Summery Knits

People seem really skeptical of knitting in the summer.  As if it is a one season sport that can't be done in warm weather.  Sooooo not true.

Aside from the fact that I am addicted to it and so can't exactly put the kneedles down without the withdrawl twitching and sweats starting up, there are a few good reasons to knit through the warmer months:

1.  It has taken me two months of really solid knitting to finish only most of one sweater.  If I only knit in the winter, all I would ever finish is one sweater a year.  Not only would this be boring, but you wouldn't get a Christmas present.

2.  What the heck else would I do at the movie theatre while watching a movie to get out of the DC heat?

3.  This.

Leaf Paneled Sweater by Berta Karapetyan in Runway Knits.

I think this pattern is amazing and elegant.  And knit in fluffy Blue Sky Alpaca Worsted Cotton (color Honey Dew), it will be nice and cool for even the muggiest of summers.  Of course, mine only looks like this right now.

Not likely to be finished before this season is over...

Something to do on the airplane home.

Washington (State, not District)t

In Washington this week.  I lived in Seattle (well, Sammamish, which is near Redmond, which is near Bellevue, which is near Seattle) in junior high/first part of high school.  This is what I looked like when I lived there:

I'm the middle hottie.

Oooo, even better

I went through a yea-my-hair-makes-me-look-like-a-my-little-pony-so-what phase for a while there.  I think the precisely matching sweater really rounds out the ManicPanic look.

I am told by the Seattle Knitters Guild that there are 12 yarn/fiber stores in Seattle alone.  Just sayin'

More Knitting Ads

I am constantly amused by how people use knitting/sheep/wool in advertising for completely unrelated items.  Here are some more ads that feature knitting:

Advertising a radio station, I think...right?  Via

Apparently music and knitting go hand-in-hand.  Although, this one seems to imply that there is something wrong with Kiss/men/rock stars/male rock stars wearing Kiss-style make-up knitting.  Shows what they know.  Via

For a mattress:

This one would make sense if there was ANY reference to a mattress in the ad and if the sheep weren't inexplicable knitting what appears to be toilet paper....Via

And on the cover of a 1952 American Weekly.

Saying what, exactly?  Via

Almost as interesting as the ads that use knitting or knitted items to sell something else, are the ads for knitting or yarn themselves.  For example, here is one for machine-washable wool

via http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolinetamtama/5402860970/  Cute, right?

There are a whole ton of vintage knitting ads at Oh Shoot

And the latest in men's knitwear:

Love it.  Via

Wait Wait, Do Tell

Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me is my favorite NPR show ever.  Having a favorite NPR show is like having a favorite stamp in your stamp collection...a legitimate thing to have, but not something you share with the world without the expectation of a few eye rolls and a request that you leave your yippie name checking at the door.

However, there were two bits of joy I discovered when I was catching up on WWDTM this week.

Carl Kasell Limerick May 28th:

My new sweater is nothing to flog.  It's from yarn that leaves most couches clogged. My pet I do brush. For his hair is quite plush. I make wool from the hair of my...

Yup....talking about people who knit stuff out of pet fur (note: I am super sad by the misuse of fiber art terminology here.  For example, you don't make "wool" from dog hair.  Wool comes from sheep.  And this New York Times article refers to "yarn weaved from dog hair."  You weave yarn into fabric, but you spin fiber into yarn....anyhoo...)


And then there was this exchange between WWDTM panelists on June 18th:

SAGAL: Faith, this week we read about a growing trend among expectant fathers. They're having what?
Ms. SALIE: A shower, a baby shower...Well, they're not called baby showers for expectant dads, they're called dadchelor parties...Well, you know, it's where you get stuff for the baby. It's all about preparing to have a baby. Dadchelor parties are about getting ready to lose your freedom. So there's lots of drinking and gambling and carousing.
Mr. ROCCA: And the doula gives you a lap dance.
SAGAL: Exactly.
Mr. ROCCA: I was just in Hawaii.
SAGAL: Yes.
Mr. ROCCA: And I was watching hula dancers and it's so relaxing just to watch them. And I kept thinking, I bet, like, if you were a lady and you were going into labor and a hula dancer came in, it would be so relaxing that the baby would just kind of come out really easily.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. ROCCA: I don't know, I bet a hula dancer could get the baby out of you like just so easily...It's just amazing. Like a hula doula would be incredible.

Yup, hula doulas.  I totally agree that wiggling your hips around would help the baby come out.  I know of pregnancy yoga, but is anyone out there doing pregnancy hula?  Not sure, but apparently hula-hooping works for some moms.

(P.S.  The doula does NOT give you a lap dance....)

The Never-Ending Sweater...Ended

I feel like a friggin' genius.  This is a ridiculous feeling because the basic skills needed to knit forty-four inches of straight stockinette stitch are less difficult than to, say, ride a bike.  But then again, I fell off my bike the other day...three times in ten minutes, actually...

You've been hearing me complain about my Never-Ending Sweater (also known as the Lion Brand Speckled Shrug) here and here and here and here.

In fact, Ravelry tells me that I started this project in September, meaning that I worked on this thing for nine months before I was finally able to weave in the ends.  Holy crap.  It's been to two births, four concerts, to Atlanta, Indiana, DC, Marland, Virgina, and New York, to I-don't-know-how-many movies and get-togethers and countless bars and restaurants.  Basically, this sweater had a long and interesting life before it even became a sweater.

So now, please appreciate the following gratuitous chest shots (middle picture is closer to what the real colors are like):

It is a little baggy in the back (a shawl pin will fix that right up), but I really like the way I took a big rectangle and just sewed two edges together to make the sleeves.

Like this.  Schematic borrowed from lionbrand.com

REALLY warm wool, and it is, you know, 92 degrees out.  So, I am going to go take it off and drink a bottle of water now.

What Does it Take to Make a Sweater: Knitting Edition

 Here is the sweater I have been working on.  

This is my "sweater from scratch" even though I didn't actually shear/spin/dye the yarn I am knitting this out of.  The pattern is "Grown Up Hoodie" by Kira Dulaney (Rav Link here)

I should have been showing my sweater progress in stages.  I showed you the swatches here and one sleeve here.

But then I knit the waist band, the body, the other sleeve, the shoulders and now I am on the hood.  And this is what it looks like.

Still a lot of strings attached.  And the hood is only partially done so it looks like I have a pin head.

Here it is from the back

See the cool pattern on the back?  If you can't, that's because I was supposed to knit the whole thing purl-side-out so you could see the cabling better.  But I didn't.  Oops.

If you think it looks a little small, you are, regrettably, partially correct.  It still needs the rest of the hood and the button band down the length of the whole front on both sides.  But yes, it is still about a half inch too tight and an inch and a half shorter than I would really like.  

I am going to wash and block in before picking up stitches for the button band to see if that does anything helpful (I think I remember from swatching that it will grow a little bit), but may still unpick the cast on edge to add a couple of inches.  And never, ever wear a bra with this sweater so that it will fit across my chest.  Because I am damn well going to wear this first-knit sweater.

I Only Sort of Knit My Way Through Europe

I have been doing a poor job of blogging lately (I would blame my crappy internet connection, but it is mostly just pure laziness on my part).  I promise to get back on the bandwagon starting with a couple posts on my travels in Europe and a recap of my various summer knitting projects (all of which are WAY too hot to be knitting in this 90 degree weather).

I did a pretty good job of knitting my way through Europe.  I got the vast majority of my sweater done on the airplane (helped along by the fact that we circled around for an extra hour on the way home....)

I also knit my way through a ridiculously long line outside the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.  We had skipped the Louvre because there was a FOUR HOUR LONG line just to get in there and opted for the one hour line to see the Impressionists instead.  Worth it.

Porpoise took me to a yarn store in London which was quaint and lovely. 

But I scored in Dublin at This is Knit.

Acquired some British wool that was promptly wound into a ball to become a shawl.

 Again in Dublin was the findings at the Museum of Ireland. 

They apparently keep finding perfectly preserved things in the bog like this hat from the late 16th century (also saw some creepy looking bog bodies in the British Museum that I avoided taking pictures of).  It is old and yet perfect.

And these mud-avoiding shoes that Johanna says must have been the inspiration for much of Lady Gaga's footwear choices.

Successful fiber-related travel, I would say.