and knitting

Blueprint

The preview issue of Blueprint finally came this week (a few days after receiving a second invoice for the subscription with a supposedly free sample issue). I have to say that like some other people have posted, I'm disappointed. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I hoped for more than a vague mish mash of the typical lifestyle magazine fare. They also really overuse their cutesy title font. I liked the idea of including a sewing pattern for a dress in a fashion editorial, and the tied scarf purses were cute, but I don't think they were enough to get me to ante up for the subscription.

Various and Sundry Links - April 29 2006
Special (mostly) Video Link Edition

- It's a rule that all knitters have to at least pretend not to hate cats and sheep.

- A certain special someone introduced me to the wonders of the Scopitone. I am now enamored with the idea of getting one. Here's a scopitone clip of one of my favorites, Françoise Hardy singing Saurais Je?.

- First there were Lee Press On nails. Now there are press on manicures.

- You Suck At Tetris

- Melissa from neoknits is doing a great series on her experiences in fashion school. Parts 1 and 2a are up now.

- Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette will show at Cannes later this month. Here's the French version of the trailer [via Mrs. B in Paris].

Project Spectrum: April

Debbie Stoller's new-ish book Happy Hooker appealed to me, so I found some Project Spectrum appropriate yellow kitchen cotton (sugar 'n cream) in my stash and decided to try again to learn how to crochet.

You may recall my first attempt at crochet. I got the single crochet down, but the gauge and everything was way off, and the bottom of the bag ended up way bigger than the top. Coincidentally, Happy Hooker has an adorable little project called the fat-bottom bag. I really would like to make this appropriately big-bottomed bag at some point, so for Project Spectrum this month I'm swatching away and trying to practice the different crochet stitches.

If you want to see some real crochet, go visit Carrie and take a look at her wonderful in progress Prepster jacket (also from the Happy Hooker book).

My other Project Spectrum contribution this month is a collage of photos of some of my yellow and/or orange records (details on the flickr photo page).

Various and Sundry Links - April 21 2006

- We Mime Our Own Business [via]

- Knitting magazine blogs and errata - I totally understand where they are coming from, but in the interest of transparency, wouldn't it be helpful if a knitting magazine had an errata-specific blog?

- This may be TMI, but I really liked the toilets in Japan. I don't know what the chicks at Google are complaining about.

- Chronicles of the Chronically (and voluntarily) Bedridden. I like to think I would get a lot of knitting done if I was participating in this study [via]. **Update** I just read more of her site and realized she actually is a knitter. If you see this, good luck, Erin! I hope you end up with a lot of FOs at the end of this.

- Hotel Room Secret

- I am Dave Gahan's leather trousers (I think my sister is the only person who will get this reference).

- Someone out there is less fond of capri pants than I am.

- A tale of woe starring some very cute shoes [via].

- LOOK AT ME BEING SERIOUS!!!!!!!!

- I like the idea of this jewel clip cable winder.

- Don't you hate those celebratory greeting cards that say ConGRADulations?

- design*sponge has a podcast interview with Lotta Jansdotter, one of my favorite designers .

- The Ethics of Buzz Marketing - Interesting post and discussion at String or Nothing. Rest assured that if I'm gushing or ranting about something, I've paid for it. If there is ever an exception I will make that very clear.

- The 100th anniversary of the San Francisco Earthquake happened this past week. Here's A Shopper’s Guide to Urban Catastrophe

Technorati tag: project spectrum

project #7: sweater with frills is finally finished!

Fetch your smelling salts -- it's been two years in the making, but the frilled Rebecca sweater is finally finished!*

It's more than a little difficult to come up with anything interesting to say about a project so long in the making. I'm really pleased to have finished it, though it's a bit anticlimactic because it's completely unwearable. All along I've been paranoid that it would be too small. Unfortunately, it's quite the opposite. Unless I can borrow Katie Holmes' stunt bump and also sign up for some boob jobbery, this will never fit me. There's just way too much roomy material in the bust and tummy.

This project was started only a couple of months after I started knitting and I just didn't know about the benefits of such wonderful things as negative ease. I guess I'll tuck it into the back of my dresser drawer and save it in case I should ever be great with child.

 

The Project: Pulli mit Rüsche aka Sweater with Frills - Rebecca #25 pattern #22 (also in their special kid mohair issue)
The Yarn: GGH Soft Kid purchased at Amazing Threads
The Needles: 5mm Clover bamboo
Started: April 6, 2004
Finished: April 15 2006

*This project definitely didn't need to take two years. It's an easy knit, but I just kept setting it aside to work on other things. It spent most of its life at the bottom of a knitting bag in the corner of my living room.

pureknits!

It's difficult to keep a secret, so I'm happy that Yahaira has finally announced the opening of her new online knitting store, pureknits. I'm thrilled for her, and now I can blab about it all I want.

Her shop was the source of the Fable Handknit Pure Baby Alpaca that I used for the Aspen Neck Cowl. The baby alpaca was so wonderful that I recently placed another order for that yarn (in a lovely blue this time around).

In addition to Fable Handknit, she's currently carrying yarn from Habu and Tilli Tomas. She also has recycled silk and a house line of hand dyed bamboo. Make sure you buy lots of Amy, my namesake colorway!

Of course there are also cool patterns, knitting bags and more. Go check it out (and no, she isn't giving me a kickback for posting this)!

Status Report

I thought I'd post a status update to show that despite a paucity of FOs, I am still knitting.

From oldest to newest
• pulli mit rüsche (Rebecca #25 pattern #22) This is one of the first knitting projects I ever started. Not quite sure what my hang-up with it is, but it's been ready to be seamed for a very long time. Certain friends are pressuring me to get it off my in progress list, so maybe I'll finish it in the near future.
• in from the cold striped scarf
  I'm not in any great hurry to finish this project. I pick it up from time to time and knit a few rows.
• performance enhancing sweater
  This is the only project I've really been working on. Version 2 is going well, though it is still a bit bigger than it probably should be. I'm working on the second sleeve while I wait for my new needles (to use for the ribbing on the body) to arrive. It should be finished soon.

Various and Sundry Links - April 9 2006

- Robert Propst invented nothing so destructive. Yet before he died in 2000, he lamented his unwitting contribution to what he called "monolithic insanity."

- Vintage Knitting's pointers on finding knitting patterns at the library

- micro-knitting [via New York MinKnit]

- Flaunt your hand knit socks. Des bottines en plastique -- a frenchy, fashiony, but still sweaty alternative to those scary boots of which many knitters are inexplicably fond.

- "But if you vote for Candidate X, you’ll be stealing Democratic votes!"

- Pantyhose Craft Week - a brief sampling of what’s available out there in terms of pantyhose nudes

- Cherry Ames, Plucky Heroine [via the article's author] - I mentioned my love of the Cherry Ames books in a recent post, but I had no idea there were 27 of them.