UFO observations: Sangria III

(Updated 23/9 after some server problems)
Sangria is my oldest knitting. I started it in 2003, as seen in this picture. I made some silly mistakes and ripped it.

In 2004, I made a new attempt, with Sangria II. The work stalled in July, when I discovered that I a/ didn't like the ribbing and b/ didn't have enough yarn to continue as planned. Details: here

In May this year, I got a rush of inspiration and brought out the top again.
This is what Sangria looked like in all her pooling glory. In general, I really don't like pooling patterns, but in this specific case I have decided that they are an adorable design feature. The orange ribbing was not any better than last year, and no balls of orange wool (OK, microfiber) had magically appeared in the yarn box. I needed to do something.

I took a circular needle, one number smaller than the one I had used to knit with, and picked up stitches one row over the orange ribbing. This took some time and fiddling, since it is important to stay with the same row all the time.

Then I snipped a thread in the row below and started unraveling the yarn. It was easier than I had expected, and I was left with a neat row of stitches on my needle. I switched to the original needle and knitted downwards. In this case I decided to make a "peplum" so I made a lot of increases. I ended with some garter stitch rows in orange to avoid rolling and to make the new edge blend in with the rest. Then I continued knitting in the upper part, and changed the name of the project to Sangria III.

This is what she looked like some weeks ago. Now I need to figure out what to do about the upper part. A simple scooped neck? Will I finish Sangria this year, and if so, will I ever wear her? And was the peplum a good idea? The excitement continues...

We're invited...

All knitters and their friends (I suppose this includes you and me as well?) are invited to The Knitted Wedding in London, 9 October: "At 2.45pm we will throw the woollen confetti. The champagne reception is at 3pm, with speeches and knitted cake. You may knit through the reception. There are drinks but you may want to bring a picnic, as the food is knitted." All guests are requested to send knitted items in advance, and patterns for flowers, doves and other decorations are available in the Castoff website. I like the pansies, but I have mixed feelings about the ham sandwich. If you send something you have designed yourself, you are asked to send the pattern too.

Everything will be put into a book and an exhibition at the Knitting and stitching show in mid-October. I really want to go to London for that show, but I'm not sure I'll be able to make it.

(Wouldn't it be fun to knit serpentines?)

(Link via Chicknits)

Knitting in circles

I have been working on the famous Vogue knitting circular shrug that the Swedish knitting-list "Sticklistan" has been buzzing about the last weeks. I am making it in the smallest size, for my niece, in different shades from my box of odd-balls. The yarn is supposed to twist, but my oh my, it twists something wicked! One tip from someone who has finished the thing was to cut the yarn after each round. This makes things easier, but it robs you of the satisfying experience to un-twist all the floats in the next round. I have an idea for a fix, but I will not say more before I have tried it.

I am thinking of a shrug like this from my lovely alpaca, for the parties to come this winter. Maybe some clear lime coloued beads as well? I was wondering how much I would need to re-calculate the pattern when it struck me that as long as I keep the requested diameter, the circumference, including armholes, will always be right. There is one place in the pattern where you are supposed to count rows, but it is easy to calculate the measurements in inches or centimeters from the gauge given in the pattern.

Speaking of patterns, my Magknits thing is close to being sent of to be edited. My husband took some photos of me modeling it this Saturday, and I am clearly not cut out to be a model... I have asked the editor if she wants us to think of something else...

A lovely site I found today:
six and a half stitches

Everybody knows...

...but if someone hasn't heard, the new Knitty is out. At knitty.com, of course.

I don't have the time for a pattern-by-pattern run-through today, so I'll keep it general. There are certain things that strike me as being very close to things I've seen elsewhere, things that don't catch my imagination and things that I simply dislike.

And then there are these:
Cinxia
Leaves in relief (I like the shaping of the sweater and the intertwined trees. I would probably cut down on the leaves on the sleaves, one vine per sleave would be enough for me)
Bloom My prediction is that Bloom will be the pattern of this issue, the one everyone knits or dreams of. Where can I get some Noro Blossom without having to sell my car?
Flora A quick knit with lots of style
Edgar If I take a light-blond boy who wants a scarf, a skein of Colinette chenille in Lapis and this pattern, ought I not to get a beautiful result?

Linky-winky

1. Put down that cup
2. Switch on your visual imagination
3. Double-check: no liquids close to your screen or keyboard?
4. Click and read: Knit and tonic

Chocolate and knitting

Tonight I saw "Charlie and the chocolate factory", and I loved it. A perfect movie for a dark grey rainy day, which makes it a bit silly that we went to see it on a true summer's night in September. Ah well. I was thinking about the Bucket family and their house and all the lovely knitted things there. (I can't link to the individual photos, but look under photos, there is one picture of the big bed where all the grandparents sleep, wearing tweed and knits.) Everything is threadbare and muted and very beautiful. Charlie's sweater is a lovely piece of Fair isle knitting, I wonder if someone has reproduced it (yet). It is of course easy to miss it for all the shiny amazing stuff that flows through the movie, but look here
There are even trading cards with small pieces of the sweater.

I'm afraid my boys would prefer Mike Tevee's skull t-shirt, but maybe I should try to pick out the Charlie pattern anyway, just for fun?

Feed your need

Thanks to Urraca's reminder a feed is now up and running. Make that two, we have a nice electric cotton-acrylic Atom and a hairy RSS in mohair. Pick up your needles or feedreaders or whatever makes you happy, and click links to the right.

Good ideas and inspiration

The French knitblog Tricofolk shows the Technique for creating nice centre-pull balls of yarn. Something for me and my alpacka...

The Swedish blogger Desirée has knit one of the cardigans I am thinking about, but in a completely different yarn. The finished result is lovely.

MagKnits August est arrivée

Magknits August* issue is up, with a mixed crop of patterns.
- Crime of fashion: a cotton scarf mimicking the plastic tape used to seal off crime scenes (at least in the movies)
- Sesame: a basic striped cardigan. You know, the kind you wish to find in the back of your closet that Saturday in October when you need to move the garden furniture inside, pick the last apples and have coffee on the balcony under a crisp blue autumn sky... Get knitting now, and you might just find it when you need it...
- Coleen: Yet another cropped cardigan. Cute, but not for me. The stitch pattern reminds me of crocheting, I might try it on something else.
- Alice: A fitted sweater that looks really nice except for the fair-isle band. I don't know why, but I really don't like this kind of pattern. I would prefer something like CAUTION DO NOT CROSS, which is a pretty good idea, come to think of it...
- Picovoli: a tight fitting t-shirt which reminds me of a bulkier Teva Durham ballet top, which is already on my wishlist. I might just replace it with this...
- Frilling: a simple mohair wrap in a simple fan pattern. Nothing I feel compelled to get my needles into.

My Magknits thing is for the October issue.

The site has changed, but the designer has chosen to continue the annoying habit of using a small square cut-out from the project photo on the patterns page. It makes for a potentially interesting game of guessing, but it doesn't do the patterns justice at all. It would also be useful to include more photos, especially of sweaters. What do they look like from behind? Is the collar of Sesame meant to be buttoned up into a polo?

* The magazine is published on the last day of each month, from now on.

My lovely lovely Alpacka arrived yesterday and I was tempted to stay home today, just staring at this beauty. Water is not a good name for the colour, it is slightly darker than in the photo below, but twice as lovely. Now, I dream of patterns.