Last post as Miss McSpazzitron

Because next time, I guess I'll be Mrs. McSpazzitron! and DF will turn into DH. Sadly though, dear husband just doesn't have quite the same ring as dumb f*&^#! or *sigh* dear fiancee. Wish me luck in the next week and hope that we come out on the other side of it okay. But, we'll be wearing these when all is said and done, and I LIKEE!

But in the meantime, I should probably show you all the pictures of everything that I've been working on in the past two months of non-blogging.

I started on Icarus and while it's STILL not done, it doesn't look that much different from this:

Sadly, this picture was taken two months ago, and it's still not done. At least now I'm done with the stockinette part and only have 23 really LOOONG rows left to go.

But here are the FO's in finishing order:
Two-Tone Bag
Pattern by Kathy Merrick in Fall 2005 Interweave Crochet
Materials: Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed (100% wool, 100 yd) 200g each in color 06 and 04. Size H hook.
Gauge: 15 HDC = 4"
Finished size: 23" wide and 16.5" deep

Started: August 4, 2006
Finished: August 28, 2006

Discussion:
I see why crochet is so popular. It goes just so darned fast! The only problem with this bag is that the handles stretch a lot and the size. I've decided that the red-headed Interweave model must be about 7 feet tall because in the picture it looked like a great roomy tote, but on my it's clown-sized. Completely out of proportion for my height-challenged frame. I was planning on using it only for a knitting bag since it's huge and well, knitting doesn't tend to be very heavy but can definitely be bulky. It doesn't keep stuff in very well, so I might consider felting the whole thing, but I'm still as yet undecided there.

Previous posts about this project:
Really MIA on September 24, 2006
43+ on August 31, 2006
Back again on August 13, 2006



Hooded Pullover
Pattern by Vladimir Teriokhin in Fall 2005 Vogue Knitting
Materials: Filatura di Crosa Ultralight (53% alpaca, 22% wool, 25% nylon. 154 yards per 50g ball) 270g in color 61. Size 7 Addi turbo circulars.
Gauge: 4 sts/in
Finished size: 34" chest

Started: May 4, 2006
Finished: September 18, 2006

Modifications:
Knit the sleeves in the round from the top down by picking up the total number of stitches called for in the pattern before sleeve cap shaping and reversing the sleeve cap shaping with short rows around the armscye. Lengthened the length of the hood.

Discussion:
I discovered yet again that I'm short with a long neck and sputnik sized head with this sweater. The high empire waist ribbing on the model looks cute, but on me, DF says, what's up with that weird ribbing thing around your middle? It's supposed to accent the boobage, I think, but I'm not sure. Instead it just sits in a weird place on my ribcage. Oh well, it's roomy and comfy and just a little warm. Not as warm as I had hoped because well, the huge slash down the neckline to my belly button allows for a lot of heat escaping.

Also, this was a good candidate for playing, "What's she hiding?" The model is looking down at the ground and has her hands up by her ears supposedly "pulling" on exercise rings on the beach. Okay, we all know that these models are starved to the point of not being able to hold themselves up, so what's really going on here? Well, it's the abysmal hood shaping really. The instructions have you knit until the hood measures 6.5" from where you pick up stitches around the neckline, then knit about 1" of top shaping and bind off. Well, the last time I checked, most people have necks AND heads, so the hood comes out to be way too small to allow for anyone to have both of those body parts without the shoulders of the sweater pulling up around your ears. So much for the "roomy hood" in the description.

A note about the yarn substitution... I'm pretty happy about the alpaca blend that I used here. It's a bit rougher than I'd have hoped for an alpaca, but it certainly gives the same fluffy appearance as the Skacel Alpaca Leggero that's suggested in the pattern. But given that I couldn't possibly afford (at least I don't really want to) 16 balls of the stuff at about $10 a ball, I was especially happy with my substitution at $25 for the sweater. The color really isn't that neon pink, BTW, it's much more muted, but still hot pink. Yes, my wonderful photographic skills when it comes to reds rears its head again.

This sweater was really pretty straight forward. The time it took me to knit it is not at all indicative of how difficult it was. I blame the protracted knitting time on alpaca not being terribly fun to deal with when it's 100 degrees outside.

Previous posts about this project
Really MIA on September 24, 2006
Decision point on June 2, 2006
Designing on May 31, 2006
Legacy on May 9, 2006

Cross Over Tank
Pattern by Gayle Bunn in Spring/Summer 2005 Vogue Knitting
Materials: Patons Katrina (92% rayon, 8% polyester. 163 yards per 100g ball) 240g in Lilac. Size 7 Addi Turbo circulars 24".
Gauge: 21 sts/4"
Finished size: 24.5" bust (unstretched)

Started: September 24, 2006
Finished: October 2, 2006

Modifications:
Omitted side seams and neckband seams.

Discussion:
Who in the world would want to seam with elastic yarn? With my finishing capabilities, I knew that the seaming would have been a disaster if I had elastic yarn thrown into the mix, so I deferred to seamless knitting. In the end I had a total of 6 ends to weave in. I like that.

And let me just say, never again will I knit a tank top with 6 inches of negative ease no matter what they say about the stretchiness of the resulting fabric. It's just plain scary to see something that small come off the needles. I like it too though, and with the help of Elann I think I managed the cheapest garment of the year. Okay maybe my super on sale t-shirts from the gap were cheaper, but can you really beat $8 for a hand knit garment? For an adult?

Oy, I just noticed that I'm wearing this tank backwards in the picture. There's supposed to be interior waist darts on the front that you don't see here. Oh well, at least it's mostly reversible!

Ugh. Gotta get my hair chopped off after the wedding. These last few pictures were just HIDEOUS! If you're still reading this, man are you devoted! Thanks for hanging in there with me and I'll be gone for at least a week or two. Hopefully there will be more non-knitting related pictures to share by then.

Really MIA

So sorry about not posting in almost a month... it's been a bit crazy here. I think in the past 6 weeks, I've been in LA for all of a 2 weeks TOTAL if you add up the weekends here and there and random days I've dropped off my bags to dump the dirty clothes and immediately pack again. Anyway, the rantings and ravings will be on pause for a little while longer. I promise some effort in this blog in, wait, what does the countdown tell me... 19 days or so.

The quick and dirty (and pictureless) update is:

1. tension is mounting as the date draws closer... I think everyone just wants it to be here already and we're all just getting antsy
2. finished VK fall 2005 hooded pullover on Sept 18
3. finished my first crochet project (two tone bag in Fall 2005 Interweave Crochet)since forever ago on Aug 21, but it's a bit strangely proportioned for my body and the straps stretch
4. clearly I'm almost exactly a year behind in my projects!
5. am about 75% of the way through Icarus
6. have been a bad bad girl when it comes to sock yarn

Pretty much, nothing really changes around here except for the frequency of my posting! Hope all is well with all of you, and thanks for the kind comments on the pics from my last post.

43+

So yes, I have disappeared off the face of the planet. But it's because I have been working on that thing that I'm counting down to on my sidebar, which right now tells me I have a little over 43 days remaining. Yes, it's been hectic, but actually things are coming together nicely.

I won't bore you with all the details, but I thought I'd at least share a pic with you. This is what we paid a professional to do to my hair:

Okay, not really. This is after I took out all of the pins and elastic and everything that was holding it all together and all that was left is the hair spray. I took my mug shots bridal portraits today and was just happy to let my hair down afterwards and give my scalp a break. If you're not DF, click HERE for a really FUNNY outtake from that session that my dad took. No, you don't get a real one until after the wedding.

On the knitting front, I finished the Two Tone Bag on Monday. Apparently I've been extremely horrible about blogging because I haven't yet managed to actually post any progress pictures. Oh well, I guess you'll just have to wait for the FO picture. I'm hoping it won't be 43 days from now.

back again

Thank you everyone who complimented the wedding dress. I've been so excited to have it and it's been really difficult to not take it out of the bag and play dress up. I had to promise the dress shop ladies that I wouldn't handle it except to take my bridal portraits and get the train bustled (which BTW, means that they attach loops and buttons onto the back of the skirt to pick up the enormous train so I can walk around without tripping).

Sorry I've been so remiss in my blogging and commenting. I've had two work trips over the past two weeks, so I've just been too zapped at the end of the day to post any new progress. I've started two other projects since last posting... a bag that's (gasp!) crocheted in tweed started on Friday, Aug 4 and the Icarus Shawl finally on August 1. But here are the two finished objects that I've finished a while ago but am just now getting around to posting:

Sweater with Interlacing Cables
Pattern 37 in Rebecca number 25 (Jan-Sept 2003)
Materials: GGH Goa (50% cotton, 50% acrylic. 66 yards per 50g ball) 5 balls in SH24. Size 11 Denise Interchangeables.
Gauge: 11 sts/4 in
Finished size: 32" bust

Started: July 27, 2006
Finished: July 31, 2006

Discussion:
Huh, I must be knitting for sheer relaxation these days because this is the second project recently where I actually used the specified yarn. And on top of that, no mods! This one went extremely fast and I like how drapey the fabric is at this gauge. I used Goa for the baby sweaters on a much tighter gauge, and I didn't like the drape near as much. The only complaint I have about this sweater is that the yarn ends like to poke through to the right side (and there were many) and the armholes are a touch large. I might go back and crochet around the armholes to make them a bit smaller and have them lie flat too.

Otherwise, I'm suprised there weren't more issues with reading the pattern. I'd heard how notorious Rebecca patterns were at leaving things to the knitter's imagination. The only thing I noticed was that the instructions specified a number of rows for the front but had you knit to a certain measurement for the back. This is fine if your row gauge exactly matched theirs, but mine didn't, and so I had to fudge the chart for the front a bit so the back wouldn't end up shorter than the front. They also conveniently left off a bit of information about the chart... namely that the chart represented the middle stitches and you were supposed to work the rest of the sts not shown on the chart in stockinette. Okay, so you could figure that out based on the picture, but it's still frustrating that they publish patterns this way.

Hooded Sweater
Pattern by Debbie Bliss in Special Knits for Babies
Materials: Caron Simply Soft (100% acrylic, 396 yards per 198g skein) 180 g in Autumn Red. Size 8 Addi Turbos.
Gauge: 18 sts/4 in.
Finished size: 22" chest

Started: July 11, 2006
Finished: July 25, 2006

Discussion:
Pretty straight forward knitting with a sole intention of having something to do while trapped in a Montana airport (no one guessed it... I was in Dillon, MT and the closest airport was Butte, MT). It worked, and I have a baby in mind for it, just not yet born. I did the sleeves top down once again, but I noted that for these kinds of sleeves, I needed to leave a bit of a tail so that I could close the small hole formed by changing from knitting in the round to dividing for front and back. The only other thing is that I found the Simply Soft to be soft indeed, but not nearly as soft as other natural fiber yarns I've been working with lately (Malabrigo and Calmer come to mind). That being said, the yarn requirements were a steal at $3. A little squeaky to work with, but good for its intended purpose of keeping a baby that may have its moments of mess warm.