pepperknit

I’ve been sitting on this awesome news for MORE THAN A YEAR, guys. A year! That’s like . . . seven dog years. Fifteen cat years. Approximately 4mm of a tree’s trunk diameter. Almost 526 THOUSAND minutes. Like I say, it’s a long time.

A long time to keep a secret.

I’m bad at keeping secrets, really. I like to share my life with people, and I like knowing what’s going on. But this? I kept it a secret. And now here it is!

Caro and Stitchy went and created a totally original, totally awesome knitting (and crochet) book. Inspired by photos from patterns of the past (most of which I probably wouldn’t have given a second glance, but these two saw a hint of something good), they went to many different illustrious designers and asked for modern interpretations. I’m pretty tickled that I was asked to contribute.

The Sock Hop Sweater and Socks set is my design:

And Caro and Stitchy combined it with 40+ other awesome patterns (many of which I can’t wait to make) and created such a killer book.

The patterns are listed separately: Go queue them! Go fave them! See them, plus all the other patterns, on Ravelry.

Let’s start with the knitting—this is, at its core, a knitting blog after all.

The total here might look paltry . . . and, well, it is! Seven? That’s it? Really? Did I forget to tag something and put it in the set? Hm . . . I know that the scarf took me no more than a week, the cowl something like 2 days. . . . What was I doing with my time?

Oh, that’s right: “secret” projects. More on those in a bit.

Probably the most satisfying thing I did this year was really invest my time in crocheting. I’ve always known how to crochet, but I mostly ignored the craft—sure, in 08 I made Dhoby, the monkey, but that felt like an exception, not the rule. But this year I started working at Crochet Today part time, and it only made sense that I would suddenly want only to crochet, being surrounded by it all day long. Still mostly just small projects, but fun ones!

But this mosaic doesn’t even address all the things I crocheted this year . . . yes, more secrets. (Revealed below.)

I sewed this year too—seems I average one sewn project a year these days, though I buy more fabric than gets used. I foresee more sewing in 2010, definitely.

oh, and

But one major reason my productivity is seemingly small is that I was involved in quite a few projects I kept secret. Two projects went to Caro and Stitchy for their “bookbookbook.” Several others are my own designs-in-progress, which need some srs TLC in the coming year.

Three were patterns for Crochet Today (under my real name; still working to figure out how to best link that to Minty). But only 2 are out yet:

And the coolest secret project I worked on was to make the white backgrounds for this video demonstrating the tabs function in Google Chrome OS! I didn’t make the first white bg you see, but I did the second and third—and I did them both in one painful, RSI-inducing day. I’m still not clear who of my readers suggested me to the production company, but a big “thank you!” because that was one of the more fun things I’ve been involved with.

So in some ways it doesn’t look like much, but in others this year was a big one for me, craft wise. I’ve got lots of creative mojo gearing up for 2010: I think it’s going to be great!

Back in Vestvember, I got very zealous and started three vests. Two I finished during the month of November, but as the third was a Christmas present for Dad, I moved a bit slower on it. I brought it with me to Norway and worked on it in plain sight of the recipient :)

I finished up the knitting on Wednesday in the evening and eagerly soaked it to get it fully blocked. Since I was using yarn reclaimed from an old WIP, it was all blumpy and messy looking. I was anxious to get it dry right away, so I ran it through mom’s dryer on “no heat” for 30 minutes. But after 30 minutes nothing was happening, so we changed the cycle to “warm” for 20. The yarn was Cascade 220 Superwash bought a long time ago, so I figured it would do it good—superwash always grows so much and often benefits from some dryer time, right?

NO.

The damn thing felted up. Not, perhaps, as much as it could have—there’s still the lovely cable pattern visible—but it felted nonetheless. I shrieked and cried, and mom and i each grabbed one side of the sweater and pulled and pulled and pulled. We got it a bit longer.

I told dad he’d be squeezing into it come the 25th no matter what, though, and he did! We even got some tiny snowflakes falling for our photo shoot on the deck.

Dr. G’s Memory Vest (rav | pattern)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash (though perhaps that is debatable)
Needles: US 8
Started: November 11
Finished: December 23
Notes: I only worked the pattern on the front, so I worked the back as a size x-small and the front as a size small. Honestly, the gauge was a bit open on 8s with this yarn (since Cascade isn’t really a true worsted weight), so the felting has resulted in a really great looking sweater. If only it fit better!

It’s a bit tight to get on and off at the neck, and the armholes are on the tight side; we may just cut them open to allow for some room. It’s snugger than intended but the fact that it still fits has me concerned that the unfelted version might have been big anyway! Honestly, given how nice the fabric looks I’d recommend making a size or two larger and felting it intentionally.

It’s best reserved for only the coldest of winter days here in Norway, anyway. But I think that’s every day.

I’m not sure if I believed that it was going to work, despite all assurances that it would.

When people told me it was no sweat—really—to take scissors to my knitting, I nodded and shrugged like I was well versed in this technique and had no concern.

But the truth is, I’d done a whole lot of reading about steeking, understood the theory and concept thoroughly, and seen loads of friends do it, but I hadn’t yet done it, I was scared out of my mind.

But I dove into the Deep-V Argyle Vest anyway.

And guys, it is no sweat—really—to take scissors to your very feltable 100% wool sweater.

I’m lucky, though: JulieFrick let me give it a whirl first on the adorable Grows Like a Weeds that she knit for her boys.

But back to my knitting—that’s why you’re here, right? My totally perfect argyle vest? The one that’s super warm and yet still comfortable and I am totally in love with?

Deep-V Argyle Vest (pattern | my rav page)
Yarn: Ella Rae Classic, in blue and gray (3 balls of blue and 2 of gray)
Needles: US Size 4. I bought Hiya Hiya steels, and they were nice! Cheap, and they come with a cute locking stitch marker
Started: November 9 (swatching), started knitting for reals on November 12
Finished: The knitting was done on November 18. This is the first time I’ve taken notice of the fact that I actually knit the colorwork part in just 6 days. Dang. I finally got around to steeking on November 21, and it was blocked and dry on November 29. (Basically, I took forever to finish the finishing.)

Notes: So, the pattern is the Deep-V Argyle but I honestly think a super-deep-v looks, well, silly on most people, especially those like me who are not overly well endowed. But what’s great about this pattern is that the entire thing is charted, so you can just redraw your own outline and go from there. So that’s what I did, and in the end I probably did something that was closest to the 36″ size, but I cut the number of rows below the waist shaping and cut out rows in the armholes, too (my row gauge was slightly off). In some ways I didn’t knit the pattern at all—it’s as if I took the argyle chart and just drew my own sweater on it! The detailed and reassuring information in the pattern about steeking was really helpful, though.

And it was no sweat, I swear.

Vestvember is still in full swing here, never fear—just because I finished my first vest doesn’t mean I’m stopping!

I didn’t deliberately pick the color because of its warm honey tones, but boy does it fit for this pattern! The yarn was leftover from my Mirage, and this was a great stashbusting vest.

Honeycomb Vest (Knitty / Rav)
My project page
Started: Friday, October 30
Finished: Saturday, November 7
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool
Needles: US 4
Notes: I had some stupid weirdness with the “at the same time” directions for the front shoulders, and ended up with 1 too many stitches on both sides. At first I just decreased them away at the neck edge, but then I realized that this threw the pattern ever so slightly off, and it wouldn’t match up perfectly with the back. So I took it out and redid that.

I cabled without a cable needle but really wish I’d just done the “left cross” and “right cross” stitches, where you make a faux cable by working both stitches in a particular way. It would have been a lot faster. And if I’d done that I most definitely would have done the whole thing in the round; though mattress seaming two sides is not a big deal, it would have been really nice to have not had to think about that during the finishing.

One other word of advice for those making this: bind off in pattern. When I was redoing the front split I got lazy and just bound off in purl, and it made for a too-tall swath of knits on the right side. I considered duplicate stitching some purl bumps in later, but ultimately I just picked up for the neckline lower along the edge to hide it. I thought I could live with it, but it looked really awful. So just do it right from the get-go and learn from my lazy desire to finish quickly.

I’ve got 2 more vests I want to knit, so I’m not stopping anytime soon!

Today, I delved into the world of quilting. Two log cabin squares in aquas and reds, made to be “wonky” (a true challenge for me).

I’ve done one log cabin square before, but it was the epitome of precision: each band was 1″ wide, exactly, all the way around, without fail. I didn’t expect it to come out that way, but I’m someone who tends to the exact. For this I was aiming to make it more “free-form,” and though it required careful planning, I think I managed it! The true surprise was how much they look alike—the first was done and not within sight while I sewed the second, and yet I have wide bands in the same fabrics and the placement of the fabrics is really quite similar. Oh well, so much for “random”!

Today’s my dear friend Liz’s baby’s first birthday. I was about to cop out and buy him a book or something, but what kind of friend would I be if I resorted to store-bought? Amigurumi birdies swooped in to the rescue!

Each bird took about 2 hours, but given that I started them late Friday night and was busy all day Saturday, I only sewed parts on the 2nd bird on the subway on my way to the party. As a result, as per usual, the gift was not wrapped. Someday, I will plan a gift in advance, procure the appropriate packing materials, and present the recipients with a lovely wrapped gift complete with ribbon. Today was not that day, as I whipped the birds out of my purse and waggled them at the birthday boy.

He shrieked, grabbed them, waved them about, and promptly flung them away. Seemed like a good reception to me!

Birds of a Feather (Rav)
From: Crochet Today, Jan/Feb 2008
Yarn: A mixture of yarns, including some random 8-ply wool I got in Singapore (the red and the khaki) and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (the beaks)
Hooks: H/8 (for the red) and G/7 (for the other parts)
Notes: None of note. The pattern also includes a comb for the bird’s head but I went without. For one bird’s eyes i made French knots, wrapping the yarn around the needle 3 times (any less and the knot was too small). I attached the wings on one bird with the longest feather at the top and the other bird with the smallest at the top. It was a deliberate choice but I have no idea why. They were fun to make!

“I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us. Mr. Stay Puft!”

It’s a classic (even the channel AMC (American Movie Classics) tells us so). It’s always on TV (just tune to AMC). It’s part of cultural consciousness like only a few other movies in our lifetimes. It’s Ghostbusters!

And it’s also Jason’s favorite movie. But I noticed, despite all the cool T-shirts Jason has and has even made himself, he was lacking in the Ghostbusters department. I had to fix that, didn’t I? Ectoplasmic goo isn’t so easily rendered, but the Stay Puft marshmallow man sure is.

I found an image online that I traced and tweaked to create space between his joints. The whole thing got traced onto freezer paper. Freezer-paper stencils are incredibly easy once you’ve got a plan—in fact, I once wrote out a short tutorial, the first time I gave it a shot. My only frustration was the paint itself. Opaque white is thick and gunky, and stenciling it on wasn’t the smoothest of operations. But I made it work (perhaps the homemade look helps—don’t want anyone to think he got this in a store, after all!). A second layer, in orange, was applied after the white was fully dry, and this guy was ready to ravage all of New York City!

Let me acknowledge the long silence round these parts and apologize. I said I was on a knitting break but that isn’t entirely true—I’ve actually knit a few things so far this year, and I’m overdue to share them with you. It’s a rededication to the blog, as I’m currently bursting over with crafty happiness!