gaysknits

since i can't make a decision...

i totally changed my course of action...totally.  i have been dreaming of a clapotis and just cannot stop obsessing about the yarn choice so i have let that dream go and maybe when bonnie knits aka lys is having their january yarn sale i may look around for something i can touch and see and hopefully fall in love with and commit to.  in the meantime i also fell for the chevron scarf and for the striped noro scarves i've been seeing around and about that hat i promised the boy huh what about that hat?  since i received a belated gift card to a book store for my birthday i bought last minute knitted gifts which has a lot of patterns i want to make but most specifically the chevron scarf, the hat, and a noro striped scarf.  this morning i bought yarn for the chevron scarf...and since i already forget what colors i bought it'll be a real surprise...and i bought some noro iro for the hat for the boy and also kureyon for a noro scarf because in doing so i secure my discount with webs and now i have three winter projects to do...which will be needed as i expect lady eleanor to be finished this weekend so i need something to move on to and it will not be clothing...not in the foreseeable future anyway but when it does become about clothing i have lots of yarn in the stash for it!  as i said before...i'm in the mood for scarves! the sexy knitters are voting again on the first knit along of the new year and i am quite interested in the drops jacket but not the sweaters that are getting votes tallied up right and left...i guess you should not expect to see me in the next kal...unless of course i change my mind.  coming soon...but not until i get my yarn in the mail...yarn porn and in the meantime take a look at my new book!   while visiting marshalls last night while the guy was perusing electronic things i scored a calphalon baking pan for $5.00, a stainless steel soup pot also on the clearance rack but not for $5.00, some kickass french knives with little bees on the handles and a big red strainer so my kitchen is well stocked now all i need is some food from the grocery to cook and the desire to cook it!  i feel a sunday cook off/knitting/movie watching marathon coming up!  happy saturday...later...love   g   

the good news and the bad...

i think instead of a new years resolution i'l do a year in yarn review.  you know where i'll talk about the yarns i've used this year and loved or hated or am dissappointed in. sounds like a plan but for now let me tell you a few stories about knitting and let me talk about the bamboo.  i am on the hood of the little guys cabo hoodie and am real happy with how it has turned out.  i am happy even though i misread the instructions for the hood and made increases every six stitches instead of making six increases evenly spaced which put me at a size large hood on a medium sweater...no harm done the little guy has a big head anyway and what are the chances that the hood will actually be worn...probably none!   i wore my tree jacket the other day when the guy and i went to the warhol.  i didn't really plan to wear it that day but i put it on for a picture and thought why not so i wore it.  it was surprisingly comfortable...that is to say not too hot to wear indoors.  if you recall i knit the sweater using tahki  bali which is 100% bamboo yarn.  it was a tape  which seemed like a good idea as bamboo yarn is really really splitty.   bamboo yarn is soft too...really really soft.  the softness makes the yarn really drape nicely which seemed like a good idea.  i thought it would have been perfect for a tunic type knit like the sahara.  what attracted me to the tree jacket was the detail and the silouette.  it looked like a sweater i would wear and wear and wear.  yarns substitution can be a tricky thing and guage is not the only trick to it.  fibre is a huge consideration and i am known for making all the wrong choices.  this sweater when finished was a dream come true. it was comfortable, body hugging, light weight and had a gorgeous sheen.  i thought it was a miracle until i washed it and when wet it shrunk and stiffened and when it  dried it relaxed more than it was before i washed it making it just a tad softer, a tad looser a tad less fitted and body hugging and a tad bigger.  so far so good cause it was quite small on me to begin with.  if i say so myself it looked damn good in the finished knits pictures...damn good.  as i said i wore it to the warhol where i spent about 3 hours.  most of the employees at the warhol are the cool kids...you now what i mean.  the kids that look like they stepped off the streets of new york or paris to work at the gift shop at the warhol. one such kid said to me while i was buying my divine tee shirt and let me add the conversation he had with all the other folks who were buying divine tee shirts was "another divine shirt sold"...he said this to every one who bought one and four of us did that day but hey they were on sale who could resist?  any way i digressed....what he said to me was "i want to buy that exact sweater for my girlfriend for christmass" and when they guy told the cool kid i made it and i told him he would not be able to as it was probably one of a kind all he said was "sweet...that is sweet." my point is that even after wearing the sweater for three hours and having it stretch slightly for those three hours it was still a cool looking sweater worthy of a compliment form a guy, a compliment from a guy well under the age of forty to a woman more likely older than his mother i might add!  kudos to the zephyr gals who have designed another really nice sweater!  i made a few modifications to the pattern which was to knit the body in stockinette rather than the lace and i tapered the sleeves and the cuff but i had to because of the yarn.   to continue with my story of the wearing of the sweater.  we went to dinner and to a movie and after wearing the sweater for about seven hours the sleeves had stretched at least 5 inches longer and covered my hands completely and the width of the sleeve stretched so it was no longer body hugging and was damn baggy and then the length of the sweater also stretched so that the line of garter was below boob instead of where it started which was above boob!  it didn't wrinkle though if i can say anything nice about it but what a huge dissappointment it was.  this sweater is meant be worn all day and then given to your bigger sister so she can wear it the next day and then probably given to your bigger sisters even bigger football star boy friend so he can wear it to practice the day after that...hey he's a football star who's gonna mock him? any way great pattern but the bamboo yarn i hoped was a miracle...was not and so let me say this...thumbs down baby!  thumbs down!  i'm making another tree jacket in a more suitable yarn...yes i am!  later...love   g

taking a break from the birthday festivities...

to bring you tree jacket!   this has been finished for a bit but has been drying and then waiting for the light of day so a proper picture could be taken but i still don't know that i captured this color properly!  this is the best i can offer for today.  today is the day of my 55th birthday.   happy birth day to me!  the guy and i started the festivities last evening with a dinner out a john harvards brew house where i enjoyed a yodeling brew with my cod smothered in garlic and capers mmm but the garlic nearly did me in  but mmm anyway!  the guy also had some cod but cooked a little differently and i was a commitee of one to eat all the bread and parmesan olive oil!  today i had presents and we are on our way to enjoy the new exhibits at the warhol!  georgia o'keefe and a selection of australian artists have special exhibits there now.  my new camera is dangling from my arm in these photos and is the coolest little waterproof shatterproof freeze proof gadget!  can't wait til the battery charges fully to take some bathtub pics!  whooppee!  more details on the pattern, modifications and yarn used in the tree jacket a little later but for now...later...love   g

november at spc....

is for self portraits that feature "what i wear" as a subject.  what we wear defines us.  just a glance at what we are wearing reveals where we live, what we do, how we play, how we make a living, what we like and what makes us feel special.  if i had to choose one aspect of my life that defined me it would be how i spend my free time...not where i work or what i do or what i study but how i fill my time and spend my life.  i spend a lot of my time knitting.  i knit to relax. i knit to create. i knit to teach myself something new. i knit for the experience of knitting. what comes out of my knitting it is a piece of knitted something or other whether it be a wash rag or a scarf or a purse or pair of gloves or a hat or a sweater.  some knitted things never get used or worn and others become favorites but in the end it doesn't matter what becomes of it or if it ever gets worn.   what matters is the experience it brings to your life.   sometimes something comes out of the experience that is fashionable and pretty and sometimes it is something that makes someone smile or sometimes what comes out of it is nothing more than the experience.  the experience in this case of choosing a pattern and a color and some buttons and finally a moment or two where you and your best girl have a few smiles showing off.   nothing wrong with that!  these sweaters were made from the same pattern and i originally intended to make one for the youngladygrandaughter but when i got started i couldn't resist making one for myself as well.  the whole process for both of us was fun.  choosing just the right yarn and making the best decision economically and imagining what we could wear it with and choosing the perfect buttons. i like the knitting but i also love adding the finishing touches...the hand sewing of seams and buttons and the hand washing and laying flat to dry and the anticipation of trying the finished product on and the day when you finally get to take pictures of it to share.  in the end i think both of these sweaters will be worn. i have a date for lunch with  my mom and i'll be wearing mine.  it reminds me of a time when i was a child of 6 or so and my mother made me a green knit coat with silver buttons and i wore it to school on saint patricks day with a pink corderoy skirt and when i took off my coat i was the only one in the classroom wearing pink on st patricks day but i didn't care. my green was hanging in  the cloak room waiting for my real life to begin...even then it began the moment i walked out the door to start living my life on my time in my own way wearing my favorite green knit coat!  come to think of it i think it was this very shade of green...i wonder...does my mom remember that green knit coat with the silver buttons? see more of what people wear here at spc.

the dueling juliets...

that were knit with the sexy knitters kal are done and ready for wearing!  we need better pictures but we couldn't wait to show off a little!  these were knit pretty much simultaneously by me...one for the youngladygrandaughter and one for me!  we plan to do another photo shoot but shoot...these are good enough for now huh?

pattern:  juliet by zephyr knits

yarn: new age teal...brown sheep...cotton fleece and

pistachio...cascade...pima silk

later...love   g