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I’ve been down with a case of the “not feeling so good”, so I’m blogging to you live from my couch, wrapped in my owl blankie, sipping mint tea with a candle burning in hopes of eradicating the “aroma” produced by Cheech and Chong next door (note: it’s not working) . I made a silent New Year’s goal to get back with the blogging on a more regular basis, since my little corner of the internet is so quiet I’m not even getting spam comments anymore, but this week has not been so very kind to me. Stomach revenge and a service light shining brightly on the Coche dashboard, not so much fun. Anyhoo. We all come for the finished objects, right?
The Cabled Beret has been finished since the Great Blizzard of Ought Eight, about a month ago. It kept my head warm during numerous mornings waiting at the bus stop while the snow was falling, and didn’t let my head get wet when the snow melted after I got on the bus. A fine hat, indeed.
I’ve been told not to apologize for my cooking, and sometimes I think that sentiment should extend to other aspects of my life, but not this photograph. I apologize profusely for the blurry, odd angled, emo-kid-with-a-web-cam-ness of this pic, but it was the only one I took that got the whole hat in the frame, so there you have it. I’m a horrible self portrait photographer. Alert the press. But allow me to point out the reasons I love this hat. My head is apparently huge (22 whopping inches in circumference), and I have a hard time finding a hat to encompass my ginormous bobble head, so I’m pleased that this hat covers my head and my ears. Nice. Also, I think the cables to be quite nifty. Even if C did say it gave me a mushroom head.
A better view of the hat? As you wish.
This hat was so well liked by a similarly large craniumed co-worker that she requested one of her own. Who am I to refuse hand knits to solve a problem, especially one I know so well?
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to capture the color of this one, an aptly named “Italian Plum” colorway by Cascade, but trust me, it was so juicy and purple I wanted to take a bite. Are specs really necessary? Ok, fine.
Yarn: Cascade 220 in some green color and “Italian Plum” (yum!)
Needles: Crystal Palace Bamboo DPN’s US size 6 and 8
Pattern: Cabled Beret
Mods: none
Another Cabled Beret is in the works for another big headed co-worker (Sisterhood of the Buffalo Skulls, anyone?), and after that I think I’ll have to stop with the made to order knitting. It’s a bit draining when I can’t call my knitting time my own, and I think that’s a lot of the point with knitting for me. It’s time to call my own.
I have a few other projects in the works, but I do have a touch of the startitis right now, and keep thinking distracting thoughts of lace, while I already have the Lace Ribbon Scarf over 2/3 complete, and having daydreams of cables when I’m over half way done with the Druid Mittens (lazy lazy Raverly links, I know).
I have a backlog of FOs to show off, and I think I’ll start with my most successful this far. Behold, the Meow Mittens.
These mark my first foray into charting a design, and although the template was graciously provided by Hello Yarn, I’m a little proud of myself. (I seem to be having a problem with pride lately. Last night, I unclogged my bath tub drain all by my wee little lonesome, and I’m still basking in the glory.) I charted out the name Lily, in cursive, people. Cursive. No block letters for me, thankyouverymuch. And I freely admit the cats are a little goofy looking, but I’m no artist and cats aren’t my favorite animal, so I wasn’t very imaginative in that aspect. But Lily. In cursive, yo. Gratuitous close up:
Am I Lily? No, dear, my name is Stacey (for the three people who read this blog that I don’t know personally). So these mittens are clearly not for me. These little babies are for a coworker, who loves cats, if that wasn’t abudantly apparent.
And since these were the first FO of 2009, I tucked in a little surprise:
I’ve been knitting a lot more for other people lately, which is a bit strange for me. I’m the definition of a selfish knitter. I don’t look at patterns or dream up designs with anyone but myself in mind, so if I knit for someone else, it means true love. I am a bit more willing to knit for others here in Portland than I was in Las Vegas, most likely due to the appreciation factor. It’s a sad but true statement that Las Vegas is entirely lacking in a creative arts community, and Portland is filthy with artists. Where any sort of creative output in Las Vegas (especially of the crafty persuasion) is pretty much met with “Oh, how quaint. And why are you doing that again?”. Up here the reaction goes more along the lines of “You make stuff? Me too!” Who loves Portland? I do.
And so the mittens were taken to work, oohhed and aahhed over, mass emails were sent out touting their awesomeness, and the orders came flooding in. Knit for hire? Hmm, I’m not so sure about that. But it’s nice for the knit to be respected, appreciated, and even sought after.
Specs:
Pattern: my own, using Hello Yarn’s Generic Norwegian Mitten template
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull in pink and charcoal gray
Needles: US size 3
Size: About a women’s medium. Lily has smaller hands than I, so I knit them to be a bit snug on my huge man-like hands, and they fit her perfectly.
Gauge: ???? Sorry, I didn’t measure.
Ravelry Link, for those so inclined.
So I’ve been holding out on you. Not from general blogging, I think I’d better stop apologizing about the length of time between updates and embrace the fact that I’m a once a week at best blogger. But I’ve had new, actual news, and yet I didn’t share. What is this privileged information, you ask? Allow me to show you:
The Saxon Braid Cardi is done, has been done and will continue to be done for the foreseeable future.
The knitting has been complete for about two (?) weeks now. All I had to do was reknit the cuffs, sew the arm seams and block the cuffs. Then I needed to wait for a decent day to take some real pictures, not mirror-self-portrait finished object pictures. I designed this puppy myself, it deserves a little respect.
It’s not a perfect garment, but it’s what I envisioned. A comfy green throw on cardigan. A big hood and no closures, long sleeves and the magic of waist shaping. I started this back in September, when I thought I would have it done for the three months of winter Nevada has to offer (stop that laughing!) and now I’ve worn it twice this week already. I love Oregon weather. I wore it into the ever wonderful Dublin Bay to pick up some needles, and it was properly fawned over. Trust knitters to make your day. I’ll actually be wearing this one, unlike the other five or six sweaters I’ve knit that never see the light of day.
Project details:
Pattern: my own!
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold’s Silky Wool, about 10 skeins
Needles: US size 6 and 4 circulars
Cast on: September 2007
Cast off: August 2008
I didn’t mean to have only circa 2003 headless blogger sweater photos, but the ones with my head didn’t show off the cardigan nearly as well as the headless ones. Go figure. My head is featured on my old blog, for those of you who feel the need to know what I look like. Happy hunting! Oh, and I have a Flicr set for the whole SBC odyssey.
I lured my friend C out to Lone Fir Cemetery to take the Official Saxon Braid Cardigan Photos. Rather she suggested it, and I agreed. Lone Fir is a pioneer cemetery in the middle of Southeast Portland with huge trees and rolling hills. It’s a cheerful little place, nice and quiet (except for the goth kids on July 4th weekend and hearse conventions) and a lot of people take bike rides and walks along the paths. It’s more like a park than a cemetery, really. Except for when you come upon this
Or a squirrel that keeps looking you in the eye, then shaking it’s tail and clucking.
Or a huge mausoleum with the family name half broken off.
Sister in Law knitting update: She’s trucking right along with the purl stitch and started a ribbed scarf (didn’t we all?), black and light blue for Ravenclaw. Very nice.
