and knitting

project #10: frida tank

I should really be working on other projects, but summer is nearly here and I am sorely lacking in warm weather wear. Frida looked simple enough, and the price was certainly right, so I ordered the pattern and yarn from HelloKnitty.com. Their service is excellent. They email you the PDF of the pattern very quickly, but then also mail you a printed copy in a plastic sleeve. The yarn was sent separately.

Cascade Fixation is some strange yarn. It looks a lot like cord, but is very stretchy. I'm reserving judgment on what I think of it until I finish the tank. It seems to hide little problems well, but I'm not so sure I like the texture. We'll see how it goes. The color I chose is a rather obnoxious red, which my camera doesn't capture very well.

The pattern comes in two sizes. I'm making the small, but will add an inch to the length. The increases for the bust are rapidly approaching, and I've never had to do an increase before, so I'm a bit nervous about making it look right. It's not hard, I know, but I wish the pattern specified which one would work best. I'm sure it will work out.

The Project: frida tank from HelloKnitty.com
The Yarn: Cascade Fixation - Kool Ade Red - also from Hello Knitty.com
The Needles: Clover 16" US #7
Started: May 2004

the untold want

Though this blog shows no evidence of it, I have been knitting lately. While watching the depressing yet wonderful film Now, Voyager, I finished up the mystery scarf for a mystery friend. I'll post a picture once said scarf has been mailed and received.

A bit of progress has also been made on pulli mit rüsche (Rebecca #25 pattern #22). For some reason this project is really stressing me out. The part I am on is certainly not difficult to knit. Maybe it's the delicate yarn, I'm just not sure.

I've also started working on Frida. Hopefully the Tank Time Tank-Along (my first knit-along) will help to provoke me to complete it in a timely manner.

Some idiot boys made fun of Paris Loop while I was walking to the grocery store last night. Obviously they were jerks with no sense of fashion. This "incident" was not a big deal, and I don't particularly care what random people think of my body parts or what I am wearing, but I am sick to death of rude people sharing their commentary with me while I walk down the street. This spring has been particularly bad.

the copyist

I spied this sweater in a shop window yesterday and what a lovely sweater it is. Marc Jacobs has a good eye for knowing what vintage styles wear well today. I wish I had the skill to knit up my own copy of this sweater, because I certainly can't afford the price tag.

fashion don't

My whine for the day.

I'm wearing cropped trousers and they're making me feel like a preppy hobbit.

This is what I get for trying to fit in at the office.

night of a thousand ponchos

There were ponchos galore at last Friday's Timberwolves game and elsewhere around the city. We've had a really cold spring so far, so a poncho really comes in handy as an extra layering piece. Knitting has turned me into a bit of a fiber snob, because what I noticed was that most of them looked like they were made of really cheap yarn. Even the usually reliable BCBG made theirs of low quality yarn, so they just aren't worth buying, even at prices sometimes cheaper than yarn. I'd like to make another poncho, and am thinking of making the sheer poncho from MagKnits April newsletter. I'd also like to make a summer weight one with more of a diamond shape, maybe using one of the techniques from R2 magazine, and possibly a bit of crochet.

knitter's goggles

Please be honest and tell me if Nell (by Rowan) is something worth knitting or if I simply like it because I have my knitter's goggles on. I'm thinking it's cute, but then I'm not so sure if I would give it a second glance were I to see it on a rack in a store.

This article (via brainylady) makes me wish there was a store like Knit New York near me. Though I have access to lots of stores with great inventories, they are all a bit on the traditional side and it would be fun to have a place a bit more "modern" to frequent.

MVP

How excited am I that the Timberwolves are in the Western Conference Finals? Birthday boy KG was amazing last night. I'm so glad that I called the mercenary folks at Time Warner 15 minutes before the game to upgrade to a package that gave me TNT. Tomorrow night I'll be even more excited to go see the game in person (hopefully). Luckily I had some knitting in hand to keep my calm because the end of the game was certainly nervous making. It's a quick project for a friend. Just a simple garter stitch scarf (the first one I've made) of chunky yarn. It will probably be finished tonight, but I can't find my camera doohickey to download my pictures.

jiffy thick & quick

I'll admit it, I have a knee jerk reaction against Lion brand yarn. Actually, it's probably just the stores it is sold in. Those craft superstores really stress me out!

However, now that I've seen this cute blanket over at injust-spring I may have to make a trip back to the fluorescent lit hell that is JoAnn's for some of that wacky jiffy thick & quick (even if the 12-year-old in me is cracking up over the name).

economic recovery

My apartment is still buried in boxes. Sadly the boxes aren't full of yarn for a new store like the boxes in the home of the proprietress of My Threaded Bliss. Some of the contents of my boxes haven't seen the light of day in a very long time. I was going through one of them yesterday, that I packed up when I was laid off from my dot com-ish job in 2001. Inside was a little booklet containing exciting information about the rosy future for jobs in the web industry. I am glad that I am once again gainfully employed and can be amused by such a thing!

I'm in love with the Louis Vuitton cardigan over on the left. Someday I will have the skill to look at a picture like that and come up with my own variation, but not yet. It probably would help if I actually made some time for knitting, which I haven't been doing lately.