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Von 4 is Moving Along

Well, what can I say about this project but that it's coming along. I'm having to get quite creative with the photos here, since as exciting as stockinette, it's....just stockinette. Have no fear, though, I have help! Those sweet little birdies up there...yes, the sweetest little things, a small memento I picked up in Portland this weekend. They're supposed to be the official keepers of salt n' pepper in casa string*THEORY (is this becoming an habit?), but instead have been traipsing about everywhere I go...in various pockets or tucked away in my sleeves.

Our trip to Portland was so relaxing and inspiring (more photos) and now, I'm almost done with the nauseatingly intense ribbing section (54 rows of like 360 stitches - yikesy!). You'd think I'd be jumping for joy to start on the next section. But I'm not. It's because I'm too busy being excited about something else....

I'm going to Spain on Saturday!!! It's a surprise to me too...and I'm absolutely beside myself with excitement. The week will be spent soaking up some much needed quality time with my beloved grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncle. It's been a couple years now since I've seen them, and I'm constantly amazed at my ability to live without them on a day to day basis despite the steady longing I feel to be near them.

The next week or so will be filled with much scurrying about the house, preparing for my voyage. The gathering and making of treasures is part of the heartbeat and ritual that usually takes place before my trips "home". I'm not going to pretend not to be a bit overwhelmed (the family explicitly expressed their preference for handmade gifts), so I'll start slow, and I'll start with this...for just one more of these. I hope my abuela will love it.

G, Thanks!

Honesty you gave. And, thank you for that. I know it can be a little risky exposing your true opinions sometimes, so thanks for taking that risk and the time to comment for the sake of fashion! Reading through the comments made me feel like I was in a room full of girl friends, bantering about while sipping on martini's. Fun.

 

Photo courtesy of gm tv.

That raw & candid honesty is totally neccessary sometimes you know. And it reminds of my time living with my best-friends in college. Honesty was always looming about. Every morning when you stepped out of the bathroom and every night when there was nothing else to do but pick on eachother. This one morning in particular comes to mind. I thought I might try out that cutesy look of sweeping my bangs to the side, clipping them back with little drugstore clips. Reminescent of that femine (and maybe even babyish-obnoxious) Abercrombie & Fitch look of total hippie whimsy. Thinking I looked pretty urban-bohemian, I stepped out of the bathroom and on my way to school, before my best friend stopped me with a burst of laughter and the announcement to the rest of the house "ooh no....no way!! You look like a 3rd grade little shit!!!".  Ooookay, uuhm, so your saying you don't like it?

Brutal honesty and a total bow of appreciation from me. Because as much as the initial blow stung a bit, it paled in comparison to potential sting of "walking out like that".

There are some situations, however, when you need that (knowingly) lying validation. You know, the "noooo your ass doesn't look huge AT ALL!" And I may just use one of these passes for my next finished knit, projected to be completed some time next century. I am, of course, referring to the Lopi Von 4 sweater/dress. Remind me again who's bright idea it was to knit a whole entire dress in relatively small guage in the #1 most boring stitch ever created? It's strange to think that the cuff on one of the arms took longer to knit then the entire Balthazar Vest. I wish I was kidding.

This thing better look good when it's done, and it if doesn't, I would appreciate if you lied to me about it.

*That mini quilted number up top is a little postcard I whipped up for a little guy named Gio. He's participating in a Jog-A-Thon soon and needed a little "good luck charm". It was also a nice little knitting break for me.

Naked Day

My husband sometimes reminisces about his days in Boston while in college. He told me that each year, around this time, or maybe April, the spontaneous "Naked Day" would occur. Naked Day would usually be prompted by unseasonably warm weather in the beginning stages of spring. The early signs of sun would instantly inspire Bostonians and students alike to throw their knit caps and heavy jackets aside for a day in the sun, at the park, with friends while wearing shorts and tank-tops.

Usually this blissful day of sun and heat would end the following day or so when Jack Frost would remember his duty to freeze these poor New England souls and their out-of-state counterparts.

I didn't experience that while in Boston a few days ago. I experienced what hypothermia or frost bite has the potential to feel like. Or at least the bitter ache you feel in your teeth when you breathe with your mouth open. It was 8 degrees, standing.

Today, however, it was Naked Day in San Francisco. And like true San Franciscans, we threw our scarves (or light sweaters, anyway) to the wind for sandals and picnic blankets to take in all the vitamin E the sun had to offer us while people watching at our beloved, Dolores Park. The heat was a far cry from the bitter wind I felt 48 hours prior in Boston, making my trip such a distant memory, difficult to relate to.

And what are those other photos scattered about? Well, they're my projects posing against the picnic blanket, of course. Knitting with heavy wool in 75 degree weather is the most natural of activities, one could do. The first is a sneak peak project I'm testing from a book we've talked about before. Can you guess what it might be? The second one is the completed sleeve set from Von 4 from Lopi 24. It's coming along, very slowly but surely. Lot's of stockinette stitch (and patience) that Von 4.

Von 4, Lopi Book 24 - Sleeves

You guys are pretty funny. I never would have imagined that so many of you would've had such a strong reaction to little Miss Lady Turquoise. Perhaps it's because we all see a little bit of ourselves in her, huh? You have to be a somewhat quirky to live the lifestyles that we all presumably live - you know...creative ones (or that's what I'll call it today).

So, back to why you are here in the first place - I bring you progress on a certain Von 4 by Lopi. As of this second (I got through a few more rows as I was witnessing the demise and downward spiral that is Scooter Libby's career. Multi tasking, you know.) I've completed one full arm and one wrist.

Is it a little strange that I'm knitting the arms first? I thought it might be, I've never done it this way in my excruciatingly loooong history of making sweaters (do you sense my sarcasm? I've only made a few...deeming me a total hack rookie in the sport of sweater making). So, does it? Seem weird to you that the pattern calls for this order of activity? It's been difficult to conceptualize, but to stay consistent with the new era of "letting things go" - I'm going to do just that. It will be magic in the end, I just know it.

The sleeves are sort of interesting. You start at the wrist and work your way up to the pits. You create the bell shape by knitting a k3, p3 and then gradually decreasing to k3, p2 and then once again to k3, p1 and finally to the straight stockinette. I thought this was a fresh approach to the bell shaping and can see how you could apply this technique in other projects - can you picture it in the bodice of a little girls dress? Or the back of a women's swing coat, just under the shoulder blades?

Here's a detail shot peeking inside of the wrist part of the sleeve. Its the wrong side of the K3,P1 (or in this case, K1,P3). I love how this looks. We're used to stockinette being a part of the "pretty side" of projects, but here you can see how the reverse stockinette plays with the bold stripes of K1. It reminds me of the boning that you would find on a corset - and I bet this technique would look awesome as the slimming shaping to a fitted sweater.

Tomorrow, my pretties, I'm off to Boston for work. I always try to mix in a little play with these trips and lovely Miss. Cyn Cyn is a willing accomplice, soooo...there's talk about a potential trip to this warehouse...and I must say, I'm.pretty.excited.

Berkshire Pullover - RIP

Do you remember this ridiculous story? The story of the Berkshire sweater? You know, the one I knit my husband...t.h.r.e.e. times...and it still came out like crap?

I suck at sizing, and who ever thought this neck line would be flattering on a man?

Now it's time to lay this baby to rest, but, not before giving it it's day on the blog. The plan was to knit this guy using one skein (two strands held together) of Eco Wool (you know that honken 478 yards of wool). And it worked. For a 12 year old. It wasn't until the hubby tried on the crop top when we realized it was a bit on the snug side. So I bought more wool. And knit it again. Again, it came out too small, remember? What's up with the back?? Time to get yet another two skeins. Ooh, but guess what? No more dye lot. Yay. Sound familiar? Right.

Then came the ensuing mad hunt for more of the same dye lot, where I called, emailed, begged every LYS owner from here to Manitoba to get the remaining yarn. Found it. Good. At that point I was the proud owner of TWO POUNDS of wool. Can you imagine carrying around that much weight on your back? He would have had to take the sweater off to get an accurate weight reading at the doctors office! Ridiculous.

Long story short longer, the sweater is still preposterous. The fit still sucks on my husband, not to mention the weird neck line, and tent-like shaping. He found something he loves even more, and the new yarn has been ordered. He gave me permission to frog. And so, out with the old and in with the new.

Funny how the whole point of this project was to prove to the world (well, our marriage mostly) that I am capable of knitting for someone other then myself. And now, here we are, 5 months later, after Christmas...his birthday...valentines day...and still. No. Sweater. But guess what? I'm frogging this bi'atch...and using the yarn to knit a sweater for none other then...ooh yeah baby...you guessed it! Moi.

 

Von 4 from Lopi Book 24, Pattern 4

Can you stand it? Can you hardly stand the cuteness that is this sweater dress? And can you picture it in grey? With black tights and cow-boy boots? And maybe some shopping bags and a latte? Or better yet...a baguette tucked neatly under my arm while my other hand totes an adorable leather bag full of flowers? Oh the disfuntional psycho-drama glamour of it all.