Lights! Camera! Knit-tion!

The Sit n' Knit New York knitting group will be making it's National television debut on Good Morning America this November 15th. And I will (hopefully) be making my debut with them! Our group was selected for a segment on "how the internet works to bring people together", in our case to talk fiber and stitches and how dog sweaters shouldn't touch the dog's thing. I'm hoping the dog penis part will be edited out. It probably will, 'tis Good Morning America an' all.

Anyways, the filming part although fun, wasn't the highlight of this weekend's meetup, the people who attended definitely were. I had so much fun the ladies talking knitting and socks and dog bits... I'm so happy I decided to go along to the Knit in Public event in August because otherwise I wouldn't have these great people to sit and ruminate with on a regular basis. See, the internet works!

In knitting news, a little blue cotton baby sweater fell of my needles and onto it's intended recipient so fast that I didn't have a chance to take a picture. And I finally cast on for my second mermaid sock (remember them? I barely do.)

Oh and did I mention that Halloween kind of happened early this year? Um hmm, and what else could I be except the world's largest sock monkey?

Sock Monkey drinking red wine in her natural habitat, the campus bar.

In which my face gets mysteriously replaced by a camera

Pattern: Ballet Camisole from Magknits (36"bust), tweaked just a little.
Needles: Knit Picks Options size 7 (ribbing) and 8 (stockinette).
Yarn: 3+-ish balls of Patons Katrina colour 10305, Lilac
Modifications: There were plenty, not because I didn't like the original shape of the camisole, but more because my yarn choice dictated it. This yarn is very stretchy, splitty and dense. Hence I converted the camisole into a sweater vest using all the basic shaping and sizing but omitting the gathered neckline and shaped straps. Alternatively I added five (neck) or four (arms) rows of twisted ribbing to finish the edges. This time the twisting was intentional, for some reason regular ribbing seems to flare horribly in this yarn and since I wanted a nice, tight edge the twisting was necessary.
Gripes: This is probably all of my own doing (not the best yarn substitution ever), but there is a bit of pooching where I stepped up a needle size from the ribbing to the body of the sweater. Now if I had bigger hips, or say, gave this to someone with slightly larger hips, I think the flaring would be hidden in the stretch of the fabric.

Dilemma: This sweater more or less fits me, and lets face it, it goes awesomely with my pyjammas. The problem? As I described below I was intending to give this to my mother for Christmas. It's a huge step up in technique and finishing from the handknit I gave her last year, the yarn choice is better, the pattern is more appropriate, it's just so much more advanced. It's amazing what a year of pursuing a "frivolous hobby" can do for both your skills and your confidence. But now I don't know what to do. I feel like my effort in producing something that is as perfect as I can get a handknit, something that is wearable and durable has been prematurely thrown back in my face. But then, maybe she'll be so wowed by the sweater she'll rethink her opinion.

The more I interact with my classmates and other scientists, the postdocs and the technicians, the more I'm beginning to understand the strong link between scientific endeavour and creativity. So many of these people play musical instruments, knit, sew, paint... the list goes on and on. I know personally that I need this creative outlet to stay sane, to keep my hands busy. There is so much satisfaction in producing something from a bunch of raw materials that is a thing of beauty, of purpose. It just so happens that for the past year and a half my creative outlet has been knitting, before than it was sock monkeys and way before that the fabric based artwork I produced by the boatload for my extra-curricular art classes in high school. I think I've always had this need to create and I always will. It'd be nice to have some positive affirmation from my mother.

Hell, she'll probably get the sweater anyway. Maybe I should take a leaf out of her book and give what I want to, to hell with the recipients wants or feelings. I just have to steel myself against the disappointment and disapproval.

Supportless, like a saggy bra

I was just talking with my mother, always a slightly precarious task, when the subject of my impending birthday came up. I mentioned that I needed to update my amazon wishlist and blah blah blah, and if she really coudn't think of a gift, I'd always appreciate a gift certificate to a yarn store.

She did not like this idea.

"I think you're going a bit overboard on this knitting lark."

She then went on to espouse the virtues of "getting my nails done" or "buying myself a bunch of flowers". It's clear this woman does not have a clue who I am. I did explain to her that I'd prefer to have a gift that I'd use and enjoy, rather than have her waste money on one that I'd throw in a corner and ignore, but again she wasn't buying it. I think my mom just likes giving the gifts that she wants to give rather than those I would like to receive. Maybe I should totally blow her mind and ask for a pig, or some chickens. I know I'd end up with something highly useful instead. like a denim jellaba or a fluffy bright pink heart pillow. I think I preferred it when all I ever got were pyjammas...

And to think, I was going to give the lilac ballet shirt to her for Christmas. Ha!

Ballet-Schmallet

So here it is, the great "I'm so over it" item of 2006....

Isn't it mahvelous, dahling!

Actually, after blocking I'm beginning to fall back in like with this top. OK so it's not cotton like the pattern suggests, it's Paton's Katrina which is a gazillion percent plastic, (but yet very stretchy and soft) that somehow has the density of lead. I swear there's only three or four hundred grams of yarn there but this thing weighs a metric ton. And a half. I'm also not doing the cute little gather at the neckline due to saidstodgy properties of the yarn. Instead I'm making a ribbed boatneck edging, which incidentally I hate and will be ripping out in the near future. Sigh, I'm not having much luck with the knitting god's these past couple of weeks :(

Matchy Matchy

There has been knitting, oh so much knitting in the past week. My icky, feel like Ker-Rap headcold has meant much Quality Time in front of the TV this weekend. I made this (not out of the correct yarn, not completely finished and I'm so completely over it that I can't even be bothered to post a picture), and these (out of left over Patons yarn from this) which I am very pleased with.

I wore both the wrist warmers and the sweater to the latest Sit n' Knit New York event today (Mission: wear as many handknits as possible). Want to see? How tiny does my waist look in that picture? Trick photography, I swear..... Oh and if anyone can tell me where I'm supposed to store my cable needle other than my mouth while knitting, um, cables, please tell me, because right now I look like I have an oral fixation.

I'l post pictures when I don't feel quite so much like I'm dying....

Twisted Sister

This is no more. It sucks.
Who knew the way I knit would cause twisted stitches in the round? Oh well, a little heartache now will save a lot later on...

Enough is E-freakin-nough

SO ANNOYED.

I tried casting on for a sweater last night using my knit picks Options set only to find that the 3.75mm needles wont screw into the cable. Am I alone in thinking that when you fork out $60 for a knitting needle set it should a) work and b) not fall apart when you take it out of the bag? Maybe I'm the unlucky one who got the joke set, but seriously, I'm beyond pissed. And the replacement needles are on back order. Even if the broken stuff is being replaced for free it just isn't good enough. Knit Picks, PICK UP YOUR QUALITY CONTROL.

And don't get me started on Yves Rocher who have been unable to process my order for a MONTH, have been unable to contact me at all during this process, not followed my wishes and just been so completely INCOMPETENT that I may never use their broken-ass website again. GAH!

Rant so not over....

Much Better

Both the red scarf in this incarnation, and the promise of two new cables in the mail :)

They arrived....

... and they disappointed :( Both the 24" cables from my new knitpicks options set are broken. I'll be calling them up tomorrow to ask for replacements to be sent asap. Fortunately I can use the larger ones for my next planned projects (Alice and the Ballet Camisole, both from Magknits) but still, I'm just more than a little bit bummed.

But I have started knitting again. On Sunday I went to a Sit 'n' Knit event for Project Sunshine and made an adorable but frighteningly small preemie hat. There I found out about the next charity knitting event, the Red Scarf Project. I'm fast turning a bad crochet experiment into cabley red goodness, I'll do pictures when I get out of my Knit-Picks induced funk :(