FO: Clapotis o' Human Bondage...and a bit o' crochet

Finally, we have an FO 'round these here parts...

Clapotis o' Human Bondage
Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM color P117, 5.5 skeins
Needles: US 4
Modifications: More increases and more straight rows for a proper-sized Clapotis.

Although I enjoyed making this, I named it the Clapotis o' Human Bondage because 1) I will forever link this to reading Of Human Bondage and 2) it really does slog on through the last bit of straight rows.

When I bought the Koigu, I battled a terrible guilty conscience due to the 'spensive-ness of the yarn. However, I had coveted this yarn for quite a while and decided that since I couldn't get it out of my head, I should buy it and make something that I could keep for a looooooong time. Clapotis it was.

Despite giving up on my last Clapotis, this one was not difficult to stay faithful to. Koigu is like buttah. These colors are subtle but rich and will make a perfect scarf (see above pic) for many winters to come. It can also serve as a wrap:

And as ninja headgear:

The Clapotis, I have discovered, is lovely as a thin, lightweight fabric. The fingering weight is perfect on US 4s for a warm but feathery wrap. The dropped stitches and the wrong side look--appropriately--like waves and pebbles.

I also dug out this oooold project:

This crochet bag is the Caban pattern from Rowan 35. It's made of Reynolds Saucy and it was my first crochet project, ever. I loved the bag so much that I bit the bullet and learned to use a hook properly. I'm thinking of making another one now that I am much better at crochet (if you look closely, those bobbles don't quite alternate at even intervals).

Also, this project taught me that my sewing/finishing skills were lacking:

Since I didn't know how to do it, I just whipstitched the lining to the bag. That resulted in this:

Note to self: Whipstitching is not a very sturdy way to put together a bag.

But in other crochet news:

I couldn't stop myself anymore. I hate alternating yarns every round because it creates so many ends to weave in, but I found a perfect compromise between crochet motifs, blankets, and Kureyon Sock.

Do you see those little orange flecks? I love the way Kureyon keeps presenting me with little surprises.

Knit Lit 101

After many attempts to learn to read and knit simultaneously, Sway has finally figured out how to make this magical combination work:

This, my friends, is what happens when one digs up a rusty, seldom-used old music stand, drops it down to eye level, and places a delightful tome upon it to peruse whilst running one's hands over easy-peasy knitting. As you can see, Clapotis 2.0 is coming along nicely.

The book ain't so bad itself...

My good ol' dad is not much of a reader. Mom keeps her hand in by devouring Mary Higgins Clark and Jodi Picoult. Dad, on the other hand, tends to read books with lively titles such as "LAN Networking" and "Internet QoS." He never really got into the habit of reading "for fun" but he always speaks fondly of this book. Methinks this is because this is the only book he ever finished in his entire life.

I walked past a used bookstore a few months ago and noticed this in the dollar bin. And if you know me, you know that I cannot pass by a dollar bin at a used bookstore without plunking down some change.

It's a bit long, but I'm quite enjoying it. For whatever reason, I always feel as though W. Somerset Maugham is speaking directly to me and that he means for me to understand him. Also, Philip Carey seems like my doppelganger. Aside from the club foot. And being male. And British. And, you know, fictional.

Wrapping Up in Comfort

So...

I have had a couple of mean, stressful weeks. It started the last week of June (having to do with miscommunication with the accounting dept. of work) and then continued on through Fourth of July (having to do with miscommunication with friends and family). Not to mention the frickin' storm clouds that have apparently chosen to take up permanent residence over the skies of Manhattan. W. T. F.

So...

How does one go about comforting oneself when it's too hot for chicken soup? Why, one goes to see many summer popcorn movies and then buys up a load of Koigu to make oneself the Clapotis O'Dreams.

Here is Clapotis O'Dreams prior to dropping any stitches. Ain't she a beaut? The colors are less bright than the photo reads and they're all my favorite colors. The blue shifts from dove gray to deep blueberry, the berry shifts from pale carnation pink to dark wine, there's goldenrod and jewel green and some dusty purples scattered about.

I went the marker route this time. My last attempt, with the Colinette, did not end so well. I figured out that 1) I dislike having to purl the dropping stitches on the right side b/c this interrupts my flow during the knit row; 2) I dislike having to knit the dropping stitches on the wrong side b/c this interrupts my flow during the purl row; 3) I like markers. Problem solved, case dismissed!

Also, I don't believe that I really wanted a wrap made of synthetic fiber. While the yarn was gorgeous, the whole thing never felt "right" to me. This time, although pricey, I told myself that I was making an investment. Not only do I love to knit with Koigu, but it holds up fairly well in my socks so it should likewise hold up very well in a wrap. The colors are exactly right for me and gosh darn it, I need a pick-me-up. I'm knitting on a US 4 and added several increase sections for a substantially-sized wrap.

As for movies, over the past week and a half, I've gone to see Wall-E, Wanted, and Hancock. I highly enjoyed Wanted. It starts off so completely over the top that I just settled in to see lots of things exploding and crashing and people hitting each other. Hancock, on the other hand, is fairly entertaining but I was getting dizzy from some of the camera movements (not a fan of the "let's spin the camera around the hero's head a dozen times" move) and the surprisingly cheap-looking special effects. But the highlight was definitely Wall-E. You must all go see this film. I laughed, I cried, I loved it.

FO: Flowers in the Window Socks

Flowers in the Window Socks
Pattern: Show-Off Stranded Socks by Anne Campbell

Yarn: Koigu KPPPM, Color P530121, 2 skeins
Needles: 1.5 US circs

Have you ever heard the Travis song, "Flowers in the Window"? It's such a great song. I love Travis. I went to see them once in Boston and I have very good memories of that concert.

Anyway, these socks remind me of flowers in a meadow. And all these photos were taken in the window. So it's kind of like having flowers in the window. It's raining a lot here right now and my allergies are acting up, but it's nice to be wearing cushy socks that remind me of flowers.

Koigu is, of course, wonderful. Also, these gussets are charming. Instead of knitting the heel back and forth and then picking up stitches, you're supposed to increase stitches between the heel and instep. When you have enough, you short-row the heel and gusset together and then continue on with the foot. Ingenious! It fits perfectly!

The coolest part is I can add this to Project Spectrum. Yay!

In Which I Am Bad

I have not finished the pair for the Veronik socks. And yet I cast on for another pair. I am bad.

But it fits so well with Project Spectrum! It's Koigu! OK, I am still bad. But in a good way.

These are green movies. I only own movies that I love, so there are no negative DVD reviews to be had from me. Amelie was one of those movies that I went to see three times in the theater because I loved it so much. I wept a lot. Not just cried; wept. Mostly because I was going through a tough time and it just renewed my faith in beauty. Little Women is still surprisingly good. I thought I'd outgrow it, but that was a foolish thought. How could I outgrow a movie in which a tomboy singes her sister's hair off? Ghost World is just delightful. I especially love the whole "found art" scene. If you have a chance to read the comics, do it. I wouldn't have except my brother is a huge fan of Daniel Clowes and had a bunch of them. Last but not least, I Capture the Castle is one of those rare incidences when I love the movie as much as I love the book. Both are stupendous. Read/watch!

I just realized that chocolate fits in with this round of PS.

At least, that's my excuse. Muahahahahaha.

And I took a photo of the sky behind my parents' house last weekend.

Isn't it marvelous?

When Knitting Is Painful :-(

Argh. Not too much knitting this week. Had some finishing to do for customers and it cut into my precious hours of knitting time. I did finish one Pomatomus, and I'm experiencing this sad feeling of...well, for lack of more eloquent words, "bleh."

Don't get me wrong. The sock itself is quite pretty. The lace is pretty. All is pretty. But for the first time in my short sock knitting experience, I have no immediate desire to cast on for the second sock. None whatsoever. In general, I'm a little underwhelmed with no understanding as to why I am underwhelmed. I'll try this pattern again in a bit and hope for better rapport with the project.

And then, of course, there's my old nemesis, Mr. Smoke. I tried a few repeats with the Prism lace held alongside Suri Elegance. Again, like the feel of it but underwhelmed by the visual results.

I think the navy alpaca does too good a job muting the handpainted colors of the Prism lace. What to do? Must I rip again? Boo. More tears.

In addition, I started a sock. Veronik's Sock from Interweave Knits' Holiday issue.

It's Artyarns 4 in a brilliant fuchsia color that I love, but...those damn p3togs. Not only are my fingers cramping, but this happened:

My needle is all bent out of shape. Even she objects to p3togs and she doesn't even have nerves.

Aside from knitting, I'm also kind of blown away by the fact that Heath Ledger died this week. I was a huge fan of his work and had spent more time than necessary over the last week watching trailers for The Dark Knight and marveling at his talent. And every time I think of his daughter, I just want to cry.

In Brokeback Mountain, there's a moment when Jack and Ennis have to separate again and Jack says: "There ain't never enough time, never enough..."

For Heath and the brilliance he was starting to exhibit, there certainly wasn't.

FO: Uptown Boot Socks

"Uptown girl...You know I can't afford to buy her pearls, but maybe someday when my ship comes in, she'll understand what kind of guy I've been..."

Uptown Boot Socks
(aka I-have-no-brain-cells-right-now-to-give-them-a-cooler-name)
Pattern: Uptown Boot Socks from Favorite Socks
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM P105D, 2 skeins
Needles: Addi Lace circs, US 1.5

Ooh, I spy some brand new red sock blockers from The Loopy Ewe. They make it much, much easier for a gal to take photos of socks without resorting to childhood contortion experiments. Yeah, 27-yr-olds ain't flexible spring chickens.

Speaking of not being a spring chicken, I've been a little harebrained over the past week because I decided finally that I am going to be applying to MFA programs. It's just too stressful for me to worry about where my next job will come from and I can't help but feel responsible for making my parents worry about it, too. I was resistant to school because I don't know that it will help my actual writing, but I finally let Practical Sway out of her cage (I don't let her out often) and she said, "Grow up and understand that it's a great safety net to have the degree and be able to teach so that you can write and have health insurance, food and yarn all at the same time." She's so smart. I kind of feel bad that I keep her cooped up in the attic.

OK, now that random venting is over, back to the socks: Aren't gussets boo-tee-full?

I'm going to try short-row heels eventually, but I will really miss the pretty gussets. Even the word "gusset" is pretty. Kind of like when people used to "gussy up" before leaving for a night on the town.

Now, "P105D" is not a very descriptive name for this colorway.

It makes me think of ancient gods and goddesses in a forest making wine and getting drunk and merry. Kind of like this:


The clip is from Fantasia, which my uncle took my brother and me to see when it was re-released in theaters. He was confused and thought it was a new movie. He fell asleep in the middle, but my brother and I loved it. It's still one of my favorite movies. Fantasia 2000 was not nearly as good, but I still loved the Firebird sequence.

Just some more photos of the colors. They come out so wonderfully in stockinette.

And this last one really does remind me of a field of flowers.

That design I'm working on is still going on...I can say it's a pair of something and that I need to work out some issues regarding construction. I originally wanted to submit it to Knitty, but that's not going to happen at this point. So, I'll finish when I can and then probably post the pattern here for free.

Yarn Highs

Lots of knittin' going on in these here parts lately. I swatched for the Hourglass last Thursday and had so much fun swatching that I went ahead and swatched for Astrid, the lovely boho shawl/scarf that resembles spider's webs clinging together. The only difference with this swatch, however, is that the swatch is part of the FO, the first large circle:

Here is Large Circle 1 after blocking. It needed blocking because without it, the edges are too tight and don't allow the circle to lay flat. I tried to get the true color (cardinal red) into the photos, but my mean camera with its heart of cold, cold metal wasn't having it. But it did relent and let me take a detail shot.

Berrocco's Ultra Alpaca Light is lovely. I haven't worn it next to my skin yet, but it's soft to work with and didn't bleed when I tossed Large Circle 1 into a bowl of suds. Red yarn! No bleeding!

I did see how making so many Large Circles and then Medium Circles and then Small Circles would get rather tiresome and tedious. So I set LC 1 aside and told her (it has to be "her,"
her name is Astrid!) to stay put because I will make sisters to join her when I get bored of whatever else is on the needles.

Like this sock:
It's the Uptown Boot Sock from IK's Favorite Socks. The yarn colors are coming out a bit bright. The fuchsia portion is much more of a deep raspberry-burgundy color. It really looks like red wine that's been flung over grass. Although the wine getting absorbed into the soil is not a part of this image.

Has anyone ever heard of this yarn called Koigu? No? Well, let me tell you all about it. It's beautiful. So beautiful that I would squeal while knitting it up if I weren't completely sure that one of my roommates would hear me and think I was being attacked by wild pigs. It is a bit rope-y in texture, but I consider it part of the appeal. I knit oddly: I don't wind the yarn at all around my hand, I just hold it between my thumb and forefinger. And it's kinda nice to feel the ridges along Koigu as it flows between my fingers.

You know, I am so enamored of the stockinette portion of socks that I really should just knit a pair of plain ol' stockinette socks. I also realized that there is nothing ever wrong with purchasing more sock yarn. Sock yarn is meant to be stashed. It likes it. It enjoys marinating in your yarn bins while you think of a pattern to go with it. And it's so pleased with itself when you ooh and ahh as you knit it up. Yup.

I also started the Hourglass, after waiting for the swatch to dry. I've heard people say that Karabella Aurora grows like a mofo when it gets wet, but my swatch behaved quite nicely. I dunked it in cold, sudsy water, pressed it dry in a towel and laid it out on my bookshelf to dry flat. No change. Gauge? Same. Overall size? Same. Feel? Same...still soft and luscious. This is where I am now:

I'm making just a few mods to it. I'm adding an extra decrease and increase to make the waist a little smaller. I'm making the increases more rapidly than it says to accommodate the girls. And, I'm not hemming. No hemming. Instead, I'm using seed stitch. See?

What else can I say about this project? It moves so fast that I had to tink back twice when I overshot how many rows I needed before the next set of decreases. The yarn is so soft that I almost can't believe it sometimes, especially after knitting with Skye Tweed. The melange is perfect for such an otherwise plain-jane sweater. Preliminary attempts to hold it against my body make me think it might be a perfect fit: Loose and swingy, but not potato sack-ish. So far? Lookin' good, Hourglass.

In other news,

1) I am going to purchase yarn for Rannoch. It's going to happen. Yoda says, "Do or do not. There is no try."

2) My mom bought me a Korean knitwear book that has some very appealing patterns in it. She also promised to help me translate it so I can figure out what I'm doing. I'm very excited about some of the patterns and I'll post photos of the book later this week. I'm not so excited about having to resize everything because Korean fashion designers think that every woman has a 32" bust.

3) I am working on my first design. It's small. Nothing crazy. I am not jumping into design with a ginormous sweater with cables up the wazoo. But I think it's purty. I'm hoping to finish by Friday. Again, Yoda says, "Do or do not. There is no try."

Friday Yarn PrOn

The "fried" in "Friday" is so completely appropriate that I can't help but be amused despite the dose of chaos life threw my way over the past week. My brain is fried, my immune system is fried, my creative juices are fried.

So, in order to get away from it all for a bit, I stopped by a LYS the other day and treated myself. Of course, I didn't mean to treat myself. I went to get yarn for a toddler sweater for my niece, Caroline. Buying yarn is not bad if it is a present. Says the man behind the curtain.

And then, when I got there, they were putting out all this lovely new Koigu...and this one colorway was so beautiful that I couldn't resist its siren song:

I have never before seen a Koigu so blue. Blue in a good way. I really did not want to purchase more sock yarn since I seem to be building up a bit o' sock yarn stash. However, new-blue Koigu started talking to me and the conversation went something like this:

Me: Stop it, you temptress. I shan't give in to your seductive powers. I don't care that you are the color of the ocean in Bermuda in the springtime when the breeze is blowing and I am sticky with sand and sweat and saltwater.
Blue Koigu: I am so preeeeeeeetty. Look at meeeeeeee.
Me: Shut up.
Blue Koigu: I shan't! I am the sea personified. I should be gracing a Nereid. Where is my trident?
Me: I can't heeeeeear you.
Blue Koigu: I am so bluuuuuuuue. With flecks of teal and turquoise. I am vibrant! And wouldn't I make some lover-ly Pomatomatoes? Hippopomatomuses? What are they called again?
Me: (hanging my head in defeat) Damn you.

Not two seconds later, I spy yet another beautiful Koigu. I am no longer in denial. I admit, I am a shameless yarn hussy:

My conversation with this one ran pretty much like the one above. Except this one kept telling me that it was a field of raspberries come alive. Or maybe a wine-steeped frolic through the woods with Greek goddesses. I yelled at it and then put it in my bag. I thought long and hard about what I plan to make with these and I think I've earmarked the Uptown Boot Socks in Favorite Socks.

And, oh yeah...the yarn for little Caroline's sweater:

I didn't mean for the photo to come out oh-so-mysteriously, but the yarn was shy in bright light. Caroline (or Caro, as she is known in our family) is obsessed with Dora the Explorer. What four-year-old isn't? At least it's better than Barney. I am told that if I knit her a sweater with Dora on the front, she will never ever take it off. Until I can figure out how to chart my own intarsia pattern without it looking completely homely, I settled for making her the Child's Placket Neck Pullover in a muted lilac that resembles the color of Backpack.

Now, I keep going over Rowan 42 over and over and over again and...I'm really crumbling over this one:
Rannoch slays me. This dress is really making me go all Wuthering Heights. Only I want to make it in a deep purple. If I purchase all the yarn from Webs, it's still well over a hundred buckaroos with the discount. But...in my defense, I don't really buy clothing that often. And it would be like walking into Bloomie's and making one big fall purchase, no? I keep hearing her calling to me, her voice echoing over the windy moors...

In actual productive knitting news, I hope to have two (count 'em, two!) FOs to display next week. I've got half a sleeve on CPH to finish and half a sock to knit for the Charades. I say I need to finish these up before making any sudden decisions.