purlsandmurmers

New Knitting Project

No, Avril is not done.  But I need to lay her out on the cutting table and stitch her up before I can continue, and he cutting table has been claimed for more pressing needs of the sewing variety.

In the meantime, I needed something to knit.  Enter the Elaine Striped Cardigan, pattern # 284 from Schaefer yarns.

Actually, I would not have chosen this project from this photo, but it is the best I can do.  I saw a sample of this sweater in my LYS, Yarn Central in Hopewell Junction and admired it for some time before I eventually tried it on and decided to make it.

The store had one color of the recommended yarn, Elaine, that Iocked but not in a coordinating color so I chose some Manos to use as the main color.  I came home all excited, wound up the skeins, and threw them in a knitting bag and promptly forgot all about them.  Until now.

I am about 22 rows into the left front; the pattern has you start with the fronts, and I am loving knitting this.  I had my doubts when I knit the swatch, but the yarn does grow a small bit when blocked and the knitted fabric becomes more flat with a softer hand.

It is going a bit faster than I anticipated as I only worked on it a couple of hours last night, but it is an easy rhythm and the colors make me smile so I am hoping it will go quickly.

Anny Blatt Fall 2009

I'm far enough along in my current sweater that it is time to consider what's next, so I knitted a swatch this morning and blocked it.  I wasn't particularly fond of the swatch unblocked, but the wet it shows more promise. The decision will turn on the hand of the dry swatch. More information will be forthcoming.

I had originally thought I would start this Anny Blatt sweater next, but perhaps I was a little over-ambitious in how far I would have progressed in my general fitness and weight-loss goals.  I have decided that I would like to wait until I am a little closer to where I want to be before I actually start this project, even though it will not be the fastest knit.  Because it is on tiny needles it will also be a knit that I will not be happy to have rip out and reknit just because it is too big.

Instead today I will show you a few favorites from the new, Fall 2009 Anny Blatt books, sweaters I would love to knit even though I am well aware that I currently have a backlog of several Anny Blatt sweaters including one that was started and then turned into a tangled mess by the blessed baby cat, Moisés.

From Anny Blatt Book 206 there are three sweaters that caught my eye.  The first is this one, Valliere, done in intarsia in three different yarns, all in the same shade.  I adore this; I love the subtlety of the change in texture and color afforded by the different yarns, I love the simple elegant shape (and yes there is shaping in this sweater) and the modified bell sleeves which are not to big.  This sweater falls into the "must knit" category for me.

My second favorite sweater in this book is another intarsia sweater, Mazarin, which is very reminiscent of the lovely intarsia sweaters that I associate with Anny Blatt in the 90s.  I'm just going with what I love here.  I love the deep v-neckline and the fitted shape.  I love the asymmetrical color work.  What I don't particularly love are the pearls and beads sewn on this sweater, not that I have anything against pearls on sweaters (see Mine) just that I don't like the pearls on this particular sweater.  Luckily, they are not required.  I would leave off the pearls and the little intarsia dots running up the front of the sweater and otherwise leave the rest of the pattern alone.

I am also rather fond of this sweater, named Achery.  I have been wearing more stripes, and horizontal ones at that lately, which is not such a bad look, especially as my torso above the hipline is my slimmest part.  I like the stripes but mostly I like the hem and sleeve finish combined with the stripes, although generally this sweater seems more like "summer" to me but perhaps that is because I see it more in "summer" colors. 

Certainly the colors shown are not for me, which is a shame in one sense as I would love to use the yarn, Lady Blatt, which is a combination of camel, silk, and cashmere.  Alas Lady Blatt does not come in 4 colors flattering enough to my complexion to make this sweater; there are three colors I would use, but I haven't convinced myself that there is a 4th color that fits my vision of the thing.  Not to worry, there are many other yarns in the universe and my lusting after Lady Blatt is probably best confined to a smaller project than an entire sweater.

I'm still fretting over the whole turtleneck issue, and whether I should invest in more turtlenecks from a style-perspective.  From a practical perspective they are fabulous as they keep the neck and chest warm and look a little more sleek than a scarf.  I suppose now that I think about it, I am never giving up turtlenecks, unless perhaps, my neck collapses and my chin rests on my collar bones and I don't see that happening. 

Which brings me to the lovely Myrica from Book 207. I love the cables that increase in width as they move up the torso, bringing the eyes upward, the godets that flare over the hips, the lovely lattice at the neck and cuffs.  When I was first looking at this book I also happened to be trying on sweaters and I was convinced I wanted to unravel a favorite, now too large, cashmere sweater to make this.  But I have come to my senses.  Not about unravelling the cashmere, that will be done as it is a lovely sport to DK weight yarn, but in terms of using it for this sweater.  The cashmere is too soft and fluffy, and this sweater will look better with a yarn that shows the cables more crisply.

Last, there is the lovey Melonie.  I suppose this is a more standard, classic, ladylike sweater in a fairly popular stitch pattern, but that doesn't make it less lovely.  Certainly it is the perfect shape, with a lovely V-neckline that always looks good on me.  It is a sweater that would be perfectly at home over skirts or pants either casual or more tailored and therefore fits my idea of a perfect wardrobe basic.

Catch Up

It has been a busy, busy week and I intentions and even ideas have fallen by the wayside.

We had house guests for a couple of days mixed in with a bunch of other excitement (we lead a pretty quiet life and it doesn't take much to count for excitement around here. 

And we have certainly done our part to support the recovery this week as well, starting locally with a crew of tree cutters, a bucket truck, a huge chipper truck and a trailer for the logs as we finally took down the big cotton wood tree by the house, as well as a hemlock tree that was almost as tall as the cottonwood, but bare of leaves for all but the 8 or 10 feet which rose above the shade of the cottonwood and other trees.   There were 6 trees total, two of which were dead and posed a threat to our power lines in the next ice storm and it took the crew about a day and a half to get everything cut down and cleaned out.  Unfortunately none of the trees were particularly desirable as firewood so everything was hauled off.

The washing machine also sprang a leak about a week ago and the repair person was here on Friday AM and told me I needed a new pump and a new motor, to the tune of something like $500.  Now that amount of money would buy a new top loader, but I don't intend to replace my top loader with another of its ilk as I see no point in investing in the old technology.  Even so, it was too much to spend on an 18 year old washing machine as well, so off we went to the appliance store.

A new washer and dryer are set to be delivered this afternoon, probably in about an hour (which may be when I finish this post) and I am very happy not to be contemplating a trip to the laundromat.   The original plan was not to get the dryer, although the dryer I have is 16 years old, and the enamel is chipping off on the drum so I have to be very careful about rust spots on the clothing if things are left to sit in the dryer.  But I quickly realized that the front loaders were just enough larger than the old machines that it would be a pain to work around the washer to get at the dryer, so we got the set and I am happy and even eager to run some laundry.

Best of all, I purchased what is my new favorite concealer, even though it is almost as expensive as sin.  You need the teeniest, tiniest little bit, it blends beautifully and covers even dark circles well without slipping, sliding into the wrinkles and creases around the eye or looking like you have applied a layer of spackle.  And it lasts all day.  

I say "almost" as expensive as sin because it is actually $5 cheaper than my previous favorite concealer, the one I thought I would never abandon until someone sent me a sample of this one,  Cle de Peau's concealer.   The only think I don't know is if a container lasts as long.  The Cle de Peau stick looks bigger, and it would usually last me a year or a little longer.  The La Mer looks like it holds less, quantity wise, although I also use far less, just barely enough to be visible on the brush.  Only time will tell. 

Oh, and I did some clothing shopping and found out I could go down a size in a favorite pair of pants.  I also rediscovered a few old favorites that I had been saving and which now fit again.  I was so excited after a few weeks of no progress that I thought I would go public and add the little "weight loss ticker" that I have seen a few places around the web.