cold enough

Hullo Blogspot! Goodness, it's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry for the absence: I left my camera in London at the beginning of February, and have only just got it back.

In the meantime, there's good news and bad news: 7000 words of my thesis and two job interviews - hurray! - but it hasn't left much time for knitting. All I have to show for myself is another four inches of fairy knitting:





Past the waist and onto the increases: another two inches and I'll be making the sleeves! Perhaps by autumn ... ?

The only other thing I've worked on, the cannibal's sack sweater-dress, has come to a sad halt:




cannibal's sack sweater dress



front and back lace details



I still love the idea: the abbreviated raglan sleeves are great, the lace leaves are lovely, the colour matches my green eyeshadow and it's flattering from certain angles. But at that gauge, it's too bulky, and the yarn is too heathery and too busy: it needs to be so much sleeker. All the fashion mags are talking about this season's sack-shaped dresses, but my sack sweater-dress isn't going to see the light of day.

So the poor yarn will be ripped again, perhaps destined for Knitty's French Market bag. If I still fancy a sleeveless, non-sack sweater-dress by the autumn, I'll perhaps try something similar on 4mm needles.

Right now, though, despite the fact that Ireland has chosen to celebrate St Patrick's Day with a new ice-age, my thoughts are turning to summer. My denim Sirdar is probably going to be something like this:




A light, breezy summer cardigan for pulling over cotton dresses. It's based on one I've seen in Benetton, which actually has horizontally knitted sleeves, but I'm not going to bother with that. Lace around the bottom, stocking stitch everywhere else, raglan sleeves, a deep v-neck, and an i-cord drawstring at the waist. Roll on summer!

ghost of knitting future

Thank you for the welcome, lovely people! I hope I live up to your expectations.

Yesterday was the ghost of knitting past, today is the ghost of knitting future. You know that moment when you start sketching or swatching or even just telling someone about The Thing You Are Going To Make Next, and it starts to feel all real? I'm hoping that this post will have that effect.

Project 1: cannibalising the lovely Felinity's first ever sweater, which has been ripped back, rinsed out and is currently drying in a gorgeous mass of just slightly curly bundles.






Cannibalised Big Sack Sweater -> Cannibal's Big Sack Sweater Dress



Plan: a top-down raglan with very short sleeves, lace panels on the front and back, side shaping, and just keep going. With luck (and some decorative yarnovers and big needles), I'll spin the yarn out far enough to make a little mini sweater dress. I can't afford the one I want in Urban Outfitters - and I'm not entirely certain that their morals are all they should be, either - so it's knitted or nothing.

(I feel dreadful about ripping your very first project, Felinity, but I promise to love the sweater dress very very much. You do bind in your ends beautifully, though!)

Project 2: May I recommend The Natural Dye Studio, purveyors of absolutely gorgeous yarns (aw, baby's first plug.) I have a pair of alpaca/merino legwarmers in their "Ocean's Deep" colour scheme, a mermaidy purple and turquoise. They provide the silhouette of slouch boots without the expense, hoorah. I also made my brother a pair of socks in "China" for Christmas, and my mother was (ssh!) supposed to get a pair of lace socks in "Blossom", but I ran out of time. So, instead, she got some Elizabeth Arden 8-hour cream, and I am getting a beret:




Blossoming beret, Natural Dye Studio's Luxury Merino Sock Yarn in Blossom, knitted on 3mms



It is another madey-uppy one, and I am distinctly unconvinced. The fabric, post-increases, is 6 stitches garter stitch per 2 stitches of rib, and O, I don't know. We might end up ripping, I'm afraid. Look how pretty the yarn is, though!

Project 3: involves all sorts of exciting new things like dyeing. I have dyed fabric for sewing with great success, as everyone who's seen my lime-green linen jeans will tell you. (Mind you, there's also the silk crepe dress that I cut out and attempted to dye chocolate brown just before Christmas, still sitting in the corner in a sorry burgundy heap. But we don't need to talk about that.) I have 400g Hermit 100% Wool Shetland 4 Ply, also Ebayed. Alas, for it is muted blue, and I am no more a muted blue sort of person than I am a burgundy one. The plan is to turn it into skeins and stick one end in purple dye, and then, depending on how that works out, consider sticking the other end in some yellow dye. How can this possibly go wrong?

If we survive all that, I'm thinking of a skinny top-down raglan, with narrow cables and 3/4-length sleeves. Possibly even picot edging. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.