Monday, March 26, 2007

Yes, I do Knit.

Here's hoping that Blogger is in a good mood today...Megan sure isn't. Sick again.

I've been trying to post some knitting pictures for a week or so now! Keep getting sidetracked. This is my first shawl! Yeah, I've done some big-time lace knitting, but never a real shawl. It's Flower Basket Shawl, and Headwaters laceweight in drab brown. I bought the yarn in December so I could have something to work on while at Knit Night at the store, but I kept putting off starting it. Then I thought I might overdye the yarn, give it a bit more interest. But then, I suddenly grabbed it and casted on and forgot about that plan, LOL. Although it's not a long pattern repeat, I don't find it quite as intuitive/easy to memorize as others. Perhaps because the flower baskets repeats overlap. I can memorize each row as I come to it, but I can't memorize the whole thing. The yarn is sort of rustic, looks like someone's first laceweight attempt at spinning. The shawl is sort of rustic....not a lot going on....so I think it's a good yarn/pattern fit. I do hope it softens up though! It was supposed to be two strands, but I thought that might be too heavy, especially if thick parts of the yarn ended up together. However, it is taking a lot more pattern repeats to get to shawl size! I think it might be time to stretch it out and see how big it is.

I think it's kinda neat how the reverse side makes little peaks. Reverse dimples :)

I'm not getting much done on the new knitting machine. I'm having a hard time finding a beginner pattern that could use yarn I have. I have a bunch of different cones, and many are unlabelled. Finally I did find a site that uses one of the yarns I have, but the patterns don't interest me. The ones that do (on any site) use the ribber, and that is still in the box. There doesn't seem to be any fashion-forward standard gauge machine knit patterns on the internet for free!
This is from www.clearwaterknits.com and the large size is 38"....a little too small for now! But I could knit it anyway just to actually make something on that machine.

I was thinking the other day that I should knit something for after my surgery, that I could never have worn before. I have lots of old Vogues, with insanely small sizes....so small that they would probably still be too small! I went looking this weekend, and suddenly, none really appeal to me anymore. The ones that do, like this cover of Interweave Knits:I could wear now (the big factor in now vs April is the bra issue). However, if I knit it to fit my bust, the back would be huge, the shoulders would fall off, and the waist would be insane. I don't want to screw up the shoulders by changing the back size--the shoulders are knit up from the back and carried over to the front. I was looking at the pictures and wondering if I could knit it with back vertical darks in the upper portion, and maybe one or two repeats fewer in the lower part. I think it would still need adjusting for post-surgery.
How about this little number:

Oh La La! Not till after the liposuction, LOL. It's Butterfly Dress from Romantic Style: Knits and Crochet to Wear or Display. It would satisfy my desire to knit something wearable from this
The Knit Picks Shadow I won from Sandra. I don't remember it being that purple. I did find this little cardi:
in a Vogue that I picked up at the Guild's stash sale. It's in mohair, and I do have this that I don't mind sacrificing, but I think it would look nice in the Shadow too. That's the nursing shawl I was working on, in a Fleece Artist mohair/silk blend. She's weaned now, LOL. I played with the shawl, and I think it would definately be enough yarn for a sweater. However, the amount given in the pattern seems really high, something like 1400yds for a 40" sweater. I know the crochet eding around the neck will eat up some, and I can definately make it shorter, and even leave off the bottom edging on the body and sleeves, but that shawl wasn't finished and I think the yardage was about 880yds (I bought the skein based on the fact that most KnitPicks shawls took two 440yd skeins). I will probably go ahead with this cardigan, but which yarn first?!

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