The Handmade Revolution

Because of my own enjoyment of making things by hand, I've been thinking more and more about where things around me come from, and how they are made. I want to support other artisans out there (let's face it: as much as I'd like to, I can't make everything myself.) So when I spent some time last week shopping on etsy for a gift for my boss, I also ended up buying a couple of mugs for myself.
I can honestly tell you (as a earthy sensual Taurus) that the experience of drinking a coffee from a mug thrown and glazed by hand is so much better than something factory-made. I think one special and precious and beloved mug is well worth the price of many boring cookie-cutter ones. Two must be even better, hm? The two I bought were made by the very talented Jen of Papapots, whom I highly recommend. Just look at the glorious robin's egg blue on the inside of the mug on the left, and the cascading brown speckles on the mug on the right. Is it decadent to buy two? I hope so.

Though it might seem I've been coasting along without crafting for a couple of weeks, I haven't -- you may have noticed the progress bars changing on the sidebar, if you've been paying attention. The Entrelac lap throw is slowly growing bigger; I want to get it off my list of WIPs so it isn't hovering over me any more. Also, I don't like having more than one large project on the needles at the same time, and the next one I have going is pretty big. Finishing the two of them will get a huge part of my yarn stash emptied out (and therefore make room for more huge purchases... *evil laugh*) Want a sneak peek of what's up next?

The Fabel-ous Cardigan

So here we are, at the finish line for the stripey little yoke cardigan from Drops Fabel and Alpaca yarns. I am totally enamored of it, and miss working on it, now that it's been completed. In fact, I've been toying with the idea of doing another one in the future, but with more colour. For now, let's just look at this one and enjoy it, in all its black & grey & white glory.


As I mentioned before, the construction of this cardigan was a bit consternating, at times, though ultimately it was actually quite simple, once you got on with it. When choosing the size to knit, I was planning for several inches of negative ease (i.e. for the finished garment to be several inches smaller around than I am) because I know how much garter stitch can stretch, and I wanted it to be somewhat fitted. I think the photos make it apparent that it is certainly fitted, in all the right places. The way it is knit also allows for a lot of trying-on-for-size, which is always great. I started out knitting the Large, but ended up adding a few repeats here and there, as I tried it on and thought it needed a bit more room.


In recognition that this sweater is described as an A-line sweater, I can see that it would have been more swingy if I had made perhaps the XL. Also, because the sweater is knitted side-to-side, the one thing I couldn't adjust for, along the way, was the length. I have considered adding a dark grey border with the Alpaca along the bottom hem, to lengthen it a bit, but in the end I decided that I like it as is. Nothing wrong with a short little sweater, sometimes.


The button band gapes a bit when I wear it buttoned up, although it gapes less after blocking the sweater with a steam iron. It does look great worn open, though, so I don't really have to worry about it. (Is it conceited of me to say that?)

Overall, the sweater is comfy and lightweight -- knitted from wool/nylon sock yarn and a fingering weight alpaca, it isn't very thick, so it will be perfect for cool mornings and evenings, as the weather begins to turn.

One last photo of a happy lady in a pretty sweater, and thanks to my HLM for the photography. (Please know that he is a much better photographer than a sweater shoot will allow him to display.)

Argh.

Seven rounds from being finished, people.

So I decided to make a little hat, for an Instant Gratification Project. This is an adorable little confection, again from Drops, which promised to be interesting enough to keep my attention, and quick enough that I will be able to wear it in no time. Okay, well I subbed the yarn to some alpaca/tencel from elann.com, and had to calculate yardage to make sure I ordered enough, and then I looked at some on Ravelry and decided to move up a needle size, since theirs looked like they fit snugly, like a watchcap, and I wanted mine to be looser, like the original design photo. Also, I have a big head. Somewhere in there, I should have realized that perhaps I might need more yarn.

So I'm seven little rounds from being finished my hat and I had to order another ball of yarn. A ball of yarn from which I won't need more than perhaps three yards... (And don't think for a moment that the thought didn't cross my mind that I could use a length of an entirely different yarn to finish the last seven rounds, and just call it a "design element.")

I tried it on and looked at it and wondered if maybe I should just frog the whole thing and do it again on a smaller needle because then maybe I could squeeze it out of the two balls I have. Ultimately I decided that, while I probably could, I'd rather finish it on the needles I've been doing it on and see how it looks in the end. Maybe after that I'll still frog it and redo it smaller and have an extra ball of yarn lying around.

I'm crazy that way.

A (Very) Short Update

The cardigan is complete, except for the buttons, which I have yet to buy. For the last couple of days, since finishing it, I have been on a very strict regimen of charity scarf knitting, waffle eating, and watching a marathon of Project Runway Australia online. Heaven.


Here, as evidence of my most recent impulse purchase, is a photo of some yummy Pumpkin Waffles I made the other day. They were not as perfectly pumpkinny as I had hoped, but still good. After all, how bad could waffles be? (Please don't answer that. I don't really want to know.)

What do you get when you cross a skunk and a porcupine?

Something like this?

I took a couple of days off from the stripey cardi (and started planning what I will knit after it's finished, believe it or not) and then had a problematic attempt to make the collar as written -- I was not really thrilled with how it was going, and then when my cast-off row was way (way) too tight, I decided it was a sign and frogged the whole collar. This will put my buttonholes in slightly wrong places, but I'll make do somehow. Worry not, faithful reader: this will turn out great anyway.

So if you didn't figure out what's going on in that photo (and I'm sure that it's hard to, if you're not actually in the process of making this sweater right now, and -- let's face it -- none of you are) I'm working on the sleeve cuffs now. Soon, soon... *rubbing hands together*

And hey, look:

Brownies!

And not just any brownies -- these are Black Russian Brownies, so they have a dash of Kahlua and Vodka in there. They're pretty darn good, though not quite the heavy fudge brownies I know and love. Maybe I'll adapt my regular recipe to incorporate some alcohol. (Note to self: that might just be a good all-around policy for cooking.) I will say that the one thing that really grabs me about these is that there is a bit of freshly ground black pepper in them -- You put it in with the melting butter and chocolate at the very beginning. The oils from the peppercorns really come out that way, and it gives the brownie a bit of a bite that is unexpected. Yum.

Dream Weaver

I think the first time I really thought about it seriously was because of Laura at Cosmicpluto... But don't get me wrong, there are others who are also making pretty things, too. I'd been thinking of how to make my own sort-of-loom with wood and nails -- if not a proper loom, at least it would be functional. In the meantime, I was trying to convince myself that my fiber intake (at least in the form of wool and silk and alpaca) is really high enough as it is, and I don't need yet another hobby that requires me to buy more. Then Craft magazine came out with a weaving issue, and all caution was thrown to the wind.

The current issue actually includes a free portable cardboard loom, as well as instructions on how to make your own loom at home with a wood frame and dowels (a much better one than I'd been envisioning) and suggestions for buying a pre-made one. Of course I couldn't wait to try it out, so I cut out the cardboard one, eager to get started.


I cut enough lengths of the leftover Portland Koigu to act as a warp, and decided to use some leftover KnitPicks Bare sock yarn for the weft. Last night I rigged it up (which in this instance involved tying myself to the dresser with the yarn, thereby gaining some You-So-Crazy looks from my HLM) and did some weaving. Well, it's definitely beginner work, clearly done on a pretty primitive loom. Not that the design of his loom is primitive -- it's pretty clever, actually -- but the thin cardboard of this version allows it to bend too much and makes it a bit awkward. A stronger cardboard or perhaps plastic would make a better loom. It would also make a better shuttle, which collapsed under the tension of the yarn wrapped around it, and was almost immediately useless. So in the end, it's not exactly the fashionista scarf I had envisioned (largely because I threw in the towel before it was scarf-length) but it did make me think about the possibilities.

I may have hit upon something.

I Laughed 'Til I Cried

I found this website through The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks, and I really did laugh until I cried. Here are four favourites.

Edited to add: I can't believe I almost left out this one.

Ode to a Stitch Holder

Okay well I didn't really write a poem or anything, but this little silver stitch holder was such a pretty sight to me that I wanted to share it with you, tonight. You see, it has 71 silky soft alpaca stitches hanging onto it, which means that I have finished the back of my sweater and am ready to start the second sleeve.

I tried it on (despite the wiltingly oppressive heat) and even though it only goes three-quarters of the way around me, it looks so cute that I can't wait to be finished (and for autumn.)

Mystery Shawl

Things are moving along quickly on the cardigan -- I've finished the first sleeve and am nearly halfway across the back, already. And still loving it. I even closed the sleeve seam, so I could try it on and make sure things are fitting right. But we'll talk about that next time... Today I want to show off something else:


This is my completed Anniversary Mystery Shawl (begun here or found on Ravelry here) blocking out on my bed. I think the light blue of the sheet really makes the Ruby colour pop out. Or maybe I'm just biased to think this thing is really really pretty.

Would you believe that I didn't even measure it when it was blocking?? My estimate is about 45 inches across. It fits me comfortably, folded in half to make a semicircle, just covering my shoulders and crossing in front enough to close it with a nice pin (note to self: get a nice pin.) Yeah, I didn't get a photo of me wearing it like that either. But look, a close-up of the center!


For those of you who haven't been following along, this was a mystery shawl, which means that I didn't really know what I was making until it was finished. I mean, I knew it was a shawl, but I didn't know what it would look like in the end. This particular mystery was amped up a bit by giving knitters a choice, at each clue from 1-4, four options of what lace pattern to knit. If you have a Ravelry account, go check them out with the link above -- there are so many variations that it's hard to not want to knit another.


This photo is an attempt to show the various lace patterns close up. For the record, I chose clue D for the first three clues, and then C for the last one. There was no rhyme or reason to my choices, just intuition. I thought the chart to make the second clue looked like little ladybugs, and for the fourth, I liked the motif that looked like it would be feathers or evergreen trees. They both turned out pretty much like I had anticipated.

Overall, I really enjoyed this project -- a mystery is always fun, and knitting lace is so engaging. Especially when the yarn (JaggerSpun Zephyr wool/silk laceweight from my stash of leftovers, if you really want to know) is free.

So In Love

Has it only been two days? I have been knitting joyfully along on my cardigan (as you can see I am well into the first sleeve) and loving how it is developing. When I held up the left front to check for size, it seems absolutely perfect. Admittedly I had been a bit nervous about it, since I have chosen a size that is somewhat smaller than me. See, I have made garter stitch garments before, and I know that if you make the size you are, then it will hang on you like a stiff sack and not show off the bootylicious curves. When I looked over this pattern initially, I figured that the size Large (with a circumference 6 inches less than my own circumference) would give it just enough stretch to look good, but hopefully not so much that it will look like I am wearing a sweater borrowed from Kate Moss. I mean, if you look at the photo accompanying the pattern, I think it is pretty clearly snug over her bust and looser around the waistline. Since this pattern is shaped as an A-line, clearly I must choose a size that fits the waist, more or less, and is a bit smaller than my bust and my hips (see how it sits comfortably open at the hip, too?) Well, that's my theory, anyway. If I am wrong, then one of my slightly smaller friends might be inheriting a really adorable sweater in the fall.