  I'm only really happy with the face on the girl in the little yellow and white sundress.  Oh well - that's what practice is for!

I also think it's interesting to see the progression from my first attempts - the green dress - to the one I did today, the grey coat and red slip dress.  If I were to do them again, there's definitely quite a few things I'd change, but for now I'm glad to have them all finished.

I stayed a little past class time to finish up, and got the class signed off when I was done.  Hooray!