« April 2006 | ??? | June 2006 »
May 28, 2006
Electra
As promised, I present my Electra here...
You can see the sleeves are a bit too long...let me say that I intended to have long sleeves. I just felt that short body and long sleeves are kind of cool...(of course, short body and too-long sleeves are not the one, and mine looks rather this sort of conbination. I know!) But I am quite happy about the colors! I love this cardi and I would LIKE to wear it in next winter. You ask why I don't say "I will" or "for sure"??
Oh, so you might want to see the inside of it...(caution! are you brave enough for it? are you ready?)
Here it is, the inside of the garment which is not-round worked stripy fair-isle. I have no bravery to count how many odd ends hanging here...and even if I give up to weave in all ends, anyway I have to some to hide the ones which shows from downside or cuff.
In a sense, I am lucky. Because it is no way to wear it now(just to take the photo, immediately I felt too hot with it, in a early-summer evening in Tokyo) therefore I have some months ahead to be ready by the season for Electra. I will weave in one by one, day by day...one day it will finish,I HOPE strongly.
BTW, some of you mentioned the color differences of photos of Gwen. The photo which took inside home, with artificial lighting looks very graysh tone, and the one which took outside looks clearly turquoise blue. The latter is true color. And this phenomenon appears this Electra photos too, the meaning is same.
This week-end I could obtain good quantity of knitting time. I casted on my new project on Friday night and worked a bit:
Same as Gwen, from Rowan #39, Seahorse. Without seahorse version. I love this eggplant deep purple but I don't like so much Cotton Glace...it is stern and hard like rope. (I remember I said same thing when I casted on Gwen with Handknit Cotton, but believe me, Cotton Glace is much harder than that!)
And other than Seahorse, I completed a baby hat and casted on another project...I will show you soon.
Posted by trico at 11:01 PM | ???? (2)
May 22, 2006
FO!
This morning, my Gwen was like this:
And I chose the buttons for Gwen...
These are the buttons I have got some years ago in France. I've walked around in a small "vide-grenier", a mini-flea market, in country side and looked for something useful for knitting. I found a man who placed a big banboo round tray front of him, and inside many crappy, old and dusty button-sheets. I picked up 5-6 sheets like this, some in shell and some plastic, all the partial sheets, 1.5 euros in total. So we can call it kind of antique buttons, and I pick up this for Gwen. Old shell buttons.
And yes, I FINISHED GWEN.
To take this photo, I tried to tear off DH from his PC and forced, to catch the last sunlight of the day. It was evening and I wanted a FO photo without flash. How do you think??? It is snug and fit well, I have not yet wash it. The shoulder looks jacket-like rather than cardigan...it is a bit different from imagined. ANYWAY, I am more than happy to be able to put it on!
BTW, I bought 10 balls of Handknit Cotton. After Gwen, the odds are like that:
I REKNIT the right front, though there is yet one brand-new ball remains. So, if you plan to knit Gwen size XS, I believe you need only 8 balls instead or 9, which is required in the pattern.
And my Electra is still without arms....I concentrated so much on Gwen and consumed all the spare time for it until now. Next time, I guess I could show you Electra and maybe new project(s)...
Posted by trico at 12:02 AM | ???? (3)
May 14, 2006
deja vu
After a big vacation week, my relentless knitting speed has been slowing down, it is normal.
what is not so normal for me is, that I have joined both shoulder seams and side of Gwen before finishing the first sleeve, to see if it really works for me. And the result is that:
Gwen's right front. But...don't you think something is wrong with this ? It looks...a kind of....double-hem like. Did you rub your eyes? No, it's not your fault:
I am knitting the second right front now. After joining the seams of body of Gwen, I even knitted the front edging too to make it more decent, and tried in front of mirror. I forced me to think it is OK and acceptable, but if I leave it as it is, I cannot gain 50g of weight from now, rather I had better to lose 2kg.....
After finishing the first sleeve, I checked my current leftovers. I had 3 bland-new balls and a ball of three-quarter left, other than crappy leftovers. The finished sleeve needed slightly less than 2 balls. The right front needed slightly more than only one ball. At that stage what I have to knit is only the second sleeve and with that all will be done. so I see I have enough yarn to knit ONE MORE RIGHT FRONT, even if it is a bit larger than the first one.
So far I kicked off. During I have knitted a sleeve, something disturbed me and felt unconfortable, I knew something was wrong. The most annoying thing is, to knit and complete a garment which are turned out unwearble. I love Gwen and I absolutely want to wear it, without the looks too tight and unsightly. I want decent look and fit to me. As I have yarn to use, I immediately start.
So...I untied once joined seams for the right front, both shoulder and side. Of course the front edging too. It was painful, but now I feel better. The second right front is the size S instead of XS, and I am adjusting the number of stitch at the point of front decreasing to match the left front. Hope next time I could show the the FO...
And I don't forget my Electra. Last week finally I've got the buttons:
It is Rowan's abalone. As I found out that my LRS(local Rowan shop)was not only short of the stock but their stock won't be supplemented in the future, I ordered to a online shop in England and got it. Now what I have to do for Electra is just to join both sleeves to the body and place these beautiful buttons!
Posted by trico at 10:22 PM | ???? (1)
May 07, 2006
Elephant
The other day when I was knitting and my DH passed by, he looked what I was knitting and said, "what's that? Elephant?"
Please let me show you my elephant:
Yeah, I agree to him. I didn't notice but it does look like a head shot of elephant, doesn't it?
As you might already find out, it is the part of the right front of Gwen.
And this is the full body of that elephant. That nose part was fascinating to knit and I am so happy I could make it. I didn't like so much for the mini-cable part, for it was just unconfortable to cross the stitch with cotton 100% yarn by its lack of elasticity. Though I love that looks. It is neat and beautiful....
BTW, that elephant needs a friend:
So I knitted it. They looks happy. So am I.
But I was kind of excessive.
Did I?? Oh, I have finished that right front part. It was, surprisingly fast! Why? because that part needed almost ONLY ONE BALL of the yarn to finish it.(size XS)
And last some days I happened to stay at home for the Japanese special holiday week, "Golden Week". I was off from last Wednesday to date. I did take care of my boys, husband, home, etc but I sneaked time like that:
I finished body knitting. Now I am knitting the first sleeve, just passed by the annoying mini-cable second part. Today I didn't knit much, but you imagine how happy I am now. Not so much....because it looks too small than imagined. Maybe my gauge swatch lies me...now, I am considering to join the shoulders and side seam first and see if it works. Wish it works. Please.
In the last post I mentioned to knit a tank for my MIL. I have this yarns for it.
Blue Sky Cotton, the color is Fern....nice quiet color. I want to start anytime now, but recently I have learned something. It is my knitting effectiveness rule for getting FO. When I have less than three projects at the same time, I can anyhow manage them and finish them before long. I try to keep it, so I have to finish Gwen soon!