Inspiration

It may seem quiet here at the blog, but it's not for lack of progress. I have several different designs in various stages of completion, some of which are classic pieces with interesting twists, others of which have an edgier point of view. I know that finding myself in a more casual workplace has brought me back to some of the clothes and styles from dare I say 10 or, yes, even more years ago. I find myself drawn to layered looks, menswear details and shapes (back then I was wearing men's stuff from thrift stores; now I find or create adaptations of these styles that actually flatter my figure), and androgyny, which has appealed to me ever since I learned to accept my body type, is the most excellent concept out there for me right now.

For one of the designs, I'm going to be working with custom-dyed yarn from Knitterman. His site just blew me away, so I trusted him to make a color based on the description of the finished item I'd like to make and the ideas behind it.

Finding inspiration in things like this. I don't know why this photo has stayed in my mind, but I'd like to capture something like this attitude in my upcoming designs. Tall order. I'll see what I can do. Of course, there are also inspirations like this:


The sulfides at the Harvard Natural History Museum. Indeed.

Also looking for a new city bike. Cannot think of anything sexier than the Pista, but Chris, ever the pragmatist, has pointed out that it does not have a brake or a flip-flop rear wheel, meaning, basically, I'm going to end up plastering myself all over the road whenever I take it out. I will be one big scab, probably. I've tried the Red Line 925, which is a great ride. To be determined.

Hella Stockinette

Here's the final Alchemy Haiku shawl for mom:

That was hella stockinette, with a little garter thrown in. Tone on tone. Love it! Oh, you noticed something else? It was time for a change. Lauren, my hair stylist at The Carriage House in Cambridge, MA took me from white to purple-black yesterday and cut most of it off, too. Yes, I startle myself when I look in the mirror at this point.

In other news, I'm knitting the Blue Suede Bikini from Sexy Little Knits in purple "Suede." Yeah, as others have noticed, the pattern is a hot mess, but I avoided most of the mess by eliminating the lace pattern on the bottoms, primarily because the sort of waxing required to wear such a lacy bottom is one step further than I like to go. Sorry if that's too much information, but you know you all thought about it when you saw it.

This weekend is a program of self-improvment: Hair, dentist for cleaning, new tatoos, probably some gym time. I hope to have a new tatoo/new Purple Suede Bikini photo for you all very soon.

The Russian Mittens are coming along nicely as well. Behold!

Day at the Beach!

Note the completed knit bag in the photo: it's the Ilene Bag from iknityouknot. I fully admit that I hated working with the Euroflax, splitty and hard on the hands as it was. Hate the yarn, loved the pattern... super clear, easy, and without any of the flaws that previously made knitting a market-type bag something unfathomable to me (flaws like the big holes! The tiny straps digging into the shoulder! The LENGTH of the tiny straps! Ridiculous!).


I fit all my bicycle clothes and shoes in it while I was at the beach. For more photos of the beach, where Chris worked on evening out his extreme bicycle boy tan (and ended up a splotchy mess due to haphazard sunscreen application) and I even went in the surprisingly not-miserably-cold ocean, see Chris' photostream here.

Honeycomb Shawl Pattern! JUST NAMED SHAWL OF THE WEEK ON LIME & VIOLET!

Shawl of the Week!!!!



There's no reason not to make one; it doesn't even involve purling! For $5, you can...



And you don't have to make yours 108 inches long just because I did.

Get your yarn on at Little Knits, where you can also purchase a nice paper copy of the pattern. By the way, even the 108 inch version only used HALF a skein of Trenna, so contemplate what you could do with the other half! Or contemplate a 216 inch shawl and just run with it. Thanks to Sue at Little Knits, Fiber Elf and Hannah, my test knitters, and everyone who voted for me (or would have voted for me if they had been able to vote for more than one entry... the competition was stiff).

Time Consuming

Summer and the fact that Chris and I both have jobs we like has put me in a relaxed mood, ready to work through some time-consuming projects at a leisurely pace. Though I am working on a few larger projects, the humidity increases the appeal of knitting small things, like some Magnificent Mittens. As an added incentive, they fit in to the War and Peacealong on Ravelry in which I'm taking part.


I'm about a third of the way through the book, which is a surprisingly easy, while dense, read. As several readers in the Ravelry group have noted, it's a Russian soap opera set during the Napoleonic Wars. Gossip, affairs, noble ambitions... it's got it all. That and the kind of character descriptions that rival Dickens, but maybe not quite so funny. Perhaps not so funny because some of the funny is lost in translation.

The mitten is #9 from Charlene Shurch's book, Mostly Mittens, out of print and ridiculously expensive, found at the Cambridge Public Library. Grellow yarn (there will be orange involved as well) is Finnish fingering-weight that was part of a trade with Mustaa villaa (I sent her the yarn for her Bark). So far so good. Lately, I don't mind slow and steady, enjoying the process and letting the plot unwind.