Archives for November 2002

Because you’ve seen this sweater before.

Well, not exactly this sweater. The brown gansey from a few days is knitted from the same pattern.As you may recall, it’s from the Debbie Bliss Traditional Knitting book.

This one is knitted in Wendy Guernsey wool that I bought dirt cheap in a John Lewis department store in Cardiff, Wales.

And here’s the back of Fulmar. I’m plodding along on it. And to answer a question in the comments, I did get the gauge of 30 st./4 inches. Using a US size 2 needle.

Miss Izzy is very good about guarding Fulmar when I put it down!

Note: Squib has exceeded her traffic quota for the month, so if you can’t get to her blog, try again on Sunday, when all should be reset.

Happy Thanksgiving . . .

. . . to all my blog buddies. I’ll be taking a break from blogging for the holiday weekend, so I’ll see you all next week. Maybe the tag-board will be back working by then, eh?

In Marion Foale’s Classic Knitwear is, in my opinion, this sexy little number:

Cool sweater, huh? You knit the body and sleeves in one piece, starting at the bottom ribbing on the front (or back — they’re identical). Cast on additional stitches to make the sleeves. Pick up stitches at the bottom of the sleeves and knit ribbing down, then pick up stitches around the deep v-neck and knit ribbing there as well.

I made this ages ago — late 1980s? — out of a sportweight single-ply wool and I think it’s Brown Sheep. Do they (or did they) make a sportweight “Lamb’s Pride?” That’s what the yarn looks like.

Yow! What a day at work yesterday. I’m sure I’ll be cramming at least five days worth of work into three days this week. Insanity is rampant.

And little knitting was done last night, as it was my Annual Holiday Shopping Trip™ with my Dad. We always go out a couple of days before Thanksgiving and I help him pick out my Mom’s Christmas gifts, and then we have dinner afterwards. Always a fun outing!

Izzy is basking in the glow from all the publicity she received, being featured in Bonne Marie’s ChicKnits yesterday!

A good weekend was had by all here. A fun evening with friends on Friday night (and Izzy had to be the center of attention throughout). Thanksgiving turkey shopping on Saturday. And we “invented” a new drink on Saturday:

In a glass with ice, add about 1 ounce peach schnapps, 1.5 ounces vodka, and fill with diet cola. Stir and drink!

Yum!

Look! It’s Fulmar!

Lookie, lookie! A Fulmar update photo!

This is the completed front. I’ve made it a couple of inches shorter than the pattern directs, as I prefer my arans not quite so long. Also note that the sides are curled in so the side patterns don’t show up well.

I’ve into the pattern on the back. There was a fair amount of knitting done over the weekend, despite time put in doing the Thanksgiving grocery shopping.

And now for something completely different

Today’s entry is a pullover from a pattern in Marion Foale’s Classic Knitwear

Hard to see that there is a seed stitch diamond pattern knitted into the sweater. Hopefuly this closeup will show it a bit better:

It’s knitted in Harrisville shetland. Front and back are knitted separately and knitted together at the shoulders using the three needle bind-off technique. I picked up stitches around the armhole and knitted the sleeves down to the cuffs. I made it in about 1989 ant it’s gotten lots of wear — another of my favorite sweaters!

And I still got more Old Knitted Crap . . .

A question in my comments yesterday:

How do I manage to photograph Izzy without getting red-eye?

The answer is that I usually photograph her without a flash and lighten the picture in my image editing software. But my camera does have the redeye reduction setting.

Here’s a photo of Izzy using the flash with redeye reduction turned on:

Yeah, I Still Got More.

More old knitted crap, that is.

This is one of the cover sweaters from Knitting the New Classics by Kristin Nicholas. I knitted mine in Morehouse Merino in a deep chocolate brown. Beautiful wool — soft, springy, and wonderful. Not really hard-wearing — this sweater has gotten a fair amount of wear and suffers from significant pilling. But it’s still yummy.

Is it really Friday? Have a great weekend everyone!

Not knitting tips and tricks, but knitting photography tips and tricks.

I’ve gotten several questions lately about my photographing techniques.

The camera I use is a Kodak DC4800 (yeah, I finally looked at it and got the correct model number off it). It’s a 3.1 megapixel digital camera, but the model was discontinued last year.

I always take my photos at maximum resolution — 3.1 megapixels. And I scale them down. I use Paintshop Pro for photo editing. I crop the photo, scale it down to no more than 400 pixels wide, and then do any editing necessary. Sometimes I lighten the photo, sometimes I sharpen it, sometimes both.

And whenever possible I photograph without a flash. The best way is in natural light, but barring that, I try to get a photo in good overhead light.

And sometimes I’m more successful than other times.

Old Knitted Crap

Here’s today’s entry:

This is another design from the ubiquitous Debbie Bliss Traditional Knitting book. I did tell you I love that book, didn’t I? I’m pretty sure this is knitting in J&S shetland, but to be honest, I can’t remember. Senility.

Pattern Review

Ooh! Ooh! Guess what I got in the mail yesterday? The Art of the Sweater booklet from Lands’ End. It contains five knitting patterns, by Meg Swansen, Nicky Epstein, Kaffe Fassett, Dale Long, and Joyce Williams.

Meg Swansen’s design is Norwegian Rose, which makes me tremble and drool. It’s a jacket done in three shades of Satakieli wool and for me makes the $25 I spent for the booklet all worthwhile. (It’s worthwhile anyway as part of the proceeds from the sale goes to a great charity — Project Linus.) I understand there’s a pattern of a child’s version of Norwegian Rose available as a free download from Schoolhouse Press.

Nicky Epstein’s design is called “Dove of Peace” and it’s lovely. I’ll never knit it because it’s intarsia and I am not fond of intarsia, but it’s a beautiful design, knitted in Filatura Di Crosa yarns.

The Kaffe Fassett design is his “Foolish Virgins” jacket, which I already have in the “Best of Rowan” book — calls for Rowan Cotton Glace yarn.

The Dale Long design is called “Christmas Past” and it’s quite nice — a fair isle made from 6 shades of J&S jumperweight wool with designs that suggest Christmas. I like this very much, and by the way, it would be a good project for a fair isle newbie or wannabe to knit. The pattern is quite easy, but the results are gorgeous.

Last but not least is Joyce Williams’ “Acorns & Tumbling Boxes” — also done in J&S jumperweight — three colors. It’s a pullover with an intriguing all-over pattern with shoulder detail of cute little acorns.

So I would knit three out of five of these designs. Not bad! I’m very pleased with this little booklet.

Oh yeah. I knit a tiny bit on Fulmar last night. Most of the evening was tied up with other stuff.

Those of you who have plowed through all of the above to get to this point get a bonus: Izzy in a lewd pose!!