Longies are Done

Cute, huh?

I also cast on for Veronique, which Katie and I are doing as a KAL:

The pattern suggests a provisional cast on, and Katie and I decided to use a crochet cast on instead of the one suggested in the book (which was just too fiddly when dealing with such fine yarn). I’m enjoying knitting this, even though so far it is just stockinette.

Plath Cropped Cardigan

My new summer pattern, Plath, is now available at for $4.95. The pattern comes in 8 sizes, from XS-XXL!



Born in 1932, Sylvia Plath was both a prolific author and sweater wearer. She attended Smith College, where she also later taught poetry. She is best known for her autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, and for her poetry collection Ariel.
This sweater was inspired by Plath's classic 1950's sweater girl style, shown above.

Plath features a simple, but pretty, ladder stitch rib pattern, an easy and quick two row repeat.

The sweater is knit top down in the round. The bottom edge of the cardigan features a curved edge that you create by decreasing strategically at each end. After completing the body and sleeves, you will pick up stitches first along the placket and bottom hem, and then along the collar. In keeping with the 1950s “sweater girl” look, Plath is a fitted sweater. If you’d rather have a looser sweater, you can either knit one size up, or adjust the number of increases and decreases in the shaping. Or, use a larger needle size (as I did with my first attempt, below, knit on size 8s).

FO Madness!

I traveled to Tokyo to visit Rapt With Fiber and we went a little nuts with the yarn buying and knitting.

First, we did a knit-along and made the Buttony cardigan.




Then, I finished a scarf made with some of the alpaca I recycled from a thrift store sweater. [*The pattern is Bryher. Check it out on Ravelry.]

I whipped out a Tudora for my momma for xmas.


And I made a luscious mobius scarf with some Noro Kureyon I bought that I LOVE SO MUCH. This is the greatest project and I wear it like crazy. It almost makes up for the scarf that was stolen.*



I'll post pics from Tokyo when I've sorted through them all.

*(My favorite scarf was stolen a few weeks ago. Not only did I knit the thing, but it's an original design, too. Someone isn't too bright.)

Rip It, Rip It Good

I made the diamond scarf out of Wenlan Chia's Twinkle's Big City Knits, but I realized I would never wear it.

(According to Pearl-McPhee's quiz in Casts Off, I appear to be "product" knitter. That means I care about the usefulness of the end product. Or, it could mean I'm incredibly cheap about yarn. Because I also have never knitted a gauge swatch in my life.)

I love Chia's book, but thus far have been stumped by it, or rather, by the goal of making something that makes me feel awesome when I wear it.

I made the scarf, then ripped it out.

Around the same time, I saw a re-run of Stefanie Japel on Knitty Gritty, demonstrating a chunky cardigan project (the "better sweater").

Whoa, did this come out badly too. I've realized what my problem is. I think if you put chunky yarn on an amazon then you'd best be careful. And I was not careful in selecting this project--because I am not a careful knitter.

Don't misunderstand: Japel's Fitted Knits is my favorite pattern book of all time. It changed my (knitting) life. I recommend it to all of my acolytes. But this chunky cardigan just was not for me.

So I put the cardi on my small-boned slightly shorter friend S. and had her model it for me so I could photograph the work, before I ripped the yarn yet again. Here it is, nearly complete (pardon the stitch-holder in place of button):


As you can see, I made it out of two colors of yarn -- Classic Elite "Alaska," an alpaca blend. I also shortened the sleeves. Here's the sleeve detail:


And the back view:

I told S. that if she thought she would wear it, she could keep the sweater, but she wisely observed that in our southern clime, an alpaca-wool short-sleeved sweater-coat seemed chock full of clothing contradictions. (Not exactly her words, but you get the point.)

So I have ripped yet again, and have chosen another project from Chia's book -- the "Magic Shawl." This time, I'll be careful.