Thursday, June 26, 2008

In that inbetween place


I finished the Vog On's that I was making for Em's. They turned out super cute and she will look quite chic in her lovely lacy anklets. This isn't the best picture, but it will do for now. I'm awaiting new needles from Knit Picks who should give me a free pair of needles for every person that I send to them. I ordered the entire set of sock DPN's in the Harmony line as well as 2 sets of very long fixed circs in order to do some two at once socks. So I don't really want to cast any socks on. I have a Bolero that I want to make, but haven't even taken the initiative to take the yarn out of the bins yet. And I don't want to work on The Boy's sweater. It's too warm to be handling Wool Ease.

I can't seem to get excited about anything. Sigh!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Summer Knitty Review

I’m a little late in posting this months review of Knitty. I think it partly has something to do with not being very inspired with this issue and partly because I’ve been so busy with other ventures (like reading, knitting, and formulating a plan for a cookbook.)

Shetland Shorty This is a cute little front tied shruggy thing. The pattern does go up to a 2X with a measurement of 51 inches (bravo) but I’m not sure how it would look across 51” of boobage. I do like it and I have some yarn that I think would be delightful for it, so I may try this one even if just to destash!

Inverness This is a sweet little cardigan. It has an easily remembered pattern but isn’t so plain that you get bored half way up and say ditch it. This could do quite well as a “TV Project” (you know that kind of project that you can knit on without having to remember too much or refer to a chart and still keep up with which brother killed whom even though they are identical twins.) Thank you Heidi Adams for making this for up to a 3X (55 inches). We bustoids appreciate it! This is a classic summery cardigan which is intended for a cotton blend yarn.

GiGi is pretty and I like the design, but it really isn’t for me. It goes up to a 3X (48 inches below the bust – it has a deep V-neck.) It seems nice and flowy with a bit of a kimono thing going on in the sleeves.

Thira This pattern just does nothing for me. I don’t like the style, the cut, the moss stitch banding. And since it would totally look ridiculous on me (and you would see my bra- sorry, there hasn’t been a backless top that supports me yet) It does go up to a 3X of 43” but it is for a much smaller busted 3X woman.

Eloping is sweet and pretty and dainty. But fuschia? OK, it wasn’t my wedding. I probably would have gone with something more traditional (imagine that) of blue or cream or pearl. It is pretty, though.

Chevette is interesting. I’m not into chokers and haven’t really ventured into knitting jewelry. I can see one of my girls knitting this though.

Seascape is a nice whisper of a shawl. This is a nice simple lace pattern that I think the most beginner lace knitter could easily handle. It uses Rowan Kidsilk Haze which is delightful to work with at 70% mohair and 30% silk. It’s nice and drapey.

Helena is yet one more reason I need to find a friend who will have a baby for me to knit for. Even my internet friends seem all finished with their baby making days. This is an adorable little sweater dress. I just love the simplicity combined with the darling chevron patterned bottom/skirt. Just too cute. Just no baby. And I doubt I'm crazy enough to knit it for my daughter's hamster, even if her name is Helena.

Muscari One of the three sock patterns and it really isn’t even all that exciting. It’s your basic ribbed cuff sock with some repeated pattern down the sock (which looks like an extended version of VogOn.) Maybe it’s just the wrong color.

This brings us to Spring Forward which is the second sock pattern this issue. Now this is an interesting sock, but I still wish that someone would do something a bit more interesting with the cuff of socks. (Don’t worry, I am working on it!)


And Ziggy is our third sock pattern. While this is interesting and I love the combination of using two different large striped sock yarn colorways (the designer recommends Kureyon Sock which is a very “Velcro-y” yarn) but it is simply stranded knitting in a zig zag pattern. It is a charming sock and probably something a knitter who has been considering doing some stranded colorwork may enjoy. For me it isn’t interesting enough knitting. I’m quite the process knitter, so I have to keep myself challenged or I get bored and forget to knit on a project. As cute as these are, I’m not sure there is enough “interesting stuff going on” to make me want to knit them.

Couvercle is a simple hat with a short brim. It has a bit of crocheting worked into it, but don’t let that scare the non-hooker. I think it is simple enough to do. This is another hat my girls might like that would just look dorky on me.

Autogyro is a hat that while simple I could easily see myself making for those geekoids in my home. Even my largest geek would enjoy the whimsy of a propeller hat, although I’m not sure if he would wear it to work.

BYOB (stands for Bring Your Own Bag) is a very nice cotton tote that you could use for lots of shopping ventures. It also has some interesting things going on so you aren’t mindlessly doing round after round of nothing but knit knit knit knit…… Very ecofriendly and while it recommends Cottonease it could use just about any cotton yarn, including Peaches n’ Cream.

So that’s that for the review. In other knitting news, I actually have most of my good stash uploaded onto Ravelry. I haven’t bothered to add the half a skein of RHSS or those 2 partial balls of something that I can’t even remember the fiber content because I lost the label years ago. But most everything else is there. It’s a bit gratifying to be caught up on my stash entries.

June 30th is Super Sock Saturday at my friend Melissa’s house. I’m teaching a bunch of people a variety of sock knitting techniques. We are going to have fiber, needles, drop spindles and food. This is NOT a bad thing for the hot weather. I’m truly looking forward to it.

And as I hinted, I’m working on an interesting sock pattern. I’m giving away no secrets as to what it is except that it will be in a sort of blue-ish purple-y range of colors and will be darling and mysterious!