FO: Flight Mitts

I was down in California scoping out art schools for the sister with my family a couple weeks ago, and decided I needed a good quite autumnal project for the flight. Unfortunately, I forgot that teeny tiny keychain pocket knives are apparently flight risks.* They really push you to mail those things home for $12. I checked my luggage instead so I didn't have to lose the sentimental value of a $8 scissors/emery board/tweezers set my grandpa had given me.

This means, of course, that I got impatient on the plane and ended up working the fingers of the gloves by splitting the yarn with my teeth (classy). Ultimately I redid all the fingers on that one glove, because it turns out that plastic needles are inadequate for weaving in fingering weight ends. Which I suspected from the outset, but I'd already finished my book because I read to quickly.

The pattern was entirely worthwhile, though. Straightforward, easily memorized lace pattern and nice gussets. I worked it up exactly as written.

Pattern: Snowflake Fingerless Gloves
Designer: Chris O'Brien
Origin: http://squeakyweasels.blogspot.com/
Yarn: Panda Silk, black
Needles: US1s, dpns

*I keep trying to picture this and fail; every time I visualize attacking some unfortunate flight attendant with the knife attachment, it bends in half on contact and then she flings me over the refreshment cart and proceeds to batter me with cans of soda. My house keys are more threatening.

Hello, September

I stepped outside this morning to take these pictures and the sky was evenly grey from one end of the horizon to the other-- that kind of pale mist grey that probably won't rain on you, but just might. Nothing irregular, but there's been a definite autumn twinge in the air for the past week, even when it's sunny and technically warm out. Fall's coming in a little quicker than normal.

I love this weather. I do feel like I didn't get a summer, though; I barely made use of my fan at all, and it's probably safe to pack it into its box for the year and pull out the space heater. My apartment walls didn't lose their natural cool until nearly the end of August.

I can't say whether Frida Kahlo* would have embraced this weather as much as I do, but she certainly posed patiently while I attached clothes pins to her and found a good backdrop. I was feeling headachy yesterday so I stayed at home and cut some cheap chiyogami paper into strips that I glued and sealed onto the pins. I might go find a varnish or lacquer later, but the craftstore I went to didn't have anything I was certain wouldn't discolor the paper.

*If you get a chance, go see the exhibit of her work that's traveling around right now. It's a good sampling of her art and shows a lot of the mixed media effects that you can't see in reproductions-- she often painted fresco style or on metal, and occasionally made frames part of her paintings as well. It's also accompanied by some comprehensive photo galleries about her life and her acquaintances.

Things As They Are

I do not seem to be doing enough with this blog. This is by and large because I've been busy with things of little concern. To keep you distracted from that, let me share this with you:



It's a little needle felting kit on sale at the store I work at; locally made and perhaps a little overpriced for what it contains, but with very clear photographic instructions. I think I'll be making this one up for my dad (it was either the penguin or the hedgehogs).

Now I am off to find out what is burning in my oven and finish unpacking all my luggage (friends, if ever traveling with me, book a separate flight so you don't have to hang around while my baggage is searched. Again. Just in case.)

FO: Noemi

It's the middle of August and we've had a stretch of hot weather and thunder-storms ... but all I want to do is knit scarves. I had designated this sweater season, to see if I could finish a last summer garment and start on a couple warmer tops for the winter, but all that sweater yarn is now hiding out in my closet so I don't cannibalize it for enormous winter wraps. I've been dreaming of thick winter scarves made from 1400 or so yards of worsted weight, and there isn't much out there to convince me that this is not a good idea.

So I'm writing this sunburnt from an afternoon spent paddle-boating on the lake, and a night spent watching trashy movies and thunderstorms. My apartment thinks it's an oven, which means I knit all the more because I don't have the concentration ability for anything else when I'm inside it (perhaps I should head out to a cafe so I can get something useful done).

The scarf is "Noemi," from the first Norah Gaughan collection. I knit it on US 9s with three skeins of Cash Vero in a cranberry color-- about 300 yds, which makes for a 7 foot scarf in this lace pattern. The booklet has some very nice charts in it, and this was one of them. I still need to block it, but that's going to wait until it's cooler.

Salon des Refuses...

Truth be told, I'm actually quite happy with these socks. It took a bit of a voyage getting to this point, though: I knit the first sock on US1s, which turned out to make the heel so tight I could barely force it up to my ankles. Then, after working it again on US2s I found that my picot bind-off was too tight, so I undid it, worked a sewn bind-off, and then sewed it down to form the picot. Then, of course, the office cat had a great deal to say about how I was photographing them, and would usually interfere so much as to completely obscure the socks, until I posed in such a way that he was satisfied.

But, you know. Overall, these are fairly awesome little summer socks.

Pattern: Impressionist Socks
Designer: Closca de nou
Origin: nunanit.blogspot.com
Yarn: Regia Mosaik Color
Needles: US2, double-points

FO: Lace Ribbon Scarf

Lace Ribbon Scarf
Designer: Veronik Avery
Source: Knitty
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug colorway "Velvet Bilberry," 320 yards
Length: about 4 feet

First of all, a correction: the yarn used is a deep purple verging on black. I couldn't get a good shot of the scarf that was also color-accurate, and I didn't want to bother for a long time in Photoshop.

I love this pattern; I'd do it again, longer, and perhaps a little wider as well. It's mindless lace, perfect for working on while, well, working, and it has a great dramatic result.

I am unlikely to buy Jitterbug again without unskeining and combing over the entire skein carefully. It's not a horrendous yarn, but for a yarn meant to have a smooth consistency it had far too many slubs and, also, the connection of a different -and very strikingly different- dye lot. I don't think the difference is visible in the picture; it's more striking when the color is accurate. It also didn't feel like it would hold up to feet (I'd initially planned to knit a pair of socks from it). These problems are common in the yarn and I'd heard about them before but conveniently forgot about it when I saw the colorway. I like the scarf quite well regardless, but if I ever want consistency from something, Jitterbug's clearly not the way to go.

C'est la vie, and a rather lovely life it is, too.

My favorite top...

Pattern: Green Gables
Designers: Sarah & Rachel (zephyrstyle.com)
Yarn: Hempathy
Needles: US6 and 4

I'm delighted by the way this knit up. It was more or less a mindless knit, kept alongside my laptop while I read or worked on other things. In the way of things, this means it took me longer to finish than it otherwise might; I tend to prioritize more exciting knits. But it's a perfect look for me, which I'll some day prove when I can pin someone down to give me a photo shoot.

Modifications: I knit for the size 40-43, but had to rip back to a slightly smaller size because I would have swum in it at the 43-inch mark. I left off the ribbing on the bottom edge in the interest of a stockinette roll, to mimic the slight roll on the back of the neck.