Razor Camisole

Toula is currently on hold. I know, CRY! There's a snag in the pattern, and I'm not really sure how to figure it out on my own without royally ruining the entire project. Right now she's in three pieces, pouting under the end table in the great room. A torso and two sleeves, just piled up and stuffed out of the way until I can be taught how to put her together properly. I'm leaving her alone until the maker of her pattern replies to my very long comment on her own blogspot. I tried emailing, but her box was full, so hopefully she'll check in on her blogspot before I go out of my mind with anticipation!

To hold me over until my work on Toula can be resumed, I took a short trip over to Joann and picked up some silk bamboo blend yarn I've been eyeing since I started Desert Rose at the beginning of 2009. I also picked up a new set of double pointed needles--the smallest I've worked with yet, a US size 1. The yarn is pretty small and so the needles needed to be small as well, so that the top won't be all hole-y and funny looking. The size 1s are really a lot tougher to work with and hold! Plus, Joann only carried a US size 1 in metal which I don't really care for (I prefer bamboo but also use plastic) because my knitting gauge is pretty slack and any loose loops just slip right off the slick metal. The naturally tidy ribbing in bamboo gives enough texture to hold the loops on nice and snug. I'm interested in trying out some ebony needles, too, some day. Gotta get this round-the-world collection of knitting needles started ASAP!

I'm pretty excited about this pattern because it's going to be easy to adjust from its size xs pattern... just add 12 stitches for each 2 inches I need for it to fit. I'm making the top pretty loose. As a silk-bamboo blend, the yarn has a beautiful pearly sheen and lazy drape to it, so I think it'd be pretty as a loose-fitting cami as long as there's a belt around my waist. It'll be pretty, cool, easy, and quick for the trip coming up!


This pattern came free from the web site I've raved about before, Ravelry.com which is an online knitting/crochet blog site. A lot of patterns are listed free of charge, which is nice. For some reason, I gravitate towards paying an artist for her pattern, so I usually pick patterns that cost a little something (the average price of a pattern is only about $3-$7 anyway). It's hard work to make a pretty piece, and I like the knitting artist to feel appreciated for sharing it with me. This camisole, however, was a free pattern and I'm glad I've got it to work on until Toula's emergency pattern surgery comes to thruition.

I'll probably just stick to "Razor Cami" for this one. And, no, this is obviously not me.

Relief!

So, I recently voiced my concerns over getting this Toula completed. I was afraid that knitting with (and switching out) multiple colors was going to be more difficult than I could bare. Then I finally started looking up "chart knitting" on YouTube--my knitting savior!--and found the simplest answer I could never have thought of on my own. When I'm done knitting one color, just drop it and start with the next color the chart calls for. I had this idea in my head that the unused colors would need to be carried over on the "wrong side" aka inside of each stitch. I didn't know how this could actually work out. And as it turns out, my little Curly Sue head was thinking way too hard.

I must say, I'm beyond ecstatic about this discovery, that knitting with multiple colors is going to be so easy for me. Now, instead of putting off the finished product of Toula, I'm hoping to be wearing her within two weeks, finished buttonholes and all! If any of you are at all interested in learning to knit, or refreshing your memory on getting started, I have two FANTASTIC resources for you... both on YouTube. Easy-to-follow verbal instructions describe each step these ladies are taking to create the stitches, and the videos are close up and focused in on the hands as they work the yarn and needles. I'm a lefty, and work from left to right (backwards from EVERYONE else in the world, I'm beginning to think), but these ladies work things in such detail that I find it SO EASY to reverse their stitches to fit my own backward process.

Knit Witch will teach you the very first basics of making any knit or purl stitch, ribbing, and other technical stitches. She works very slowly, and is very thorough. She uses a light colored yarn in front of a dark background, so everything is very easy to see. Her videos taught me every single thing I needed to know about making my Desert Rose (find my birthmark!), my first-ever non-scarf knitted project, if that proves anything about her teaching abilities!

Knitting Tips By Judy is very helpful as well! She posts videos of a few more "advanced" (for my ability at least) projects. She just taught me how to knit using multiple colors. I watched her "checkerboard pattern" video once and understood completely how to change colors in my Toula.


Now I can't finish the second sleeve fast enough, and can't WAIT to begin the floral pattern around the neckline. I will definitely post my progress. Wish me luck!

Progress on Toula

I have been working at a much slower, relaxed pace on my Toula. I think it's because I'm going to have to learn a totally different way of reading a pattern, and this way is scary. And this sweater is scary not only because it's a different type of pattern to read, but because I'll be working with multiple colors... and I've never done that before. Scary!

The Desert Rose pattern reads like an instruction manual on putting together cheap pressed wood/veneer furniture straight from the WalMart shipment box. K1 (knit one stitch), P3 (purl three stitches), K3tog (knit three stitches together), and so on. Just an itemized list. Once I watched a couple videos on YouTube, I was able to figure it out every step of the way. I learned how to make new stitches, and put those new stitches together into the sequence that the pattern listed.



Toula the Tulip, however, is so scary! It's just a grid. That's it. A colored grid. Different colored boxes in the grid indicate different colors, and in some cases, different types of stitches (in this particular pattern, they only indicate different colors). This sweater is still worked in the round (one long continuous spiral of stockinette stitch) just like Desert Rose was, but this pattern calls for the sleeves to be knitted separately and then attached later, when the decorative (multicolored) neckline is introduced.


So far I have the body of the sweater complete. I've got just about half of one of the sleeves completed as well. I'm just working so slowly because it's a scary new territory! There's a local yarn store I drove by when taking Vespa to her vet's office, so I'm considering that as my last resort if I just can't seem to figure things out for myself. I have a feeling that making these button holes, using multiple colors of yarn, and putting pieces of the sweater together (the sleeves)... this is gonna be a tougher piece to finish. Wish me luck!

My very first blocking experience

Well, it's official: Desert Rose is finished! The waist - which I mentioned before - was a bit snug, and has been let out about 2 inches and works perfectly now. The neckline has been finished with a short ribbed pattern to match the sleeves and waistline.

To 100% finish a knitted piece of work, I have taught myself by watching some fantastic videos on YouTube. I learned how to knit in the round (a tube-shaped piece by using either two needles connected by a plastic wire, or using three or more needles with points on both sides), and I have learned how to make multiple other stitches in order to knit just about any lace pattern I could come across. The very last step to knitting anything is often skipped - as I have done on every scarf I ever made. Blocking, which I mentioned here, includes two steps - a light wash, and a stretching dry.

Here, I am washing the sweater in warm water with Vespa's lavender-scented pup shampoo. It's very mild, basically like a baby shampoo, so I figured this should work as well as those expensive soaps made specifically for the blocking process. Look at the water! It turned a funky plum color as I washed the sweater. I was expecting a small amount of color to leak from the yarn, but not this much!




Finally, after gently squeezing as much water from the sweater as I could without wringing (and misshaping) it, I laid an old blanket on the mattress in our guest bedroom to keep the mattress from turning purple or pink and began the backache of stretching and pinning the sweater, all the way around. One pin for every inch. Whew! It seemed to take forever. It stays here until the sweater is completely dry.



Blocking teaches the fibers to cling to each other, wrap around each other, and hold their shape much better than they would otherwise, so I'm happy to do this each time the sweater is washed to ensure a long and happy life. Hopefully Desert Rose will be dry by tomorrow and I will be able to model her for you!

A birthday (and getting started on my Toula)

Carlton's 26th birthday was two days ago, on Friday. Since we're trying to save up all the spare moo-lah we can for our spectacular upcoming European Cruise Sensation, we kept the birthday boy's spending pretty modest this year.

We started off the day with a trip to Mesa (about 25 minutes each way) for a delicious and indulgent breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Carlton ordered some biscuits and sausage, scrambled eggs, and hash browns. Oh, and a pancake, because he wanted "dessert." I ordered the Old Timer's Breakfast, with biscuits and gravy, grits, eggs, bacon, and hash brown casserole. Needless to say, we were full as ticks! Of course nobody can finish that much food, but we ordered it anyway and enjoyed every bite we could eat.

Once we got home, all I wanted to do was get started on my next knitting project. That's right! I FINALLY got finished with the baby blanket. Wow, that thing was starting to take a little bit of my soul each day that it endured its unfinishedness. I started wondering if I had actually started knitting my very own black hole, because after about midway through, it never really seemed to grow anymore. Well, I also FINALLY got to get started on my previously-announced next project, the tulip cardigan. Knitting is sweet again.

Since we had made plans for later in the evening, we opted to take the afternoon to just hang out (and digest our breakfast). It was a gorgeous day outside - about 80 degrees and clear skies with a calm and cool breeze, and Vespa was out patrolling the yard. No birds DARE land on her lawn, lest they wish to gamble their very lives! (Oh, whatever. I spent plenty of time Friday afternoon studying her stalking and pouncing techniques, and let me tell ya, the only bird she'll ever have the chance of catching is a stupid quail.) So, yeah, back to the beautiful afternoon. It was so pretty outside that I brought my knitting along with me and sat in the shade on the patio and knitted while Carlton opted to sit in the sun on Puppa's outdoor bed and read a new magazine. What a nice afternoon.

Then later on that night we had tickets to The Comedy Spot in downtown Scottsdale and made sure we had enough time before our 8:00 show to have a nice bite to eat at Stax. I got the tiny little sloppy joes (sooooo good!), and Carlton enjoyed a turkey burger and a beef burger. As always, that was delicious. The comedy club was just a few blocks down, and we still got there early enough to get a great parking place NOT run by valets, and enjoyed the show which got over at 10:00.

{Since Carlton never really got a cake for this birthday (other than his pancake at breakfast), which I'm having horrible guilt over, I'm hoping to take him over to Sprinkles for a special treat this afternoon.}

Happy (late) Birthday Carlton!

Tulip Cardigan

Desert Rose is currently 95% finished. The neckline needs a K2P1 border like the sleeves and waist already have, and the finished waist needs to be let out a bit... and I need to think for a while on how I can actually do that. Then comes the blocking, and voila! Desert Rose will be ready for the streets. I wore the sweater for about an hour last night and she was quite comfortable, I must say. I don't want to post any pictures yet, at least not until the neckline is finished and blocking begins.

Today after work I began shopping around for a new project, and found one that's perfect for me!

Tulip Cardigan, thanks to The Smith Island Pattern Factory:

She's my new muse. For some reason, I think this one should be named Toula the Tulip Cardigan. It reminds me of the sweet cardigans that Toula would wear in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, after she gave herself the make-over. It looks slightly second-hand store, slightly Urban Outfitters, totally handmade.

To keep this sweater more wearable around more of the seasons, I'm going to knit only 3/4 length sleeves instead of full-length, and I'm using a cotton yarn in lieu of wool. Lion Brand's Cotton Ease feels really nice and has an easy elasticity to it, which will be nice in the spring, or well, whenever, really. The main color will be the lime/kiwi green, around the shoulders will be cream, vines/hearts will be light/dark indigos, and the terracotta color will be the tulips. I'm glad that the colors are a little more muted and softer than the original pattern calls for - I don't think I've been in the mood for bright colors lately. Anyway, here's to a new sweet sweater!

Knitter, knitter, knit!

So, since I couldn't really get the baby blanket finished before Cynthia's baby shower, I have allowed myself to put it off for about a week... give myself a break from all that pastel purple (I never imagined I would speak such blasphemy)! I was really missing my sweet little puff-sleeve sweater and decided to give myself a week to work on it. Then it's back to the baby blanket until it's finished. But I just had to get in a few days of quality time with my pretty pink sweater! Been missin' her like whoa.

When I finished with the first skein, I decided that I would take a picture of my progress to help me measure how much finished material each skein gives me. Other than long, straight scarves, this is really my first project (not counting our Christmas stockings that weren't from an actual pattern), so I really have no idea how far one skein will get me. I've been knitting so much lately that Carlton's been calling out to me: "Knitter, knitter, knit!" It's become a "Just checkin' on you" call from computer desk to sofa, haha! Since I had today off work (woohoo!), all I wanted to do all day was knit. Little Miss Pink got plenty of attention, and grew quite a bit! This afternoon, it was time to start on skein #3. Here's my progress so far!

Here she is when I was just starting the second skein:

And how here she is as I cast on skein number 3:

I love how you can see the sleeves, and the repetitive leaf lace pattern totally makes sense now... and you can tell what the whole blob of knitted pink (well, it's more like a deep mauve) wool is! The pattern calls for ribbed trim around the collar and the ends of the sleeves after the entire sweater has been finished, so that will come later.

One last note: I've been really struggling with the real name of this sweater. The pattern's creators have named it "Rusted Root" but that's such an abrasive name for such a sweet top! I've been calling it "her" or "pink" or whatever I can to avoid the words "Rusted Root." I'm calling out for your help! What should I name the pattern, for my own emotion's sake? A lady's name? A plant? A few words put together that are more suitable than "Rusted Root?" I'd love your suggestions, cause I've got nothing!