Saturday, January 30, 2010

Out with the old, ...In with the new!

I am finally nearing the completion of a project that has been in process for what seems like forever. It went wilding, far from the pattern with which I began. It started it's life as the Autumn Grasses pattern by Jane Thornley. Then, after about four inches, it got way too wide. Because I find it easier to knit all the pieces that are supposed to match up at once, this would have meant a huge amount to frog. Project put aside. Then, undaunted, I plunged ahead. I joined the fronts and back (I don't like to sew up seams), and began to decrease at the sides. Aha! I decided to make it really long. ...Why? ...Because I want to re-invent myself and my wardrobe this year. I want to be more active (translate this as exercised), and my good ol' jeans just don't let me drop to the floor to do yoga stretches when the spirit takes me. Anyway, at this point, I got to thinking that some of my yarns might not be in sufficient amount to do what I wanted. So, I started a sleeve. Once again, after a few inches, I saw it would be giantly belled. This is OK for sitting about looking glam, but it's a pain when washing dishes or doing anything else productive. Even knitting would be challenging wearing giant sleeves. Ever thinking, and Wild Grasses put aside while the brain did yoga over this new development,


... I knit this up for a little relief knitting. I call it Wrapped In Deep" referring to the deep colors I used, which are a deviation from usual brights. Amazing how the shawl pin blends exactly. There was no plan for it, it just sorta happened. Lucky that! I am loving wearing it, as it is so warm , cozy, and does not get in my way. It also is very adaptive. It can be a cowl, and draped in several different ways.


Refreshed, I picked up the Wild Grasses, which was now on it's way to becoming a front-button vest, with a two inch sleeve cap.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Too busy or not too busy???

Wow! It has been a while! I have been totally distracted and by what I couldn't tell you. It seems to me that I have not been doing very much. If you were to ask me what I have made or done lately, I would not have much to say for myself. I have been busy though! I did try something yarn related that was new for me. I made myself some clogs and felted them. That was a pattern that drove me nuts. What kept bothering me is that the pattern was the same for the both feet. I get it that the felting makes them look like socks, and could be interchangeable, and I was happy with them to that point, even though I ended up having to bake them in the oven when they refused to dry. Weather was rainy that week and humidity was high. I read a post someone had left on Ravelry that they were afraid theirs would grow mushrooms, and I decided action was necessary. They are very comfy, and I am wearing them a lot, but I have noticed that there is a tendency to shape in the same direction. The right foot clog is fine, but the left one seems to be shaping toward the right also, and leaves my foot feeling it is half off the sole and twisting.

The Holidays blew by like they never happened. I had the family, which keeps growing, over for the annual Solstice party. Now, there are 12 of us, and we overflow from the dining table (which was established at one end of a long living room after my mother came to live with us 1+ years ago and made the dining room her abode), onto the living room furniture. It's OK though, since we are still all in the same room, and its very cozy. I gave knitted items to the women in the group, and went shopping for my sons. I always made their clothing as they grew up, and they refer to those lovingly made items as "bobo's." Even though as a dressmaker and designer I was head dressmaker for a major pattern company, the idea of home-made clothing was not cool to them. Ha!

I have done some finishing, which is always a good thing at the years end and the beginning of another. The Fairy Name KAL on the Jane Thornley group of Ravelry is still going strong, but I have finished mine, complete with beads galore. Here you see me cavorting with the garden fairy who is telling me that is sure would be nice to have a wrap of her own to help warm the cold winter days she spends sitting on a frozen birdbath. Hey! I could be a yard/yarn bomber!