Beans & Cornbread

A Texas girl eats and knits her way across crabby old New England

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

so ugly it's pretty?

that's what i'm telling myself, anyway.
so i made this weird, weird scarf for my mom, at her request (she saw something that looked sorta like it on home shopping network). the pattern is loopy from knitty, heavily modified (and occasionally ignored). the main color is crystal palace kid merino, and the contrasting color is some sort of chunky malabrigo whose name and ball band are escaping me right now.

i'll admit, i never ever would have made this for myself. and at first, i was like, eeew, it looks like those webs that caterpillars spin in trees. i still think it does look a bit like that, but it's kinda growing on me. it helps that it's really, really soft. so hopefully my mommy will like it.


i've also been working on a forecast:

sorry for the crappy overexposed picture. i'm pleased with how it's coming along, though. i'm using the recommended cascade 220 tweed, but in a nice muted charcoal. muted colors are not usually my thang, but the farther along i get with this, the more i like it. we shall see.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

wow, i've been so delinquent in my blogging since school started. but that doesn't mean i haven't been knitting! observe:

pattern: licorice whip, size XXXS

yarn: blue sky cotton in "ink", 5 skeins

modifications: i increased two extra stitches right after the split for the arms because i was afraid my boobies wouldn't fit (i made the smallest size because the measurements were right, but it just looks so tiny on the girl in the picture!). i also skipped the last decrease round for the sleeves.

comments: love it, love it, love it. it fits *perfectly*, and the lace pattern looks great when it's stretched out. the yarn is amazing, soft and fluffy, warm but not too warm (unless you're on a crowded subway train and you're wearing a leather jacket over the sweater. then it's waaay too warm). my only beef is that the yarn fuzzes a lot.

also, i've been testing the theory that the sweater curse does indeed apply even when knitting a different article of clothing (like, say, socks).

i've finished the socks and we're technically still together, but the prognosis is not good. hence my boo-boo lip and bright red eyes (and shiny calves?! wtf? who has shiny calves?).

pattern: thuja

yarn: artyarns supermerino in some manly blue/brown mix

comments: easy peasy, and fast. i'd never knit socks in anything but fingering-weight yarn before, so these were a nice change of pace. also, the seed stitch rib doesn't look like much in the picture, but it looks great when you put the socks on and it stretches out.

so yes, someone finally learned her lesson about knitting for boys. i'm actually considering keeping these, even though the recipient knows i'm making them (in fact, he tried the first sock on so i could make sure it fit!). i don't think he'll need me to tell him that he's ceased to deserve them. *sigh*