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August 29, 2005
Posted by shannon at 10:10 PM | Comments (0) | For related posts: Finished Projects
Capelet! Capelet! The word has lost all meaning!*
Since our wedding is outside in early fall, I decided a few months back that I wanted to make a capelet for Juli the Flower Girl . When my mom and I visited the Morehouse Merino store in early July, I found that their natural yarn (undyed) matched Juli's dress perfectly, so I snapped up a few skeins.
Next step: find a pattern. I looked through my magazines and books, but didn't find anything that matched the picture in my head. I wanted a capelet -- open in the front, not a pullover (that's a poncho); nothing too long (that's a cape). I tried twice to design something, but it did nothing but reinforce my belief that I am knitter and not a designer. When I found this pattern, I cast on with very low expectations. Why? Because this was the picture that accompanied it:
Maybe some of you can see details there, but I sure couldn't. All I knew was that the sizing looked to be right for Juli, and by skimming the pattern I could tell that it had the major characteristics I wanted. (Actually, it only sorta did... that's what you get for skimming the pattern!... but I was able to modify it the rest of the way.)
Who would have thought it would turn out this gorgeous?
I left off the loopy fringe for cleaner lines. I also think it might have been too much with the mock cables. I'm still somewhat stumped about a closure, though the folks at Knitsmiths gave me some good ideas last night. What do you think?
*Every time I say the world "capelet", Jason exclaims "Capelet! Capelet! The word has lost all meaning!" This is apparently an homage to the episode of Friends when Jon Lovitz's character, totally stoned out of his gourd, says "Tartlets! Tartlets! The word has lost all meaning!"
Pattern: Child's Loop Fringe Cape
Yarn: Morehouse Merino 3-Strand
Needles: 8s
Posted by shannon at 10:09 PM | Comments (4) | For related posts: For Juli, Nuptial Knitting
August 24, 2005
You Can Say That Again
I was all set to knit myself a Honeymoon Cami in preparation for my very own luna de miel, but Alison made one for me! It's so soft and silky, the color is so *me*, and the fit is just right. And while I would have loved it even if I weren't a knitter, the fact that I've made this same cami before gives me an added appreciation for the waist shaping and lovely lace edging.
It's taking all of my powers of restraint not to wear this now, in the hot, waning days of summer -- but it's a Honeymoon Cami for Pete's sake, and I think it should make its world debut in Spain. So no pictures yet, though nothing can stop me from taking it out almost every night and fantasizing about the Alhambra and flamenco.
Oh, and just when I thought I couldn't love it more, I found this tucked into the bottom of the gift bag:
Could she be any more thoughtful?
Posted by shannon at 3:01 PM | Comments (6) | For related posts:
August 19, 2005
Posted by shannon at 4:35 PM | Comments (0) | For related posts: Finished Projects
Tony's Paisano Gloves
People will do amazing things for you when you are getting married. Over and over again, I have been humbled by friends' and family's generosity with time, energy, and resources. Obviously I try to thank them immediately and personally when people go out of their way for us, but for the times that doesn't seem like enough I turn -- as always -- to the knitting needles.
One of the unsung heros of the wedding weekend will undoubtedly be Tony, husband to my matron of honor and father to our flower girl. When not shuttling them to wedding-related activities, Tony will likely be attending to their other daughter, who by wedding-time will be around 6 weeks old.
Tony's a contractor in Tennessee, so he can't have his fingers bound up when he's working. And since he hails from the sub-tropics, even Tennessee winters chill him. These are (I hope!) a perfect solution to both problems. Speaking of the sub-tropics, they were also the inspiration for the stripe pattern on the mittens. Tony is about the proudest Ecuadorian you'll ever meet, so I worked in the stripes from his bandera.
Gracias, cuñado.
Addendum: Woops, forgot the project specs!
Pattern: based loosely on the Men's Hand/Wrist Warmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.
Yarn: Cascade 200 Superwash (black) and oddments of Red Heart acrylic in colores ecuatorianos for stripes.
Posted by shannon at 9:55 AM | Comments (1) | For related posts: Nuptial Knitting
August 18, 2005
To a Tee
When we last saw our long-sleeved tee, I had just ripped out the intarsia section because I had somehow created a pucker underneath the "o". I'm glad I redid it -- seems like with intarsia, the fifth time is the charm! After a fair amount of math and sketching, I knit the sleeves. They seemed to knit up very fast, but that could just be the Calmer talking.
When I slipped it on to check the sleeves, I noticed something surprising. I really liked the shape of the neck, which was still collar-less, exactly as it was. I decided that since Rachel and I had taken out so many of the original "tee-like" elements already, leaving off the ringer collar wasn't too much of a stretch. So instead, I just picked up stitches and bound them off purlwise to give the neck a finished look. Voila!
I brought the shirt with me to New York last weekend to give to Rachel. She slipped it on right away, and looked at herself in the mirror: "'Mommy'. That's me!", she said. As soon as those words left her mouth, Syd started yelling from the next room -- and since Syd had been projectile vomiting just a half hour before, Rachel wisely slipped the tee off before going to fetch her. In other words, so perfect is this shirt for Rachel that there wasn't even time to take a picture of her in it!
Posted by shannon at 2:59 PM | Comments (6) | For related posts: For Rachel, Long-Sleeved Chocolate Tee
Long-Sleeved Chocolate Tee for R. (Follow progress here!)
Posted by shannon at 1:17 PM | For related posts: Finished Projects
August 11, 2005
New Baby, New Boomerang
He's here, he's here! Jason's brother and sister-in-law are the proud parents of Robbie, who will be two weeks old tomorrow. He was barely a week old when his mama sent me this picture of him, with Ephraim the Elephant standing watch over him. Now that's a quick karmic boomerang! (Now all I have to do is wait for him to be big enough to wear this.)
I'm New York-bound this weekend, so not only is tomorrow Robbie's two-week birthday but it's the first time that I get to hold him and kiss him! We were able to squeeze in a half-day visit to New York the weekend he was born, but were limited to grinning and gesturing at him through the window of the nursery. I'm even staying with Robbie and his parents so as to maximize baby cuddling and kissing time. I can't wait!
Posted by shannon at 3:50 PM | Comments (3) | For related posts: For Robbie, Miscellaneous Small Projects
August 5, 2005
Two by Two
Been pretty quiet around here, huh? Never fear, I'm knitting like a crazy woman. I've been incredibly productive, so it's not one of those times where I don't post because there's nothing to report. It's weird, I've even had entries queued up, needing only the slightest bit more work to be ready to post... and there they've languished.
Part of the reason is that there's a whole lotta wedding planning goin' on around here these days. (My motto is, "prepare frantically now to avoid being preparing frantically later".) It's time consuming, energy consuming, and deadly boring. Can't have that on the blog, now can we?
Here are two things that I've finished recently: nice, simple 2x2 ribbed scarves. The blue one is for a friend of the family who is hosting a brunch for "the womenfolk" the day before the wedding -- it's made of Cashmerino Superchunky in Misty Blue. The pink one is for the facilities/wedding coordinator at the place we're getting married, who is patient, competent, and responds quickly to e-mail*. It's made from just under two skeins of Rowan Cork in Pleasure, which I received as part of my welcome kit when I joined Rowan. The pattern for both was Alison's orange bliss scarf.
*If Jason and I made a movie about working with wedding vendors, the title would be "Must Use E-mail". But we wouldn't make such a movie because we'd be incarcerated for boring people to death.
Posted by shannon at 11:55 AM | Comments (0) | For related posts: Nuptial Knitting