Me-Made June

I’m completely tired of taking photos of myself. I’m not tired of wearing clothes made by me–I’m still doing it every day–but I’m not making any promises about photographing the last few outfits worn during Me-Made June. I applaud all of you out there who are still going strong!

Just to demonstrate how bad the situation has grown, I’ll share last-night’s last-minute photograph…taken after I got home from my knitting group, where I had already made a fool of myself by dancing on a chair to show off my latest outfit (my friends made me do it).

Caw! Caw!

That’s right. I’m doing the chicken dance. Good times.

I Finished a Knitting Project!

This shawl was well over a year in the making. It shouldn’t have taken me that long, but hot weather got the better of me last summer. Knitting mohair with sweaty hands is unpleasant.

It’s not this color at all. It’s fuschia. It’s also rather large, and I haven’t blocked it yet. When I do, I’ll be sure to let you know how it measures.

The pattern is Birch by Sharon Miller from Rowan 34. I used fuschia Kid Silk Haze to knit it. Love the yarn. Love the shawl. I think I’ll sew a dress to match.

This deserves a lot of hoopla: I actually finished a sweater. I’m REALLY good at starting them, but finishing is another story.

This is the newest design from Chic Knits. It’s really fun to knit, since the construction is unusual–which makes it interesting–and the lace pattern is easily memorized. I knit this using Cascade 220 Superwash. I haven’t used superwash yarns very often. My lack of experience proved a problem here. When I blocked the sweater, it grew like crazy. I was able to squish the body back into a reasonable size, but the sleeves refused to do my bidding. You can see how much the sweater grew if you look at the shoulder seams. This isn’t meant to be a drop-shouldered cardi. Right. I could have tossed this in the dryer, stabilized the shoulder seams with ribbon, etc., but I didn’t because I didn’t know better.

Next time. Despite the issues I had, I’m still pleased with how it turned out! Kudos to Bonne Marie for another beautiful design!

I meant to be wearing this with a pretty spring skirt or dress, but this was the wrong color blue for what I had in my closet. Hmm…perhaps I should sew something…

Read my notes for this project on Ravelry.

I just finished knitting the Chicknits’ Vonica sweater–and what a lovely design it is. I’m surprised at the sleeve length and am not sure what I think about it. Care to weigh in?

sorry for the terrible cell phone picture…

We returned a few days ago from a fun vacation in Montana, the treasure state. There’s a lot to enjoy about the place, primarily the glorious scenery.

The highlight for my kids was playing with my parent’s dogs, Mia & Taz, who are rather fun-loving Bergamascos (Italian Sheepdogs).

And there’s a lot about Montana that makes me cringe. It upsets my father when I tell him I couldn’t move back because the culture is too difficult for me to embrace wholeheartedly; however, that’s the case.

While we were there, we helped grandma and grandpa out with some chores.

Grandma fed us wonderful meals.

We spent a couple of days at Fairmont Hot Springs (watch out, that web page plays muzak), near Butte. It’s a nice resort! Unfortunately, the only picture I have of our time there is this one:

One day, Mom and I escaped from the men and the kids and sought out some yarn and fabric shops. Our first stop was Mountain Colors Dyeworks in Corvallis. We were given a tour of the facilities and learned a little bit about the magic behind the beautiful yarns. Afterwards, Mom and I dug through the mill ends tubs. I ended up buying enough yarn to make four pairs of socks–and only paid a fraction of the price I ordinarily would have. Score!

While we were at Mountain Colors, we spotted an ad for a shop nearby, Willows & Wool, that carried fibers and wheels for spinning enthusiasts. We couldn’t pass that up, now could we? It was a nice place that carried a good variety of commercial and local fibers. I bought a crazy batt of mixed fibers produced by Crosspatch Creations and some lovely alpaca from the Split Mountain Alapaca farm in Stevensville.

During our last day at my parents’ house, we celebrated Easter (my father is particularly gifted at dyeing eggs):

Everything was great, except for our drive home!

My knitting group, the Purlygirls, held their first-ever retreat last weekend. I had a fantastic time. We laughed, ate, knit, spun, shopped and laughed some more.

We woke up early on Friday, caught the Kingston Ferry and headed to Port Gamble, where we stopped in to the Artful Ewe. What a glorious shop. I lost the power of speech the minute I set foot into Heidi’s store. It’s not like any other yarn shop you’ve been in. The beautiful yarns and fibers aren’t stuffed into industrial shelving. You’ll find braided fibers hanging from the branches of a tree, brilliant curly locks heaped in baskets; and batts of mixed fibers arranged in alluring splendor on a table. In the background, you’ll hear the crackle of a fire burning away in a woodstove, and Grace, a friendly little Whippet, curled up in a basket full of wool soaking in the heat.

When I regained my senses, I grabbed one of the beautiful batts and a pile of soft-as-a-cloud merino-??? top (got to find the name of the breed.)

I didn’t want to leave, because I felt like I had finally arrived at Nirvana, but the promise of lunch in Port Townsend lured me out. We had a nice meal at the Public House, visited a few shops and then checked in to the house we rented at Fort Worden.

During our time there, I knit quite a bit on Robert’s green cardigan. I’m 2/3 the way done with the second front. I may finish it sometime this century! He’ll be glad, since even the patches on his old sweater are starting to wear out.

I also learned a little bit about plying yarn and plied the corriedale I had spun up for a class. My singles were on the soft side and kept falling apart , but I managed to produce a reasonable facsimile of yarn.

It was a nice creamy white when I started, but my artistic inclinations got the better of me and I tried dying it. All would have been well if I had tried to keep it simple, but nooooooooooooooooooooo, that was too boring for me. As a result, I ended up with this lovely blotchy specimen. At least it was fun!

Anyway, after two nights at Fort Worden with my wonderful friends, we loaded up our vehicles and headed for Bainbridge and Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. That’s where I found YARN! (You have to say that as if you were part of a hallelujah choir.) I bought two skeins of The Fibre Company’s Terra, a blend of merino, silk and baby alpaca. It is luminous and soft. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it. Right now, I’m content to treat it as “pet” yarn. It sits on my desk looking at me affectionately (or so I like to imagine) and I give it a pat every now and then.

I fell in love with Vintage Modern Knits the first time I spied it on the bookstore shelf. It’s an incredible collection of designs by Kate Gagnorn Osborn and Courtney Kelley. On average, I like maybe one or two designs in a knitting book; I plan to knit no less than seven designs from this one. They’re classic styles with lovely details–and they seem so wearable!

The first project I tried was Yvette, the Roositud Hat. Roositud is an Estonian inlay technique where stitches are wrapped but not knit with contrasting yarn to create a patterned effect. Working the Roositud is a lot like intarsia in the round. What makes it less difficult is you don’t have to worry about gaps, since the embellishment lays over the actual stitches. All the messy ends in the interior are still annoying, but I have a low tolerance level for dealing with that due to a traumatic experience as a beginner knitter with cotton yarn + intarsia.

For the body of the hat, I used Rowan Designer DK wool, which had been in my stash for a long, long time. It’s OK yarn, but tends to split. For the inlay, I used bits and pieces of other DK/sport weight yarn I had in my stash, not all of which was labeled. I do know the green was Felted Tweed.

I like the hat a lot, but wish it was as slouchy as the one pictured in the book. While I did a gauge swatch, I think my knitting grew tighter as I worked.

I’m feeling stoked. I finished a sweater for myself–the first in all too long–and love how it turned out.

This is the Chicknits Mondo Cable Cardi, a fantastic pattern and very easy to knit. When I started knitting this, I was primarily attracted to the tall buttoned-up collar. When I finished knitting it, I had grown partial to the collar sans buttons. This may or may not have had something to do with how scratchy the yarn is.

I’ll sometimes wear the cardi open and, when I feel I need a little more “closure,” I’ll pin the fronts closed with one of my grandmother’s brooches.

The Chicknits sample was knit with a smooth, elegant yarn. Just for fun, I subbed in Plymouth tweed, which is just about as rustic as they come. I love the depth of color and how “crunchy” it is. The cables really pop. It was quite rough on the fingers when I was knitting it, but softened up considerably after a wash.

Now, I’m busy daydreaming about what I’ll knit next. I’m supposed to be working on a cardigan for Robert–which I am in fits and starts–but would really like to tackle something else for myself. Currently, several members of my knitting group are working on Aidez, which my lemming-like soul was also drawn to. I’ve bought some yarn and am swatching. Soon, I’ll either be knitting that or something completely different, depending on how my swatches turn out.

Losing a tooth can be painful…

…especially when Dad offers to help things along.

Acknowledging that a knitting project has gone awry can also be painful.

I was recently possessed by the notion that I needed to have another pair of handknit socks. I don’t knit many socks and the ones that I have sit in a treasured place in my dresser. They’re pretty and comfy and should be worn and enjoyed. I’m going to start doing that. In fact, I have the first pair I ever knit on my feet right now.

Unfortunately, the sock pictured above (Rib Fantastic from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn) will probably not join the ranks of the worn and enjoyed. Just last night, I finished knitting up to the point where the toe begins and decided to try it on again. Bad news! It’s really, really saggy. I’d never happily wear a sock that I had to constantly readjust. Boo.

At least I faced the facts before knitting the second one. That would have been even more “painful.”

I’m going to put this aside and start a different sock, perhaps trying out the magic loop method. I’ve always wanted to learn how to do that!

I don’t know what happened, but I’m waaaay behind on blogging about my recent projects. Gretel by Ysolda Teague is one of my favorites. I used some Mountain Colors 4/8′s yarn that had been languishing in my stash for years and years. The colorway is “Geyser Gray.” One of the amazing things about Mountain Colors yarn is how the colorways truly evoke the Montana landscape, which I particularly appreciate, since my family home is in Montana’s beautiful Bitterrroot Valley.

I tried the tubular cast-on recommended by the pattern. It was fun to work and produced a lovely rounded edge. I’ll use it again on other projects. The only downside to it was it made the ribbing a little too loose for my tastes. I’m planning on threading some elastic thread through that area to snug it up.

When I look back on this year of creating, I’m pleased with how much I accomplished, particularly that my finished projects look more polished than they have in years past. Also, I’ve learned a lot of new skills..like crocheting! I want to keep improving and adding to my skill set in the years to come.

1. shrug02, 2. shrug01, 3. Take me to your leader, 4. french press felted slippers, 5. Tea Leaves Cardi, 6. Tea Leaves Cardi, 7. Gobble Gobble!, 8. Candy Cane Hat Top, 9. Candy Cane Hat, 10. booties, 11. Drive Thru Cardigan, 12. Summer Sox, 13. climbing vines pullover, 14. climbing vines detail, 15. Poncho (me-made Day 21), 16. Poncho with Hood Up, 17. hedgehog, 18. ladybug02, 19. ladybug01, 20. sweaterback

Compared to some years, this doesn’t represent a whole lot of knitting, but I’ve been cautious about over-doing it, since knitting has contributed to a problem I have with pinched nerves in my brachial plexus. A new physical therapy regimen has me hoping that I’ll be able to spend more time with yarn in 2011! I currently have a monstrous sweater on the needles for my husband and hope to replenish my own sweater wardrobe.

1. Giggling during "naptime", 2. Me-Made-May: Day 27, 3. Me-Made-May: Day 19, 4. Me-Made-May: Day 14, 5. Me-Made May: Day 13, 6. Me-Made-May: Day 8, 7. Me-Made-May: Day 7, 8. Bow-Tie Top by Quixotic Pixels, 9. boatneck, 10. Simplicity 4589, 11. boxers, 12. Claire’s fuzzy robe, 13. Burda 7587, 14. Burda 7587, 15. pleated cardigan (Jalie 2919), 16. cowlneck, 17. ruffle blouse, 18. Jeans – Front, 19. Jeans – Back, 20. europe 600, 21. Ivars, 22. Simplicity 3678, 23. Full Skirt, 24. puffy sleeved blouse, 25. veil3, 26. Nautical Outfit, 27. Little Black Dress – Front, 28. eeyore hood, 29. piglet hood, 30. skunk hood, 31. costumes back, 32. Basket Case Pillow, 33. clairejammies02, 34. Sam’s PJ’s, 35. clairejammies01, 36. samjammies02

Dang. It’s a wonder my sewing machine isn’t worn out. I’ve been busy! What’s not shown here, however, are all of the muslins I worked on and NEVER managed to make into a finished garment. These include:

1. Chanel Jacket using Vogue 7975
2. Blouse with butterfly sleeves – Butterick 4985
3. Jalie 2788 Twist Top
4. BWOF 03-2009-106- Draw-String Neck Blouse
5. BurdaStyle Mag 05-2009-111

I think the first order of business will be to actually sew those things!

Best wishes for an EXCELLENT new year!