FO: Jilted Sweater

This latest finished project is brought to you by RuPaul's Drag Race, Seasons 1& 2 and Valkyrie (that Tom Cruise movie you totally forgot about):

 

 I'm happy with it and forgot how much I missed me some Manilla Luzon, girl.

 

Feeling Jilted

I wanted to share my progress on my Jilted sweater, but I'm not feeling particularly verbose. So I'm just going to share a three-step process with you:

 

Step 1:

Knit and knit and knit forever

Step 2:

Remove marker and drop stitch on the front of the garment. Keep reminding yourself this is part of the design and not to panic while working on the K1P1 ribbing.

 

Step 3:

Whew! It fits! Take a selfie that gives you Double Tricep and Double Hip Mystique.

My Prerogative

Last week, I was really excited about my new project because it involved color. And I still am, I promise! Check the progress:

Bring it on down to Colorville, amiright?

But I forgot that I added some other yarn into my KnitPicks order - some Capretta in a light grey color.

This is the exact opposite of what I was looking forward to - we've had enough grey in our lives lately, after all. but you guys, this yarn... is so squishy soft and so pretty. I just wanted to try it out, honest. Plus, I did this to my nails:

Which was plenty of color to mesmerize me while I cast on a few stitches of this squishy new yarn. Those few stitches just happened to turn themselves into a project - Jilted by Jennifer Dassau featured in Holla Knits:

It's slow going, but the yarn feels so nice, it keeps me motivated. When it gets to be too much, I hop back to the chevrons. We'll see which one wraps up first! Is this a little flighty of me? To bounce wildly back and forth like this? I'll refer you to the following:

Color Wonder

I'm feeling lazy today, but I need to share my latest project. It's making me so happy because it involves color - something that the Chicagoland area has been lacking lately. Blues Brothers? More like Grey Brothers, amiright?!

My life, all day every day

So, the pattern I'm working on is called Chevron Stripe Infinity Scarf by Jill Zielinski. Allyson of Sweatshop of Love and Holla Knits was making one at Knit Night in February and it looked *so* fun. Once again, I swiped her awesome taste in patterns and decided to make one for myself.

I always struggle when it comes to putting colors together. It's just not a talent I have. Luckily, Pinterest exists and I don't have to look far for help in that department. My friend Lily directed me to Design Seeds and my work was done. I liked the color combo from this image in particular:

I would never have thought to put these together and I think this would work well with my dark green coat. Done and done. Knit Picks Palette is great for this project and comes in all known colors ever. The FedEx guy dropped these on my stoop on Friday:

A tower of yarn. Welcome to my dreams

And getting started has been a breeze.

Just trust me, this is going to be great. Even if it isn't - I'm loving the process. And that's what it's all about, right?

Inspiration

An awesome thing that I found:

Montezuma Sweater

DearGolden is a wonderful vintage shop on Etsy and I love reading their blog posts each day for a little style inspiration.This guy is from the 1970s, kint in acrylic and is only $34. Not too shabby. I love the wave motif at the yolk. Makes me want to throw on some strappy leather sandals and paint in the desert somewhere.

I'm back in a colorwork kind of mood. I hit a snag with my Norwegian boot socks and had to put them aside for a while. The foot of the sock doesn't call for any decreases and therefore turned out kinda... stumpy.

It looks fine from the side:

 But then, Stumpsville:

See what I mean? Just a little too much fabric at the foot to shove into a shoe. I found this frustrating and put the project aside for a while. I've got a new super colorful project in mind, but the yarn is taking foreeeever to get here and I need something to do while I'm waiting. Ripping back and restarting the feet of these socks seemed like a great 'waiting around' project. It's good practice for the new colorwork project I'll be undertaking soon, and I might actually have functional boot socks before winter is over! Who'd have thought?

Invested

I'm trying to get my financial house in order this year. I'm going to try to live thrifty, bring my lunch more and (gasp!) get serious about my savings. As part of this resolution, I'm trying to use yarn I already own. I have more than I realized, and it really should be put to good use.

A few months ago, I won a yarn give-away hosted by Holla Knits. I won two skeins of Dirty Water DyeWorks Edna in Celery - a beautiful wool-silk blend of yarn in a lovely green color. I was trying to figure out how best to use it, and since I got it from Holla Knits, it only made sense to use a Holla Knits pattern!

It was time to cast on Put a Belt On It

 

I had a small skein of KnitPicks Swish Sport in Cobblestone Heather. I think it makes a really nice contrast to the green. And my, how a project with no sleeves flies!

Plus, there's the back. CABLES. Yum.

Just finished up the seed stitch border this morning and thought you'd like to see the magic of blocking.

Before:

Front

Back

And here we have it drying:

I'll try to be better about modeling the finished garments, but for now, enjoy the magic of blocking!!

2013: More Powerful Than Ever!

I had a lovely stay-cation over the Christmas/New Year holidays. It's a great time of year to have plenty of time on your hands. Due to various circumstances, I was on my own for the holidays this year. This was my choice and felt a little selfish, but of course the wonderful people in my life came through as usual. Friends from college and former co-workers visited, invited and generally welcomed me with open arms.

How can you have such wonderful people in your life and not know in your heart the 2013 will be the best? To paraphrase friends: 2012 - please see yourself out.

Want to know one way I know this? I got to start a project I'd been wanting to make for a long time, without having to buy any extra yarn! (Prepare your best Jimmy Stewart impression and say "It's a Chrastmas Maricle, Clarence!!")

Remember my Delancey Cardigan? I had a great time knitting it and I liked the process... but I'll just admit it. I made a poor yarn choice and should have shortened it. What I've really made is a nice robe and not so much a cardigan.

Looking at other people's finished Delancey's on Ravelry helped me realized that many people had either size or length issues with their final projects. Then, I came across a super modified, deep v-neck version that I couldn't get out of my head. (You can see it here if you're on Rav!)

What I really loved was her eye for color. I just don't have a clue how to pair colors in a creative way, and she'd done all the work for me. When I sat down two days before Christmas, I realized I had almost all the colors in my  house at the very moment! I could be making my very own Modified Delancey RIGHT THEN.

So I started:

 And just couldn't stop! Christmas movie marathons really help productivity, admittedly. Thanks for your help, Zuzu's Petals!

Whaddya know about that, Bert?

I also did my best to take some time for Droopy, just so he didn't go more than a few hours without a little recognition. Otherwise he makes this face:

Hey. You. More giant Milkbone treats, plz.

 As of the start of today's Bowl Game Bonanza, this is where I am:

Ignore the face and hair, please? Consider it one last Christmas gift to me, kay?

Reminder: you're ignoring the face and focusing on the chevrons!

So, basically, I'M IN LOVE. And I don't really care that it makes me look like a happy chappie in a snappy sarape. Because I love it!

Happy New Year, guys. It's going to be great - just you wait and see.