Ah, Simplicity!

Late last Saturday night I was a little restless. I was stumped (or mad, what have you) with the Cropped Cardigan, but I was still feeling the urge to craft something. But I had so many ideas running around in my head that all I could do was lay face down in a pillow in a sort of mental state which some would call pouting, but I call meditation. Finally, I decided to get up and rummage through my stash.

I never seem to use a full skein of sock yarn for my socks and thus, I have leftovers that really can't yield another adult sock. So what do I do? Why, make a head band, silly! A head band in a super easy lace netting in a fun summer colors.

Nevermind that I almost never wear headbands.


It was pretty easy and in total, only took me a couple hours. It's made from leftover Knitpicks Dancing sock yarn of which I made Jaywalkers. I used size 1 needles following this pattern for RS and WS rows: k1, *YO, p2tog* repeat to last stitch, k1. That's it.

It's cute! Maybe a little too wide. I could've used some brain cells and decreased on a diagonal for the back part. But oh well.

ACTION SHOTS!!




(Tyra, you know I'm FIERCE!)

So what do you do with leftover sock yarn?

I lament.

Why can’t I knit a sweater and be absolutely in love with it? I see it all the time on Craftster. Someone knits some gorgeous pattern and the fit, color, everything is perfect. Why can’t I knit like that? Where do I go wrong?

Well, for one I’m not good at picking patterns that fit my body type. My mind seems to think I’m 5’10”, 110 lbs, with perfectly proportional bust/waist/hip measurements. And I also live a magical world filled with fairies and leprechauns. Sadly, this is not true. I acknowledge this, but I somehow can’t get this acknowledgement to cross over to my knitting.

Secondly, I’m still a newbie when it comes to fit. My garment making experience has it’s origins in sewing where you almost always need extra ease. Knitting is the opposite and I’ve been learning this the hard way.

The “Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties” I’ve been knitting is almost finished. In my excitement I tried it on and examined myself in the mirror a couple inches shy of finishing the second sleeve. Much to my dismay, I wasn’t immediately thrilled. Why? It’s too friggin’ big! It’s 44” around the bust, a full 6” larger than my bust measurement. I’m not sure how this happened and I’m willing to admit it is my fault (ahem, gauge swatching). It being a cardigan, I didn’t want negative ease, but this is ridiculous.

But I refuse to FROG. I’m done frogging, people. Either I start planning and gauging better, or I make do with what I have. So this time, I must make do.

I pinned the body and sleeves in about 1.5” and then I tried it on. Much better. It’s decided. I will take this sack-o-sweater and alter it via sewing machine. I’m not sure how this will work, but I’m willing to risk it in the face of option B (frogging). Anyone have any experience sewing hand-knit items?

If I still don’t like it, I’ll give it to my MIL.

Cropped Cardigan by Stephanie Japel, Progress Post

Been a little MIA lately. But I have NOT been unproductive:

Better?

Here's a little sneak peek at the Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties by Stephanie Japel (current knitty surprise). It should be finished by the end of this weekend. Can't say I'm completely in love with it. After trying it on, I think I could have gotten away with a size smaller. Which makes me think that I should always make sweaters with negative ease, no matter what the numbers say. I figured since it was a cardigan I'd want a little extra room. Thankfully, it's 100% cotton and may shrink a bit once my building's "washer/dryer of death" gets a hold of it.

Better gauge swatching would probably help too. But I like to skimp on that and get to the good stuff. Blasphemy, I know.

I have some special news!

I fed alpacas!

I spun!

I spun alpaca fiber!

And I have pictures!!!

But you have to wait, because the pics were taken on my Mom's camera and I have yet to receive them. I'll start bugging her soon. She just moved, but this is important. This is ALPACAS, damnit!