kristen makes

A few weeks ago I was really bored at work so I figured out how to email a picture from my iPhone to my Flickr account, and from there, add a post to my blog using the photo.  By the way, WordPress had a webapp for the iPhone.  The heavens above are shining down on me!  It is amazing.  Anyhow, out of boredom, I experimentally uploaded a photo of my most recent FO at the time, my frilly tank.  Now I have the opportunity to update you on that little taste of frill tank. 

The yarn was not so great.  It was cheap cotton from Hobby Lobby that spliced with every stitch.  I must not have been paying attention to the dye lot because right under my arms I must have switched skeins because there is a fairly noticeable change in shades of navy blue.  Oh well, I love this tank despite the yarn’s flaws.

The pattern is from Rebecca Magazine, a German knitting magazine.  I purchased the magazine (the English version)from their website, solely for this pattern, but it is chock-full of amazing and cute patterns that I cannot wait to get to.  I changed it up by adding some shaping  to flatten the tummy, and started the lace pattern a lot higher.  Cal me crazy but I did not want lacy openness down to my belly button.  I also made the frills too long accidentally, so I sewed them up along the neckline to the shoulder seam, rather than stopping right at the top.  I think it frames it quite well.

The lacing looks nice in the back, and the picot crochet edge is just right (I was fearing it may be too much). I am pretty proud of this project, I think it turned out pretty well-made-looking, even if it wasn’t actually well-made.

The poor man is so patient with me.  Back in June he and I picked out some yarn at Kathy’s Kreations when we were visiting his father’s home town, Ligonier, Pennsylvania.  He picked out some really nice Berrocco Wool yarn in a nice green.  I flew through the sweater like crazy – made the hem, did the sleeves, finished the body, joined the sleeves to the body, and knitted the shoulders.  We wanted it to look just like Brooklyn Tweed’s Seamless Hybrid, a pattern created by my absolute favorite knitter, Elizabeth Zimmerman.  I love how the shoulders slope up nicely and cleanly, and the yoke in the back is amazing.

I was knitting at break-neck speed, and forcing him to try it on practially every row (it’s very hard to achieve a good fit for this guy!), and things were going along swimmingly. I finally race to the finish with a rush-job of a neckline, pick up some neckline stitches to do the K1 P1 rib, bind off, and breathe once again. Finished… Right? No. Trent wasn’t home, so I had to try it on myself, and it wouldn’t even get over my head, the neckline was bound off so tightly. What was worse, the back yoke puckered horribly. If you listen really closely you’ll hear the sound of my heart sinking down into my Payless moccasins.

See the puckering and the tiny little hole for the head? I know, I know, it wasn’t the end of the world. But you must understand, I am so horrible at finishing projects that if I experience the miracle of finishing a project and it’s not perfect, it takes a lot of forced and unhappy effort to rip out the stitches and finish the project again.

So, the sweater sat out the summer, fall, and winter of 2008 in my closet. The poor little sweater watched many many projects begun and finished, and sat patiently waiting. Christmas came and went, and finally, sick of the guilt and undeserving of my husband’s patience, I glumly pulled big green from the closet and ripped and ripped. It is very difficult to rip out wool stitches that have been knitted together for months – they had practically been felted together. But I did not have to rip out and redo this neckline once, but 3 times. The first time, the neckline was way too tight. The second time, mildly too tight. The third time it fit, but we realized the shoulders were too wide and it was creating a boatneck-like effect. So I ripped out a third time and improvised by picking up neckline stitches, knit about 3 more rows on each shoulder, and for the fourth time, did my K1 P1 neckline. Perfect. Finally.

I really love the knitted hem in the body and the sleeves, and Trent loves how they hang straight down, without blousing out as in a ribbed hem.  It truly fits him perfectly and I can proudly say it was worth all the work.  Please don’t remind me that it was only a lot of work because I was rushing at the end.  Lesson learned:  Take your time, no matter how excited you are to be near the finished.  Take your time.  Oh, and don’t put off old projects into hibernation.  This sweater could have enjoyed a wonderful 2 days’ worth of Florida winter, but it was tucked away, unfinished.  Anyhow, he just looks so darn cute in it, that I can’t be so hard on myself any more.

I think I’ve been focusing so hard in November-December on kitting big, long, extensive projects, that I spent the month of January 2009 intermittently making small fun enjoyables for myself.  I started the batch off with my Bandit Kerchief.  Actually the pattern is Silk Kerchief by Kate Gagnon of Zeitgeist Yarns.

When I wear it, I feel like I’m robbing a train and that excites me!  I made it a good deal smaller than most others have made it, mainly because I was making it out of scrap yarn (from the Leia Wig) and ran out. But I actually kind of like the small size of it.

I stole a button from an old Target cardigan that I never wear.  It loops around in the back and fastens quite nicely. 

Of course after that, I had some leftover yarn in the contrast color, the light brown yarn.  So the next day I began small project number 2, my crochet clutch.  I don’t have much experience in crochet, but I really like how you can crochet any shap freely, you are not limited to just rows.  I wanted to feel original (I always follow patterns and almost never improvise) so this one was crocheted in basic rectangle that I sewed up and then added a triangular flap.

I really just wanted to experiment to see what crochet stitches I could remember without having to look up the how-to.  Sadly, that left me with 2 stitches – the single crochet and half double crochet.  The body was in single and I did the flap in half double, added a loop and fastened with a button.  It is a sweet and cozy home for my sunglasses!

Last up is my soap sweater! The pattern is knitted to fit the sweater exactly, and sewn up with the soap inside. It is made with 100% wool so that it felts with repeated use. In the bath or shower you use the three things that help wool felt: water, soap, and friction. The sweater shrinks down as the soap does – ingenious! But of course, this is also inefficient being that it is a one-time-use kind of deal. But I surely don’t mind, it’s such a quick knit anyhow. I can’t wait to make more, and experiment with stripes, cables, seed stitches, etc. By the way, that soap is from Bath & Body Works YEARS ago (it’s been waiting around for me to knit its sweater for that long) so if you happen to find more out there still, let me know. I LOVE this soap…