I have a well-dressed nephew.

front

back

dressing the model

Project Specs:
Pattern: Sirdar 1731
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo
Colorway: 139
Skeins: 5
Size: 1-2 yrs.
see also Ravelry project page.

The pattern was, for the most part, easy to follow. The only difficult part was when I ran into a section that said, "Patt 2tog," and "patt to end." Pattern 2 together? WTF? It took me a while to figure out that they meant, "Do this to whatever stitch presents itself at that time in the pattern." If you're looking at k st, then k2tog. If you're looking at purls, p2tog.

Notes on the yarn: Baby Bamboo is wonderfully soft. It is splitty. At times it is like knitting with giant embroidery floss. Ends left hanging loose will fray; I knotted some of them until I was ready to sew them in (then I just cut off the knot and threaded my needle). Once you accept that it is splitty, it is not difficult to work with.

Other notes: I did all cables without a cable needle, since it was only ever cabling in sets of 2 sts. It takes a little more getting used to when working with a splitty yarn like bamboo. Project is worked in 5 pieces, then sewn together. Placket and collar picked up and knitted after seaming shoulders; before setting sleeves. I did a crochet cast-off to add some rigidity to the back of the neck.

The Peculiar Aristocrat

I did this. It gave me wonderful aristocratic titles, but I thought I'd flesh 'em out a little bit with helpful character descriptions.

Countess-Palatine Courtney the Cosmopolitan of Bartonhurst in the River: hosts candlelight suppers with riparian entertainments that are so chic, it's almost painful.

Lady Madame Courtney the Weird of Much Madness upon Avon: runs the best bordello in town, whose motto is, “We do it all. And we mean all. No request too kinky. Do you like pancakes?”

====
I cast on for the Hoja Otoñal (Autumn Leaf) Capelet from Kiparoo. I am in love with this yarn. It's the one I was gushing over in the last post. The capelet got wonky somewhere around Row 18, so when I have a minute I'm going to go through and count stitches on the needles and in the pattern and do a little problem-solving.

I worked on Bryan's Beanie during the Ravelry meet-up last Friday. I was having so much fun chatting that I sort of forgot that I had adapted the pattern for gauge... I was doing the decreases, and didn't allow for the fact that the pattern says: DO DECREASES EVERY THIRD ROW. No problem, chief! I did decreases every third row, plugging away through that 1x1 ribbing and running my mouth to anyone who would listen -- completely forgetting that where the gauge swatch in the pattern is 33 sts x 44 rows = 4", my gauge is 22 sts x 26 rows = 4". Yeah.

I also started working on a long-queued sweater for my nephew (Ravelry link). I'm going to try to finish it for his 1st birthday (end of March).

In general news, my workouts are kicking my ass -- in a good way. I do weightlifting two or three times a week, and have combat class once or twice a week. Bag work is hard on my wrists, even when I wrap them... so we'll see whether I continue that. I'd rather have less-effective punches and still be able to knit for an hour in the evening. :-) It's the busy season at work, which means less time for knitting and blogging. Hopefully that also means I'll try harder to sneak in more time for knitting and blogging. ;-) Until next time...

Knitting Adventures in SC, continued

I left off with a description of the jacket and wrap I intend to make. This post continues with the other things I bought at The Elegant Stitch.


PART IV - Wild Stuff

Just inside the door was a mannequin wearing a gorgeous jacket made of Prism "Wild Stuff." I fell in love with the yarn and decided I wanted to make one. Rosemary informed me that it takes 4-5 full skeins of "Wild Stuff," and while she did not have enough currently in stock, she would be happy to order and mail the yarn to me. Difficulty: "Wild Stuff" is $92 a skein (6-8oz/300yd). Think I'll put that one on the back burner.



PART V - Feathers

I also bought one skein of Anny Blatt feather yarn:



and one length of marabou with guinea feathers:


Rosemary had more available, and I almost bought all she had, but I have no idea what I'm going to do with these trims...


PART VI - Island Knits

The Island Shops remind me of the Channelwood Age in Myst where you had to turn the taps a certain direction... and I never got it right. Sometimes I think I spent half my childhood playing that game with one of my friends, but it was probably more like 3 weeks altogether. Now I feel like going out and buying it--and like the recovering alcoholic, I must say no, no matter how badly I want it, because once I pop that disc in my computer I'd probably be hooked into it for a month--and that would result in lost knitting time, which would be bad. So, ah, no Myst for me. I remember liking the books, too... but that was in elementary or middle school, when I thought Anne McCaffrey was the best thing to ever happen to the written word... who knows, I may still think the books are good if I gave them another read, but until then I'm reluctant to account for my taste back then...

ANYWAY, the Island Shops reminded me of that... except the Island Shops have a massive flock of ducks, geese and swans swimming in the swamp--of course I didn't manage to get any in this picture--which tended to hang out towards the front shops, where the feeders (and tourists) are. It's calm and peaceful. Even the sweltering mid-August afternoon didn't seem so bad there. But you didn't come here to read about the non-knitting shops.

Island Knits has an excellent variety of yarns for a small shop. They are organized in bins according to yarn, and grouped roughly by manufacturer. Of course, that all could change as I came in just after the owner had finished unpacking a shipment of new yarns. I was tempted by some baby alpaca, but I was also conscious of my yarn diet, and my resolution to not buy yarn without a purpose (hence why I've been buying projects and kits lately).

I settled on two things for my nephew:
(1) Basket weave-style sweater in navy blue Reynold's Wash Day Wool. Pattern 1521 by Sirdar. I saw the pattern worked up in a rougher wool of a different color and loved it (although not the feel of it). The Wash Day Wool is surprisingly soft and, as the name implies, is machine washable--I imagine this is a plus when knitting for a toddler... although his parents would send his things out for dry cleaning if I told them it was necessary. Dry cleaning is a damn sight easier than hand washing everything. I wonder if the dry cleaners have little bitty wire hangers and miniature clear plastic bags for babies' clothes...

(2) Cabled pullover in Baby Bamboo, also by Sirdar (1731). I'm using the color and yarn illustrated on the cover of the pattern, because that color will look excellent on him. I ended up buying a lot more of the Bamboo than I would have needed in the wool (also recommended by the pattern), but I have wanted an excuse to buy bamboo yarn for some time and I figure a baby sweater is perfect. The bamboo is deliciously soft...