Proof that I wore a skirt today. Yay! And look like Holly Hobby. Boo. All I need is a bonnet or some gingham. How do I manage to put together such frumpy outfits? And I forgot a necklace today. I never do that. I guess I didn't need to wear tights, but it's a bit cold still and they're sort of a security blanket. And I could have worn a blouse, but what color? Any tips for me?

Progress Report

I've just finished repeat six of Citron. This project has been on the back burner for a bit while I've been making baby things and finishing other projects - a scarf for my sister, and Emmaline. Well, Emmaline's not quite finished, or rather it is, but I might have to undo a bit and add in some increases, and use a different bind off. My friend Linda suggested an elastic, stretchy bind off in a recent comment that I think I'll try out on this, because aren't garments meant to be comfortable and not cut off your circulation from the hips down? I don't like the idea just straightaway ripping out rows until I think I've reached the right point, then making sure all the stitches are caught and aimed the right way. I think it's time for a lifeline! This will be the first time I've threaded one through stitches that aren't on the needle. I'm not sure how this works, so I had to look it up.


Anyway, back to Citron.

Emmaline undone?

Finishing Emmaline has been an obsession of mine for the past 6 weeks. Each day, whether it was a knitting day or not, I would check my progress on the garment and the pattern. Would my slight modifications be enough to account for my hourglass but plus-sized build? How will this yarn act once it's on my body and reacting to gravity?

After finishing the written pattern minus 6 rows in the center, I decided to add 17 more rows of length to it and struggled through the last rows. I just want it done already! I measured the remaining yarn to make sure I would have enough for the final purl row and bind off purled edge. I finished, unpicking and redoing the bind off halfway through for a looser edge, and had about 10 yards to spare.

What I hadn't taken into account is that now the edge extended to the top of my hips. Darn! Definitely too tight/too long. I think I will have to unravel a bit and try again. In fact, it looks like I will have to undo all of the added length rows and add some increases. I will not add as many rows for length this time - maybe only 12 additional rows.

The bind off edge I ended up with was unforgiving, but I had tried hard to keep it loose. I don't want to do the sewn edge bind off because it will take forever to pulled that long end through but that might give me a better fit. I have read that a few people did the bind off using a needle one or two sizes up, and that might be an easy solution for this top.

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Originally uploaded by bareblueskin

Breathing Life into Emmaline

I started Emmaline, a lovely empire waist short sleeve top knit in bulky organic cotton, last April hoping to wear it in summer and have my very first adult sized finished garment. I've blogged about this a few times, and Emmaline slipped into the pile of unfinished projects due to size confusion. I didn't really want to make a garment in my current size, knowing that I was changing. It looks like I put it down some time in the fall. I know I've tried to pick it up a few times and been nervous about where I had left off. I have completed the top raglan portion and knit and bound off both sleeves, tried on, and gone back and modified the bind off so my arms won't turn blue from circulation issues.

Now, I've lost over 20 pounds since starting this project. You would think the arms would be loose by now, right? No such luck. They do fit properly though, and that makes me think that they were still too tight before. I had planned to modify the torso area and put in some ease to account for my stomach, but I've changed my mind. I'm going to knit as written and try it on in stages. I'm sure the finished garment will loosen up during the wearing of it, and I'd rather have things a little snug than baggy. A first for me!

In the past week I've made quite a bit of progress. I fixed my confusing stitch count, moved past the one purl stitch row, and started the more fitted torso section. I also took care of all the ends under the arms to make sure I was measuring properly - there were some loose stitches there that needed sewing up.

Taking a peek at my Ravelry project page, I started this project April 17, 2010. Let's see if I can finish knitting this and have a FINISH for the 17th...

FO: Cabled Chapeau

The lovely Cabled Chapeau. I finished this hat back in December, wrote the majority of this post in January, and here it is, April 5th. And it's raining, not snowing, so no need for the hat. But oh, how I love this hat! I wore it on the cold, but not arctic, winter days here in New England. it was quick to knit (when I spent time knitting), soft and conforming, and most importantly, big enough for my head! We have big heads in my family and most feminine hats squeeze the dickens out of my head. That said, I'm sure other patterns can be customized to accommodate my cranium but I loved this pattern from the start - big cables, flexible brim, and covers my ears.



Knitting the brim was a a bit odd. I couldn't figure out what doing short rows in the middle would do to the shape. I just couldn't picture it. Also, the way the pattern is written, the two long edges are not the same length, and I thought they would be since they just fit on the inside and outside of the hat. Weird. I just kept on going with the pattern instructions and tried not to question it.

Once I finished all the pieces they cuddled up together in a bag on the couch as I tried to gather up my nerve to tackle the brim. I did have another hat to follow for brim shape, but I was anxious about doing it wrong. Then I realized if I didn't cut something, I wouldn't have a hat to wear when I went home for Christmas. And of course, I wanted to show off my handiwork!

I would have made the knit piece for the brim smaller but I just sewed it in father on the inside so I wouldn't have a baggy brim. If I make this hat again (and I think my friends back home are preparing to put in their orders) I will figure out how to make the knit piece a bit smaller, and use the cardboard template I made for the brim as a guide.

It's time to give this hat a wash in the sink and put it in with my other winter things. Or maybe I'll wear it on particularly chilling spring days...it is the perfect shade of blue!

Here is a photo of me and my big sister after the crazy northeast storm that made getting home from Christmas an adventure. Instead of flying from Rochester to Boston, I rode with my sister and brother-in-law to Montclair, NJ, then took the commuter rail in to NYC, then a Bolt bus to Boston, and then the subway home. A roundabout way of getting home after the holidays, but better than waiting for the snow to clear. I know this photo doesn't show off the hat all that well, but you get the picture!

Blog or Journal?

I think I need to make a decision on whether to journal, or to blog. I find the allure of paper hard to resist, and I like having an archival copy of my thoughts, insignificant as they may be, to reflect on in future times. I like seeing the ink on the paper, worn pages, books bursting with my effort. I’ve always struggled with keeping an electronic version of this, since the format of blogging does not match up with my paper record, and I can’t paint on a website. I always meant to print out the pages, to keep them in some hard format, but then isn’t that wasting resources and storage space? How many apartments will I move those boxes to?

So far I have one box of journals in my closet. I think it contains only the writing journals since my move to Boston in 2000. That means that there is a box in my parents’ house containing my formative years, highly productive high school days, when I took up journaling as a mission, and probably part of my turbulent college years, where things turned dark and multimedia expressive.

I would like to find a more expressive blog format, so I might be changing hosts soon after watching fellow bloggers go through this quest.

There are things I want to record and remember that haven’t been written anywhere, just some thoughts.

Just this year:

-Fitting into smaller jeans – a size I never really believed possible, and now I’m looking beyond it to new numbers

-the death of my best friend’s mother

-finding the strength of self preservation, and learning it has a price

-missing my family so much at times it hurts, even at this stage in my adult life. I think this is something I will never lose, and I'm grateful to have that bond

-feeling able to stand on my own financial feet and take the changes as they come
-having so many friends that my social calendar swells and overlaps

Funny, now that I'm thinking I should stop blogging, I've written a bunch of draft posts and have 4 finished items to post too. So for now, conscious duality.

What was old is new again

My suit fits!!!! I bought it in June 2004, it has been too small since 2005 and  I have moved it 4 apartments. What a way to kick off my spring cleaning weekend, with a closet clear out session resulting in clothes that fit!

Knowing when to cut and run

Last January I started Wabenschal, a hexagonal lace scarf. I was itchy to start something new for the new year. Against my better judgment, that loud voice in my head that gets pillows thrown at it, I started this instead of plugging away at my ocean waves scarf which is still unfinished at the time of this post. I only worked on Wabenschal while knitting with others, and I think I should have spent some time by myself getting to know the chart and the pattern. It was my first attempt at using a chart for any kind of knitting instead of following the written instructions, or creating written instructions from the chart.

I bought the yarn, Patons Lacette, on clearance for $.50 a skein, and I can see why. In the skein it's very soft - you can feel the mohair content. Knit up it feels like baling twine. Maybe once it's blocked it will soften up and show off the stitch pattern better.I don't know if this yarn and pattern combination is working. I haven't worked on this project in a year, and I can't decide whether to scrap what I've done and put the pattern back in my binder for future use, or to start up again with it. At this point the work I've done is about as large as a swatch. Maybe I'll bind off, block it, and use it as a reference when I start the pattern again. It's another one of those lurker projects, taking up space on my shelf, my Ravelry list, and my mind.

I don't want to abandon my work. It always makes me feel like a bit of a failure, even though it's just a knitting project. I expect myself to start and finish everything with perfection! Is that so difficult? How do I know when it's time to throw in the towel?


My project link Wabenschal in Maroon Mist

P.S. I broke down and bought size 8 straight needles two weeks ago after what I thought was a thorough search of my apartment. I determined that yes, remember, I lent this pair of needles to someone two years ago and never got them back. And didn't buy replacements. So, I picked up another pair at Windsor Button, even though I prefer the Boye straight needles purely for the thumbtack like end. The pair I bought at Windsor are by Susan Bates. They are a lovely blue but have a pinched, flattened end which I don't find aesthetically pleasing. It turns out that this Wabenshal is parked on my size 8 needles!

Baby Sizing

It's that time again, time to put the pedal to the metal and crank out some baby things for a shower. How do these things creep up on me? My friend Mary made a special request for purple booties and I am happy to oblige, but of course I can't just make booties, I need to make a hat too! I've known about this since sometime in the fall, and Mary is due in April, so I had plenty of time. I made a winter hat for myself, the Cabled Chapeau (which you will see a finished picture of soon), worked on some other unfinished projects, and started but didn't finish a scarf for my sister's birthday in December. I wanted to finish the scarf before starting the baby things, but now I'm getting down to the wire.

Mary's baby shower is March 5th so I need to mail the gift by March 1st. That's two weeks from today! Now if I could just get knitting...though that hasn't been the problem. The problem is size.

I picked out the patterns months ago, bought the yarn a few weeks ago, but didn't sit down and read through everything until I was ready to start. Common mistake. I bought Plymouth Encore in worsted, but the Etanapipa snail hat calls for bulky, and Saartje's Bootees call for fingering weight. Ugh!


-Snail Hat-
1st cast on - size 10 needles, yarn doubled. Too confusing, can't figure out if the hat is the right size, pulling from both ends of one skein. Frogged.
2nd cast one - size 9 needles. Cast on 64 stitches. Slightly stretched it's 16-17" - too big for a baby, more like a toddler size. And I had added a stitch somewhere. Frogged.
3rd cast on - size 9 needles. Cast on 48 stitches. Stretched it's 12" - way too small. Frogged.
4th cast on - size 9 needles. Cast on 56 stitches. Stretched it's 14-15". Sticking with this one.

Never mind that bebecita probably doesn't need a woolly knitted hat in April. It's upstate NY. It still snows in April and May sometimes.

I've been referencing this size chart to figure out how big to make the hat.

-Saartje's Bootees-
1st cast on - size 7 needles. Seemed to crowded. Frogged.
Waiting until I'm finished with the hat to cast on again, probably with size 8 needles.