In the knitting dumps

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m just not liking any of my knitting and not being inspired by anything new. It’s the first time that I really don’t want to buy anything, and what I have in progress. As loyal readers may remember, I have 3 projects going:

The green silk top, which was supposed to by my first summer knitting ended up being the only one and I didn’t even finish it.

The Montego Bay scarf is going all right but it’s quite boring.

And the Cezanne cardigan is also progressing but with no excitement.

So I don’t know what to do on what will inspire me.
Maybe it is the lack of good TV to accompany my knitting activities?
Maybe when the new season starts in a few weeks I will feel better about my projects?

Any ideas, my dear readers?
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More knitting advance

A few months ago I got Knitting Lingerie Style and started making a really nice camisole (sleeveless, of course!) I started it before the Victoria Day weekend using Alchemy Silken Straw. Everything that I have done with this project has turned out wrong from the beginning. First I had to repeat the cast-on, then I had to do it again because I decided that I needed to double the yarn for more coverage. Then I made a mistake and knit 7 inches from the cast-on instead of 7 inches from the armhole. Now that I finally started to do the lace I have been doing a 7 stitch repeat, when I should have been doing a 6 stitch repeat with only one stitch at the beginning of the row.
I am definitely not going to rip it again, but I am just tired of it. I have been making it for more than 2 months and the progress has been really really slow. Also, the Alchemy Silken Straw is really annoying, it is not plied, so there is a big chance that you may not catch all the threads when you’re knitting. It’s tricky and annoying.

So I decided that for my trip to Mexico I would take an easier project. I looked into my stash for my skein of Seasilk and started making the Montego Bay Scarf from summer’s Interweave Knits, designed by Amy. It is a relatively easy, and repetitive stitch that fit all right for the plane ride. I also brought a skein of Silk Maiden for my mom and she started making the same scarf with that yarn.

So, after the last disappointment with the Silken Straw camisole I couldn’t take it anymore, so I decided to cast-on for an easy project that may take long (or not), but that will not drive me nuts like this has been doing. I dug in to find the Filati Fantasia Cezanne that I got more than 2 years ago. I casted on for the cardigan that I got from Knitwerx and I have already done about an inch.
Let’s hope and don’t go crazy with this project too.

Finally, I took another look at Runway Knits by Berta Karapetyan, and was concerned that it only features Karabella yarns, which I thought you couldn’t find in Canada. I made a couple of phone calls and found out that the only place in Canada where you can find them is in BC, at a store named Wool and Wicker. I called the store and they were super super nice. They said that even if they don’t have the yarn you need, they can order it for you and they ship all across Canada. It may just be worth the effort, because some of the designs are really nice. My favourite is the Little Black Dress, which uses Karabella Vintage Cotton. Sadly, it uses 3.25 mm needles, I can just imagine how long it would take me to knit it! I also like the Ruffled Cardigan, which uses Karabella Aurora 4 (they do have this yarn at Wook and Wicker, they told me when I called), it also uses super tiny needles, though.
Oh, and at the end of the book there is a substitution chart, explaining the type of yarn you can substitute for the Karabella yarn used in each project. That is quite useful, actually.
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Romantic Hand Knits by Annie Modesitt

This week I got my pre-release copy of Romantic Hand Knits by Annie Modesitt. Some of the patterns are too “romantic” for my taste, but otheres are quite nice. By too romantic I mean they have too many flares and lacey add-ons.
Nevertheless, the book is very informative and quite fun. It contains 26 designs classified in 3 different chapters:
Above the waist, includes sleeveless tops (yaaaay!), sweaters, cardigans, and blouses. The designs are cute, and there are at least two that I would be inclined to make.
Below the waist, this section includes skirts and dresses. There is a beautiful dress, the Cleopatra, It is beautiful, but if I tried to make it I would be on that project for like a year, it doesn’t help that it is knit with 3.5 mm needles and covers from ankles to neck. It uses at least 7 balls of Tilli Tomas Pure & Simple, 100% silk (that’s for the smallest size, it wouldn’t fit me, I would have to go to the third size), it retails for $28 USD each, so the project is at least $196 USD. It is beautiful, though.
There is a skirt, called All About Eve that I just loooooved, it is made of ribbon and is one big wraparound skirt. I’m definitely going to try to make it.
Accessories, the accessories section has hats, gloves, scarves, wraps and a pattern for stockings. The stockings are cute, but being a non-sock knitter, I don’t think I’ll bring myself to make them. I will probably make one of the scarves.

One of my favourite things about this book is that it has a lot of help and instructions, and not your typical “knitting basics” help, but more advanced techniques, specific to the patterns, like: basic embroidery stitches, basic crochet techniques, basic lace knitting techniques, etc. This Resources section is scattered all around the book, just after the patterns where the resources are needed.

I also liked that, apart from specifying the yarn that was used for the model in the picture, it has a generic yarn type specification, in case you can’t find, or can’t afford the specific yarn that is called for.

The book is $35 CDN and will be released on August 7, according to amazon.ca (I have to say that at today’s exchange rate, if you see that the book is $27.50 USD it should be $29.10 CDN. I don’t know why, but I feel like those publishing companies are still taking advantage of us Canadians, the price is 20% more than it is in the US, why oh why??).

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Runway Knits

I got my copy of Runway Knits today and I am so excited. I really want to check out all the designs and see what this book includes.
As for what I’ve seen so far, it features Karabella Yarns (does anyone know if we can find Karabella in Canada? the website has a “find a retailer” button but it works only for the US).
Some designs are so beautiful I may want to make one or two. For what I saw, they look suited for the intermediate knitter.
I’ll take a closer look and maybe choose a project and will keep reporting.

Runway Knits: 30 Fashion-Forward Designs. By Berta Karapetyan.

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Lettuce Knit on a nice Wednesday night

The weather was perfect tonight, so I grabbed my bike and rode all the way to Lettuce Knit.
Amy and I had a blast, we are both knitting green projects. Hers is Tuscany from her No Sheep book. I am knitting a lace camisole from the new book I bought, Knitting Lingerie Style.

Amy gave me a Knitty sticker to put on my bike.

And here I am, ready to go home. Notice the reflective tape? I am terrified of being ran over in the middle of the street, so I stuck it all around the bike for maximum visibility at night. I know it kinda ruins my nice bike, but safety first. Or what do my 3 readers think?
(sorry about the small picture, it’s a terrible picture of me, but it’s the only one I have showing my bike).
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World Premiere of Lovable

At the Bloor Theatre
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

Last night we went to the world premiere of Lovable, a documentary by Alan Zweig.

The movie is light, funny and makes a point. My part doesn’t come up until about an hour into the movie.
When I came up someone in the audience whistled (OK, OK, it was James). I talk about how I have raised my expectations and I have set barriers to intimacy, and sometimes when I lower my barriers I get hurt, this was the saddest part in the whole movie (remember that I gave that interview 2 years ago, though!).
I also talk about knitting and chicken wings! It is so me, everyone laughed, especially in the balcony. I’m pretty sure some people that I know were up there.
I didn’t remember, but Alan asked me to model my sleeveless tops, and they edited the whole thing, me modeling and stuff, into the interview.
At the end there are short takes of each of the women that gave the interviews, and that’s where I look the cutest.
And yes, I had a credit at the end of the movie, which means I will be on IMDB, lots of coolness points for me!!
After the screening there were questions and answers, it was lots of fun, and then Alan asked all the women that had been in the movie to stand up, and the whole theatre applauded us.
After my big screen debut, a celebration was in place, so we went to Paupers across the street.

We had a couple of pints but no chicken wings (I have cut down on chicken wings a lot lately).
All in all, lots of fun surrounded by good company and good friends.

Been swamped

I know, I know, I haven’t updated the blog in almost a week. I am so sorry my dear readers, I have been really busy with deadlines and stuff.
Also, during the weekend James moved to his new apartment, and we were busy packing/unpacking/moving him. But he’s all installed on Queen West now.
On Sunday Amy had a potluck and I made a delicious broccoli-cauliflower casserole. But I didn’t have time to take pictures. Maybe I’ll make it again and post the recipe. I made it up, after all (my diet has been broccoli-intensive lately since that healthy cooking class I took a few weeks ago; broccoli apparently is really healthy, as are blueberries, but I hate them, so more broccoli for me).

Yesterday I had to frog 65% of the work I had done on the last sleeve in the organic wool cabled cardigan; I had made a mistake on the first cable pattern, and I had already knitted 5 more patterns. It was sad, really sad. It is the last sleeve, but it looks like I’m never going to finish that cardigan. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

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Radical lace and subversive knitting

I was subversive during the radical lace and subversive knitting exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City: I took some photos of the exhibit.

The truth is that when I saw the knitted ties that looked like snakes I was enchanted. I took a picture but accidentally didn’t turn off the flash, that made the guards follow us all around the exhibit to ensure we would not take more pictures.

We managed to take 2 more pictures of us knitting. There was a special knitting table to get into the mood. I tried to teach Federico, but I am not a good teacher.

He also took a pic of me knitting, not that me knitting is anything new on the internet.

The tiny little gloves and tiny little knitted jacket and sweaters were amazing. Smaller than for a Barbie doll. Sadly I couldn’t take a picture but if you go to the exhibit’s site, you can see a picture of the gloves (link, exhibit site)

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Knitting Advance

This week I finished the organic wool cabled cardigan back and started with the first front. I am really excited about this cardigan even though it was taking me quite a bit to knit the back, the first front is going faster (then again I have to knit two of them so I’ll see how I do with that).

Today I went to Lettuce Knit and scored 7 balls of Lorna’s Laces Bullfrogs and Butterflies in Periwinkle, a beautiful purple-lavender-blue colour. It was 30% off and I just had to have it. It’s one of the few times when I don’t know what I’m going to make with the yarn I buy, I usually like assigning a project to a yarn or buying kits, but I couldn’t let the opportunity, and the discount pass. If anyone wants to share in this great deal, they still have Lorna’s Laces on sale at Lettuce Knit (though I bought all the purple that was left, there is a pale pink, mint green and other great colours). I am looking at all my books and magazines to assign a project to this yarn and I liked the cabled cardigan on the Holiday 2006 Vogue Knitting. I am still undecided but this may be a good project. (Picture courtesy of Vogue Knitting)

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Much sleeping and some knitting

Being sick is always a good excuse to catch up on your sleep (not that I need an excuse, but heck, I was sick). I slept almost half of the time during the weekend.
I am making the Cabled Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Winter 2006/07, it’s project number 15. I got 7 hanks of the organic O’Wool from Lettuce Knit a few weeks ago and I finally casted on last week but made no advance, since I was working hard on finishing the red top for St. Valentine’s.
On Friday I knitted for about 2 hours and then realized I had made a mistake about an hour before, so I had to unravel some of the advance. On Saturday I slept on and off until about 4 PM, and then I met Clarissa at Gabby’s for drinks and dinner.
Sunday I slept again. I woke up to clean my apartment (book club is meeting here tomorrow, thankfully we’re ordering pizza) and did some more advance on the cardigan. I have done about 10 cm of knitting so far.
I am excited about this project and feeling way better thanks to all the rest I got on the weekend.

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