Neither Hip Nor Funky

Nope, not an environmentally aware post, a vest a-wear post. (heh, heh)

Definitely one of those knits where a pretty yarn just does the work for you.

I was feeling a little Star Trek vibe at first, but that started to wear away with a good wet blocking and then some more steam blocking at the shoulders after this photo shoot.

I have to admit that this is not a knit that I am too excited about, however I’m sure it will get a lot of wear.

Pattern: Bloom by Carol Meldrum for Rowan 36
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed in Herb (4 balls for M size)
Needles: US4 Knitpicks options

Mods: I took note of other’s mods and complaints on Flickr and Ravelry. I saw darktricos’ version first and fell in love. The shoulder calls for short rows up to 33 stitches. Except in the smallest size, it seemed that people who did all the short rows tended to have problems with the resulting wings. Strikker knit short rows to 21 st and I liked it, but I thought I wanted a little more so I went with 27st.

I also modified the neck. I love the look of Felted Tweed, but with its alpaca content I can’t have it right next to my neck. I decreased 3 more stitches for the back and 5 more for the front.

Up next, a green cycling sock to round these past two months of Project Spectrum

So I pretty much disappeared after that last post. Almost a month? I think that is the longest I have gone without blogging since starting this monster almost two years ago.

Where to start? I’m sure there are some outstanding questions about the Tweedy Aran that I have not replied to yet, so I will try to start digging those out and reply. (Or you can always write me again and say “What’s up, space cadet?”) When I started my current job about 6 months ago, I think I mentioned that when it got busy there would still be knitting, but the blogging/blog reading might drop off. Well I guess I finally hit that wall this month.

Since there is a backlog of knitting content that has not made it here, do I start in chronological order or just throw things out there?

I’m going with the latter, since I am currently wearing a snuggly, malabrigo-y cowl that is my love, my virgin Malabrigo love.

Philly Cowl gift from Caro
The original, I haz it.

I met up a with group of some of my online friends I’ve been longing to see for reals. Peoples, I am an introvert, and yet I felt comfortable flying cross country to hang out with my internets friends in real life. It was a whirlwind, but a great one. To be honest, I’m a little too wine-lagged from my Memorial Day tasting trip to do it justice right now, but I loved getting to see these online pictures move and talk (and sleep in close quarters to them, aww yeah). If you have time and space, inviting like-minded moving online knitwear pictures to get together is definitely worth it, however hectic and cramped it may be. I’d love to see more of you talking pictures in the future, maybe even left coast style.

I also made a cowl for Diana, which I kept referring to as the weirdest thing I had ever knit. It was a moibeus cowl that is knit from the inside out in both directions. Confused? Well, the directions were well written, but, yup, it was an odd knitting experience. With a quite pretty result:

My top model knows how to work her angles for me, her noted fashion photographer

Pattern: Prickle
Yarn: Urban Silk in chocolate (1.5 skeins)
Needles: Addi 47″ US10

Next up: Hmm, vest? shrug? socks? Well, I’ll blog one of them next. I just give you small doses of knitty goodness. Don’t want to overwhelm anyone.