Every once in a while, I get so busy actually working on projects that I fail completely at blogging. The last month would be an example of one of those “once in a while” sorts of times. I have newfound appreciation for the people who actually blog with some sort of regularity. I am clearly not one of those sorts of people, despite many, many attempts and promises to the contrary.
That said, I am more than a bit guilty of being too ambitious delusional (at times) about what I can realistically accomplish. For example, after a week and a half worth’s of hemming and hawing, I found myself casting on the Little Blue Sweater from Fall 2008 Interweave Knits, ostensibly in honor of NaKniSweMo. To date, I have knit the front and back up to the armpits (mostly due to a decision to knit the body in the round and add a “seam” purl stitch on each side. I did this because I like knitting in the round, I hate sewing my knitting after the fact, and mostly, I had very little confidence in my ability to consistently measure 7″ of ribbing across 2 pieces of fabric), and managed the armhole and neck shaping on one side of the front. When I realized how hard it is to shape a neck and an armhole at the same time, I found myself wishing 2 things: the first was that I’d started my shaping with the back of the sweater, not the front, and the second was that I think it’s probably just plain hard to write good instructions as to how to shape two things, on different sides of the garment, at once.
Somehow, though, I wound up with the right number of stitches and a piece of fabric that looked reasonably like the one in the picture… so I figure I can’t be too far off. Beginner’s Luck, perhaps. And now, I’m just a bit intimidated by the prospect of shaping the other side.
I decided to return to something sweet and simple, so I knit a quick pair of black, eyelet rib ruffled wristwarmers in Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca & Silk. The first one took me an afternoon, evening, and a couple hours of commuting the following day. The second was one that I’d cast on around noon on Thanksgiving Day and finished sometime around midnight. I was impressed by how fast it went. 36 stitches around on size 5 needles turns into a nice, fluffly, longish garment a lot faster than 60 stitches around on size 1 needles. Only downside? Between a lofty yarn and my tiny, tiny wrists, the wristwarmers don’t look quite as lacy as I’d hoped. Now I want to do another pair in a similar yarn in a much more open lace pattern. The only trick is FINDING that lace pattern.
I fired the Marble Lace Socks out of a general feeling that I much prefer the Jitterbug in the skein to what I’m getting on my needles, only to pick them up again this week because basically, I don’t believe in frogging. I just can’t bring myself to undo all that work.
I started a pair of Go With The Flow socks from Favorite Socks in Malabrigo Sock. I love Malabrigo Sock. It is soft, light and beatuifully colored. It is (so far) showing my stitches (more eyelet rib!) in a very pleasant way and the Abril colorway is knitting up in a pretty, mottled pattern with no flashing or pooling or even mini-striping. Maybe it’s because the colors are so similar, or maybe it’s something else. Whatever the case, for the moment, I basically want to knit everything out of Malabrigo Sock. Except maybe for whatever I decide is a project worthy of the yarn that I dyed myself. It’s pretty. I love it. I should take pictures and show you… or rather, I should upload and show you the pictures I have taken. It’s the other knits I should take pictures of.
Somewhere in there, I also did a bit of sewing. I made myself a can can petticoat and overskirt (Did I mention that, in my copious spare time, I joined a can can troupe? I did. It’s a lot of fun). I loved the process of it, though trying to make something with that many ruffles in a mere couple of evenings was certainly not one of my brighter ideas. Still, I’d happily make more in the future. Maybe in fun printed fabrics where every ruffle coordinates with but differs from the base fabric. There are some adorable fabrics at my local fabric store for this… though really, I need another project about as much as I could use another hole in my head.
It’s been a busy month. The month ahead promises to be busy as well. But hopefully it won’t turn into an excuse for blog neglect. I’ve missed you.
