A little dichotomy Please

Yay! It's Finished. A warm and wooly reversible hat. Will have to wait for when it's not 99 degrees Farenheit to find the flaws though. The yarn did pool in interesting ways, but I can't see it when it's on, and the snow will hide most of it anyway.

Need help with Perspective Please

Well, I finally had a chance to cast on for my Clapotis. Wildflower DK Blue face by FleeceArtist. Yummy yarn. However, not loving how it looks. It seems...babyish? I don't know. So I thought that before I Frogged and turned the yarn into a Feather and Fan Stole I would post a photo and see what the consensus was. I admit to having become set in my idea of fashion and sometimes ignoring great clothes because of my minds eye and not the mirror.

Lessons Learned - or how to do it too!

First let me start with 3 disclaimers:

1) I did not photograph the steps. Sorry, I started with Christina Shiffman's Kimono and well... Also have not knit another from my notes yet. (ie-not proofread after taking drugs). If you are a "must have every line spelled out knitter" read the whole thing through. The end part about the button bands may seem "fly by seat of pants" to you.
2) One funny lesson I learned was really about myself...I knit the what would be Baby right side while on pain meds and recovering from Oral Surgery. I knit the left side while riding the bus to/from work. So why is the Right side even and pretty and the left side looser and bigger? Hmmn. Perhaps all future gauge swatches need to be done in real life, not seated on the sofa watching Soap the Comedy.
3) If you find a huge ERROR in the pattern please put it in the comments so we can all adapt accordingly.

Now, I did start with only 35 stitches Cast On. My last 2 kimonos were Huge. I use the Long tail cast on which makes the first knit row as you go. I used size 7s and ONE ball of Sugar and Cream.

Okay...
Cast on 35
Knit 5 rows in garter stitch.
I switched to stockinette at this point.
Knit 22 rows (total 4 inches)

Increase 3 stitches at each end of stitch row, (just like Kimono)
14 times (you have 74 stitches)
Stockingette 2 rows (one purl/one knit) - I would change this to 4 rows, my sleeve seems smallish at the cuff. It probably wouldn't fit over anything bulky.

Purl 25 stitches, knit 24 stitches, purl 25 stitches.
Work this for 6 rows - (this gives you the nifty little border around the neck)

Now work the sides like the kimono.
Work across 30 stitches, cast off 14, work across 30.
On the next and every following RS row increase 1 stitch at neck edge. I made the first 4 stitches of the neck edge in garter stitch and stockinetted the rest of the row. To hide the make one's in the garter stitch I did my increases by picking up the bar of the stitch next to it. I knit the first stitch of the neck edge, Increased one, knit the row. On the purl row, I purled from sleeve edge to 4 stitches from neck edge and knit the last four. I think making the stitch as a yarn over 4 stitches in from the edge might be pretty, but more challenging to line up.

You will work 25 rows doing this. (roughly a 4 inch wide sleeve) (Again, seems smaller, perhaps I would add rows before decreasing.)
Continue to inc. at neck edge while decreasing 3 stitches at sleeve edge (just like kimono) until you have 30 stitches.
STOP increasing. (continue 4 garter stitches at neck edge though, this is your button band)
Continue to dec 3 stitches sleeve edge until 21 stitches on needle.

Knit straight (ie, 21 stitches, 4 garter on neck edge, stockingette rest) for 22 rows. Knit 4 rows straight. Cast off. (yes, this is one less row than back. I don't know why, but it was the same on both fronts). I bet EZ or the YarnHarlot would know, but I don't.

Here is the goofy part. I don't know what size buttons y'all have. And as I said, I got these buttons (40% off at Hancocks mind you) and HAD to use them. So, I stitched them on the button band. And counted the rows inbetween to know where to make the matching buttonholes on the other side. (Learned that from Elizabeth Zimmerman).

Told you you wouldn't like that part.

Now in the words of Christina Shiffman the designer of the Heartbreakingly Cute Kimono - full credit to her - Rejoin yarn to stitches of other sleeve at neck edge and using the same method you used on the first side, etc. etc.

If you get machine washable buttons, this little variation of the Kimono is still washable. (And affordable) Mine came out 9 inches across, 8 inches deep, sleeves 4 inches Around, with a gauge of 16 stitches to 4 inches, and 22 rows to 4 inches.

Thank you for the encouragement, and remember...when Life becomes a Tangled Skein, make more Warshcloths.

Learning Experiences

Okay, so it started as a MasonDixon Kimono, but then I saw these fab little buttons and well, buttons mean...cardigan. So, Schmeal, Schmozl, and it's a Cardigan.

Stay tuned for scenes from Next Weeks Exciting Episode

Behold the double layer hat. Yup, that's what it will be when it grows up. Why, in the name of all that is yarn am I knitting a Winter Hat in July?

Well, fast mindless knitting. I had some Baby Alpaca Brush by Plymouth left from the Red Sweater and kept petting it. Soft, but not warm, not much left...what to do? What to do? A hat. But not warm (whine). I wore a hat so much last winter that people asked if it were hermetically sealed to my head.
Well, lets combine the soft alpaca with the warm Mountain Colors Weavers Wool in Rosehip so I can have soft ear touching with warm wool covering. (Did I mention my sewing room is in the basement? In Wisconsin? Brrr.) I'm not certain if I like the weird pooling of the yarn colours, perhaps I should have used Malabrigo. Hopefully it will look better on the noggin. Of course, when I finish and can't see the hat while wearing it, I may decided that any finished hat looks better than one which needs to be ripped out and redone.

The bag is a little handbag from the New Look pattern company. Perfect for holding my yarn at the bus stop. The pattern didn't have pockets on the lining but I added them for my keys, cell phone, etc. I bought the fabric from the clearance aisle thinking to test make the pattern before using "good" fabric and have gotten so many comments on the bag that I'm keeping it.

Check back for the finished item. (the eternal spring of hope)

Warning! Explicit Content with Graphic Images.

Yes, I plan to engage in Yarn Porn (to borrow a phrase from LimeNViolet Podcast.

These images are brought to you courtesy of my Snookums. He sent a care package from home to celebrate his taking FIRST place in his bodybuilding competition. And, this is why I keep him….He wins first place and sends Me goodies. Come on now.

Nestled in with the bills, flyers, JoAnn coupons, and other post were….

Hand Maiden Sea Silk in Origins colourway. The yearning for Sea Silk was brought on by the YarnHarlot from her birthday party post. I mean, how can you say Seaweed in a yarn post without further investigation? The Softness and Sheen of this were what caused the pierogies to burn. The little card says “one of a kind”. And I think it was rude of the smoke detector to shrilly burst upon my fantasy of a Iris Schreier modular wrap with it’s own label “One of a Kind.”





Now that I have decided that I wasn’t that hungry anyway, it’s time to fondle the Fleece Artist Blue Face Leicester DK in Wildflower. < It looks more pastel-y in the photo than it does in life. In life the colours are sheer and crisp. Yum! Very out of my usual wardrobe but I envision a wrap, perhaps the Clapotis?, with Soft dressy white trousers, and a crisp light blouse, and the tarty gold heels. I hesitate with the Clapotis because I’ve heard it can be a real yawner to knit, and I prefer wraps that can be pinned or tied and be self babysitting. Because life is just to short to wear clothes you have to tug and yank. (Goodness, remember the Flashdance sweatshirts in the 80s, always sliding off a shoulder and garroting you.)

Any suggestions out there for What to Make with The BEAUTIFUL yarn? (250 gm of DK weight)



Afterthought: if you are interested in the other colours investigate your LYS, FleeceArtist, or Bob and Nancy,

Now I can Cast On with New Projects.

I finished my Vogue wrap (Iris Schreier Modular design, Spring 2006). It was quick knit, mostly bus commute time. I made it of an inexpensive test yarn before unskeining the Sea Silk.
It was funny though because the yarn, (Hobby Lobby Yarn Bee Brand, Featherwisp in Creamsickle) while soft as a baby bunny, shed like one too! And I would have to be taped and defuzzed before work every morning. Talk about hitting the needles early! The funniest part though was when it thunderstormed one afternoon and we were all standing in the shelter together; there was one rather crabby young man lounging insolently on the bench so no one else could sit. Then he jumped up and hopped right onto the bus taking up multiple seats. However, since he had been sitting down wind from my knitting, I noticed as I got off the bus that his black headscarf was covered with little wispy fuzzies from my yarn. I'm ill bred enough to think that's Funny!

I, of course, celebrated this orgy of Finished Objects with Casting on many more!

Self Abzorba? or just a bathmat

It's done! The Great Abzorba of Mason Dixon Fame. I used circulars which made a lot of heavy and active stitches, if I do another one I shalln't do that. I used Lion Cotton and 13s. The colours are maize and faded denim ombre, 2 strands each.

Finis! Or the Lessening of Guilt.

Finished my little Red Alpaca off the Shoulder Sweater. Snug and curvaceous It's actually been done except for side seams for about a month. Now featuring Side Seams, ends wove in and ready to wear. Preferably to dinner with my Snookums wearing my new gold shoes.
A trifle blurry but my bonus at work went to a new Camera for Michael and we are states apart. Rats.









And Close up of the Cables which gave me a chance to practise my spot tinking.
I also adapted the sleeves. They were designed for those scrawny women with tiny arms. I don't have those, I am Sturdy. So silly little cap sleeves became above the elbow sleeves instead.

What I do for Peppermint Patties...

finished this little kimono in Lion Brand Sherbert Swirl. The ribbons say It's a Girl! The woman I made it for is paying me in Peppermint Patties. The things I'll do for the Sensation.

Not MasonDixon but lovely none the less

It's not part of the MasonDixon KAL but I'm still proud. It should be shown to all it's advantage on my VACATION! To see my future retreat from reality try heidelhouse.