Stacyverb

Finished: Acero Honey Cowl

The Honey Cowl pattern has been a huge hit in the knitting world for quite a while now. As of this writing, there are nearly 15,000 (!) Honey Cowl projects catalogued on Ravelry. I've made the pattern myself once before, as a shop sample at work.

Finally, craving a mindless, pretty, stash-busting sort of project, I decided to make one of my very own. The yarn you've seen before, in this post. And here's the finished product.

I prefer to wear it doubled, as a fabulous neck-warming thingy, instead of as one long loop. The colors are wonky in the pic on the right, but this was as good as I could get it to look. I had to tinker with the color balance to get this version that's a somewhat happy medium where the cowl colors look fairly okay, without my skin looking blue or yellow.

 

I'm kind of in love with this fabric. Dense yet drapey. The colors are accurate in this pic. Flattering palette for me.

 

Oh, why not--here's another view. I love it so!

 

PROJECT DETAILS

Pattern: Honey Cowl by Madelinetosh

Yarn: Brooks Farm Acero, colorway unknown (mysterious!)

Needle: US 6 (4.0 mm)

Texas forever?

I've never been to Texas, but it's sure been in my face so far this year. 

On New Year's Day, over my first cup of coffee of 2014, I started reading The Son by Philipp Meyer (who wrote American Rust, one of my favorite novels of recent years). Just finished it today, and can't quite decide how much I liked it.

On one hand, it's an epic western full of long, cinematic sequences about various tribes of people slaughtering each other. I was by turns grossed out and zoned out from boredom. BUT. Occasionally--frequently--I'd come across a sentence or passage that was so beautiful or insightful that I'd have to read it several times.

Anyway, The Son takes place in Texas, full of dust and oil, cattle barons and cowboy wannabes. Texas is basically a main character in the book.

So I'd been reading that, and meanwhile one day I got into a conversation with a friend about football, and this led to her reminding me that I never finished watching Friday Night Lights. Aaand then I binge-watched the last 30 or so episodes in the past two weeks.

When FNL was on the air, I paid no attention. It was on network TV and full of good-looking teenage characters, so I dismissed it as corny fluff for pre-pubescents. Eventually, I'd heard enough (grown) people rave about it that I started watching it on Netflix.

I'm so glad I did, because this show is just plain great story-telling. Set in a dead-end town--in, yes, TEXAS--whose biggest thrill is high school football, it could easily have turned into one big caricature. But instead, the writers and actors respected the humanity of their characters and created complex people and stories full of depth and subtext.

When not reading or Netflix-ing, I've had The Trishas' High, Wide & Handsome on heavy rotation all month. First hearing these ladies on WDVX last time we were in Knoxville, I instantly fell in love with their gorgeous harmonies and old-school songs of resourcefulness, heartache, and regret. Googled them the other day to learn more about them and oh, guess what--they're from TEXAS.

Meanwhile, in search of a new project, I dug into my yarn stash and found a yummy skein I bought several years ago at Stitches South. I vaguely remembered buying it from a small traveling vendor there, but didn't recall any details. The label said Brooks Farm Yarn, which didn't ring any bells, so I looked them up to figure out who they were. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that this little company is based in TEXAS.

So weird! I didn't plan it this way, but I think I've had as many Texas references in the past three weeks than I normally do in a whole year. And all really interesting ones, too. Okay, Texas, I get it--YOU'RE STALKING ME. I'll visit you one day and we'll just see what happens, all righty? I'm intrigued, but I promise nothing.

Finished: Rose's Mitts

For a while, several years ago, my husband got me hooked on watching Doctor Who with him. I've mostly lost interest since then, but there was a period when I was sort of into it. (That period may or may not have coincided mainly with the years when cutie patootie David Tennant was playing The Doctor. But I digress!)

Anyway. There was this episode with Rose Tyler and The Doctor on a beach in Norway or something, having a dramatic goodbye. He might have been dying, maybe? (Real fans of the show are no doubt cringing at this description. Apologies if I've blasphemed here.) In any case, as Rose fretted and wailed and threw her arms around The Doctor's neck (I think they kissed, too--ooh la la!), my knitter's eye spotted the gorgeous fingerless mitts she was wearing. Oh! I wanted those mitts.

Recreating a piece of knitwear spotted "in the wild" (or on tv, in this case) is the knitting equivalent of musicians figuring out the chords to a song they heard on the radio so they can perform their own cover version, or a foodie deciphering the ingredients needed to reproduce a favorite restaurant dish at home. Sometime later, I discovered that someone else had saved the rest of us the trouble and had figured out a pattern for the mitts and published it on Ravelry as a free download.

This pattern had been in my queue long enough (yeah, okay, three years), so I finally decided to knit these as my first project for this fall. I made mine a little longer and added four rounds of ribbing around the fingers and thumb.

As part of my Forty-Fourward (tm) plan, these mitts serve double duty--I'm crossing a project off my to-knit list as well as using up some yarn that's been in my stash for a long time. They accomplish more as well, of course--keeping my wrists and hands warm and my fingers free, while adding a stylish new touch to my fall wardrobe.

PROJECT DETAILS

Pattern: Rose's Wrist Warmers by Christina Slattery

Yarn: madelinetosh tosh dk in Glazed Pecan

Needle: US 3 (3.25 mm)

Nonfiction November, week 2: Be The Expert

I'm really enjoying participating in Nonfiction November*. This week's subject is:

Be the Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert:  Share a list of nonfiction books on a topic you know a lot about. Or, ask for some advice for books on a particular topic. Or, put together a list of nonfiction books on a topic you’re curious about.

Those of you who are regular readers (and I know there've been a lot of new readers lately as well, so *waving* "HI!" to you newcomers) won't be shocked that I've picked knitting as my topic of expertise. The word "expert" actually makes me uncomfortable, because in knitting there is always more to learn, but I do work in a knitting shop and make part of my living by teaching people to knit, so it's pretty safe to say that I know more about knitting than most people do. So, here are five books I recommend on the subject.

 

Stitch 'n Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook by Debbie Stoller When Stoller, co-founder of Bust magazine, came out with this book about ten years ago, it introduced a whole new audience to the idea that knitting can be very cool. I love this book for that influence alone, but it's also a fantastic beginner guide that teaches the basics and contains dozens of patterns for easy (but fun) projects.

 

Knitting From The Top by Barbara G. Walker Once you're ready to dabble in designing your own projects, this book--frumpy cover notwithstanding-- is indispensable. Barbara G. Walker is a knitting legend. I got to meet her a few years ago. She was 75 years old at the time and wearing an anarchy t-shirt. She signed my book. We had lunch. She read my tarot cards. She sold my friend a sparkly hand-knit jumpsuit for a Ken doll. That was a weird day. Weird, and AWESOME.

 

440 More Knitting Stitches from The Harmony Guides series  An intrepid knitter armed with a good stitch dictionary is pretty much unstoppable. This is one of my favorites because it has a bit of everything--basic textures, cables, lace, colorwork, etc. For a craft that only has two basic stitches--knit and purl--the number of possible variations is mind-boggling. Some are easier than others, of course, but the challenge can be part of the fun. If you can't get inspired looking through the Harmony Guides, you might not have eyeballs.

 

Knit Socks! by Betsy Lee McCarthy  "Knitting your own socks?!? What a colossal waste of time!"--me, years ago. I was a skeptic for way too long, but eventually I succumbed to peer pressure (fellow knitters can be very persuasive) and gave sock knitting a try. It's fun! And you can make socks that fit you impeccably (a bonus for weird-foot-sized people like me). This book is the perfect intro to sock knitting. Its instructions are extremely clear and it offers a variety of styles to make.

 

Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch  Of course, if you're like most people who get hooked on making socks, you won't be content to stick with the basics. This book opens up a wide, crazy world of socks for every size foot in every thickness of yarn, using a variety of techniques. You could literally make thousands of pairs of socks using this book and never repeat yourself. With this book, you'll never need to buy another sock pattern again. Having said that, there is also a sequel, just in case.

 

*Missed my post for the first week of Nonfiction November? Here it is.

Finished: Green Featherweight

How many of these cardigans does one person need in her wardrobe, you might ask? The answer appears to be: at least three. What can I say? This design is perfect for my climate, where often all you need is a little something of any extra layer. I can wear it with so many things.

This version rose from the ashes of my poor, doomed Cloudette sweater (R.I.P.). Yes, maybe knitting a third Featherweight was a safe (some would say too obvious) choice, but whatever! The sheer/ seamless cardigan formula works great with the rest of my wardrobe and has yet to fail me, so why not?

I'm kind of in love with this shade of green. It's a little more jewel-tone than my usual beloved olives and limes, but this rich emerald-ish color is really working for me. Nice for fall.

Also, it's hard to go wrong with a 50/50 silk/wool blend for keeping the chill off and feeling delicious at the same time.

 

PROJECT DETAILS

Pattern: Featherweight by Hannah Fettig

Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr in Bottle Green

Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) for body; US 4 (3.5 mm) for sleeves

Modifications: Did a ribbed edging instead of the original rolled stockinette border.

Transform

[This is another post in a series of topic challenges some fellow blogger pals and I are doing. This time, Maria asked her husband to choose our topic. He gave us three options: "ennui," "transform," and "cheese." Tough choice! Here's my quick response to the word "transform."]

I've been knitting off and on for decades, so I largely take the process for granted. My hands know what to do, and they just do it. But every now and then I have a moment when I become really aware of the process and then I can't stop thinking about how strange it is. (You know those kinds of moments? Like when you're looking at your own name and all of a sudden it looks so weird?)

At these moments of abrupt knitting awareness, I have this flash of who thought of this? Someone had the idea to shave a sheep, figure out how to turn its fleece into a stringlike substance, and then come up with a process of transforming that string into fabric by making a series of loops--using tools that they also had to invent--so they could create garments or blankets or whatever they needed. It's kind of mind-blowing when you consider it.

 

This used to be a dirty sheep fleece. What???

 

Whoever came up with this procedure, my hat's off to them. Personally, I think it's very cool that I have the ability to transform yarn into a stylish, functional item. It's kind of like magic, or alchemy, or something.

Over the eight years I've spent at my job, I've had the pleasure of teaching many people to knit. It's exciting to help transform a student from someone who wants to try a new skill but has doubts that she'll be able to do it, into someone who is doing it.

For that matter, teaching knitting has transformed me in a way, too. When my boss first suggested that I take on some of the lessons at the shop, I was reluctant. I doubted my ability to explain a process that, after so many years of doing it, was completely auto-pilot to me. The idea of getting frustrated and impatient with my students was worrisome. But I gave it a try, and overcame those insecurities.

Now I'm proud to say that students frequently compliment my teaching and thank me for being so patient with them. That amazes me almost as much as watching a ball of yarn turn into a garment!

In progress: Green Featherweight

In times of worry and stress, an evening spent with some endless stockinette stitch and mindless television (Batman, anyone? The Bob Newhart Show?) can be just the thing to calm the nerves. Gotta keep the hands busy and the brain distracted, you know?

Remember this? Yeah...it just wasn't meant to be. But we're moving on, and the yarn is in the process of getting a new lease on life.

Not a great picture, but yes, that is another Featherweight cardigan you see. For those keeping track at home, this is Featherweight number three for me. I adore the first one I made, and my black one is probably the single most often worn handknit item in my wardrobe.

So anyway. Two Featherweights simply aren't enough! This one's lighter than the others because it's laceweight yarn! I don't have a green one! Those are my reasons/rationalizations for repeating myself with this pattern. Honestly, I could pretty much make one in every color and wear the crap out of them forever.

Fellow knitters, what are your go-to patterns, the ones you can make over and over and never get tired of them?

Finished: Birthday elephant

[Shhh...I don't want to jinx myself, but so far my latest posts haven't attracted the attention of the spambots, so (knock on wood) I think it might be safe to keep on posting my backlog of posts....]

Here's a project I did earlier this month. My friend RSL loves elephants, and he had a birthday recently. I thought a handmade elephant could be a fun and unique gift for him, so I searched Ravelry for knitted elephant patterns. There were many options! It was hard to decide, but here's what I came up with:

If I may say so myself, isn't he super cute? I think so. He's very loveable and huggable.

 

RSL loves him, which made me very happy. It's such a great feeling to give a gift that you can tell is truly appreciated.

 

Here's a side view so you can see his little tail. I just took six strands of yarn and braided them together--that's it!

Project details

• Pattern: Elephant by Sarah Keen
• Yarn: Kraemer Tatamy, color 1723 (Flannel)
• Needle: US 3 (3.25 mm)

Buh-bye, Cloudette

Hey, does anybody remember this cardigan?

Ringing a vague bell? I started it in May of last year, then it went into the closet and hibernated for a while, then I pulled it back out in October and worked on it for a while, and then it hibernated again for a few months. I pulled it back out last week and got back to work on it, at which point it looked like this:

 

Nothing left to do but finish one sleeve make the other! Woo-hoo! The home stretch! FINALLY.

Today that cardigan looks like this:

Oh no I DIDN'T.

Yup, I sure did. I was almost done, and I tore the whole thing apart. I tried it on at the one-sleeve-finished stage and I hated it. HATED it. The belt, which I thought was such a cute, waist-emphasizing feature, was just getting tangled up. Worse, somehow I must have mis-measured something, because the belt sat waaaay below my waist. It didn't look cute and tailored, it looked sloppy and stupid.

I realized I would never wear this thing. Or rather, I might wear it once and feel uncomfortable in it all day, and then avoid wearing it ever again. Why force myself to finish a project if my heart wasn't in it? Life's too short, folks.

As I always tell my students, one of the great things about knitting is that it's one of the few things in life where you can actually get a do-over. Mistakes can be unraveled and corrected, and in extreme cases like this, whole garments can be undone and the yarn re-used to make something else.

Some friends who saw me right after I unraveled Cloudette asked me how I felt, after putting all that work into it and having nothing to show. Honestly? I felt great. Sometimes, what's even better than a project that's finished is one that's just DONE.

Finished: Not Chuck

Just in time! Local temperatures are on the rise, but yesterday was still cool enough to be considered sweater weather.

 

Please ignore the windblown hair and squinting-into-the-sun face.

 

Before any compliments me on the beautiful camelia bush behind me, rest assured it's not mine. These photos were taken outside a bar. So there you go.

I'm really pleased with this! The pattern was fun to knit, and I love the color and softness of this yarn. This sweater will be a staple of my fall and winter wardrobe, I'm sure.

PROJECT DETAILS

Pattern: Chuck by Andi Satterlund

Modifications: One extra pattern repeat for added length. Followed instructions for size 33 for the body and size 37 for sleeves to accomodate "wheeling" room.

Yarn: Classic Elite Liberty Wool, color 7880 Golden Poppy. Used six balls and a tiny bit of a seventh.

Needles: Size US 9 (pattern called for an 8, but I got gauge on a 9).