Restless Knitter

Check out this nifty little piece of fun with knit charts.

Sooo, Knitters has their spring preview up. Am I the only one who thinks things like this

look like crap? Why do people keep designing assymmetrical things? Do people really wear them? To me, it looks like someone screwed up really bad and decided to wear it anyway. Especially this one. Ick. If I saw someone actually wearing it, I’d think they had a mishap in the laundry room or got it from the thrift store. (People, if something you own is shit, don’t give it to Goodwill. Throw it away. Another rant for another day. Maybe not, what more can I say about that.) Back to the, uh, tank top(?). I’m all for being an individual and wearing what you want. I won’t laugh at you for making or wearing it but I won’t think it’s flattering on you. This isn’t even flattering on the model.

Okay, now that I got the bitchin’ out of the way, let’s see a couple of the other things.

I’m really hoping there’s a better picture of this in the magazine. This is by Jane Sowerby. Since I liked so many in Victorian Lace Today, I’m guessing I’ll really like this one. It might get added to the never ending To Do List that I never get to.

I like this. I don’t know where I’d wear it but it just looks so pretty and feminine that I want to make it anyway. Oh, I could wear it when I walk the dog.

I think I might like this one. I’d probably leave that tie off the sleeves. It looks to me that it laces up the front and ties at the top. It also looks like you could get away with wearing this one with jeans, which is what you are most likely to see me in.

This might be good for those cool nights. The thing that bugs me about hoods is that they tend to choke me. Hoods seem to think they are meant to cover my ass and try as hard as they can to reach it. They don’t care that they are still attached to the front of the neck that is cutting off my air supply.

I wasn’t going to do this but I just can’t help it. Okay, I could help it if I wanted to. And really, when you get right down to it, this thing needs help.

This comes to you courtesy of Vogue Knitting. I don’t normally make fun of people for what they wear but people, if I see one of your children with this thing on, I will laugh. I’ll also feel sorry for your poor child that you think so little of him or her to make him/her look like a baby matador. All this outfit needs to be complete is a little red cloth. Add a little stuffed black bull (bonus points awarded if you knit the bull) and you’re more than set! I’d rather see your child in something asymmetrical. Please people, do NOT put this on your child!

I’ve had to go back to the previous theme for the blog. There’s a problem in the coding of the new one that doesn’t allow me to publish posts

I got nothing. Hubby came home on Thursday and left Sunday so there was nothing at all fibery done during that time. When he wasn’t here, I played with the loom and checked out far too many weaving books from the library. The blanket sits neglected. Just so you know I’m still alive and tormenting other living beings around here, I give you this:

“What have I done to deserve this?”

The past couple of days have found me more loom obsessed. I’ve made all kinds of excuses why I can’t weave. I don’t have a warping board. I don’t know how to get the warp on the loom even if I did have a warping board. I can’t get it on there alone even if I did know how. You know that saying Either shit or get off the pot? It was time.

Short version: I did nothing for the last day and a half but work on getting this going. I used random pieces of fake wood trim for lease sticks, paint sticks to smooth the yarn on the back, a dental tool for threading the reed and heddles, a dowel rod/peg as a shuttle, and a homemade warping board. I also got sore arms and hands from using a hacksaw and screwing pegs to boards, and a sore back from winding and threading. It was all worth it.

Long version below. If you want to know the full scoop and see pictures, they’re below the bump. If you aren’t interested in weaving, it will be boring so feel free to skip. I’m just a tad proud of myself though so it’s here for me.
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My yarn haul wasn’t really a haul at all.

Karaoke, Pima Tencel, Jeannee, Fixation at top.

I went with the intention of getting enough Cascade Pima Tencel to make a summer tank. It was nowhere to be found. She said they aren’t carrying it anymore because it didn’t sell that well when they did, though she admits that she didn’t have the client base that she does now. I did find one lonely skein of it in the 40% off trunk so I bought it to at least swatch with. I have this same color in storage but it wouldn’t have been worth it to empty out that room to find it.

In the 30% off oddlots basket, I found 2 matching skeins of SWTC Karaoke. I have no idea what I’m going to do with those and totally broke my self inflicted rule of not buying any yarn that doesn’t have a purpose. I could justify the purchase of those by saying it’s purpose is to look pretty and make me happy. There ya go.

The Plymouth Jeannee I’d never heard of before. It’s 51% cotton 49% acrylic and says that the suggested gauge might also be a candidate for the Ribby Shell or the Knit Simple tank. By the way, the Knit Simple tank says the gauge is 20 sts by 38 rows in stockinette stitch. 20 x 38? That sounds more like a garter stitch gauge to me. I’m going to guess that it’s a misprint and should be 28 rows. I’ll look at the pattern a little closer later and figure that out. If that fails, I’ll email the publisher.

I recently started listening to podcasts and I bought an iPod. (Yes, The Man did call me while I was standing in Costco trying to decide which one I wanted.) I’ve seen patterns for iPod cozies and thought to myself “Good grief, people will make anything. Just buy one for pete sakes.” And now here I am, wanting an iPod armband cozy for when I walk the dog and I don’t want to buy one. I found a pattern for the armband that uses Fixation. “Hey, I have Fixation. I’ll make one and use up stash.” However, my Fixation is buried somewhere in a room in a land far away. So I bought more Fixation, telling myself that I probably don’t have enough of one color in storage to make one anyway. Justification all around.