New Favorite

I have a new favorite homemade sweater! Coachella II is finished, hooray!

My plan to reknit the whole thing in reverse and create a neckline was generally successful. There's still a little more bulk in the neckline than I'd like, but I think I might solve that by threading a piece of yarn through the front and creating a gathered/ruched effect. As it is, I could wear this out in public and be just fine, as long as I wasn't around a lot of tall people.... Since tall is relative and I'm rather short, I think the ruching is in order before I wear this anywhere. :)

Coachella, Take Two and a Half

Alright. So I tore out all of Coachella I last week. It was a quick knit, so not overly disappointing. I re-knit it from the bottom up (Coachella II) and tried it on last night. Um, no. My ad-libbed neck line was not a success. And by "success," I mean only, "something I could wear in public without getting arrested." I won't be posting any progress pictures because, well, this ain't that kind of internet site.

So more back tracking it is. I'll tear out the neckline tonight and try it again tomorrow. I'm determined to (for once!) finish a project when it's still weather-appropriate for the season.

Had to happen at some point

If I'm going to have a knitting blog, I suppose I have to post the obligatory cat picture, right? I was trying to get a shot of my Coachella tank, but Moxie was uncharacteristically hamming it up, so there you go.


Anyway, yes, that there's an almost finished Coachella, but I need to re-knit the whole thing. It fits, but I don't like the way the collar drapes (it's supposed to be all drapey; I just don't think it looks good on me). So I'm going to do the whole thing in reverse - instead of knitting from the top down, I'm going to knit it from the bottom hem up. That way, when I get to the top I can bind off some center stitches and create a different neckline. Wish me luck!

It's so bright here at the end of the tunnel!

For those of you who haven't heard (and if you're reading this, that's unlikely, because I've been talking about it incessantly), the bar exam was yesterday and today. That's right, folks, I used the past tense right there. It's over. Over! OVER! Can't you just *feel* the relief and pure joy leaping off the screen at you? (Please note, however, that I'll need you all to cross your fingers that I pass the darn thing so I don't have to take it again...)

To celebrate, I cast on for Coachella, a drapey racerback number in the summer 2007 edition of knitty. I'm using a yarn that's a blend of micronylon, microacrylic, and angora, and it's called "Bunny Hop" (get it, cause it's angora?). Isn't that the bestest? Kinda makes me want to bunny hop around my house. Hmm, that could also be the post-bar-exam giddiness talking, too.

For the first time in what feels like ages, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Getting up in the morning to go running before it gets too hot outside. Then some knitting and some cleaning of la maison (yes, I'm looking forward to this). Haircut in the afternoon, dinner with family in from out of state, then out on the town for celebratory beverages at night.

Happy sigh.

I haven't been knitting, I promise!

But I did take a break from studying to take a quick picture of my most recently completed sweater. The white cable-y shell I posted about a few weeks (months?) ago? Remember that? Here it is:



I actually don't like it all that much. I mean, I love the pattern and the concept (I'm lookin' at you, jstrizzy!), but it simply isn't very flattering on me. In fact, I don't know how I managed to get my camera to do whatever optical illusion that's goin' on in the picture up there, because in person, the cables (or the yarn I used, or just... something...) adds at least 20 visual pounds to me. Weird. I think it might be usable for wearing under a blazer to work, though.

Also, I have 6 or 7 skeins of the white yarn left to use up. Initially, I was going to make some sort of cardigan to go with the shell, but a) I'm not rockin' the shell, and b) I feel as though a matching-ish cardigan would need to incorporate cables for continuity, and I'd rather do a lace/eyelet cardigan. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't see any one garment incorporating both cables and eyelet and still making much stylistic sense.

Anyway, if you've got any suggestions for a white cardigan (patterns, concepts, success stories, etc), let me know. I've got another week and a half at least until I can cast on for a new project, so I've got a while to ponder...

The knits, they will be fitted. In August.

I have no time to knit right now. Haven't picked up the needles in weeks, what with my time being taken up by the Summer of Studying (and the new Very Nice Boy). So of COURSE, now is a great time for me to acquire a book of patterns I can't wait to start working on, right? Right.

I picked up Stefanie Japel's book, "Fitted Knits" yesterday. In defense of my poor timing, I should say that I had to use up a gift card from a friend in celebration of the recent graduation (thank you, Ian!), and that otherwise, Fitted Knits would have waited at least until I start receiving a salary in August.

Now, I am not allowed to start any of these projects until after July 25. If I post about having cast on for anything new, someone please kick me in the shins. Or take away my yarn. Or something. I've gots ta study!

I'm still alive...

Well hello there!

Before I get dangerously close to the point of not having posted for a month, I thought I'd check in. Things are good but busy in the land of the Craftosaurus.

I started the process of prepping for the bar exam a couple weeks ago, so there's been very little knitting of late. Before that, though, I managed to very nearly finish the Banana Crew shell I'd been working on. Nearly enough, in fact, to try it on and realize that, oh, it isn't very flattering. When I get it completely finished (all I have left is the edging on one of the armholes), I'll post a picture, probably of it laying flat. It's cute that way, just not on me (no, really, all of you who think I'm being overly critical of myself. some clothes look good on me. this sweater just... doesn't). Methinks I'll end up wearing it to work underneath blazers and jackets.

My next mini project over the next few days is to assemble the table that goes with the patio furniture my parents gave me for a (wonderfully generous) graduation present. That way I can sit outside when I work on my other project: memorizing all of the law. Oh boy.