06.20.07
Posted in Finished Objects, Year of Sweaters at 8:08 pm by Rachel
In spite of all my whining about my lack of knitting, it turns out I kind of forgot that somewhere in the madness of the last few weeks I actually cranked out three baby sweaters. Minty would scold me if I posted all of them at once, though, so here’s the first.
Pattern: Jo Jo Basic Crew Sweater from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding, size 6 months.
Yarn: Plymouth Dreambaby in colorways 125 and 127
Notes: This is an easy and classic pattern — my favorite kind for baby sweaters. Given that it is from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms — a book full of lovely organic cotton yarns — I felt a bit like I was paving over a meadow with a parking lot when I selected an acrylic yarn. But since the sweater was to be a gift, easy care was a top priority. It is the first time I’ve ever made anything with 100 percent acrylic, and while neither the process nor the result could be characterized as painful, I admit that I just don’t feel as fond of this sweater as I might if it were a lovely wool or cotton.
I selected this pattern and yarn colors with the idea that they would be gender neutral — the intended recipient was an unborn baby whose sex was not known. Early on I became worried that the green was actually (to the eyes of someone very attuned to these things) a little on the girly side, but when I finished the sweater, I had changed my mind: the stripes made it decidedly boyish (again, if you are someone who gives a significant damn about these things — I am not, but the sweater wasn’t for me).
In the end, I decided to give my friend a store-bought gift instead (cute baby sweatpants and a t-shirt from our shared alma mater). Partly because of the lack of gender neutrality of the finished sweater, but also partly because her shower had 70 guests, and she was compelled to open her gifts at breakneck speed, and I just knew that I would feel bad for my handknit sweater to be opened, cooed over for about eight seconds, and set aside with the giant pile of onesies (not as a result of any inconsiderateness on my friend’s part, but just because of the nature of the occasion). I don’t knit for the accolades, but I do like to enjoy the actual gift-giving moment as a point of connection with the person for whom I’ve made the gift. Call me selfish.
I made no modifications to this sweater, but if I knit it again, I’d make the sleeves wider at the armhole; once seamed onto the body with mattress stitch, the armholes felt a little constricting. Am I doing something wrong that my mattress stitch seams have no give at all? I don’t see how they could, but on the other hand, it’s sort of too bad that they don’t. Any tips or tricks that others use?
Random thing about me #2: I went swimming in my wedding dress. (Some of you may recall that I committed to doing the seven random things meme over the course of seven blog posts.)
I bring this up because last week there was an article in the New York Times about the new “trash the dress” trend, in which brides have their photographers take pictures of them doing decidedly non-standard things in their wedding gowns. Given that I will never, ever again be ahead of the curve on anything that appears in the fashion section of the Times, I had to jump on this opportunity to say “I did it first!” In September 2004, to be exact.
Speaking of doing things first, this post subject has highlighted a hazard of the two-blog household: who gets dibs on posting something like this, something to which we both have equal claim? In this case, Matt beat me to it, but he graciously agreed I could steal his material as long as I linked back to him with credit for having the idea first. He’s got more photos over on his post anyway.
This post is tragically unfunny. I guess I can’t find anything humorous in acrylic baby sweaters. You understand.
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06.10.07
Posted in Finished Objects, Knitterly Fraternization at 9:16 pm by Rachel
Seeing as I have a blog and all. (Here I am foolishly thinking that most people will recognize that I am echoing my previous post with that title and opening, but of course my last post was FOUR WEEKS AGO — and I know only a small minority of you commit every word of every one of my posts to memory so you can recite them as the final project in your elocution classes.)
This has been a rough stretch for me. I don’t think I’ve worked so hard since finals period in college. There have been some moments of fun interspersed, for sure, such as seeing Minty in New York last week and Theresa at reunion weekend last month, but for the most part it has been a real slog. I kept not posting because I didn’t have time and I didn’t have anything to show. Also I felt guilty because I haven’t read any of your blogs lately, so why should I expect you to read mine? But the longer I went, the more I wanted to put it off, until I started to feel as though I just might inadvertently give up blogging. And I didn’t want to do that. I mean, I kind of do, but I wouldn’t do it without an emotional and high-profile farewell tour or two, and I haven’t had time to plan for something like that.
So instead you get…another pair of socks. Yes, seriously. Yes, I’m sorry.
These are basic garter rib socks (though a 3×2 garter rib, rather than the more standard 2×2; I prefer how it looks). The yarn is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Gold Hill. While I sort of hate to post socks on my blog (boooooorrrriiiiiiinngg), I do think these give me an opportunity to offer a useful (if semi-obvious) sock-knitting tip. If you look closely, you can see that the legs of the socks are completely without pooling, while the feet have a distinct (if not too offensive) pooling effect going on. This is not because the stitch count or pattern is different on the feet; it is because I had two skeins of yarn that behaved completely differently (yes, same dye lot). I discovered this after knitting one entire sock in the non-pooling yarn. When I started the second, I couldn’t believe how different it looked. It looked so different that Matt noticed. I really didn’t want to have such dissimilar socks, so I frogged what I’d knit of the second sock as well as the foot of the first sock, and I knit the foot of the first sock with the pooling yarn, and then I split the yarn the same way on the second sock. So while the feet and the legs look different from each other, at least the two socks match. (I did this once before when I fell in love with a Koigu colorway but they only had one skein in the dye lot I liked so much.) Anyway, I recommend this for anyone who finds that their two skeins of sock yarn are not as closely related as they might like.
So, if I’d had only those lame little socks to show, I might have put off posting even longer. Fortunately, Nova came to the rescue and gave me a reason to post: a present! I had left a comment on her anniversary contest post — I’d shared a funny link I’d come across while attempting to Google stalk her to obtain the answer to her contest question — and she awarded me an honorable mention! This news brightened my day in a much-needed way.
Three balls of Debbie Bliss merino aran in a really great color that will probably become a baby garment of some kind (my friends and coworkers are astonishingly fertile these days), two awesome candy bars that appeal both to my nostalgic childhood tastes and my sophisticated adult tastes, a handwritten card showcasing Nova’s lovely calligraphy, and taffy! Thank you so much, Nova. Your generosity was a wonderful surprise and finally gave me the reason I needed to get back to blog posting!
One last thing. Around the time of my last post people were all posting 7 or so random things about themselves on their blogs. I was tagged a few times, but since the craze has clearly passed, I will compromise by posting just one. Or maybe I’ll post one per post for the next seven posts (which, at the rate I’m going, should take us through to about December). Anyway, here is the first/only one, and I have an ulterior motive for sharing this: I want all the rest of you to adopt this random thing as well.
I always mail back the business reply envelopes from all credit card offers I receive. Empty. I’m not saying I actually apply for all the credit cards. I simply remove the pre-paid envelope from the mess of brochures and offers, seal it, and stick it back in the mail. Since I have to open the offers to shred them (which I assume you are all doing as well, right? Identity theft is not fun — it has happened to us), it is no extra trouble to pull out the envelopes. Anyway, while the few dollars per year that I am costing the credit card companies won’t hurt them, maybe if lots and lots of us adopted this practice we could be a little thorn in their giant sides. Who’s with me?
P.S. For sanity’s sake I am clearing all my Bloglines and starting fresh, which means that when I next read your blog I will have missed a few posts. If you are pregnant, have been promoted, had a book published, achieved Nirvana, or otherwise had a monumental change in your life, will you just drop me a line to let me know so I don’t make an ass of myself in the comments of your blog as a result of my ignorance? Thanks so much.
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