Dear Knitters

The Destruction of the Shrug, Accompanied by the Lyrics of The End, composed by Jim Morrison and the Doors.

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My Only Friend, the End

Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again

C'mon baby and take a chance with us
and meet me at the back of the blue bus
Doin' a [sic] blue frog
On a blue bus

kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill
This is the end.

*This is what I get for taking a chance with gauge and sticking all this damn yarn on too small of a needle. Bah. I'm ripping it all out and starting over. This is a first true frogging. I mourned for a little bit, and then plunged back in.
But only after listening to The End while I ripped it all out.

 

Dear Knitters

I have got to find another way to display my finished objects without completely making a fool of myself. So far, engineering self-portraits involves me, a mirror, a camera, and a squinty look of self-loathing. Ach.
Regardless, here is the drop stitch vest in its completion. Now, it didn't turn out as nice as the book's picture, but that's okay. I did it. I finished that stockinette and I lived to tell you about it. There are lots of mistakes in this vest, mostly because I have no idea what 'reverse shaping' means.
Thanks to Paige for coming to the rescue on that.


Holy crap my boobs look huge, yes?
Anyway, this wasn't DELIGHFUL to knit, entirely, but I can say that for the very first piece of clothing, I am more than pleased. I might actually pull this knitting thing off believably.

Onward to the shrug. One day, I'm going to put all this stuff on at once: scarves, shawls, vests, shrugs and hats. I'll be the knitted fairy godmother.

And what is knitting without a work station? Here, you can see the lovely needle holder my good friend and fellow SnB'er crafted for me. She is an incredible seamstress, so this needle pouch means so much to me, as it is useful, pretty, and from a friend.

Now: I'm going back to the vest just to tidy up those last few spots....

Cheerios! 

Dear Knitters

Clearance Yarn is clearly not a bad thing!

Last week, I went to a very trendy knitting shop in the oh-so-fabulous Buckhead district of Atlanta--tres expensive, tres overrated. The owner was overbearing and unfriendly. While I was knitting a test swatch, she grabbed it from me and asked, "WHAT are you doing?" and tore out all my stitches and did it herself. Because I'm a tight knitter.

After buying sale yarn (the sale yarn price was not disclosed to me until I reached the register, and by then, I was so fearful for my life that I threw the card at her and begged for mercy), I was out $132.

Yes. That was sale price. Mmmhmm. The most expensive shrug known to man, made by me, in 'sale yarn'. I was so disgusted with the entire process of buying yarn at a 'Buckhead Betty' establishment, I was led to...JoAnne's Fabrics for relief.

Ahhhhh. Clearance rack. Say it with me, knitters.
CLEARANCE RACK.

There's nothing wrong with it. It actually feels--liberating! Freeing! Cheap!
For twelve bucks, I got four skeins of funky, chunky, mostly wool-y yarn.

And it became this wonderful scarf for my mother! (Now, of course, my mother DESERVES ultra gorgeous cashmere, silk, mohair, alpaca, beaver, angora...and she'll get all those, one day. For now, however, she shall be the receipient of fun yarn).
Of course, Delilah had to check out the scarf to make sure it was of decent quality. She approved with a sniff.
Even better, this project distracted me from that damn Stockinette drop-stitch vest consuming all of my patience, free time, and hope. I finished this in under four hours. I suppose this means I need to get that vest done, but at least I have something to show you folks.

Please remember: we can be fiber snobs, and we can be knitting snobs. But we cannot forget the worth of a lot of string for a little cash. When you see sale yarn you love, grab it. Have fun. And don't fear acrylic blends.