FO: Plummy North Roe Shawl

Another shawl! This one will go along with my purple Ene to drape over the shoulders of my friend C's mum and auntie in England.

Plummy North Roe Shawl
Pattern: North Roe Shawl
Yarn: Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace
Needles: US 6 Addi Bamboo Circs
Mods: None

This lace yarn is some yummy, yummy stuff. I originally bought two skeins of it for a Hanami, but I started to have misgivings about the sides of that pattern. Most of the center of the stole (I was planning on making both sides from the falling blossoms pattern) would be stockinette and I find blocking rectangular stoles much harder than blocking triangles. I've seen versions of the North Roe all over Ravelry and it's pretty much ALWAYS pretty. So I decided to opt for this as a present instead. It's super economical, too: The whole project must have cost me less than $25.

The open leaf shapes just make my heart go thumpity-thump.

And while I was trying to take photographs of this pretty little thing, there was the craziest ruckus coming from the patios behind my building. It sounded like two cats on uppers and steroids duking it out for cat-wrestling champion of the world. I leaned out the window and caught them staring each other down:

Seriously, I had no idea cats could make that much noise. I'm guessing this cat didn't know, either, b/c she came out to investigate what the frack was making so much noise, too:

I feel like I documented an important aspect of urban cat life.

Pretty Things and Stripes, Too

I find it funny that I love the smell of violets. Mostly because the actual flower doesn't smell like anything to me. But violet scented/flavored candy and cosmetics just makes me crazy. In a good, obsessive kind of way. Honestly, if you lead me to a violet anything, I have to have it. And this lip gloss is one of the best examples of it, ever.

Moisturizing, violet lip balm-y goodness.

And then this stuff I bought a few weeks ago. It's so pretty I don't think I can make socks with it:

I treated myself to it because I'd finished the second draft of my script. My writing has been going ok lately. This book was a big inspiration:

I honestly don't think I'll ever read a book the same way again. Which comes in handy at the moment since I'm reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy and it's definitely something that must be read word by word.

Also, I decided it was time for both stashbusting and garment-knitting:

I have no idea what I'm doing here. I'm making it up as I go along. I think that's the back.

More Kor Knits

I trekked through K-town yesterday, just because I was craving some particularly delicious and ultra-spicy takeout. While I was waiting for them to get my order ready, I popped into the K-bookstore across the street. I had no intention of buying anything, but I walked out with this...

Loosely translated, the title reads: "Hand Knit and Crochet Patterns That You Covet from Movies."

The designer apparently enjoys romantic comedies. Among the movies/knits featured:

Elizabethtown
Kirsten Dunst's red knit cap

Love, Actually
Keira Knightley's Cable Collar Sweater

The Holiday
Cameron Diaz's White Cabled Cardi

The Edge of Love
Sienna Miller's Mustard Leaf Cardi

And then, just for kicks, some patterns that have nothing to do with the movies but that I covet regardless.

Lime-Green Mohair Poncho

Crocheted Wrap Coat

I am back to knitting again, but it's mostly all shawls, all the time. This li'l thing below is Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace in a beautiful plummy color. The pattern is North Roe and we'll see what happens with it as I progress.

FO: Ocean Blue Pangea

I'm baaaaaaaaack.

I'm sorry I am such a bad blogger. But if it makes anyone feel any better, in my time away I finished the following: A short story, a script, a friendship, a freelance project, another year of my life.

And, of course, this lovely little thing:

Ocean Blue Pangea Shawl
Pattern: Pangea Shawl by Sarah-Hope Parmeter (Rav link)
Yarn: Tilli Tomas Demi Plie in Moroccan Blue, 3 skeins
Needles: US 5 Lantern Moon circs
Mods: Left off the last four rows of Chart I

This is a fabulous pattern and a fabulous yarn. If I had the budget, I would only be making shawls with silk.

The best part of this pattern is how you start of with little clover-ish shapes:

And then you move onto these odd, foamy little figure eights that look perfect in true blue:

Which eventually lead into steady little arches and gentle scallops:

Shawls are making me incredibly happy right now. I'm still hoping to finish that damn cabled coat, but my sweater-knitting is going mucho slowly at the moment. Doesn't help that the weather shows signs of warming up.

BTW, you know the best thing about making a shawl? Blocking the bottom of into such precise little points.

FO: Baby, It's Cold Outside

Yeah, it's 29 degrees outside. Yesterday's high was 24. In my brilliance, I chose yesterday to take my first spinning class in a year. My hamstrings are really not happy with me.

I know I've been a "bad" blogger. It's just that life has been getting in the way and this turn of events has brought with it the knowledge that I've been burrowing in my apartment over the past half-year like a recluse. OK, maybe not a real recluse, but a semi-recluse. I'm sorry for not keeping up with the knitting blogs I love to follow. I'm going through my comments and bloglines slowly but surely!

Along with this knowledge, my knitting fever has dampened somewhat. I still enjoy it, but it's not quite as pressing as it once was. I was spending way too much time on Ravelry when I should have been working. No one should be alarmed, though. I'm still knitting. I just won't be knitting with the same dogged determination of "Imustfinishthisrightnow." Turning 29 in the new year is turning out to be a swift kick in my rear end. That and the spinning class last night.

But here's some knitting cheer for the holidays:

Hollyhock Harvest Mittens
Pattern: Yellow Harvest Mittens, Vogue Knitting Fall '08
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Hollyhock, 1 skein
Needles: US 9 DPNs

These were super quick to knit up. My hands were in sore need of some Malabrigo warmth and these mittens were so fun to make that I'm tempted to make more pairs just to have around.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through my brother's Christmas socks...

And I've made some headway into a new cardi...which should be recognizable to anyone paying attention to really, really popular knitting patterns.

Lastly, I bought some shoes over Thanksgiving weekend. They are yellow. They make me very happy.

More Shooting

Alas, no new knitting content yet...

I have come to an impasse with the freaking cabled coat. The seaming of the thing is a ridiculous endeavor. I messed up three times. Ripped three times. Cried twice. So I'm on to a couple other things right now, but haven't had a chance to photograph them b/c I was working on yet another shoot that involved a lot of high school extras and some freaky art studio in Brooklyn.

The backyard of the studio, however, yielded some very interesting photo results that remind me of strange circus freak movies. I'm sharing them with you so that maybe someone will agree with me and I will feel slightly less silly about how this yard gives me the heebie-jeebies.

An abandoned factory with strange sculptures littering the yard:

Sunlight casting a menacing shadow over both school bus and heavy construction equipment:

Aluminum children at play:

Half a car growing decrepit behind a barn:

Blue clay bowls sitting like serving dishes:

Shells collected from shore and dragged inland:

And a sad Pooh, fading in the sun:

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?