Sparkle Motion

Although things have been quiet on the blog, I actually have been knitting. Mostly, I've been focused on gifts, which I can't really blog about in advance because I have 8 readers and I'm preeeeetty sure they'd figure it out.

So here's some odds and ends:

Knit Night inspired me to pick up the ol' crochet hook again and I made some granny squares.

I was also inspired by that episode of Call the Midwife where they all frantically patch together a baby blanket for Chummy while waiting for news from the hospital. You're all watching the show, right?

I've also picked up the Sparkle Yarn again for a new purpose. Originally, this was to be used for a Holla Back Tank, but I won't lie to you, gentle reader. The lace defeated me. The time came when I need to to decrease to make the armholes and I had to rip back four different times. I just couldn't take it anymore. I put it in a drawer and declared the project Dead To Me.

But the yarn is just so... mesmerizing. It deserves to be something. Using a modified version of Jilted from Holla Knits, I'm making a little spring sweater that will hopefully make a good addition to the work uniform.

I've taken my sweet time finishing the body, but you know what else has been dragging it's heals? Summer. So, who cares, right? It's going to have short sleeves, so hopefully I'll have results for you in this century. No promises, though!

OKFine

Sometimes, you look actually notice the ads that show up on that free online dating site you're on and you realize they're super spot-on and kind of sad:

Yeah, ok, fine. Maybe I SHOULD be putting a little more effort into this.

But then again... WHAT is Hamish Macbeth?! Sounds amazing.

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?