So time for another thing I will not wear. In the future I may give something to my sister that I ask for visiting rights on. By that I mean, when I visit I have the right to wear it. Is that considered against the spirit of giving. Maybe. However I will put it this way I am giving 90% of it. Well that is not the case for the project I am currently sharing. Not at all.
I am happy with the outcome of the project. But the feeling it caused during the creation are not soon forgotten, and therefore I have no interest in being in contact again. I cannot even explain why it caused such strong feelings. It started mildly enough, just the tedium of garter stitch. I almost at all times hate garter stitch. The only reason I was so in love with The Dame was the way the texture looked in that beautiful purple. Plus it was seemed tight because of the needle size. This was not the case with DFLS. F for February, L for Lady, and S for sweater. The D will not be defined here. The February Lady Sweater has been knit many a times over. And while some people whip them out quickly, I had more slow going.
I bought the yarn back in May knowing what it would be (DFLS) and who for (my sister) and when it needed to be done (for her birthday November 2). See how far in advance I was. I was working to be more timely about gifts (working on it, still working out some kinks as you will find out when I discuss my most recent projects). So 6 months should be enough. I started shortly after I bought the yarn, Brooks Farm Mas Acero in what I thought when I saw it was Courtney’s color (read about this at the end of the post), at the Maryland Sheep and Wool. Sidenote – why does noone trust me when I say I’m not going this year. So I started and then after what felt like a while, but was not enough to be done the section, I got distracted by the Andromeda Shawl. And that just made the garter stitch worse. I really loved working on Andy and absolutely hated BFSL. So I think it was the comparison that upped the level of feelings.
So time goes by and I realize I should be working on the cardigan again if it will actually be done on time. So I get back to the garter stitch. I am separating to the sets of stitches to make sleeves and am having a incredibly difficult time at it. It was at knitting groups so finally Ashley agrees to count for me. When she hands it back I look at the directions again. Now the directions have been giving me trouble. Not anything wrong with them, I just was not connecting. Also I kept losing or ruining them by existing in an area where it rained a lot and I had yet to replace my umbrella. I swear I probably went through at least four sets, when two is my norm. So once I was handed back the project and reread the instructions I realized I had neglected to increase properly, misinterpreting the words of others. They just increased without eyelets, both avoided increasing altogether. I believe I was also frustrated by the as necessary to add x stitches between y number of stitches. I like a “add ever xth stitch” better. Now Ashley was also frustrated because I had wasted all her effort counting as a ripped back a portion.
One day I finally knit far enough for the DFLS to reach under my armpit. This is where things began to go more quickly. The lace pattern adds inches in much less time. So soon I was onto the sleeves. Once again I hit a snag. As I was one inch into the first sleeve I realize I was knitting it so the patter would be on the inside. Now when I added the second, you think I would not make the same mistake. Of course, by that sentence I set up the
understanding that I did. I only got about two rows before realizing that time. I made the sleeves to the elbow, incase the yarn stretch as much as some of my friends when blocking.
So it comes to the a few days before my sister’s birthday and the DFSL has been done for a week or two. Well it was done, but not blocked, no ends woven in, or buttons on. For that I of course wait for the day I need to send it (well the blocking happened the night before). So at work I am in the bathroom sewing on the buttons, and I get several compliments. But it got there in time and opened early because she claims she thought it might have something wrapped for Trey. Unlikely.
Of course when I came up with the plan was before the pregnancy. And even after it only button at the top. But still pregnancy changes a body and so the sweater does not currently fit. See how my sister ruins everything. I can provide a list if asked. And then I was told by friends that for Christmas I had to knit something that fits and not something I knew was awesome that would not.
But the DFSL is finished and should fit after the baby, so now all that is left is to decide whether I will make one of my own or avoid that and choose another pattern. Not yet decided, sometimes I think I like torture and insanity because I do like the way it turned out.
Oh yes Courney’s color. Well one day I left the computer room to either fetch food or go to the bathroom. I was signed on to instant messanger chatting with my friend Zach. Courtney then wrote pretending to be me “my sister has found her color”. She was so excited that she had to share it. Not that she could show him the color or I think he cared. It is a light mix of purple and blue.






Like the previous sweater it was made by knitting two strands at once. This means bigger needles (10.5) and when I started the newest project I felt like size 6 were so tiny. Can you imagine if I tried to make socks, I would be complaining constantly. I knit the entire sweater in the round as suggested by Jared Flood’s article in the Fall and Holiday 2009 issues of Vogue Knitting. I was happy with the process and the second magazine came just as I had gotten the second sleeve to the proper length, so perfect timing. The only issue came about in the appearance of the decreases
because of the thickness of double held yarn. Ashley said she thought the seamlike decrease should be about an inch and that is why I thought it looked funny. Also I did not bind off the collar (which is fun and was created through wrapping and turning) loosely enough and may have to try
So a little more about the Marilyn sweater before I move on. I realized I talked about the divots but did not show (or attempt to show what I meant). So here goes my attempt.
Also to talk a little more about my favorite new addition to the wardrobe (no I have not worn it twice in one wee, this is just the way I refrain from that.) You will notice the ribbon, which I got because I knew how well a pale blue and maroon look together. I was told it was called salmon when I bought and first thought okay, why? But after a bit of examination I could see why. I love the tinge of yellow on one side. I wore the sweater last Monday and at the bar was told that I probably route for the redskins because I like the color maroon. I said actually I’m an Eagles fan and then I am told because of the green ribbon. And even if the ribbon can be considered green, it is nowhere near eagles green. I can say that definitively. Lets just say instead of arguing with the guy about how idiotic he was, I decided to stop replying to someone I had been trying to avoid conversation with, since I would never choose a team based on colors. At least not since elementary school and my awesome Mighty Ducks Starter Jacket.
This sweater is also knit double stranded and on even bigger needles (10.5s instead of 10s). I actually wound two skeins of the yarn at the same time, which was not as genius as I thought. It either stretches one of the skeins more to make it uneven, or they are not close enough in length, or a combination of the two. Over all, it is progressing nicely.
Blocking it was interesting because it was knit in the round, but necessary because the bottom was curling severely. I do not remember blocking anything that was knit in the round previously, and therefore had to plod through that.



What I started instead was the
it when doing other things. The project crush was brief and quickly replaced by guilt and obligation. So while I knit sleeves I will just be hoping to get the next page for Marilyn who is swankily knit with two strands and you can see in the photo. The photo that does not show the right color (and after many attempts I gave up). The photo of the skein gives a better idea.
So the pattern was written beautifully and had many charts. I would measure the size of the shawl by comparisons, such as, head covering, scarf, skanky top, apron… You only had to work one chart at a time, which
was nice, but each chart did get longer. I started with about 4 stitches and before the edging had 301. The problem was that my charts were much longer than my post-its and the post-its would lose stickiness. So I co-opted an idea my friend Ashley had presented of ribbon and Velcro to follow a knitting chart. I made a
foldable backing board and proceeded to have some fun with mod-podge and fabric to make this handy creation (various versions available at my etsy shop [
The shawl went along pretty easily until I took a bit of my attention away from it. I do not know what happened, but at one point I realized that the pattern was a bit off. At first I tried a local fix, reknitting only a small section of the shawl, but there ended up being large extra loops of yarn that way. So I thought it through and decided it would annoy me so much that I would end up no using the shawl. Then I ran a life line (it is the gray yarn) and ripped all the way back. You would think after that when encouraged to put a life line in, I would acquiesce. If you think that you may not know me. Because I did not, but luckily it was not needed again.
geometric bliss. And it makes me so happy unlike the fact that my laptop no longer recognizes certain usb devices. For a bit it was all of them, but of course after cleaning the registry, uninstalling the usb drivers, system restoring, the ipod works once I am at Best Buy – so frustrating. But I should not think about that and focus on the shawl.
But the dresses are not what I decided to share. What I wanted to share was what I did with the fabric I was stalking. Well I don’t consider it stalking, just visiting to remind myself of what it looked like if I happened to be in the store, but Ashley termed it stalking. When it finally came around time for a coupon, I was ready to buy it. See I loved the pattern and colors, but it cost much more than I had ever paid per yard. The problem was I had figured out what to make to not distract from
the pattern on the fabric but could not find a sewing pattern that quite lived up to the vision in my head. So I took the elementary sloper Stacy had helped me make up, and mocked up what I wanted out of muslin. The mock up was of course horribly off, so I readjusted. And then with the trepidation I had when
Now I’m just looking for excuses to wear it. I used the Better Than Ezra concert (awesome, about 5 people back from the stage but failed to catch a guitar pick because of my instinct to duck when something comes flying at me) and the Fourth in Baltimore where I got to enjoy a panoramic view of the fireworks throughout the city on a balcony (could not have had a better seat especially since it did not involve getting there before dark).
So this project was started before I moved, and that was back in September. I think the fear of doing all the work and the pants not fitting, terrified me. So about two weeks ago I decided although I had picked up more fabric, I had to finish the undone projects first (if I buckle down and get ambitious, I might attack the only thought of projects that have supplies). And the glaring undone project was the pants.
extra thread and spare notions) and set to work. I had used extra lining in maroon from a dress project for the pockets, since that had also not been bought. Although I did reread some of the directions multiple times I plowed ahead. And when I tried the pants on after finishing, I realized that the pants fit (this is not the case with a more recent project, oh bother)! And now all that remains is to find all the pattern pieces and return them to the envelope.