Monday, July 14, 2008

Iceland

AAAAAAAHHHHH, it seems I can't get this post up fast enough for people on ravelry! I logged in there this morning to about a dozen questions about it, so I guess I should get a move-on! I'm a bit of a creature of habit when it comes to what or how I like to do things on the internet. I will generally upload any new photos onto flickr on a Sunday evening as my weekend is winding down, throwing those photos into ravelry while I'm at it. It's usually at least a day or two later before I blog about said object on my lunch-hour or whatever, let alone get all my links and stuff up to speed. Sorry folks!

So that said, here she is:



pattern: Iceland by Stephanie White from Rowan #42
yarn: Rowan Cocoon in Tundra (808) 8 balls (merino & mohair) for size M
needles: 7mm



Ok, so this sweater is probably at least five months in the making. I knit ONE repeat of the pattern and then put it down for 4 months. I started to question whether I would ever pick it up again and finish it. But then I did, and it just seemed to fly off the needles from that point on. And I guess given that, it really was a pretty quick knit-- chunky yarn, big-ish needles -go figure.

The problem with chunky yarn?:

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I can't decide if I am as big as a house in this thing or what. Granted I am being deliberately droopy here to prove a point (where are my shoulders?), but still --what should I expect from a pattern that is essentially a rectangle, knit in bulky yarn. In retrospect, knitting a size small would have also been a better way to go. I checked and re-checked my gauge, but on something not very fitted, I should have likely gone the other way with it.

And here's something I don't get --the photo of it on the model --who is likely what 6 feet tall 120 pounds? Seems bigger --defintely longer --even the ribbed bottom band has THREE buttons (which I don't think any of the sizes in the actual pattern ever called for --mine has two) and seems just generally longer in the body.



Is it possible they've actually done a larger size on her? I find this strange. Maybe they have all the extra fabric clipped in behind her? Maybe they just made the ribbing longer?

This may also mark the first time I've used the exact same yarn in the exact same colour the pattern called for. So to say that this is the most expensive thing I've ever knit would be wholly accurate. I'm sure it's not as a big a deal for some of the more serious knitters out there to spend well over 200$ on supplies for a sweater --but for me? I get the cold sweats just thinking about it. (Good thing I have this ENORMO sweater to warm me up).

Though I must say that Rowan Cocoon is everything that people say it is--it was amazing --goregous, soft, no sudden splits/ends in ANY ball. I had zero yarn left over. In fact I still technically had about three more rows to go in the back bottom ribbing when I ran out of yarn completely. I wasn't about to buy another ball for it though so I just cast off and called it a day. It's still totally even at least (and no yarn bits clogging up the stash!). The one down side? My relentless sneezing. I am totally allergic to this yarn/sweater (the mohair...). Mind you I don't generally let that stop me as I'm allergic to ALL animals but still insist on living with two cats (and a hairy BF heh heh).

It's kind of looking a little more grey in these photos than is accurate --I'd say it's more of a brown/taupe.

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The super-duper bonus to this sweater? Minimal seaming--under the arms and that's it. Also because the yarn itself has good yardage and no knots there weren't all that many ends to weave in at the end either. Hooray for minimal-effort finishing!

Holding down the batwings keeps me from flying away.



So, in the end I guess I give it a thumbs-up. I question how much wear I will get out of it though. Rowan sweaters for the most part always seem to be made for roaming the moors of England in the damp when all you really want to do is wear-a-wool-sweater-as-a-coat. Which is all well and good but doesn't really translate well around these parts --hot summers, a fall that seems like it's a week long, and then a REAL winter with both coats AND sweaters. Trying to cram those bulky sleeves under my winter coat may prove somewhat of a predicament...

Though I suppose if all else fails Archie is more than happy to take it over as one hell of an expensive (though warm and cushy) cat bed.



God love his relentless need to ruin every picture!

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

summer-lude

ok, so what are the odds that I could knit and then felt together something like this myself?

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That is just totally kooky-talk, isn't it? Then I was kinda thinking that I could just knit ten or so GIANT letters/numbers, felt them and then piece them together into scarf form. Less crazy? Anyone out there ever knit any letters of the alphabet?

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(These are from little factory)

Can I just say that I am aware that a far simpler way to do this would be to just got to Michael's and buy some two dollar felt and cut out the letters (OR buy those felt letters that are ALREADY cut out) and then mash 'em all together myself, rather than be a crazy-head and turn this into a year long knitting project that I will be desperate to see the back of once 2009 rolls around.

I guess the bigger question here is: why do I drive myself crazy with stuff like this? With some further introspection I've decided that it either relates to my a) inherent thriftyness (I have often been told that I will generally only purchase things for myself to wear if they are either 2$ or 300$. Nothing in between it seems. So when I do see something that I feel I can do myself on the cheap, I immediately have this compulsion to do so.

And my final introspection b) the summertime blahs.

I've been feeling lately like my joy of knitting is on the wane. I'm uninspired or uninterested in most patterns. Though I *am* just sorta hoping that it's some kind of seasonal disorder for me right now. I almost feel like just walking away from it all right now.

This could potentially have something to do with last night's COMPLETION of Iceland (though I have been feeling this way for a couple months now as well). Mind you, perhaps "completion" is too strong a word. The knitting is all done. Ends still need to be woven in and buttons need to be purchased and applied. There is blissfully no real seaming/finishing involved.

So. The knitting got done, and off I went to try it on. To say that I am as big as a house in it would be just about accurate. WHY. Why do I bother knitting chunky sweaters? Perhaps when it's finished it will be marginally better. This is my hope at any rate. Right now the desire to finish it altogether is seriously evaporating, but it's one of those "sweet crap I've come this far I can't possibly turn back regardless of whether this is good for me or not" moments.

Ugh. So, I plan to provide for you at some point a photo of my boxiness. (I almost said "of my box" there heh.) Though throwing on a giant wool and mohair sweater for some pics in a 40 degree humidex is also not all that appealing to me right now. Go figure.

blargh.

But something I did find for ya'll (and possibly the one crochet thing *I* might actually be able to make...) this uber-cute crochet acorn necklace:



A tutorial for which can be found here at Indie Fixx. Enjoy!