Eleven Stitches

Color Mixing

I'm just about finished with the body of my Venezia pullover.  I'm still completely enchanted with knitting this.  I think the gradual color change has kept me from getting bored.

The gradual color change gave me a little bit of a problem when I got towards the end of the blue.  I didn't want to use the purple part of this yarn.  It's too close to the brown, and the patterning would get lost.  I tried going from blue-purple to purple-red, but the colors were too dissimilar to look like the rest of the gradual changes. So I ripped out those rows and tried something new.

The Kauni yarn is two-ply (it has two strands twisted together), so I split some of the blue-purple yarn into a single strand, and then did the same with the purple-red.

If I were a spinning wizard, I would have spun them together.  Instead, I just held them next to each other and wound them up with my ball winder.

I knitted it up, and I had about three rows of mixed color. I had to be a little careful knitting with the split-and-reconstituted yarn, but I liked the results it gave me.

Only a few more rows left, and I can move on to the sleeves!

Stockinette

Well, the first cold of the school year has left me without a speaking voice, so I thought I'd pour a few unspoken words into a blog post instead.  It turns out that using a whisper voice isn't a horrible thing for a kindergarden teacher, especially when there are two other teachers in the classroom who have their full speaking capacity.

I finished a pair of socks back before the Olympics started, and they've remained unblogged until now.  I love them.  I loved knitting them.  They're plain stockinette.

I said on this blog a while ago that I had never knitted a pair of stockinette socks, and I saw no reason to do it.  But for some reason I gave it a try, and wow I really liked it.  Sure, there's a ribbed cuff and a little bit of slip-stitching on the heel, but the rest is knit, knit, and knit again.

Thoughts about what I would say in this post were swirling around in my head as I took pictures of my feet, and they suddenly started melding with other thoughts I've been having today. When I first announced that I had a new job, I wasn't sure exactly which classroom would become mine.  Now I've had a few weeks with my three-to-six-year olds, and I'm really loving the work.  They're so independent at this age, and yet everything is brand new to them.

This is the mental conflict I'm running into: I'm very smart.  I'm not trying to say this in an elitist way, or make any judgments about anyone other than myself, but that's what I'm saying.  In the past I have been paid a lot of money to solve some very hard problems, and I was really good at it.  Now I'm being paid comparatively a lot less money, and I have two degrees more than what is necessary for my position.

I'm also very happy and no longer get depressed on Sunday knowing that Monday morning is coming.

And so I'm wondering: Is stockinette enough?  What if I tell you that it's a joyous colorway, the yarn feels delightful in my fingers, and there are only a few splitty stitches? Will the other knitters think I'm a bore, even though I've got an Argyle in my closet and a Venezia in the works?  It's my hope that some of them might agree that sometimes it's good to have a talented knitter get back to basics, if for nothing else than to inspire the next generation of sock knitters.

I think that with all things, time will give me my answers.  (I also think that not sleeping well last night and my husband being away on a business trip also make me much more introspective than normal.)  I'm off to knit some more on Venezia and then prepare for a delightful day of metaphorical stockinette.

In which my husband saves the day

I've been making great progress on my Venezia Sweater.

This photo was taken at about 8 inches into the body.  I'm loving the way this has knitted up!

I did, however, realize I had a problem when I tried it on.  It was Too Big. I realize now that I just picked the wrong size. (Why I picked the wrong size is still a little bit of a mystery. I know what size I am and that I wanted about zero ease in this sweater.)  Options ran through my head as I was processing this information.  I definitely couldn't rip out all of that work.  Maybe I could have two steeks, one on each side?  Could I live with a too big sweater? 

I went upstairs to complain to my husband, and he had a good suggestion.  He suggested I make it a "half-butt" sweater and re-start my waist decreases now.  (I tried to make this as verbatim as I remember so I can show off the fact that he knows what waist decreases are!)  I tried this out, and if I pulled the sweater down lower (to about half-butt), the sweater fits nicely over my hips, and I was at about the point where I would start waist decreases.

So far so good! I'm now quite happy with the fit, and the sweater will only be a few inches longer than I was planning for it to be.  Also, if I finish the sweater and it looks Too Long, I can always chop off a couple of inches at the bottom and re-sew the hem.  But here's hoping that I won't have to do that!

I'm pretty sure that if he was willing to learn how to knit, my husband would be a great knitter. At least he can help me out with my projects!

Wear a Dress Day

According to Erin from Dress a Day, today is International Wear a Dress Day.  Of course, I had to participate.

This is the same pattern as my Olympic Dress, Butterick B5209 View B.  I wanted an easy success after the ugly dress, and I knew I would get it from this pattern!

I rarely wore dresses before this summer, but obviously I've become a total convert.  Here are five reasons I like to wear dresses.

1.  They're cool in the summer, and very comfortable in general.  Much comfier than that pair of jeans that's a little too tight.
2.  A dress is an easy outfit.  I can just pick a dress and a necklace, and I'm all set with what to wear.
3.  I get a lot more compliments when wearing dresses than I did wearing jeans.
4.  Dresses (when you make them yourself, anyway), are a reasonably cheap outfit.  Most of the dresses I make cost me $40 or less. 
5.  I feel pretty in them.

I have a few more summer dresses to show you.  After this warm weekend, however, I'm hoping that we'll soon be wearing fall clothes!

WIPs

I've been thinking all weekend about how that ugly dress is at the top of my blog page, and how I really need to get something done to blog about! Thanks for all of your suggestions. I'll let you know what I end up doing with the dress.  (I'm also glad that only 2 people thought I should stop sewing!)

Meanwhile, I've been knitting.  I wanted another big project after my Olympic Sweater, and this is one I've had in mind for a long time.  I bought this Kauni yarn online from a store in Denmark, and I was originally planning to use two strands of it to make the Venezia Pullover.

I had been stalling on making it, but I got excited again when I thought about pairing a solid color with the Kauni.  I think I was unconsciously afraid of it being too rainbowy, and I really want to get some use out of a sweater that takes so long to knit!  I settled on a purplish brown color of Rowan Felted Tweed.

So far, I love it! I got one ball of the Felted Tweed from my LYS and ordered the rest, and I really hope it gets here soon.  I could have bought the same stuff at Webs, but the lady at my LYS did help me find a good match for the Kauni, and well, it felt like the right thing to do.  I hope that it doesn't take to long to arrive, becuase I don't want to regret that decision!

Also, I've been working on a sock from the first issue of Knotions. (For those who haven't found it yet, Knotions is a free online magazine started by the wonderfully technical knitter, Jody of Savannahchik.)

The yarn (Tess Supersock & Baby) was a gift from Jody because I couldn't make it to Maryland Sheep & Wool.  It seemed very appropriate that I use it for this pattern!  The pattern has been a fun and interesting knit, and I like it very much so far!

Wow, this is bad.

OK, I suppose it was bound to happen sometime.  I made (well, almost made, didn't finish) a dress that I really, really dislike.  I love the fabric on its own.  I've seen a cute version of this dress made.  But I was not thinking when I put them together, because this positively screams ugliness to me.

It's a vintage pattern, and although a lot of vintage patterns look cute and updated, with this heavy fabric (the fact that it was named "Tablecloth" should have been a dead giveaway), it really looks old. And the collar is too much.

Possibly, I could cut up the dress into something more summery and save it.  I think I could also redo this pattern with a lighter (in attitude and color) fabric and maybe not such a pointy collar.

The sad thing is that I bought the four yards for the pattern, cut it out wrong (the fabric is directional and I didn't treat it that way), and then bought two more yards to fix it.

So what do you think?  Am I over-reacting?  Am I under-reacting?  All suggestions are welcome-- maybe I'll get some value from this!