Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting

Today I visited the Museum of Art and Design in New York to see the show Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting. It wasn’t that radical and only slightly subversive and there was a lot more lace than knitting but it was interesting anyway. There were a few garments knit from paper. One was called The Money Dress and was knit from dollar bills cut into 1/8 wide strips. Actually it was a cute sheath dress. A few things were knit to 1/12 scale using medical wire. They were very detailed.
Yesterday I wore an old hat I made and my sister saw it and started her usual plea to me to make one for her. So I gave it to her. I have a lot of hats here, but I really liked that one. It was knit from Noro in brown and orange shades and had bobbles around the brim. I only wish I had taken a picture before I gave it away. I really have to learn to sometimes just say no. I think I will go through all my old patterns and try to find the one for this hat. I have some Noro in blue shades and I want my hat back so now I’ll have to make one for me.
I have been working a lot on Ariann and already joined the sleeves and was knitting the yoke. Then last night at 3:00 in the morning I woke up and realized that all the decreases I had done on Ariann were wrong. I wasn't making the paired increases/decreases so I really wasn't decreasing. I waited until morning and then I counted stitches. After decreasing 27 rows I only decreased two stitches. It is lace and I can't just frog it. I have to unknit it or throw it out. So here I go unknitting and reknitting the raglan shaping again. It has over three hundred stitches. I never fell asleep again so I am exhausted now. I just can’t wait to see it completed.

Lots of Stitches

The past week I’ve been working a lot on my Reverse Chevron Scarf and Ariann. The deal with the scarf is that you work until it is almost finished and you post a picture on the Yahoo Multidirectional site and then they email you the ending. It is now almost finished because I only have two skeins of Paton’s Classic Wool in Wedgwood and I am almost out. So I posted and received the ending. It seems a little confusing but I will figure it out and then have an FO. It is really an interesting pattern. See the pattern the yarn makes. One chevron goes up and one goes down. I also love the incorporated side edging.

The body of Ariann is finished and I have started the sleeves. This is the first time I have done a sleeve lace pattern including increases in the round on four double-pointed needles. It is a little confusing and I have already made one mistake but ripping back in lace is a nightmare for me. I don’t think it will be too noticeable. I have to concentrate on it so I am saving this to work on at home.
I need a need a new simple carry-along project and I have been eyeing the EZ patterns in The Opinionated Knitter for a while now. I may start the Baby Surprise sweater next. I am going to need a few baby gifts for friend’s daughters soon anyway. In a week and a half I get the new Six Sock Knitalong pattern so I may wait for that. I can also start a simple in-the-round sweater. Or another scarf. I love making scarves. It is a hard decision.

Two Projects At Once

I've always tried to only have one project going at a time. However, recently I discovered it is better if I have a small project for the car and work and keep larger more complicated ones for home. So I am working on the Reverse Chevron Scarf as a small project and have started Ariann as a larger one to work on at home only. It is definitely taking me more time to finish each thing but this way I have no wasted time. I guess I am slightly compulsive. So now I have two lists of projects that I want to make. Here is the Chevron scarf. It is in Paton's Merino Wool and the colors are making a great pattern. Ariann is in my usual Chaco. It will take me a while to get the pattern really going so I can see how it will look.

In spite of deciding to only knit from my stash, Smileys had a great sale this week so guess where I was on Saturday. They did have some great buys but I restrained myself and only bought enough wool for two sweaters and some pastel green baby cotton for a Baby Surprise Sweater for my friend's daughter.

Starting A New Year

Happy New Year to everyone. I have two knitting calendars this year. I bought the Stitch and Bitch calendar and my sister gave me the 2007 Knitting Pattern-a-Day as a gift. I am looking forward to an exciting year of knitting and want to try to learn some new techniques. Look what I got from my library. They did an inter-library loan for me. One thing I want to try is the Baby Surprise sweater and now I can. I’m afraid to use wool for a baby so I just have to get some cotton yarn.
After knitting so many gifts and small items like hats and scarves, I decided to start a sweater for me. See this? It is already gone. I bought the current issue of Knitters magazine especially for the nice and simple ribbed sweater and this was stash yarn but I thought it would be too clingy. Not flattering for someone who is battling a holiday weight gain. So it is frogged and the yarn is back in the closet.
I made a pair of Fetching for my niece and my sister asked for a pair so I made them in her favorite color. I guess this is my first finished object in 2007. I also finished my Chain Link Socks, a pattern from the Six Sock Knitalong.
I seem to always have to be knitting something so now I am using some variegated merino wool yarn from Patons for the Reverse Chevrons Scarf from Iris Schrier. Sometimes her directions are a little complicated but this seems to be zipping along and is a lot of fun to make.
I have joined Project Spectrum 2007 and am looking forward to some great projects in the coming months. This time there are two months and more than one color so maybe I can finish something. One month was fun but just not enough time. February/March colors are blue, white and grey. Since I am determined to use up some stash, I have found some grey wool yarn and am planning to make something interesting with it. My favorite part of Project Spectrum was the postcard exchange. Lolly hasn’t mentioned it but I hope she will have it again.