Since you asked so nicely....

...I will post about the Luna skirt tomorrow. I don't have time tonight, or my husband home to get a shot of me modeling it anyway.

Lovely Leftovers

This is Elann's Endless Summer Collection Luna in color 5039, I forget what name they gave it. It's what I have left from knitting this, which at some point I should really blog about, because it turned out really well, and I have the cutest shoes to go with it. Normally I'm not much of a shoe gal, but these shoes....

Anyway, on to the pr0n.

A Remarkable Lack of Self-Control

Here's a shot of my art worktable. Notable bits: the giant box is full of paper scraps, actually most of it is junk mail I thought might be neat for collages. The shiny gold goodness next to it is a bag of Werther's. The popcorn box is my mini trash can, since I don't have a spare real one to keep nearby. Let's see, the blue book with the moon marks my stack of sketchbooks/supplies...there's a box each of oil and chalk pastels under the books. Slightly forward from that is my set of colored pencils in their neat pop-stand holder, which is black and folded down at the moment, so you'll just have to trust me on that one. On top of that rests the Knitpicks catalog I've been using as a coloring base--don't want to get colored pencil on any good paper--as well as the relatively sturdy cardboard junk mail I'm using as a cutting base, and the envelope that has my three completed ATCs. Yes, I know, I wasn't supposed to start until October...I'm impatient!

In the foreground, of course, is what I'm working on now. It will be given a colored and cut down into an ATC series when I've filled the whole page.



(Click to see the larger version in my album.)

See why I have no knitting to report? This is about 18 hours of drawing so far. I've actually given myself a blister on my old writing callus...I haven't done this kind of fine work this much since I was still taking notes in college!

Neverending

Why did I ever say that "the tie shouldn't be so bad?"

Eighty-eight inches of 9-st wide 1x1 ribbing. I am eating my words. They are not tasty.

And then, when I get the long one done, I have to do another 18-incher.

I started the gorram thing two days ago. I just watched an entire movie and honest to god, I knit the entire time. Sure, I was going a bit slow since it's ribbing and I was doing it by touch--movie was subtitled--but still, that was over an hour and a half of continuous knitting. I didn't set it down once.

I'm still only at 68 inches.

ARRRRRGH!

Return of the Artist

Through a discussion on the Knitty boards, I learned about ArtSoMoFo, and because I tend to dive into things, I think I'm going to do it. That's how I did NaNoWriMo, which I've done for the last four years--when I learned about it that first year, I threw myself at it like my dad's Bad Call Brick at the tv whenever OSU screws up.

Okay, not the best metaphor. Especially since I don't like football.

So in the last two hours, I've read the ASMF archives, set up my puny little LJ account so I can post to the community, and become irrationally fascinated with ATC's: Artist Trading Cards. These things are so cool! I've always been drawn to small, intricate things. I fell in love with henna tattoos when they were in vogue a few years back, and my drawings and paintings (I was taking art classes in college at the time) started to sprout these tiny, immensely detailed abstract designs that were my best guess at reproducing the traditional designs of the tattoos. For years, I did beadweaving and beaded embroidery with seed beads. And then there's my current obsession with fine yarn and tiny needles. So my head is now filled with visions of my own ATC's...

Some ideas, while they're fresh in my mind:

• Yarn! I have plenty of scraps of fun stuff that would be great in collage.
• Embroidered paper...love the example on the linked site.
• Beads too...I haven't bought any in ages, but I still have my bead box under the bed.
• Clouds--I found out about this earlier today, and we went out to the grocery before I committed to it. But I was watching the storm clouds forming as my husband drove, and I thought, I've always wanted to draw good clouds. The problem with clouds, though, is that they're emphemeral, always changing and flowing and disappearing. But oh, look, I have a digital camera now....I thought maybe I could spend some time shooting the clouds, then work from the photos, colored pencil or watercolor...
• Playing around with digitally editing photos. I have experience with cleaning up shots of my knitting, but I haven't explored much farther than that.

I'll still be knitting, I won't neglect my blog here. Heck, if I produce anything I'm really happy with, I'll post it here too!

I'm going to be a busy girl, I've got this in October and NaNo in November...

Finished: Knucks

Project Specs:

• Pattern: Knucks, free from Knitty
  
• Yarn: KnitPicks Shimmer in Stained Glass; HPY Lace Wool, a now-discontinued purple color whose name I can't remember
  
• Size: Women's
  
• Yardage: ???
• Needles: Size 1
  
• Gauge: 27 sts/4 inches
  
• Modifications: Slightly tighter gauge to better fit my tiny hands

I'm really happy with the way they turned out...but knitting them was, at times, less than pleasant. Starting from the fingers and working down meant that the fingers were joined on two needles, and knitting in the round off two needles onto a third was horrendously awkward, even if it was only temporary and only happened twice per glove. This problem would be nonexistent knitting with two circular needles instead of dpn's--maybe I'll try that next time, because I have a feeling I'm going to be doing more of these at some point. Or maybe I'll just knit them from the cuff up; there's a fabulous article on gloves in one of my old issues of IK that has everything one needs to know to design them, and the gloves I knit following it last winter turned out perfectly. It would be easy enough to reverse the directions on these and make them Knucks-in-spirit.

The embroidery...well, I consider myself pretty good at free hand embroidery, I've been doing it for years, but I've never tried to stitch on hand-knit fabric before. The K taught me a lot even before I moved on to the N...like, if you plan to keep your lines straight, don't use the center of the column of knit stitches, because the embroidery will sink right into it! The L, by contrast, is worked over top half of the knit stitches instead--does that make any sense? I've rewritten that sentence four times now, and that's the best I seem to be able to explain it.

Anyway, the E gave me fits, and the last little heart on the palm-side of the thumb is crooked...but I am not unpicking it. The first heart I did was god-awful, and unpicking it took me twice as long as stitching it there in the first place....

Pr0n, Take Two

So, I posted earlier, then started around the ring to see what wonder lay in store for me.

I came back feeling like a prude! My wool feels Plain-Jane now, staid and buttoned-up. I needed something more....sensual.

Let's try this again.



Yarn specs: Mystical Creation Yarns Cotton 10/2, colorway: Dragonfly





That's a little more appealing, don't you think?

Welcome Yarn Voyeurs!

It's my first Yarn Pr0n Friday!



I couldn't dig out any one spectacularly luscious yarn from my stash--at least, not any that were presentable on short notice--so I opted for a still life of the wool for my mother's fair isle vest. Which y'all will be seeing more of soon, it's already started, but I set it aside for now in favor of finishing up Arisaig.

When Addiction Goes Too Far

Well, you know how I said I could be done with the remaining front of Arisaig today? I suppose I still could be, but I doubt it now. Why? Because I started a new project last night. On #1's. When will I get over my love of tiny stitches?

Meet my adventure in doubled laceweight:



First of a pair of Knucks. I have no idea what I'm going to embroider on them yet, words or extras...I'm particularly fond of the rowan branch/Harm None pair, but I have nothing lying around that even comes close to appropriate colors, and I want to do more than slavishly copy one of the originals.

I'm toying with the idea of doing something my friend Elisha would like, even if I'm not giving them to her--the yarn is leftover from a stole I knit her for Christmas, so it seems fitting somehow. We'll see.

The Joy of Tiny Needles

Exactly one year ago--well, after the release of last year's fall Knitty, so close enough, anyway--I fell in love with Arisaig. Even though I have no idea how to pronounce "Arisaig". (Somebody help me out, here.)

I could not afford the recommended yarn in sufficient quantities, so I began the search for an appropriate substitute. Luckily, I found one. I picked out colors. I ordered it. On some level, I knew that I was ordering fingering weight yarn. On some level, I knew that the gauge was on the small side. On some level, I knew this was going to be a slower sweater than, say, the cabled pullover I'd done the previous winter, when I finished each sleeve in one long sitting. I'm a fast knitter, but I knew this was going to be a challenge.

On the other hand, I had no idea how satisfying knitting fine-gauge fabric was going to be.

Seriously.

All those little stitches. From the outside looking in, I see those little stitches as frustration, as toil, as extra work crammed into the same space a larger-gauge sweater would fill, and fill faster. But then I actually started knitting it. Joy. Bliss. World Peace! Anything is possible in this state of being. The feeling of the thin, soft yarn flowing through my fingers, coiling itself endlessly into a fabric that is light without being delicate, thin without being flimsy...well, it's a little addictive. Knowing that I can create something this complex and beautiful is a natural high.

I still love my bulkier projects--that cabled pullover I mentioned is the snuggliest thing in the world that's not a stuffed animal, and I wouldn't trade it for anything--but I have a newfound appreciation for the confidence, the sense of accomplishment, that comes with wielding the #0's well.

On the more practical side, this is the last big piece of Arisaig I have left to do. I had the sense, fortunately, to do the biggest piece first, the back, while I was still riding the wave of excitement that those of us prone to start-itis always feel. Then I did a sleeve, to give myself a break from the deep ribbing. Then one front, then the other sleeve, and now the remaining front. The fronts are great because the lace section is constantly decreasing...I could very well have this done tomorrow, if I throw myself at it.

Then there's the tie, which I can't imagine will take that long. The finishing, on the other hand...I may need some fortifying for that. There's this Godiva ice cream I've been meaning to try....

Finished: Lace-Up Tank

Project Specs:

• Pattern: Sonata Print Lace-Up Tank, free from Elann
• Yarn: Elann Sonata Print, color 9705 Cypress Grove
• Size: 35"
• Yardage: 5 full and one partial 50g ball
• Needles: Sizes 5, 6, 7, and 8
• Gauge: one square = 1.5"
• Modifications: None

The flat shot is more accurate for color than the modeled shot--it's a rather dull gray day here today. But I had to include the best of the modeled shots as well, because the diagonal lines formed from the individual squares' miters show up so clearly, and I love that.

This would have been a very quick knit if I had worked on it consistently, but it went in bits and pieces. On the whole, it was enjoyable, though the armhole edgings were a bit of a pain, and weaving in the ends was no fun at all. And guess how many there were--88! Eighty-eight ends for a tank top, I counted as I cut them off this morning after it was done blocking. I love modular knitting, but the two modular garments I've knit have had, by far, the most ends of anything I've ever done. The nature of the beast, I guess, but that didn't make finishing this any more pleasant.

Now I just have to wait until spring to wear it--if I'd stayed out on my balcony for the pictures any longer, I would have had goosebumps! Time to go knit something warm....

Starting over

I used to be a knitblogger, up until last year. You may have even read my old blog (I used to be 'amimono'...I'd link it, but it's gone, and I'm glad it is). But it got to the point where I didn't have time to knit as much, so I didn't have anything blogworthy--then it got turned around in my head where since I didn't have anything cool to blog about, I didn't want to knit anymore. Blogging made me tired of knitting. So, last fall, I called it quits.

I have knit at all this past year...I finished the shawl I had started designing right before my break with The Interweb...I knit a skirt, I knit a tank top. Oh, wow, three whole projects. I think I knit a few little things too, things so unmemorable that I'm wondering a) how many I did, and b) exactly when I did them. Eh, doesn't matter.

What matters now is that I'm knitting again. I mean, really knitting again. I wake up in the morning and I want to knit. I'm looking at blogs. I'm reading (and posting) on the Knitty forums again. And I'm inspired by what I see! That hasn't been true in a long time.

And since I'm an extrovert and I just looooove to share....I'm blogging again too.