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Lace Blouse

Pattern by: Teva Durham

Found in: Loop-d-Loop

Yarn: Frog Tree Fingering Weight Alpaca Wool (Color #95)

Needle: Size US1

Gauge: roughly 42 stitches/4 inches in rib, 30 stitches/4 inches in lace pattern - my row gauge was different from the pattern, but I just adjusted my number of rows accordingly.

Modificatons: I mentioned before that I had to adapt the short row shaping in the lower front of the sweater, because my row gauge was different from what the pattern stated. Basically I needed to make more short rows so that the rib section would be high enough in the front.

Note: There is a error in this pattern, so if you make it be sure to check Teva’s error page on her website (loop-d-loop.com), or you can email me.

I love this sweater. It’s pink, it’s super soft. It was lots of fun to make. I mean, look how excited I am!

I just realized that I didn’t take any pictures of the back. You can probably imagine what it looks like, but let me know if you want to see a pic.

Click here to see all entries on Lace Blouse.

Teaser:

So you can kind of see it in this picture, but I want to save the full shots for when there is better light and I can resolve my tripod issues (or get someone over here to take some pictures of me!) Usually when I get close to finishing a project, I get so excited I stay up late and work really hard to get the last little bit done. Not so for the pink sweater; the last sleeve went slower than a really slow thing (molasses? dial-up internet?)

So at any rate, I’ll have better pictures and full details next time…
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I’ve been taking a little break from knitting, and blogging, as you may have noticed I haven’t been around lately. When it starts to feel like I’m forcing myself to knit or do posts, I know I should back off, because this is supposed to be fun, right? I know I’ll probably get back into the swing of things when the weather turns colder. For right now, I’m working on an assignment for my photography class, so I’ve been using my free time towards that end.

BTW - To Sharon: I’m still so excited about SDWL, and I know you’ll have made 5 of them before I get done with mine. But for reasons I will explain, he’s got to go on the back burner for a little while… sorry!

Basically the little time I spend knitting nowadays has to be something I don’t have to think too hard about or concentrate on, really. I just don’t have the patience, and it’s too damn hot, to be counting and reading charts, etc. So I decided to work on another project, slightly less demanding, and come back to Season when I’m *feeling* it a little more. Oh, and another thing: I had been using Addi Turbos, my first time trying them. And I’ve decided they’re no good for fair isle - too slippery, at least for me. So I have to get some bamboo or plastic needles, and then I’ll probably need to start over cause I’m a weird perfectionist (ahem). So there you go. Season will have its season, but apparently that season is *not* summer.

Here’s what I’ve come back to:

Yet another Norsk Strikkedesign pattern. This fits the bill - it’s pleasant to knit, minimal counting, and because my mom doesn’t want any, no shaping along the bottom part of the body. Good, mindless stuff. You can’t see it in these pictures, but I had started this cardigan with five steek stitches in the center, even though the pattern doesn’t call for any. But after I made the steeked deep-v argyle vest, I realized that I don’t have to be crazy paranoid about the steeks. It’ll all be fine, I’ll just follow the directions. The center stitches get encased in edge stitching that gets turned over, anyway, so no problem. I am now knitting away with no extra stitches. Whee.

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Thanks to those who responded to my last post about procrastination (I haven’t gotten a chance to reply as of yet - sorry!)

*Edit: I just checked my spam filter and apparently a couple of real comments were put in there for some reason. Since my filter deletes the messages after a few days, there may have been some that got deleted. Sorry about that - I’ll definitely check it more often!

I was actually a little suprised that some of you responded you felt the same way. Well, I don’t know why I would be “surprised,” it’s probably a really common feeling to have. Obviously, many people are afraid of failure and put things off (or don’t try things) as a result. But it’s nice to know that there are others out there who know what I’m talking about. I often feel like a lot of people around me are constantly attempting new projects, achieving goals, and actively pursuing ideas while I’m stuck in one spot. Anyway, like I said in my last post, I have more I want to say about all of this, but I’m going to save that for a later post.

For happy, I’ll just leave you with this:

My friend and I recently had a conversation about procrastination, and the gigantic role it plays in both of our lives. Unfortunately. Of course I’ve read books specifically about this nasty little habit (another great way to procrastinate doing something is to read self-help books about what you should be doing). One of these books (called, aptly, “Procrastination”) explained something that I’m sure I’ve always known in some way for a long time: one reason some people procrastinate is because they are perfectionists. This absolutely applies to me.

Now, contrary to what some of you might think, a perfectionist is *not* necessarily someone who does everything perfectly, or is “anal” about how everything in their lives are arranged. Actually someone who is a perfectionist (like me), is afraid to start many things. She is reluctant to reach out for the things she sincerely wants for herself. Because she might be unsuccessful. And so she puts it off. After all, if you never start a project, it’s impossible to fail.

Since I put things off, and avoid reaching for the things I really want to achieve, I haven’t had a lot of experience pushing myself past novice-hood into a greater understanding and skill level in any particular area. School and work don’t count, because those are things I *have* to do for one reason or another. I’m talking about pushing myself when no one else cares if I continue or not.

This is where knitting comes in. See, the key part of this story is, knitting was never important to me. It wasn’t any kind of life goal of mine to be a successful knitter, and I certainly didn’t identify my abilities as a knitter with any kind of self-worth. Therefore, I was able to keep trying. I didn’t give up, I didn’t procrastinate. It just didn’t matter to me one way or another. If I didn’t feel like knitting one day, it wasn’t because I was avoiding it.

Of course, none of this was anything I thought about consciously. It’s only in retrospect that I realize what was happening. And it is in retrospect that I realize how much I’ve learned through this process. (Like, life-lessons-learned, not three-needle-bind-off-learned. I still don’t know how to do an I-cord. That’s not the point.) The point is, there are life-skills I’ve gained that can actually translate to more things than just knitting. Cool, huh?!

The reason I think it’s relevant to talk about these little bits of understanding here is that, even though they are “life-skills” (or whatever), they are still important skills to have for the task of knitting. And practicing them make knitting even more enjoyable. I’m talking about things like patience, persistence… and others that I won’t get into yet. These are things I’ve been thinking about for a while, especially since I started this blog and put “knitting” at the forefront of my mind for an hour or two when I do a post. Maybe this doesn’t even make sense to anyone else, but hopefully it will as I talk about more specific aspects of it in future posts…

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On to the fun part:

The sleeve is cuter than I even thought it would be. I’m a big fan of 3/4 length sleeves, although these are even a tad shorter than that. Only one more sleeve to go! I bet you thought this would be done by now. I mean, Sharon is *finished* with one side of Season of DWL already, and started the second side!!! (It looks FABULOUS, by the way.) And it has taken me many days/weeks to do one little sleeve. Hee hee. I told you I haven’t been knitting much…

You may not be able to tell from the picture, but I actually didn’t finish this top. I decided I really didn’t like it after putting the other ruffles on. It was good practice, though, and now I know how to do the ruffle thing. I’m going to start on a shirt, which may be similar in some ways, but I’m going to change things about it. I have tons of the black jersey material to play/practice with, yay!

And once I get something going that I like, I’ll plan out some hand-embroidery to add to it. I got lots of thread - all different colors. Again, yay!

I’ve never knit sleeves before. It shouldn’t take too long to crank these suckers out (although like I said I haven’t been spending too much time with the needles lately).

Just wanted to show off my seaming - I’m very happy with the way it turned out. I was a little worried about seaming this lace (and I’m not very patient with the sewing of the knitting together). But it worked out okay. I used whatever stitch that is that you use to sew stockinette stitch together (is that the mattress stitch?!). When you pull it flat, you can’t tell there is a seam there.

Little sneak peek. I’ve tried it on and it fits! Oh yay.

Here’s a little hint of what’s happening with the lace blouse. Short rows are fun.

That’s all I have to report. My interest in knitting waxes and wanes, and when it’s 85 degrees and humid I usually find other things to do. I did buy some fabric the other day, though, so there could be some sewing in the near future. Could be some totally awesome sewing in the near future. With embroidery.

(Oh, and don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about Season. She’s being very patient…)

Stay cool!

OK, in the interest of fairness, I should post a picture of my other kitty, Chiquita. This is not going to turn into a catblog, but I don’t want to seem like I’m playing favorites.

This is what she did when she found out her picture was not on my site, and she refused to move until I posted. (That’s my laptop her head is on). I’m serious. Of course, it makes it quite difficult to type and use the mouse pad. And she gets copious amounts of fur underneath the keys. My friend has suggested looking into spinning cat fur - I see that some people have done it, but it looks like it might be hard. But if I could figure it out, I would have a free source of yarn on my hands that would last me years and years…

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(Blue was made lighter in the pic to show off the pattern better…)

First off, there has been little to no work done on Season, since I’m using most of my time to get the lace blouse done. This jacket is going to be a long haul for me, anyway.

Sharon should be posting a new pic of her progress on Season soon - if you haven’t already checked out her site, she has quite a bit more done than me and it’s rockin’!

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Left side started. There is an error in the pattern, for anyone who’s making this - I emailed Teva the other day to make sure. She said she will be adding it to her error page, which you can find at her site, Loop-d-Loop. It’s just a small thing to do with the shoulder shaping, nothing that would keep you up at night - but of course while I was waiting for her to email me back I impatiently and incorrectly guessed what the pattern was supposed to say and now I’ll have to frog four or five rows. Yep. But it won’t be the first time I’ve had to go back and work rows again on this thing. Occasionally I would lose track of the lace pattern and not notice the mistake until I’d knit another couple of inches. I mean, that happened to me like three times. This sweater would have been done by now if it weren’t for me getting distracted by The Daily Show.

This is what my soon-to-be-sweater would look like if she starred in a film noir. I just finished reading The Big Sleep for the second time - I guess I need to put the movie on my Netflix list (never seen it).

Of course, my soon-to-be-sweater is much too sweet and innocent to be the femme fatale. She kind of looks like the murder victim in this picture.

Pity. She was so sweet. And innocent. And unfinished.

I marvel at the knitters who can just crank away with the yarn and produce whole sweaters in a matter of hours and days. It’s not like that for me - I take my sweet time, often stopping for a break after I finish a row or two. Sometimes I do spend quite a bit of time knitting on a weekend, then I’ll get burnt out and just have to put the needles down, g*d*mnit.

So slow going, but progress made on both the lace blouse and Season. Observe:

I’m up to the armhole shaping on the one side. Still lovin it! I feel like a girly girl, making a whole big pink sweater. I forgot to mention before that I tried out “combined knitting” for the first time on the ribbed section here. Any of you who haven’t heard of this style can check out Annie Modesitt’s site for more details. I can’t say it changed my life or anything, but I think that’s because I’m a right-handed knitter. It appears to me (based on my superficial investigation) that this might be a more handy style for a left-handed, Continental knitter, because maybe it makes purling easier?! Anyone out there who uses this style and knows more about it, I’d be curious to hear what you think.

And:

Just a couple inches done on the sleeve. I ripped out the first inch or so that I knit because I realized I was pulling the floats too tight. I’ve done fair isle several times now, but the true art of getting the right tension, consistently, eludes me. Like, no matter what I do, some of my stitches are going to look wonky.

At any rate, I can’t wait to try Season on!! Oh, wait, I have to knit it first.

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I don’t usually post these kinds of pictures, but there are some things you can’t say “no” to:

Ursula doing her famous bunny impersonation.