Still working on the jacket design
And now I have much better shots to share with you!
In this shot you can really see the color and texture of the mostly-reverse-stockinette stitch pattern . . . I really love how the Malabrigo looks in this sort of stitch, it's slight variations in thickness and color add just enough interest to the fabric, and of course it feels WONDERFUL. I will definitely have to knit more with this yarn in the future!
I've finished the body and am now working on figuring out the sleeves . . . I realized that i may have put a few too many fiddly details into this design, so it's definitely going to be a challenging knit (as well as a challenging pattern to write out and size!). In the interest of reducing the amount of finishing required, I am trying to figure out how to make the sleeves be knit in one piece -- which sounds perfectly reasonable and even STANDARD, doesn't it? But because these sleeves have a working buttoned cuff that's knit sideways, it is a HUGE challenge to figure this out. I've barely started and I already ripped out 3 times . . .
Knitting content! Really!
(sorry for the dark photo, there is no light at 7am this time of year!)
Lookie! Knitting!
This is my latest design, which I'm calling the Zoila jacket. It's double breasted with slipped-stitch princess seams and 3/4 length sleeves, and I've finished the back and one front.
The paper with all the scribbles is my "pattern" . . . if you've ever wondered what goes on inside my head, this paper gives you a clue! It also helps explain why it takes me so long to write saleable patterns for my designs, going from sketches with numbers on them to written-out, logical instructions takes a lot of work! When I knit for myself I never do more than what you see on this page (and honestly, this is me being thorough so I can use the notes to write the pattern!), and often I write nothing down at all actually . . .
Anyway, I'm really excited about this jacket, it's my first time knitting anything sizaeable with Malabrigo and I LOVE this yarn! The subtle color and thick-n-thin texture are absolutely gorgeous, and it doesn't hurt that it's soft, either. This color is a pale grey that tends to lavender in certain light and is really, really gorgeous.
Here's a closeup of the stitches/texture (not a good shot for color, again there wasn't enough light):
Have I mentioned how much I love my camera? ;o)
The latest design . . .
I found the perfect yarn combination to make that hooded scarf ala Chloe, and I've been knitting on it almost non-stop since Sunday! Here's a peek:
The yarn is one strand of Filatura Superior in a brownish grey color (color 11) held together with a strand of Farmhouse Yarns Fannie's Fingering in Glacier Mist, a handpainted black/grey/white sock yarn. The fabric I'm getting on size 9 needles using 1x1 rib is absolutely PERFECT and exactly what I had in mind! I decided to go with 1x1 rib so that the whole thing is entirely reversible, as I hate scarves that only look good from one side -- no matter what I do, the wrong side always ends up showing more than the "public" side, so I try to only design scarves that are reversible if I can help it.
I'm not entirely sure I will have enough yarn, but I'm almost half done with the scarf part so it will be really easy to tell once I finish the scarf whether I have enough for the hood. Considering I had to resort to 2-row-jog because the two skeins of Farmhouse are so different, it would be really bad to run out and have to go hunting for a 3rd skein . . . but only time will tell.
In the meantime, this is perfect knitting for blog-reading and election-news-watching. Speaking of, what the heck was yesterday all about!?!? I was glued to news sites all afternoon at work and glued to tv news all night . . . and I still don't know what to think. What a crazy, crazy election.
New design
I'm not quite done with the 2 secret sweaters, one of them needs 3/4 of a sleeve and the other is only half done, but I couldn't remain monogamous any longer. Last Saturday I started a new lace shawl design, and after a few false starts I am really in love with what I've come up with now:
(sorry for the crap photo, I can never seem to remember to take pictures until nighttime)
I'm using Cherry Tree Hill's sock yarn, a yarn I rarely use but actually have a decent stash of (weird how that happens). My idea was to make a triangle shawl, knit the traditional top-down way, but to have it include baby cables all over it. The first two versions had YO increases bordered by garter stitch edges, but then the AHA moment happened where I thought, "Why do I have to make the edges boring!?!? I should throw some cables in there!" and ripped and started over again. You can see in this photo that the horizontal top edge (shown on the bottom of this picture) is a cable, and the cable is repeated, then flipped over and mirrored, down the center back where the other increases are. I am pretty sure I've never seen this done in any other shawl before (please correct me if I'm wrong!), and a quick search through Ravelry didn't reveal anything to the contrary . . . so I'm pretty darn proud of myself!
I've been pretty dedicated to this shawl since I started, so much so that I'm past the half-way mark already. I have an idea of how I'm going to deal with the bottom, but I haven't worked out all the kinks yet. We'll see how much ripping out that takes, there is always a lot of that in any new design!
Unfortunately there is no way this is getting done before the wedding, so I've put it away in favor of the sweaters, which are completely mindless knitting and need to be done ASAP. I've been so stressed out the last few weeks with all these wedding issues that keep being thrown at me . . . let's just say I'm really looking forward to the honeymoon!!! Thankfully the toughest decision I have to make about THAT is what knitting to bring . . .
FOs and resurrected projects
I did promise FOs upon my return from Dallas, and here's the first one! Forgive the awful picture, my sister does not like having her picture taken so I kind of stealthily sole this shot at dinner. . .
I knit this for my Adriana's birthday present, this is my 3rd Halfobi and I wouldn't be surprised if I make more of them in the future. It's so easy and quick, and it goes with everything!
This one used Koigu in color P432 held together with Karabella Lace Cashmere in color 88. Here's a much better shot of the true color:
Sis loved it and I'm sure she'll get tons of wear out of it!
I also finished something else . . . .
This is the big one, folks. I ended up using 10.5 skeins of yarn and I'm hoping it blocks out to 6 feet square (it might be a little less but that should be fine) . . . the blocking won't happen for a while, but I sure am relieved to know the chuppah will be done before July!!
As for the resurrected project, I wonder if anyone will recognize this:
That's right, I picked Katherine Hepburn back up and almost finished the 2nd sleeve. Amazing how much I got done, actually, makes me wonder why I let it sit for so long . . . oh yeah, cuz it got really BORING after not much time! Hopefully, since there's only one front and the rest of this sleeve to do, I'll manage to get this one off the WIP list in no time . . . we'll see.
I'm going to try to post more frequently again -- I haven't been feeling well lately and even though it hasn't affected my knitting output, it makes me want to zone out on the couch which doesn't lend itself to blogging . . . hopefully this will clear up and I'll be back to my old won't-shut-up self.
