Aaaand we’re back…
August 26th, 2008I got home from England exactly a week ago. It took me a few days to be able to knit again, but I’m back in the swing and brimming with ideas and projects-to-be.
Firstly, I mentioned in my last post that I was unhappy with my Leaf Kimono Top. Let’s just detail WHY I’m unhappy with this diaster:
Yeah. Matches the finished dimensions perfectly. How retarded does this look? Why? - is the only question I have here. Firstly, I *knew* that this was going to come out dodgy but I followed the directions anyway. Secondly, why were the directions written to this end? Honestly, the top comes down at the right length for a short top. But it looks so STUPID on me and pretty stupid as a finished piece. I am not a tall person…I am short-legged, short-waisted, and short-torsoed (a word which I just made up, but it’s true). This, in its current state, does me NO favours. None. I look terrible in it. Now, if it were longer, we’d get balance. But since this was worked in separate pieces from the bottom up, there’s no easy way to do this without altering the look of the whole garment. I do like to take pride in my work, and I can swallow such pride when necessary, BUT (and if you’ll allow me to be very frank) - THERE IS NO WAY ON THIS FREAKING PLANET THAT I AM GOING TO UNSEAM THOSE DAMN SLEEVES AND RIP THIS OUT AN START OVER I’D RATHER GOUGE OUT MY EYEBALLS WITH SPORKS!!!! *ahem*
So, the current plan is to knit a front and back piece for a few inches, and attach it in any way possible. Since this is a kimono style top, I can get away with something slightly belty looking with a few rows of stockinette, but I haven’t decided yet. I’m sorry that this isn’t going to come out as planned because I quite liked the look of the top as it was, but it doesn’t seem like it’s meant to be that way for me. I can still hardly stand to look at it, so it’s staying in the naughty basket until further notice. Moving on…
A few weeks back, I simultaneously dabbled in Kool-Aid dyeing and the idea of dyeing sock blanks. It was a lot of fun, and I didn’t go into it with any sort of plan. This is what I have:
I used Pink Lemonade, Black Cherry, and Berry Blue. I made one mistake with the colour progression, but I think it’s ok. The socks are coming out nice too - not too bold and blinding. There is a fair bit of white where the dye didn’t penetrate 100% (which was sort of intentional) that gives it an easier look. This is one of the Knitpicks sock blanks, in case anyone was interested. I like the idea of being able to knit two at a time, but I’m becoming of the firm opinion that the magic loop is the devil’s work. I simply don’t enjoy it the way I do DPNs.
Then I have this cardigan that is having a tough time being “born”, in a sense:
I’m not going to have enough yarn. I haven’t finished the shaping at the top on either the sleeves or the back piece because I’m not going to have enough yarn on the current balls to do it. I have two whole balls left for the front pieces alone. So, this kind of sucks. I found one English company that has one ball left in my dyelot, which I purchased, but I’d love another ball or two insurance. I emailed another company, which hasn’t got back to me yet, and I rather desperately PM’ed someone on Ravelry who had a lot of this dyelot to see if she could give up one or two. I feel really bad about doing that but I don’t know what else to do. So many people have it in my dyelot, but none are offering it for trade or sale. The worst she can say is no, though, so it doesn’t hurt to ask. What I’m thinking here is, I might have to rip out the sleeves and start working on the front pieces. This is not going to be a cardigan that buttons up all the way - it was never intended to. But I figure I should work on the fronts with the 4 balls of yarn I would have if I ripped out the sleeves. If each front piece takes less than two balls (which it should) I’ll just have to sacrifice my vision of the sleeves and make it cap-sleeved or something. Well, I do have 5 balls, if you count the one that’s coming. I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to start on the sleeves before I knew if I had enough yarn to make the fronts, but it’s a lesson learned.
Spinning is still sort of an issue, even after all that rest. I think I need to give myself more time to come out of “holiday mode” and get focused on projects and other positive things to come. I did a little bit of spinning this weekend and it went ok, but I found the same problem I had before, in that it’s not distracting enough for my brain. I’ll get back into it. I’m just in a rut.
























