rope. tree. fan. spear. snake. wall.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Space Princess!

I know I said I'd wash, block and properly photograph this, and I did the first two, but it's November in the Netherlands, and though the weather has occasionally been surprisingly nice, those were not occasions when I had the dress and the camera to hand. So here are some photographs. They're pretty close to the truth, except the truth is a lot more awesome.

And it's called Space Princess because I knit it while watching a lot of science fiction (well, Star Trek) and reading about things like asteroid belts and orphan planets and such, so that's on my mind lately. I don't know why the princess, maybe that's just because I'm not used to knitting for girls.

Finishing that gave me permission to cast on Clickertyclick's Flinders Sweater Vest, of which I do not yet have a picture but it looks fab on the pattern page and I really like it when I try it on. This is in the Wollmeise DK that I bought, and it's top-down and sleeveless, so I figure I can just knit until I'm out of yarn and then call it long enough. I'm loving this yarn, and! I may have knit my first-ever successful bust darts! Very pleased, somewhat bemused: this is a lot simpler than all those charts and tutorials make it look. And now that I've finished with the increases and sleeve shaping and bust darts, it's just miles of plain stockinette in the round, which makes it perfect for my upcoming trip to Munich. 

Yep, Munich. Again. Just a weekend, to visit the Boy and go to a job interview. No Wollmeise visits this trip, but if I get the job I'll be a lot closer to the shop... I'd better ask for a very big salary.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Mid-November knitting update

So! Where are we this week...

Namariƫ

... I begin to see that the green-pink-blue-purple may have been a poor choice of colorway, because even though I planned my color progression to avoid winding up at the same color on both skeins at the same time, I didn't notice that the purple is indistinguishable from the pink-transition-to-blue, so the pattern became invisible at some point and I had to rip back and re-calculate. And since I don't take this traveling and have to pack it up every time a potential buyer comes to look at the house, it's spent a lot of time in time-out, so while I've done a fair bit of knitting on it, I'm not actually much further (not much = about 5 rounds) than I was the last time I blogged about it. So, no new pictures. And much grumpiness. 

Acquisitions

Karbonz, y'all! Size 1.5mm, smaller than any needles I have ever owned because if you made DPNs this thin out of wood they'd break, and if you made 'em out of metal they'd bend and stay bent. These are carbon fiber, the stuff used to make space ships! I have space needles! Aren't they snazzy? 

Nearly Finished

The Space Princess Dress! It actually began with Georgie Hallam's Oriental Lily Dress pattern, with the usual minor modifications that I can never resist making, like the channel-island cast-on, and I don't like garter stitch so that waistband had to change. I used leftover yarn from the Kiila Baby sweater and started with texture stripes - a dark purl ridge (which requires 1 knit round and 1 purl round) alternating with a light knit round, and then widened the knit stripes as I started to run out of the darker color. This needed a fair bit of ripping back to get it just right, but I'm finally binding off the hem for what I hope is the last time - turns out, the picot bind-off needs even more yarn than you think it will! Huh. So I've gone and modified that and once it's finally done I'll wash, block, and properly photograph it. 

And then I can finally start some thing new! I've decided to use my Wollmeise DK weight to make a Flinders. Be interesting to see if that actually happens.

Oh, and! I submitted a pattern proposal to Interweave Knits! I am not nervous, I am not nervous, I am not nervous...

Thursday, November 01, 2012

My Precious...

Acquired Wednesday, October 24th, via Harlequin Yarns, they are even more beautiful in real! I already have my first project planned for the 4.0mms, but I think the first project on every size will be a Life Event. And look! The cables are black instead of purple! I love purple, I have no idea why I'm so thrilled about this, but I am.