Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Finished Object Wedgewood Blouse!!! (part 2)

So I finished it, and I blocked it.

Finished wedgewood blouse


That's a horrible photo of me because I look wide and my boobs are somehow at different levels (bra finding is on the agenda for this weekend). I should mention, that neither of these aspects are the fault of the fabulous photographer Ms. Needleworks, herself.

Personally, I think the neckline comes up way too high. I also think the sleeves are too tight, and it should be longer. You might noticed this as being generally too small. In fact, I'm realizing that I knit the pattern at least one size too small. Most of the patterns I've knit from Norah Gaughn's book I've had to make a bit smaller, so I thought I'd just start at the smaller size with this one and that it'd all work out. Nope. We'll see how much wear I get out of it. It was really fun to knit, and if i get the capital, I'd love to try knitting it again in the right size. If I really never wear it, it might end up with my roommate.

Knitting this project did teach me one thing, however, it requires visuals, and flickr just went down, so you're all going to have to learn my lesson either the hard way, or when I update tomorrow.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Finished Object Wedgewood Blouse!!!

Alright, I know, where have I been?

Well, a couple weeks ago I bought a Wii. Since then, I've been playing it quite a bit. Actually, I've been playing Galaga quite a bit more than anything else. You see, you can also download old school Nintendo games on the Wii.

Add to the novelty of the Wii the belly dancing that I restarted, and there's not much time for knitting around these parts! I had a performance last night at the McBurney YMCA. It was so much fun and I was shocked to realize that I was barely nervous at all. Blogless Johanna, Mary and Claudine all witnessed it so they know I'm not lying!! Mary even has photos on Flickr! Like this one:



In knitting news, I finished the Wedgewood Blouse!! All the ends are woven in, I just have to block it.

Wedgewood Blouse

That's right, the girl that doesn't block anything's going to block the Wedgewood Blouse. You see, I knit it a bit too small I think. And the top, the part with the cables and all that is a bit too tight. I'm hoping that a good soak and a long pinned block will help stretch it out large enough to fit me. :-/

Friday, May 04, 2007

I Should Never Have Jinxed Myself

Wedgewood Blouse Sleeve


You'll note, of course, the orange waste yarn keeping the underarm stitches live (thank you blogless Suzi!). You'll also notice that the pattern says to BIND OFF 14 stitches. Yeah. If there's a way to f*** up a pattern, I'll find it. It's not a big deal though, I'll just bind off with new yarn and then sew the underarm seams. Other than that it's going well.

Wedgewood Blouse before yoke

This was taken earlier this week once I had connected the sleeves and started in on the yoke. I've never done a sweater for myself, and so I've never done a yoke, but I like the way it makes it look rather seamless. I just started in on the pattern of the project which is interestingly constructed and a pleasant interruption from reverse stockinette!

On a different note, for Christmas about three years (one of my first projects!), I was planning on knitting a pair of argyle slippers for my mother from Weekend Knitting. A knitting store in North Kingston, RI told me I couldn't knit them, that they were too advanced for me since they had all those colors to them, and wouldn't I like to try something more one color and easier? No, damn you. I didn't ask if I could knit them, I asked you to help me find yarn. (Sorry for that tangent. I just strongly believe that what you *can* knit is highly dependent on how badly you want to knit it.) I showed her though! They were knit completely! However, there's a TON of finishing, and I just decided that there was no way in hell I'd be doing that.

slippers for mom To "replace" this missed gift, I'm going to attempt to knit the MUCH simpler slippers from Berroco pictured on the right. It's a free pattern. They're going to be knit out of a nice grey Berroco Suede (the recommended yarn).

I got a pair of really cute buttons to fasten them with on the side. These are probably also going to be late for Mother's Day, but I think I get points for thinking of her for more than just one day. Also, maybe it will get the rest of my family off my back regarding those embarrassing non gifted slippers.

In other news, I received the latest copy of IK (Summer 07). I'm somewhat confused why the summer issue has wool wintery hats in it. In general I found a lot of the patterns to be quite not summery, though there were a few things I'd love to make (like that one shoulder number with the scarf by Kate Gilbert!) Also, in my wanderings this week, I found a couple of interesting KALs I think I'll join - both for IK publications.


That last one is ESPECIALLY handy and will more than likely be making an appearance in the sidebar!