Salina!

Pattern: Salina from Rowan Vintage Knits
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed in Watery

I finished it!!! It only took about five months, but it was worth it. I feel like I really accomplished something with Salina - buttons, LOTS of sewing-up, and the smallest gauge I've ever used on something this big. My only real mod-type-thing was to lengthen the arms by working more stitches between increases than the pattern called for. They came out my absolute perfect length - past my wrist and able to stretch up & cover my hands if I need them to. Mmm.

My main gripe with the pattern was that it definitely used more yarn than called for, which is looking more & more to be a kind of Rowan trait... at least next time I'll be prepared with extra. Felted tweed is fantastic; I absolutely love how it knits up - light, yet sturdy-feeling and warm!

I'm not totally satisfied with the whole group of finished-Salina-pictures I have so far, plus I haven't blocked it, so I'll probably be posting a few more in a bit. But for now yay happy finished sweaters!!

not knitting, but...

I am making this shirt! The one you see in the picture's my
practice version - both to figure out the sizing, and to deal with the fact that I haven't sewn since, oh, seventh grade. I'm amazed! It's going along really well, and the screwups I've made are all stuff that'll be way easy to fix when I do the real thing. I'm making my final version one size smaller in dark/light purple (dark on the yoke/diamond part, light on the bottom) and I just finished cutting out the pieces tonight! Let the sewing-up commence! The pattern I'm using is Simplicity 3964 (it's in the middle of that page) and uh, yeah it's awesome. Also, my back hurts. I will be watching the upcoming season of Project Runway with a newfound respect for how much work this is! I mean, I've only made one measly practice shirt and I'm a little wiped out.

There is some knitting occurring too, not to worry. It's just that I'm a little afraid I won't have enough yarn for my 2nd Salina sleeve. I finished the first sleeve using an entire skein, plus my unraveled gauge swatch, plus a little extra of the felted tweed. And all I have left is one last whole skein, plus a little extra. So it all depends on how much that 'little extra' is. And then seaming? Yipes. I'm pretty sure Rowan's yarn estimates were off, cause I'm making the small and it lists six skeins as the needed amount for the extra-small, small, AND the medium. I'm way on gauge and I know I'd've run out long ago if I were making the medium.

Yargh. So that explains a little of why I've turned to sewing the last few days. Also, sewing is awesome and also, it was making me a little sad to have spent all that money on a sewing machine that wasn't getting any use. Well use it will get! I don't care if I have to neglect all my schoolwork to do it!

yay! kinda

My camera got here! But... I was not here, so it did not stay - it got back on the FedEx truck and so I don't actually have it. I signed the little slip and stuck it back on the door, so let's all cross our fingers for tomorrow.

I started on the lapel section of Salina this afternoon - I am so close to being done with the entire front and back sections! I also got the yarn I ordered for Neaty (see two posts down...) and it's kinda chartreuse-y. I plan on making it work, because I'm pretty sure that's what Tim Gunn would tell me to do. In the same order I also got a copy of Knitting From The Top. I am way excited, I've had an urge for a while now to get in on the designing-side of sweaters, and from what I hear/see related to this book, it'll be a fantastic start.

Also I am down to being 9578th on the ravelry list. Less than ten thousand away! Yay! Kinda!

grar

My camera is gone, well, for right now. I hope to know in a few days whether or not the fixin'll be free. That would be soooo lovely, what with the being a grad student and all.

I finished the back of Salina today! For some reason the neck shaping confused me, but I think I got it all worked out. Did I mention yet how superawesome Felted Tweed is? Because it is. I need to find more felted-tweed-using-patterns, now!



I also bought some yarn for Neaty from Rowan 42. The Rowan Cocoon called for looks soooo nice and soft and all that, but I'm not feeling quite up to spending the hundred-odd bucks that'd take right now. I found Laines du Nord Softlights on elann.com though, which looks to be a good substitute... and the order, with some extra for longer sleeves (because I apparently have freaky long arms and ew, unintentional shorty sleeves!) hit somewhere around $30. That I can do. I looked up the Softlights on google as well, just to check out that it was a decent yarn, and found this. WHICH IS SO CUTE. And she comments specifically on its soft-and-snuggliness, which is what I'm all about for this sweater.

I made a really snazzy MSpaint picture to figure out the colors, too. Because I like to utilize the miracle of technology. Technology that is as old as me.


These are the two greens I ordered - my dilemma was which one for main color. Based on these extremely lifelike models of the hypothetical sweater, I came out liking the one using the light green as the main color, and darker green as the collar/cuffs. The Rowan pattern does it in a similar way with tan and brown, and I think it just has a really cool look. What do you think?

Yippee! Now back to grading (in the world of what-should-I-be-doing) and watching Buffy (in the world of yay!). I'm mid-season-six right now and whoa. Lots to process. Also I cry a lot (in a good way!) when I watch Buffy by myself. I have lots of feelings, what can I say.

eep!

I was all psyched cause I finally found my camera (what with the moving and all, it got slightly forgotten about). And so, yay! Pictures of what I'm making!!

But then here is its sad attempt at a 'photograph':



Or maybe not so much so much 'sad' as 'belongs in a haunted house'...
If you look closely you may be able to make out the Juliet-half-on-the-needles I was attempting to model. But I'm guessing no.

So the pictures of the actual objects will not soon be forthcoming :'(

However, here are some other pictures, of what these actual objects will someday look like, just in different colors and all crazy-professional and junk. So yay! Kind of, but less yay! than if they were my own.


"Lily" from the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Collection

I'm using Cashmerino Aran (yippee for softy-ness!)
in Cranberry color (013).

So far I've finished like 1.5 inches of the back... it's going verrry slowly.






"Salina" from Rowan Vintage Style

in Felted Tweed - color watery


Extra special bonus note: Felted Tweed is awesome. It knits up all super-even and into the studiest fabric. And it's preeeetty... my color is a kind of muted teal, with little white and gold and black and grey and purple bits thrown in, and is nowhere near as gaudy as that list of colors suggests.



Lastly, I recently found craftster. Where was this website all my life? It's so awesome to have all those pictures, discussions, pattern advice, and so on grouped in one place, and I'm pretty damn amazed at everyone's mad skills and even madder creativity.

Yay for inspiration!