Thursday, September 29, 2005

The piece that is no more

I woke up, went to the drier, and there it was.
My very first finished knit garment: a red merino wool wrap sweater from Hollywood Knits 2.
Shrunken.

It took me all day to get through the denial.
It took me four and a half months to finish.
It took me fifteen minutes to explain how much work went into it to my aunt, who had accidentally put it into the washing machine on warm water.

It took me another five to finish crying.

R.I.P wrap sweater,
I do not have a picture of thee,
but you will hopefully make a small child very warm this winter...

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

For SecretPal 6

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? I like high quality fibers, especially all naturals, but I will do acrylic or acrylic blends if they feel like the real thing and aren't itchy or stiff.
2. Do you spin? I try to! I need more practice/rovings
Crochet? A little, but I enjoy knitting more.
3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) Not allergies, but perfume and smoke scented fiber would make me queesy.
4. How long have you been knitting? I think about three years now?
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) Apples, fig, cherry, almond, honey. Mmm, sounds like a fruitcake.
7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Oh hell yeah.
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I do paper crafts sometimes, I like to sew handbags every once in a while. I made sewn juggling balls last summer.
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) See my Myspace page for this one. Music interests are on the left side. Yes I can play MP3s, better yet, I can put them on my iPod.
10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? I love all colors, especially cool colors, but all are great.
11. What is your family situation? I live with my mom and step-father, my aunt and her boyfriend, my cat Sweetie, and my 'rents two greyhounds Sweetheart and Mikaela McBones. I did not name the dogs. The cat came first and I did name him. My bf has a pig, I mean English Bulldog named Rune.
12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) Either to be a fantastic politica working in environmental legislation, or going to school for knitwear design.
13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? I love knitpicks Wool of the Andes and Shine.
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Itchy 70's acrylics
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? Making lots of swatches and being indecisive about projects.
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? I love to knit funky wearables, and hats for others.
17. What are you knitting right now? A berry-colored raglan cable sweater.
18. What do you think about ponchos? They aren't really flattering on my figure cuz I'm big on top and skinny everywhere else.
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? straight
20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? wooden needles all the way
21. Are you a sock knitter? The only sock(singular) I ever made was argyle, and didn't fit. I've left socks alone after that.
22. How did you learn to knit? I taught myself so I could knit this intarsia pattern from Knitting in the Nordic Tradition. I didn't know it was supposed to be hard. I just did what the instructions said. Here's a pic:
23. How old is your oldest UFO? egad. I don't want to think about it.
24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? No thanks.
25. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween!
26. Is there anything that you collect? Other than yarn, not really.
27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? None
28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? Some of the Rowan knit magazines, Knitting on the Edge
29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another?? I bought some lace-weight yarn and I don't have anything lacy to knit up, no pattern, and I've never done lace before, so if there's a good pattern out there, I'm open to it.