Conversation with Bella
Me: Bella.. I'd like you to meet bella_sleeve
Bella: Oooh.. look at her. She's so purdy. Oh look at that tubular cast on.
Me: I know.. isn't she a beauty? She's perfect for you.
Bella: ......
Me: What's wrong? Don't you like her?
Bella: I feel...I don't deserve her. I'm flawed..
Me: What? Nonsense. I made her just for you! You belong together.
Bella: Look me in the waist and tell me I am perfect!
Me: .....
Bella: Unless you plan on wearing me and never raising your arms..
********1 hour later********
times like this I wish I had a yarn winder.. I guess those astrologers know a thing or two about Virgos being anal. Yes. I'm anal, on certain occasions. This yarn is too soft and too beautiful for such sacrilege. And hey, when it boils down to it, there's just one question to be answered. Do I want to (a) wear Bella Paquita indoors behind these four walls, or (b) parade her shamelessly in public? I choose (b). I'm not a show-off, but my sweater is.
2x2 Tubular Cast-On Baby!
I have discovered the ultimate 2x2 tubular cast on! All instructions talk about the 1x1, but hey, where's the love on the 2x2's? And you know there's alot of sweaters done in 2x2's too. bwa ha ha.. My bella paquita sleeves are going to be so so awesome. I was trying my darndest to post a step by step tutorial as I was knitting this, but unfortunately my camera (well it's not technically mine) isn't good enough. Whaddaya know? Came to lab today and all this time there was this awesome Nikon camera that is able to capture and focus images up close. Here are my fabulous sleeves. (Maybe I'll post a 2x2 cast-on tutorial if anyone's interested, or I might be the last person on the planet to discover this..)
Check out the neat-o cast-on baby
Oh I just can't help it. Here's another one.
Now to find the ever elusive perfectly tubular 2x2 bind off..
The good, the bad, the down-right fugly
The good...
My clappy made it's debut today! Where you ask? Um..yea.. in my lab. woohoo. I know, such a geek. But it's so soft and pretty, and I just had to show it off...even though it's only to my lab-mates. Hey, some audience beats no audience. right?The bad...(swatching like a good girl)
I received my Knitpicks yarn yesterday! woohoo. Couldn't wait to swatch. Notice how I don't have a gazillion loose ends hanging on either side by the time I'm done with each stripe sequence? It's magic baby. Okay, I might be a total retard to realize this magic goodness, but it's all in the circular needles. The back and front pieces of the Phildar stripey top will be knit in two flat pieces, so each time I get to the end of the cream and have to start the green sequence, if the green yarn is on the other end, I just slide my piece down the other side and knit/purl to get the stockinette stitch right. Not bad eh? I'm such a goofball. So stripey sweater, here I come. Since I labelled it "the bad", here's the reason for it. The pattern calls for US sz 2 and sz 5 needles, and my swatches turned out larger than the gauge. So it's down to sz 1 and sz 4 I go...unfortunately, I have neither. Ah..more money to spend. The yarn I am using is KnitPicks Shine in Cream and Green Apple (or apple green..whatever) and although it's a little splitty, it is soft. and cheap. and there's that.
The fugly...
What is this, what is this? Well it's Bella Paquita! I only have 660 yds of yarn so I gotta get my priorities straight. And for this sweater, my priority is to have enough length in the body section to cover my long torso. Sleeves will come later, depending on how much yarn I have. If I have enough, it'll be 3/4 length as indicated in pattern. If not, I'll make it into a short puffy sleeve thingie. Its 2x2 ribbing is growing slowly but surely, but if you look at the side pics , the inc/dec for the ribbing at the waist is damn fugly. I tried making the stitches as invisible as possible, and tried increasing the stitches so that it would seem as if there was some pretty curvy line emanating from the center sts (suggested by Marnie herself), but I guess my knitting skills aren't up to par...yet. I've already ripped this out twice, and no more. If it's fugly, it'll stay fugly. At least it fits. But still, if you all know how to do inc/dec on k2p2 ribs right, please shed wisdom on this clueless biatch here.
There's the progress of the week. My new needles should come by the end of next week, which is when Andrea and I will cast-on together for the sweater. And who knows, I probably will have a finished, albeit fugly waist shaping Bella Paquita for your critiquing pleasure by next week. Stay tuned....
Mademoiselle Clapotis..and etc
(please excuse Le Crappy Foto.. I don't have my bf's digital camera with me)Pattern: Clapotis from Knitty.com
Materials: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Jay Pond (3 skeins @ 200 yds/skein) and sz 7 needles
Notes: I read that alot of people were exceeding the 600 yds called for in the pattern, and since I cannot justify buying one more skein of this expensive yarn just to use a few yards of it to finish, I decided to drop down a needle size. Instead of the 13 repeats total in Section 3, I actually have more than enough yarn to make 14 repeats. Looking at the remaining yarn I have, I think I could have pushed it to 15 repeats total. But hey, now we know, right? One surprising fact was that I had no idea dropping down a needle size could cause such a big difference in yarn usage. Live and learn....ladies..live and learnAfterthoughts: Love this yarn. It's next-to-skin soft and oh so buttery. In fact, I ordered more yarn to make another. This is some romney fleece (yea, don't ask me what that is) that I won from an Ebay seller (lidika..who is very nice and delivers her items in a blink of an eye). Isn't the plum and green gorgeous? There's 700 yds total, so I am going to use sz 8 needles for this one and not have to worry about running out of yarn. What do I do with 2 lovely clapotis you ask? One of them might end up as a gift, but I haven't figured out who to give it to. 
Okay, enough of the clappy. Let me tell you what I'm really excited about. It's my sunday outing with the lovely Andrea. We were planning to check out the yarn stores together in my area, but it being sunday, and it being a lazy day, we managed to hit 1 outta 3 stores. The other two were closed. Closed?!!?! Blasphemy. Nevertheless, she was thoughtful enough to bring her Phildar magazine collections (yes, she has a collection. I'm so envious) and we got so excited talking about knitting and patterns that we decided to cast on for a summer top together. And voila, this is she. She of the 2004 Phildar Tendences (Spring). I want mine in cream and apple green. We both ooh'ed and ahh'ed over the boxy yet drapey fit (you know those summer barbeques are coming up.. and this would be THE top to hide the gut that would ensue). I am thinking Knitpick's Shine, since there's been nothing but raves and more importantly, it is cheap-o. Ooh la la.. I'm going on a French streak here.
So what is this method of doing stripes by carrying the yarn so you don't have to weave in a gazillion loose-ends? I have googled but still don't have a clear idea of how to do that. Jogless something, they call it. Can you lovely knitters impart this special knowledge? Merci beaucoup. Until next time, I bid you adieu...
Dazed...
So recently, Andrea and I have been tossing emails back and forth about a little meet-up since we are both in LA. She mentioned Unwind, a yarn store in Burbank, and how she really likes that place. Ever since then, I've been curious. Curiosity turned into obsession, and I just had to go today. In a crazy state of mind, I braved the 6:30pm rush hour traffic and traveled across 3 freeways to check out the store. H.O.L.Y. S.H.I.T. The store was packed with so much yarn in so many colors and so many different fibers, I immediately entered a state of trance. The store-owner was really nice and friendly, and I just floated around and around the store. I think they introduced themselves, but I was too occupied with touching the yarn that their names totally slipped my mind. All I could think of was ~yarn...~yarn.. more yarn~. My eyes were totally glassy, and my brain was pretty much mush. See I had a goal.. I wanted yarn to make clapotis. Yea.. I know I am late to jump on the train..but after seeing Joy's and Kaitlyn's progress on their clappies, something about dropping stitches called out to me. Bee-line to Lorna's Laces. Holy guacamole... this thing is divine. I didn't know what the fuss was about until I saw it in person. Granted, the colorways that I saw online were pretty, but nothing beats seeing and feeling yarn in person. I wonder if yarn feels molested sometimes...heh..
I could not leave without buying something -- after all, I did come from far and beyond. So I got 3 hanks of Lorna's Laces in Jay Pond. Ooh la la~ Clapotis here I come. Did I mention this yarn feels awesome-o? It's awesome-o. I would've splurged more, but I gotta eat too ya know. Plus, this sunday Andrea and I are meeting for the first time to go yarn-store hopping (doesn't blogger meet-up sound like online dating to you? It does to me) so I need to restrain myself. Yarn shopping alone is bad enough, can you imagine shopping with another fellow obsessive-knitter? *shudder* Must be logical. Must not be swayed by beautiful yarn. (we'll see how that pans out).So I totally remembered how I got to the store, but after the purchase, still dazed and fucking delirious, I was totally lost. Kept circling around and around for half an hour before I could find the entrace to the freeway. High on yarn, my navigation was shot to shits. The drive home was a blur....Andrea, I don't know whether to thank you.. or curse you! I definitely envision myself in yarn rehab in a few years.. Hi my name is Winnie, and I am a yarnaholic.*p.s. Natasha has gracefully accepted my offer on the mohair yarn. I hope she likes it. All 1200 + yds of yarn is winging its way to her now~
Mohair for free!!
Project: Flower Basket Shawl #2 from Interweave Knits Fall 2004Materials: Addi Turbo sz 7 32" circs, Alize 70% Mohair 30% PAC yarn (fingering/laceweight)Notes: 8 lower basket repeats So I completed FBS#2. This is a gift for a friend. I don't know how I feel about the variegated yarn, but I do know that I don't like working with mohair yarn. It feels like fiberglass when I was knitting it, but after the shawl was blocked, the yarn actually softened up a little. Or maybe I was just hallucinating. I have more than 1200 yrds left of this yarn.. so if anyone likes the plum, purple, pink variegated effect, maybe you can drop me an email and we can work out an exchange. I am currently looking for Interweave Knits Spring 2002 (hint hint). Or maybe if you catch me in a good mood (which I am in right now), I'll send it out as a gift. Hey, nothing with a little bit of random act of kindness right?
Now I want an adult-sized one too!
Project: Lacy Baby Bonnet in Knitting for Two Materials: Sz 3 & 5 24" circs, Zegna Baruffa Aerobic Yarn (100% superfine merino in red)Notes: Will forgo the huge-ass ribbon which creates the Princess Leia look, but attach 2 i-cords instead. Since my i-cording skills suck, will be using my nifty Clover Wonder Knitter (can you say...what a lazy ass?). Will be using leftover yarn for baby mittens.Continuing with the process of gift knitting, here's the lacy bonnet that every baby gift knitter seems to be raving about. (Andrea's making one the exact same time I was making this too!) I have a lot of leftover yarn (and it is soft as a baby's butt) so I will probably whip up a pair of mittens since the little munchkin who will be receiving these likes scratching her face. You might be taken aback with the really bright red, but since the recipient's mommy loves red, I am hoping the baby will get to wear this more often than once. Hell if she doesn't like it, I'd be more than willing to recycle the fine merino for moi. Ha Ha. Okay, I am just kidding. I am not that terrible a person.
Little bit of a branch
Semi-Project: Branching out from Knitty Spring 2005 Materials: Sz 7 circs, Briggs & Little 100% Wool sport weight (color: Hunter Orange)Notes: Just playing around. No intentions of making this into a whole scarf unless I find suitable yarn. The lady from thewoolshoppe sent me a sample of this yarn and boy that color just pops.. you may need sunglasses just to glimpse at it. There were twigs and dried leaves in the yarn when I was knitting this (wtf? you say? yes, wtf indeed). There wasn't enough yarn to make a whole scarf.. just enough to make a neck warmer. But 100% wool with twigs and god knows what else in the yarn? This stuff ain't touching my skin that's for sure.I also casted on for Bella Paquita. Was really excited because I am using Baruffa Maratona for this and then of course, at the BO row of the top section of the sweater, I managed to have different stitch counts for the sleeves. Rip it.. rip it good.. rip rip it real good... I think as I knit more, frogging detriments me less. Have I reached the zen-point? I would be freaking out a month ago. Or maybe it's because the Maratona yarn is so soft that I don't mind having to unravel and re-knit it? Hm. Or maybe I had to rip it out because I was supposed to CO for this sweater with Joy together and I sneakily started it while she was away to the MDSW? You never know.
Woohoo for stashbusters!
Pattern: Lelah (size M) designed by ChristineMaterials: GGH Samoa (stash, less than 500 yds), 2 yds green velvet ribbon (Joann), US 9 and 7 circular needlesNotes: 9 lace repeats, 7" bust area w/ 1" allowance for elastic, 3/4" elastic band. Finished size: 29" on top to fit my 34" bustThis was a fun knit. Quick and easy. My stash was stressing me out and I got to frog a failed project to make this tube top. My bust looks a little "bunchy" in the pic because I had to tuck in my bra straps. Now where the heck did I put my strapless brassiere? I might make another in black Wool Ease just to bust my stash some more. Special thanks to Christine for this pretty design.
