Knititude

It's personal

I feel a little guilty that the, oh, five or six people who have been waiting for the pattern for the Chinese Lace pullover are *sigh* still waiting.  The lack of an external deadline (the new Knitty and Magknits should be up within the next week or so!) is probably a factor, but the main problem is that Chinese Lace really turned into something I wanted to make for myself, and it's not a one- or two-day affair, like a hat, and after one or two projects that just didn't fit quite right, I'm not willing to let the poor thing languish in my closet after spending hours working on it.

I think I have it at the proper length now, and I'm about halfway up my...fourth sleeve.  I do not have four arms, and in any case, none of the sleeves match; the first (rejected!) was all lace, the second (ditto!) had a belled lace cuff, then transitioned into stockinette, and the third is just a little too tight.  I loathe the feel of a snug sleeve, and usually think they don't look so hot either (and baggy sleeves don't do anyone any favors in the flattery department, but that's not the issue here).  When I calculated the sleeve circumference, I didn't take into account that it is mostly ribbing, which is really kind of hard to calculate gauge for--when measuring, do you leave it relaxed?  Stretch it?  How much?  I think it should probably depend on how the ribbing will behave when worn:  cotton is heavier and less resilient than wool, and ribbing around an elbow will be subject to much more movement than around a neck.  Anyway, I realized that if measured slightly stretched, the ribbing can have more ease than the same piece in stockinette, because it does tend to contract on the body, even if it was stretched while blocked.

Pictures next post--I swear.

Another reader knit--hooray.

Sandra sent me an email with a link to this gorgeous lavender Maple Seed Hat; the cotton yarn shows off the stitches beautifully.  (Maple Seed pattern here.)  Thanks Sandra!   

12-inch-long dpns??

I stopped by my LYS today to pick up a set of US size 6 dpns, and the only ones on their wall display were 12 inches long!  I mean, is there really anyone who would rather use 12-inch-long dpns than, say, a 24 or 32 inch circular needle?  Someone who works as a security guard and can use them as weapons in a pinch, perhaps? 

Luckily, a helpful saleslady found a set of normal-length Brittany birch dpns tucked into a basket on the floor.  I know I had a set of #6s, but they seem to have disappeared, and I need to complete a sample of a special edition of Beaufort I'm creating for sale at a certain LYS (not the one I just visited); the owner requested a version using a thinner yarn.  I feel somewhat awkward about offering a pattern for sale that is gratis on the web, but I am rewriting for a different gauge, in a larger range of sizes, and I plan to use a new photograph, and reformat the whole thing to make it more suitable for display in a bricks'n'mortar store (and more portable for the on-the-go knitter).

After I got home, I realized that I had a pair of metal 14-inch-long dpns that look to be about a US size 8.  I have no memory of ever having used them for anything, and why do I only have two?  Did I use the others to stake tomatoes or hang curtains?   Hmmm.

P.S.  Thanks for the well-wishes concerning the sailing accident; the victim is mending, and gives his assurances that that particular mishap will never happen again!

    

Wisteria: the real thing

If it's Friday, then it must be...

time for some eye candy.  So here's why I named this dress "Wisteria."

Bad things happen fast;

I mean, one minute you're here--it's a gorgeous day, the wind is a steady (but manageable) 15-20 knots, the waves roll by in a steady, lulling parade...it's time to roll up the sails and head home...and then, the autopilot lets go, the boat starts to turn, the boom starts to swing, and BOOM!
Everything changes.

Unfortunately, the aftermath of the bad thing goes on for awhile (sometimes forever); in this case we were lucky, if you can call it that; some broken bones, some internal injuries, but nothing that won't heal.

(A knit's-eye view of the corridor outside the Mass General CT scan room.)

A good read

Gosh, I wish I'd written this!

Eye candy Friday II

I've decided it's not fair to choose only one of our fine hydrangeas, so last week it was the climbing hydrangea, and this week:  the oak leaf hydrangea, another beauty.  The flowers are white at first, then turn a rosy pink, and finally fade to tan, and the foliage turns a deep reddish bronze in the fall.

Eye Candy Friday

Thanks to Purly for the fun idea of posting pretty photos on Friday--a little treat for the eyes and tonic for the soul at the end of the work week.  I have, ahem, been on vacation this week, but still.  Here is one of my favorite plants, the climbing hydrangea; I have more colorful photos in my files, but those deep greens are so quiet and the flowers so pure--I feel refreshed just looking at them.

More knitting content coming soon! 

Poetic license

Now that our Hibiscus syriacus, or Rose-of Sharon, is in full bloom, I'm afraid that the flowers are much pinker than I remembered.  They are lovely, and more numeroous than ever, but not quite the shade of lavender that would match my eponymous hat.  However, I did notice that the spent blooms, which fall in profusion and are cigar-butt shaped, thus resembling nothing so much as the detritus from a stogie-lover's convention, do have a purplish cast.  Purplish-greyish.  At least they don't have that old-cigar stink. 

I thought I should put a link to Rose-of-Sharon under "free patterns," and so it is done.