Posts filed under 'Shawls & Ponchos'
ugh.
Okay. Clappy is boring me to tears. Seriously. I am so ready to be done with this project. And I swear to God. I will never knit another freaking clappy again. I mean, This will be my 3rd FINISHED Clapotis. But if you look at it, I have knitted this at least halfway five times! I was more than halfway done with the wretched clappy when I frogged it. And I was about halfway through the straight rows (maybe even further than that) of the previous koigu clappy when I frogged it and started on my current, more purpley incarnation. yeah. I’m think I’m about done with the pattern. The scary part is that I may need to add a couple more repeats of the straight section so that it will be long enough. I am praying to god that I won’t have to. I don’t know if I can stand it.
On another bitchy note (sorry about this, guys! but sometimes you just gotta let it out, you know?) I joined the Clapotis yahoo group this week. I posted a little message introducing myself a couple of days later. Nobody has even responded to it! It’s like I don’t even exist! And it’s not like there isn’t messages being posted. I just think that is totally rude. I don’t know why that irks me right now. Normally I’m not really all that bothered by things like that, but it just seems so blatantly rude to me. Maybe I’m just feeling extra sensitive lately..I dont’ know.
Thanks for letting me get that out.
Okay, on with the sewing update. First of all, my sewing skillz clearly suck 
. I have never installed a zipper before. At least that I can recall. I don’t know why I thought I would just be able to easily do this after not sewing in so long. I will most definately be ripping and redoing. The seam ripper is an essential sewing tool, as I recall. I promptly went back to JoAnns and bought one.
On a postive note, though, I didn’t have any problems threading the machine because there is this wonderful diagram pasted on the machine itself. Totally forgot about that. I had a mental block on how to get thread onto the bobbin but that came back, too. It was kind of weird because I actually used to sew quite a lot about 12 or so years ago. I haven’t touched my machine in all of that time but getting it out again felt like being reintroduced to an old friend!
I will have to take some pictures of my machine the next time I take it out. You are going to laugh when you see it. It’s so retro it’s hilarious!
I’m off on vacation for a week! I will see you when I get back.
July 15th, 2006
I was on a serious quest this week to find a cute skirt pattern. It’s friggen hot here in Spokane. And all I feel like wearing are cotton skirts. I have a couple that I bought at The Gap a couple of years ago that have been in heavy rotation the past few weeks. I looked at them critically yesterday and decided: “I think I can make one of these.” Even though I haven’t sewn in well over ten years. I don’t even remember how to thread my sewing machine.
Regardless, I searched around on the internets for some easy patterns, not really knowing what I was looking for. One of the first things I found was this thread on the Get Crafty forum. I think that this will prove very useful (which is why I linked to it). I also found this pattern, as well, and was really excited because it was exactly what I was looking for. But wait, did I read “sew fast so easy?” I DON’T THINK SO. There is no way I am going to patronize those bastards.
Okay, so, continuing my quest, I thought I would just go to JoAnns after work and just look around. I found a couple of patterns that looked like they might be easy enough for me (that I can’t find on thier website right now). So I searched around the store for some fabric. Well. Did I find something more awesome than merely fabric for a skirt? YES! I found a fabric that has a circle skirt pattern built into the fabric! How easy is that! It’s the perfect “sewing for dummies” project. I’m stoked. I bought another panel for a second skirt, too. Look at the cute little picture of the lady wearing the finished skirt! I can’t wait to get started. Now I just need to re-teach myself how to use my sewing machine!
Speaking of circles, does my Clappy look a bit different to you? That’s because it is. yeah. I started over. I was knitting with two entirely different colorways of koigu. For some reason, when I ordered the purple Koigu a year ago, I thought I was ordering the same colorway as the leftovers from the Stitches socks that I made a loooong time ago. It isn’t. Not even close. The yarn for the socks is the most beautiful blue and purple colorway ever. And the new yarn for the new clapotis is more purple than blue . I decided to start over so it wouldn’t look weird. The purple is nice and I think it will turn out really pretty.
July 8th, 2006
What is this?
Could it be? Why yes! I think it is!
Another Clapotis! In purple Koigu! you remember when I started this, right? A little over a year ago. I had almost gotten halfway done with the “wretched” clappy knit up with the wretched knitpicks sock yarn and decided to try it in Koigu instead. I am FINALLY getting to it. Actually, I wanted to work on this many months ago but then Project Spectrum came along and I decided to save it for July, The Purple Month.
I heart purple.
July 3rd, 2006
Presenting the Starburst Shawl.
Pattern: Starburst Shawl. From the book Modular Knits by Iris Schreier.
Yarn: Artyarn Supermerino in colorway 127.
Needles: Addi-turbos size 8.
Started: October 31st 2005.
Finished: Jan. 4th, 2006.
I pushed through on this through the holidays and I finished it! I’m so proud of myself for just getting it done. And, after blocking, I really like how it has turned out. I could also use it as a scarf, if I wanted to.
The modular pattern looks very interesting. kind of like cross-hatching. I think it’s perfect for any variegated yarn. Actually knitting up the pattern was a bitch, though. I had to constantly count my stitches because I had to make sure I had the right number of stitches on my needles at all time or else the pattern would get messed up. So I could really only do this when I was by myself, with no television, iPod, or chitchatting. That didn’t leave me with very many opportunities to work on it.
This was my first experience with Artyarns and I liked it alright. The yarn does wash up beautifully. No problems after washing it in the delecate cycle with little agitation. It came out of the wash nice and soft. The colorway is okay. I was really into pink and green for awhile but kind of got over it. The color combo is different but very complimentary.
Just a little heads up on some blog maintenance. I am going to be moving my knitting content over to my blog, Blatherskite in the near future. It has just become too difficult to maintain two separate blogs. And maybe you all will find me more interesting if I am posting non-knitting content along with the knitting content 
. I have quite a bit of work to do before the move, but will let you know when it happens and will post a link to everything here.
Happy Monday!
January 9th, 2006
Let’s take a tour through my current WIPs, shall we?
The Starburst Shawl, AKA The most annoying project ever. For some reason, I decided to pick this project up again last weekend and I was *this* close to ripping the mother f**ker. Again. But that “again” is what is keeping this project alive. This poor yarn has been ripped and reknitted about four times. The first incarnation of it was the Lacy Kerchief Scarf from Summer IK. I had to rip that pattern about a quarter of the way through when I realized I was doing the pattern all wrong. Then, when I was a little over halfway done with it, I decided I didn’t like it. Too frilly for me. So I frogged. Then the yarn became the Sheer One Piece Shawl from the book Modular Knits. I decided I didn’t want to knit that pattern. I was lured by the more modular looking knits in the book. And so I began the Starburst Shawl. This pattern is very annoying, as I said. It requires lots of counting and making sure the exact number of stitches are on the needles at all times, or else the whole thing will get messed up. I can’t wait to be done with this! I’m really going to try and push through this pattern this weekend and have it done in the next few days. I need the needles for something else, anyway. The Starburst Shawl is being knit with Artyarns supermerino.
The Slytherin Scarf. I actually offered to make my husband this scarf way back in November, before Thanksgiving. We were on a hike at Riverside State Park, and it was really chilly out, and I wanted to be a nice wife and knit my hubby something. I suggested a Gryfindor scarf, but he wanted Slytherin, since he just HAS to go against the grain. I went right out and bought the yarn for it and got started on it. Then I got B-O-R-E-D. Then I put it down to work on something else. And it ended up staying down for quite some time. Until about a week ago when he asked, “where’s my slytherin scarf?” Oops. So I picked it up again and have been working on it a little bit at a time. At this rate it will be done by next winter. I am using Lion Wool-ease for this pattern (for the washability factor) and the pattern can be found here. I’m knitting the Prisoner of Azkaban version.
The Broadstreet Mitten, AKA Shitty Mitten. I knitted this the week my car was totalled, so it conjures up negative feelings for me. That’s probably why, when I finished it, I didn’t like it. I decided to put it aside for awhile. After taking a bit of a break from it, it doesn’t look so bad. I’m glad I didn’t just go and frog it straight away. I think I will knit the second one after all. The Yarn I’m using for it is Lorna’s Lace’s Shepherd’s Sock yarn in the Jeans colorway. The pattern can be found in Knitty’s fall 2002 issue.
Bay. All I can say is, “ahhhh…” I cast on for this project last weekend. I’m about halfway through the front. The pattern itself is kind of clunky. You have to knit the blue stripes with size 7 needles and the white parts with size 5 needles, and with the white you hold two strands together. However, the yarn is absolute heaven to work with. I can’t wait to wear this when it’s done. It’s going to be slightly sheer, so I bought some long sleeve t-shirts to wear underneath. Not much else to say about that. Except all of the hype about kidsilk haze is totally deserved.
The last thing I want to show you is not a WIP, but some new aquisitions to The Stash. I have 14 balls of Noro Kureyon that I’m going to use for Butterfly. This was my present from my inlaws. They gave me some cash for Christmas, enough to buy yarn for Butterfly, which I have been lusting after for a long time. I got the yarn at my LYS, Holy Threads. I also got some Knitpicks Andean Treasure in both green and purple. They will be used for the Ridged Helmet hats for both me and my hubby. I also got some Knitpicks Essential and Simple Stripesfor some socks in Knitting Vintage Socks.
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Mine was lovely. Have a safe and fun New Year’s Eve!
December 30th, 2005
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