Blog Archives
Noro love
I am in love with Noro Silk Garden. The color is astounding, and the texture of the wool spun with silk is so attractive. I’ve only made two small projects with it (a slouchy hat, and a cowl), but it’s already one of my favorite yarns. If only it weren’t so dear in price…
Project 1: the Slouchy Copy Cat Hat 
I used Terra Jamieson’s pattern; it only took one skein of colorway 225.
I think I need to block it a little further, since a big, Irish head + slouchy = not so slouchy. 
Project 2: Noro Brioche Cowl 
This pattern was self-engineered; I chose a lace pattern from a Barbara G. Walker stitch dictionary, added a garter stitch border on either side, and knitted two skeins of Noro Silk Garden, colorway 272, until I had just enough yarn to bind off. Then I twisted the entire strip once, and sewed the two ends together, creating a Möbius strip.
Yarn used in forensics
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Originally published at The Haunted Palace. Please leave any comments there.
It once was an afghan.
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Originally published at The Haunted Palace. Please leave any comments there.
Self-perception: Lesson learned from a sweater pattern
I purchased some cotton spun with angora some time ago, as a bargain bag (several skeins together). I’ve been saving it, not certain what to create with this amazingly soft yarn. Finally, I decided on a simple sweater: the modified drop-shoulder pullover from Ann Budd’s wonderful book, The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns: Basic Designs in Multiple Sizes & Gauges.
I chose to enhance the sweater with a lacy trim from the same book, and a gull wing lace inset created by Elizabeth Zimmermann.
It did not dawn on me until I was already working on the armholes for the back section: I had made it too large. I’m curvy, so I need sufficient positive ease in order to feel comfortable. Okay, honestly, need isn’t accurate…want is. But I had made the sweater too large, even for ease’s sake, because I had convinced myself that I’m larger than I am. I didn’t believe the measuring tape, and apparently preferred to believe the voice in my head, and so…here I was, with a sweater that, if completed, would be two sizes too big for me.
So I sheepishly admitted to myself that my body is much smaller than I perceive, and frogged the sweater. I’ve now completed the back, and am about halfway done with the front. Rather than a banner of a mistake, I shall wear this sweater as a banner of pride, a reminder that we are all better, more attractive, more capable, than we think.
- my sweater at Ravelry
- the actual pattern, without my modifications, at Ravelry
- Knitting Daily: Measuring Yourself and Your Clothing
- Knitting Daily: About Measurements and Ease
- Knitting Daily: Measuring Yourself: Bust, Waist, Hip
How about starting a Beautiful You notebook? Start by writing down what you THINK your measurements are, before you break out the measuring tape. This information might be very enlightening after you’ve found out what the real you is–you might find out that you were knitting for an imaginary gal and not for your real self at all!…Oh, and there’s only one rule: Absolutely NO unkind words or thoughts about your body are allowed. Remember: my grandpa says you are beautiful, and he’s my grandpa, so he’s gotta be right! (Sandi Wiseheart, Knitting Daily)
Yarn-thievin’ varmit
Thank you, Kit, for the heads-up to this hilarious video.
Originally published at The Haunted Palace. Please leave any comments there.
Finished knitting: Child’s slippers
aka scuffies, aka house shoes…
Originally published at The Haunted Palace. Please leave any comments there.
