Check Out my Booty...uh...Bootie?

So my best friend in the world is pregnant.

This is excellent news on the knitting front. There's nothing like sitting down to an episode of Jon Stewart on the TiVo with a new project, and having it done by the time the episode is over.

Ah, the joy of baby booties.

I have made exactly one bootie, from Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Cherished Babies, a book my mother bought for me when I told her I was engaged. Ah, mothers.



It is the cutest thing I've ever made. It's on display, and my M.A.P. walks by it in the house and glances at it out of the corner of his eye with a combination of dread and uncontrollable excitement. I keep reminding him it is not for us.

But it is so cute, I can understand his temptation.

Does Erika Knight have a blog? I can't find it if she does.

Yay! Soul-mate! (She just doesn't know it yet...)

Right after my free-form rant of my last post I watched a rerun of Knitty-Gritty and the guest was Lisa Shobhana Mason. Her blog is My Life in Stitches. At first I loved her because she was hot and had awesome hair and very cool glasses. (As a four-eyes myself I can appreciate her selection.) Then she mentioned something about there being two types of knitters (correct if I'm misquoting horribly)--those who are interested in patterns, and those who are interested in colors. And SHE is interested in colors.

When I saw her sample work at the end of the show, fabulously shaped and structured yet free-spirited sweaters, I knew I had found my soul-mate. (Lisa, if you are reading this, I promise I am not scary. I'm an English professor. I'm like the least scary person in the world. Okay, that's actually a lie, I can be scary sometimes especially if you are a slacker in my class, but I believe in nonviolence. So much for reassurances.)

In short, support this V.C.P.!! (very cool person) Go buy her books! Now!

Free-Form and Knit v. Crochet

There are a few things I've discovered over the few months I've been on hiatus from this blog.

I am a free-form fiber artist. That's all there is to it. I hate following a pattern and counting stitches, and I'm most happiest when I'm knitting or crocheting an item without any pattern at all, with only an inspiration and a tape measure. When I do use a pattern, I start following with the best intentions, and then just diverge. I'm the Roberta Frost of knitting.

I read Dominitrix, and tried to take her advice, but it just didn't stick. And it's not that I don't like creating slim-fitting items or precision knits, I just like to do it differently than line-by-line patterns. I prefer a three-dimensional architectural approach.

You know how people fall into two camps when you give them directions to a place they've never been? Some just want to know when to turn right, and when to turn left. Others want to know the full picture, the cardinal directions, plus they want to see a map to discover where the voyage fits in the grander geography of the area. I'm a cardinal direction person. Left and right don't mean anything except in a very narrow context. But if you know where north is, you can always get home.

Same with knitting--if a pattern doesn't provide the overall structural context of a garment, I don't bother with it, because then I can't make modifications. And eventually, when the modifications surpass the pattern, the garment becomes something completely original. Imperfections can be incorporated into your work. (Wrong turns can be made right, without backtracking.) I'm not sure if the metaphor holds, but you see what I mean.

Second discovery: I'm far more confident with crocheting than with knitting even though I hardly do it any more. Time and experience matter after all. That one seems pretty self-evident, but I didn't figure it out until today.

Hat-to-Purse Reinvention Idea

Here's a reinvention / recycling project to try.

Go to a thrift store and buy a cheap, ugly, 100% wool knit hat. Felt the hat. (Look up felting instructions on internet.)

Sew straps and zipper into hat in coordinating colors, total cost: $3.00.

Use purse, and when people ask if you made it, say "Yes!"

The one I have here was not a "cheap" or "ugly" thrift store hat to begin with -- my friend C. knitted it. Then she felted it and hated the results. I rescued it from the trash and made the purse you see here.

I used inexpensive nylon webbing by-the-yard from a craft store for the straps and bought a zipper in the exact same color.

(And C., whenever anyone asks me if I made it, I always tell them that you did the knitting, of course.)

Twinkle's Diamond Scarf in Alpaca - Finished

I just finished my first profject out of Twinkle's Big City Knits by Wenlan Chia. I started with something easier -- the Diamond Scarf. I used Classic Elite's Alaska yarn, an alpaca/wool blend that was the right weight for her projects. (Got that, C?)


I followed the pattern just right, but i'm disappointed with how the edges curl in when it is hanging -- the weight of the knitted edges overcomes the lace pattern in the middle and it curls. I'm not sure what to do about that. But hey, it looks all right on the table.

"Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug" from FITTED KNITS - Finished Pics

UPDATE 5/2008: I revised this project--the new project is posted on this blog here.

Here are pics of the finished product, the "Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug" from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel, page 45. I used merino wool in two different shades of blue, following the pattern mostly, except the sleeves are longer and a little more full than the pattern allows. I want to be able to wear it over short-sleeve shirts.

The front view:


The side view:


and the back view:


I'm okay with the sleeves being a little full because the bodice area is slim-fitting. I wear it all the time. So it passes the "I want to wear it test," which is the only one that matters, really.

Question for the Public

Given my propensity to start and start projects and leave them unfinished, and given that my dearest MAP is a furniture-builder when he's not doing his real job, and given that I hope (expect) him to build us some lovely furniture for the house we just bought, am I being hypocritical if I get on his case about starting and starting and starting carpentry projects and not finishing them?

Am I?

heh heh.

I did happen to finish my blue Japel shrug from Fitted Knits, but at the very same moment, started the diamond scarf out of Wenlan Chia's Twinkle's Big City Knits. I seem to maintain this stasis of 4-6 projects going at any one time. And yet this seems okay with me. Given that I'm knitting. And knitting is (1) small, (2) relatively inexpensive (ha!), and (3) not something I expect to be eating dinner on.

No. Not hypocritical. But I'm open to others' opinions on the matter.