FO: Selbu!

I finally finished sumthin'.

Selbu Modern
Yarn: Shibui Sock Yarn, 1 skein each burgundy and citrus green

Me like this pattern. Me like this yarn. 'Nuff said, no?

Ok, ok, so I'll embellish since this is the first knitting-related post I've managed to come up with over the last month.

I have a love/hate relationship with fair isle. I love it for the results and the detailed work it takes to bring it all about. I love it for the rhythm it creates when I'm knitting and the way I can see the end result growing row by row. But on the other hand, I hate it for its fiddly nature, I hate it for its time and mind-consuming craziness, and I hate that my tension goes from even to uneven.

But can anyone really argue with the beauty of the finished product?

So prettttttttttttttttty.

This must be why fair isle is the rock upon which I beat my furrowed brow.

I also kind of want to abandon my WIPs temporarily and start a new sweater. Am I bad?

Busy-ness

So...it's been a long time since I updated this thingamajig.

That's because I've mostly been doing stuff like this:

This is what's known as getting short movies made. I spent most of late September/early October helping two of my friends as they prepped and shot their thesis films for graduate film school. I was running craft services, making round-trip two-hour drives to Pennsylvania, cooking dinners for 20 people, offering massages, and helping with production design to dress fake freezers and scary basements.

My whole body hurts. It was an intense, sleep-deprived, stressful and bonding experience. But it was all worth it. My friends have their footage, our actors are still alive, and all of us learned oodles of good things.

We even had our own mascot:

Oscar, the pitbull/boxer mix who was rescued by our producer only a few months ago and got a bit snappy at being left in a barnyard while the rest of us were at work. But those puppy eyes got a lot of love.

I tried to knit. I did. And this is about all I managed:

I dug into stash (b/c I'm growing a bit embarrassed by it) and pulled out two skeins of Shibui Sock yarn and decided I must have the Selbu Modern. I plan to start a sweater as soon as I finish up that darn cabled coat. With luck, this will happen within the week!

FOs: Adventures in Beret Knitting

There are again birthdays galore 'round these here parts. I have no idea why, but most of my friends seem to have been born in April.

Eliza's birthday was Wed. and I wanted to give her a quick but pretty hat. Enter a random skein of Mountain Colors and a wonderfully adjustable beret pattern!

Eliza's Birthday Beret
Yarn: Mountain Colors New 3-ply Wool in "Glacier Teal"
Needles: US 9 DPNs and 24" circular
Pattern: Through the Loops! Beret Recipe (see above link)

It's a wonderful yarn, Mountain Colors. It was just terrifically yummy to knit with and I've decided that some sort of scarf is in order next fall. The pattern is also lovely. It's super easy, super quick and really delivers a great beret shape. You can make it with whatever yarn and needles you want. The 3-ply Wool needs a bigger needle, but I only had the US 9s available. I figured it would block out drapier. I was right. It's a bit bigger than I thought it would be, but it's still warm and slouchy.

I also fiddled around to make this:

Pink Hemlock Tam
Yarn: Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham Moss
Needles: US 3 DPNs and 24" circulars
Pattern: Fudged from the Hemlock Doily pattern made famous by BrooklynTweed's Hemlock Ring Blanket

Basically, after seeing everyone's gorgeous renditions of these blankets, I was jealous. Mostly because I knew I had no use for such a blanket, but it was so pretty that I wanted one anyway. I've been really interested in the center-out construction of berets lately (I can blame Ysolda for that). When this pattern wouldn't get out of my head, I wondered what else I could make. It finally hit me that since the pattern is from the center out, I could just knit out until about 8" in diameter and try to decrease appropriately to create the slouchy and brim sections.

In the end, I'm 80% satisfied. I don't think I knit it to be slouchy enough. I think I'll try fiddling with the numbers again and incorporating less even decreases for the beret part but more decreases right before the brim. Another idea is to knit it without the feather and fan part and just stockinette instead with YOs only outlining the Hemlock pattern. Argh, dunno yet. You know how Comedy Central's election coverage is called "Indecision 2008"? My life is Indecision Central.

Regarding the Moss, I'm not such a huge fan of it. It's soft enough in the ball, but working with it is weird because of the nylon content. When I blocked it, the wet fabric just felt gross and squeaky. It's terribly good yardage, however. I made the whole hat with one ball. And the colors are lovely. I doubt I'd use it for a sweater, but it probably serves well for items that require durable yarn.