Neither Hip Nor Funky

I don’t really like seaming knitted objects to begin with…but it really stinks when you have to rip out a sleeve seam because you sewed it in upside down.

Hopefully, I’ll have a real progress post soon.

Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran in Temple
This is the beautiful yarn I am using for Rogue. It is hard to photograph the subtle shimmer that the yarn but it is amazing. I haven’t really knit on Rogue this past week, so I thought that I would show off the yarn today.

I have been working on the Lap Blanket ‘O Guilt for my Grandma. I am a bit conflicted over it because I don’t personally like it that much. I guess that is one of the things about trying to knit for others. I like the yarn, Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk, but I’m just not a big fan of feather and fan lace. (Right here, I could say “no pun intended,” but that doesn’t really work when you are typing. Once you notice the bad pun and don’t erase it, it is officially intended. So I’ll just say, “very bad pun intended.”) I’m using the feather and fan because it gives that very tradition afghan look and makes it similar to an afghan that my Grandma has at her place. That afghan is too large and heavy for her to lift now, so I am trying to make a light, yet warm lap blanket. I am almost a quarter of the way done, and it is definitely light and airy. It has also been a much quicker knit than I expected. At this rate I should be done within a week.

I forsook knitting a little this weekend. I did finish up to the armpits of Rogue. (Does anyone know of a suitable synonym or euphemism for armpit…it just never sounds pleasant. Maybe I should email Slate, since they have be doing a series about euphemisms on their podcasts.) I also finished all the parts for my niece’s cardigan. I will show pics after I seam it, hopefully over Thanksgiving weekend. However, overall I did much less knitting than usual.

Today, I taught a friend how to knit. I would feature a pic, but I’m a bit of a dunderhead and forgot to take a picture of the swatch she started. (Sorry, J. Bring me your next swatch, and I’ll take a big picture. Maybe we can even dress it up like when people take their babies to the mall to get pictures taken. When I went with my family to Picture People, pictures of kids in overalls with no shirts underneath seemed to be all the rage, so maybe we can put some cute little overalls on your swatch and really do up the photo thing right.)

I spent the rest of the day playing with shrink plastic (generic shrinky dinks), making examples to show my art classes this week.

The top piece I drew myself and am going to make into a necklace. The bottom is a bracelet. I found leaf images online and traced and colored them. My students need structured projects, so giving them printed sheets of images will help. I printed out all sort of plants, insects, skulls and crossbones, skateboard logos, etc. It was definitely the most fun that I have had making examples. I’m going to try to make some butterfly stitch markers and a chicken necklace next weekend. I loved shrinky dinks as a kid but don’t think that I have made any since I was 7 or 8. P-funk joined in, making a cool bee design and a twisted DNA helix.

Yesterday, I received Wrap Style from my awesome pal. Here’s a pic of Ms. Kitty cuddling with it (Her bald spot really isn’t as bad as it looks in the picture…she’s just thinning a little):

I really want to make the Shetland Triangle shawl from the book. I’m thinking that I might make it in a deep red because I really like how Grumperina’s turned out. (The pictures of Brooklyn Tweed’s are also amazing, and in case you need more pics -you can never have enough- here’s one at Yarn It. ) It will probably need to wait until after Christmas, or maybe I will start it on my cross-country plane trip for the holidays.

Quite a few knitting bloggers that I read seem to be a little depressed/stressed,etc. recently, and I also have been fighting off a little funk. I don’t know if it is the change to colder weather or the stress of holiday knitting, however I do have a solution.

Need to be happy? Look at my socks. They are bright, fun and fight off whatever funk is ailing you.

Thanks again to my secret pal for this yarn. I’m really enjoying how it is knitting up.

So, I think that I may be falling out of love. (Don’t worry P-funk, I’m not talking about you—still love you). The Simple Knitted Bodice is losing my affection, although I still admire the design.
It was a bit of a torrid love affair. It was lust at first sight, starting with a jaw-dropping double take when first I glanced its image. I tried to fight the affection, waiting to buy my yarn…finding a less expensive yarn alternative so as not to get in too deep, too fast. When my yarn arrived, I forsook other projects to start it, completing up to the join in one weekend. However, I then had to set it aside. When I picked it back up weeks later, my affection was renewed by the excitement of watching the lace and hip shaping take form. Even when the SKB toyed with my affection with a less than ideal fit, I still was true and planned to give our relationship another try. I now realize that it is not to be. I think affection was too passionate to last more than a season, and my eye has started to wander.

I think that just the fact that I am starting to wonder if I want to reknit the pattern means that I should move on. I can always return to it later. Right now, I think that I will reuse the yarn for a new pattern. The decision now is whether I want to make a dressy sweater (like the SKB would have been) or a more everyday cardigan. Here are the two that are on my mind:

The dressy option, Sahara, a soon to be released Stitch Diva pattern by Wendy of Knit and Tonic:

The everyday option, Arwen, from the current issue of Interweave:

(those are Celtic style cables that go up the edges of the front and around the hood)
Part of me wants to knit this one in green, however I don’t have green yarn and do have the red yarn from the SKB.

Any thoughts?