Snap Happy

Part of my newfound commitment to the Artist's Way: Photographs taken while wandering the streets of la manzana grande.

Random bit of advertisement on a sidewalk wall. Looks like a forlorn scrap of aging wallpaper, no?

Tile detail on a building in Chelsea. I love the color scheme here. Too bad the rest of the building was rather ugly.

Yes! We have some bananas! We have some bananas today! They look luscious and bursting with potassium.

Shadow of trees on the concrete sidewalk.

How blue is this sky?? I love that billboard...as if a person with depression is ever looking up that high.

My favorite photo of the day: The kiosks and mailboxes look like a lineup of robots.

Tutti Frutti

First, the lovely, summery, blueberry-ish beginnings of a Tiramisu baby blanket. The pattern is free at Alicia Paulson's blog and the yarn is amazing considering that it's Lion Brand. Not that I automatically discount all Lion Brand products, but most acrylic yarns bother me because they have so little give. Cotton-Ease, however, is soft and springy. I haven't decided yet whether to gift this to baby Beth or to offer it to Binky Patrol or Project Linus. I'm leaning toward one of the blanket charities since Beth will be receiving many hand-knit clothes in the future.

I even have some fresh blueberries chilling in the fridge but I got a little lazy before snapping the photo. The color is "Violet," but it's much bluer than any violet I've ever seen.

I was not lazy with the next photo, however...Melon shawl deserved some melons.

It hit a high of 92 degrees today so I think I needed the visual association of cold melons alongside the warm mohair. Otherwise I will never finish this thing. I'm rounding the second corner of the edging and I know that all my corners are going to turn out wonky. I'm not going to stress about it and just hope that blocking will work a minor miracle. These are those Korean melons, by the way. They look a bit like squash but the insides are white, crisp, firm and sweet.

I've gotten to the beading detail on Joy. Although this may take a hiatus until I finish the baby blanket.

Finally, chocolate has nothing to do with fruit or knitting, but I found these goodies the other day at the Korean supermarket where my mother and I bought those melons. I just liked the vintage mail covers on these but the chocolate itself is yummmmmy. Chocolove, indeed.

Sugar Shock

This is the cutest. Baby. Ever.

Baby Beth, wearing the first of many hand-knit items. Baby Cable Vest from Debbie Bliss's Simply Baby pattern book. Look at those cheeks!

Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea...

Summer is the season for melons. Cantaloupes, honeydews, watermelons, these weird Korean melons my mother used to buy called "cham-ehs." They look like very small yellow watermelons. Melons are great. When refrigerated, they are nice and cold and crisp. And SWEET. I could easily overdose on melon.

Thus, the melon shawl. I saw this on a few other blogs but was intimidated by the stitch. That is, until I did a good deed and returned a lost bag to a tourist and he thanked me by giving me a gift card to Barnes and Noble. Yay for karma! With that gift card, I purchased Victorian Lace Today and immediately took a look at the Melon stitch. Wait, that can't be...it looks...simple? I love everything about the one in the book. The electric green, the fuzzy mohair, the size. But instead of Kidsilk Haze, I decided to try out a different yarn--namely, Louet Kidlin. And I am now officially in love with both Melon stitch and Melon yarn. This pattern is so easy that I can watch television while knitting lace. Television! Lace!

My non-knitting friends suggested I do the border with the yarn I used for the provisional cast-on. I explained that the provisional yarn is a fingering cotton, not a laceweight linen-mohair blend. They still don't get it. They just like the colors together. Which is tempting me to think up some sort of shawl pattern using a pale green and deep blue. Speaking of deep blue...

The modest beginnings of Joy. I heart moss stitch. The yarn is soft. The color is much more muted than the photo suggests. Although I've learned my lesson with reversible knitting and now employ a handy row counter. This sweater is making me hum the Three Dog Night song, "Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea and Joy to you and me." Amen.

Movin' on

I've finished one half of the Flutter Sleeve Cardi. Right now, it looks sadly abused and misshapen.

The instructions assure me, however, that it will eventually be blocked and lovely. The color is giving a really tough time in terms of photos. The true color is a deep wine red that reminds me very strongly of Moulin Rouge.

Here's a little detail:


Here's Posy, waiting demurely for her big modeling shoot:


Now I am waiting (im)patiently for the yarn to arrive for Joy and now am looking at an array of things I have my eye on for future present planning...

Luigi from Rowan 35. Maybe for Dad? Mom thinks it should be all one color. I kind of agree. I also cannot make up my mind if I should look at cottons or wools for this.

Cap-Sleeved Beaded Sweater from Vintage Knits. Designed by Sarah Dallas. It's so simple and sweet. I'm thinking maybe for a friend of mine. I am horrified by cap sleeves on my person, but I think they're adorable on other people. And after Joy, the sparse placement of these beads will probably be a breeze.

Finally, the Fair Isle Cardi from Debbie Bliss's Simply Baby. How cute is this? This will take some planning though, since the fair isle pattern is not done in the round.

Signed, Sealed, Un-delievered

Posy is done! Unfortunately, no finished photo yet. I have to wait until I take it home to NJ and get Mom to model it for me. But the sewing in of the last end demanded a little celebratory dance. My first sweater = finito. I am ridiculously proud of myself.

THISCLOSE

This sweater is an albatross. I love the look of it, I love the lace, which is easily memorizable, I love that the color perfectly matches the skirt that my mother requested this for. However, I now know that I do NOT like figuring out lace shaping on my own. These patterns should come with mandatory charts, Rowan! CHARTS! I think I will try and stick with some simpler patterns for the next few projects just to remove the memory of this one. And now, all that seaming. All. That. Seaming. However, I realize that after I finish all that seaming, this will officially be my first completed sweater. I think this calls for champagne.

Other areas of interest: I am now ordering yarn for Joy, a Kim Hargreaves pattern from Rowan Vintage Style.

This is pretty much the same pattern as Agnes in Rowan 35, but with 4-ply wool and not Cotton Glace. And with beads, not french knots. I'm making this for my aunt, who is a preacher's wife living in L.A. This is the beginning of a long line of knitting for family members. I figure as long as I am generous with the knitting I can't chastise myself for my obsession. I'm going to go with Knit Picks Gloss on this one and pick up the beads at one of the stores in midtown.

While I wait for the yarn to arrive, however, I have these to keep me occupied:

The first time I flipped through Fitted Knits, I was not impressed. However, after looking through it a few more times at Barnes and Noble, I'm actually wanting to make a few of Stefanie Japel's designs. So when I saw this in the fall Knitscene and realized it only requires four balls of yarn, I was sold. Literally. I bought four balls of Lang's Venezia in a deep wine red and also the copy of Knitscene. Although I think I might actually modify and make it into a deep-V cardi.

As for this, I just have to knit up the sleeves and collar on this baby cardi, another one from Simply Baby. I made the 9-12 month size, but this seems a bit large even for a one-year old. Maybe I don't hang around babies often enough. Anyway, also for the baby niece. I love this yarn. I thought I was about to swear off cotton yarn because the Rowan 4-ply Cotton I'm using on Posy is a bit hard on the hands. Rowan Handknit Cotton, however, is scrumptious. It's still a tiny bit stiff in terms of give, but it's buttery soft sliding through my fingers. I could eat it. The color is actually a gorgeously muted grape/lavendar. Flash sucks.