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Contrary to appearances, my life does not, in fact, revolve around knitting. Really. Having said that, however, I am compelled to report that yesterday was spent wandering around yarn stores in Manhattan. I’ve said before that I’m not an impluse buyer of yarn (anymore), so I only bought one ball. Really I just wanted to get some ideas and look at the pretty stuff. My favoritist place of all that I went to yesterday was Habu Textiles. I’ve been wanting to check this place out for a while, and it didn’t disappoint. They have yarn made out of lots of unique materials, including linen paper, fine steel, and fiber from something called a “kenaf” plant. They even have awesome yarn made from actual fishing nets (it’s silk!). Lots of great materials for weaving, although I’m sure anyone interested in weaving probably already knows about the place.

I just got a little ball of yarn to start out with - I wanted to see what it was like knitted up before I went too crazy. This is a cotton yarn, but it feels and looks like paper. They said it will soften up after a little use, but the knitted fabric is actually softer than you would think it would be. I love it! I have a hankering to use this stuff for one of the vintage patterns I’ve picked out - would be an interesting combination of old-fashioned design and modern material. Okay, I just made that up. They might have had paper yarn back then, who knows? In case you’re interested, I used size US0 needles here.

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Here’s the progress on the front. I have never, not even for one second, not loved knitting this blouse. Not even when I realized that my row gauge is totally off from the pattern, and therefore I would have to completely revamp the short row directions. The pattern was written up nicely, and would have been pretty easy to follow if my gauge had been on. But after some serious recalculating, and figuring out how to start the lace pattern at a different point each row, I gotter done. I ended up knitting 8 more short rows than the pattern called for so that the ribbed section would be high enough in the front. I just have to say thanks to Teva for making the instructions clear enough that I could figure out how to make alterations (short rows and lace both being things with which I have little experience).

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Here’s a little preview of Season of Darkness etc. Seriously, this yarn is next to impossible to photograph. I color-corrected the pic (a lot), so that it reads more like the actual yarn, but this picture still does not do it justice. I am so happy and excited to be using this yarn - it’s really wonderful. Still working on my swatches, trying to get gauge. Hopefully I’ll be able to start on the actual jacket sometime this week…

The rib stitches look “uneven” close up, but I think that is due to the yarn itself - very soft, and not really great for stitch definition. But I don’t mind it - I think the sweater overall is going to look v. pretty. Here’s the back, about an inch away from being finished. There is short-row shaping for the shoulders that will be fun, and then I’ll start the front.

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I got my pattern books (they are digitally restored and spiral-bound - cute!) from Iva Rose. And I can already see they are going to cause problems. As in, I want to make a *lot* of clothing items. A lot of clothing items with tiny tiny gauges.

Women must have been weird speed-knitters back in the 30’s, because contained within the Minerva Style Book… well, we’re talking entire 3-piece suits - that’s a jacket, (long) coat and (long) skirt - made with a gauge of 8 stitches to the inch!! Are there people out there today who can knit fast enough to make that sort of project worthwhile?! If so, I salute you. Wholeheartedly. That’s totally koo-koo. Oh, and did I mention that one of those suits is all done in stockinette stitch?! I think I would find factory assembly work more fascinating. Can I put enough exclamation points in this paragraph?!

Not to say that the clothing articles aren’t awesome and beautiful, because many of them are. There is much detail and care in the design of these items.

…So here’s why I’m a freak:

I really want to make that coat. Minus the sharp shoulders, of course. I think I could modify those to make them somewhat square, instead of scarily-pointy. It has a very neat stitch pattern with lots of texture, and a cute little collar - oh! And before you tell me how loco I am to even think of starting another project, the gauge is only 4 1/2 stitches to the inch! Easy as pie. And look - don’t you want to be that model? With that hat? And that attitude? And perfect curls you have to set every night? (um…)

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Hey! I joined the Vintage Knit-Along! They’re making some great high stockings over there, you should check it out.

And I know you’re waiting with breath abated: I put up the two vintage patterns I want to make in future on my sidebar. Hooray. Oh, and by the way the sweater with the sash has a wonderful construction I’ll tell you about later. And those little intarsia objects are actually flowers (but I may be changing them to something else). And the gauge for that particular item is, ahem, 10 stitches to the inch. Yep.

I’ve never knit lace before - it’s quite entertaining. Sure better than all of the stockinette I have to do for the stuffed toys. No problems so far with this pattern: I have stitch gauge and am actually close to achieving row gauge in the lace part. Not too bad for me, but I’m sure I’ll have to make little adjustments later. I don’t think I’m going to alter anything about the pattern - I like the shape of it and think it’ll probably fit me well (famous last words). Really, though, how great is this sweater? It’s purty.

I’m usually not that impulsive about buying yarn anymore. I don’t have a really crazy “stash,” and I always have something in mind when I get yarn nowadays (mostly online since it’s cheaper). But recent sad events prompted me to treat myself a little, and I went out and bought some sweet pink alpaca fingering weight yarn to make the lace blouse. I guess it won’t be the most summery blouse, seeing that’s it’ll be made out of ALPACA WOOL(!), but it will sure be pretty and feminine.

The Ursula Bag is still in the works but will be on hold for a while as I’m going out of town for a few days.

I’m revving up the machine (finally) to sew the lining of my Ursula Bag (in a stripey corduroy fabric). Yay I’m so excited. Yay Ursula is so excited.

I plan on making a bag out of the fabric with the same measurements as the knitted bag, and then simply placing it inside and sewing the top edges together. Maybe this is not the best way to do it, but either way I don’t mind. The bag is not structured, it’s supposed to be “floppy,” so I believe it will turn out fine. I will also be sewing a fabric lining to one side of the shoulder strap, to strengthen it.

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In unrelated summer news, I decided to make a summery-top-sweater-thing. The pattern is a Cashmere Lace Blouse from Loop-d-Loop. Subtract the cashmere (too expensive), change the color (to pink!) and take away the bra (um, yeah). It’ll be great summery fun.