Wrappy Dress is finished!

Well, it was finished last week, but the model was waiting for a bribe.

Last week she adamantly said, "NO!" when I asked. So, I decided to drop it for a bit.

When I asked her last night I hardly expected a yes. You know, as a parent, you get used to repeating yourself and I was kind of asleep at the wheel when she said, "YESSS!"

I didn't have my camera ready. I hadn't coordinated her clothes that day on the offchance that she might consent to a photo shoot. But what they hey, I'll take it!

Mary's idea on how to seam up the ties to the fronts was perfect. She suggested I seam it up using the main body color. The result is exactly what I was hoping for--neat.

---

Impending knitwear rejection!

And here's another wrappy dress finished!
Rose's Diva looks lovely in hers doesn't she?
Great job, Rose!

This one right here.

A little quick summary how-to after the carnage of ripping:
Wind ripped yarn onto the niddy noddy in above picture.
"Eucalanize!" in too small Tupperware container.
Then drape yarn on warm dining room radiator to drip dry.
(Got in some floor cleaning there too--how's that for efficient?)

~*~

Before

And Now

Interesting to note, as I was ripping out the armhole seams, I found a pin! Absolutely alarming! I had no clue it was there. If I ever send you a knitted gift (a seamed knitted gift that is) be ye forewarned!

Am I insane?

--When to increase?
--When to wrap?
--When to cable?

Then get on board and try out

So, I write it down in chart form, see? Then, after I knit each row, I stop and search around for the pen, which has invariably gone missing either under the cat, who's jumped up for a visit, or in the quilt, used to keep my feet warm in our freezing cold house.

Next, pen successfully located, I check off the aforementioned finished row.

Perhaps at this juncture, I begin both watching tv and zoning into space for a few minutes (Average Joe doesn't require too much brain power that I cannot think about what I might want to go run and get during a commercial break--Popcorn? Pretzels? Diet Coke? Maybe a chocolate chip cookie?

Eventually, I come out of my reverie and begin the Next Row.

*I'll let you in on a little secret (yeah, and what's this have to do with your knitting memory, Leigh?)--I do occasionally count on my fingers when adding and subtracting. Not only that, but I have, on occasion**, required a few seconds to mentally check my right from my left sometimes--Alright Hey! I know what you're thinking. But, I know of others! I'm not the only goofball who can't remember her right from her left.

** and yes, these were sober occasions

Just so you know where I'm coming from:

An Example for You of Leigh's Messed Up/Down Mind in Action: Dave says, "Make a left at that light up there!" So Leigh thinks, "Okay. Okay, left..left...be cool...Okay, (at this point, I actually casually glance down at my hands) there's my hand I write with--MY RIGHT HAND!--okay, that's right. Got it! So the other is obviously LEFT...Okay, it's that way then."

A few days ago, Melissa mentioned something about Andean plying. I've always wanted to learn how to ply a singles yarn to itself because it doesn't require that you wind off the yarn and try to make two even in length balls to then ply together.

(Note: You still are required to wind off, but the method in which you do magically divides the length into two even lengths. Exacting!)

After a few hours of spinning and plying up little samples, I've decided that I do indeed like spinning on a spindle. How odd, considering how much I disliked it at first.

My spindle-plied yarn is more balanced that any I've done on a wheel. Perhaps I will always ply on the spindle.

Must reclaim that Peace Fleece!

Click to see what's inside

While I was milling around baggage claim in Logan, wondering if my suitcase would come out of the chute anytime soon, Mary and Kerstin found me.

Mary gave me this wonderful needleroll while we were waiting.

We waited a while more and nothing happened. No suitcase.

Some guy from the same flight said, "Hey, one of my suitcases came out but da other didn't!"
Another guy said, "Yaknow, with Delta, I jes pick up my suitcases on da way back home. It's so much easier!"

So, my needleroll will remind me of Mary and Kerstin, Logan, very cold weather and the baggage claim. I really like that. Good memories. I didn't care about my baggage anyway!*

*When I went to the baggage counter, they told me my suitcase was put on a later flight because of weight or space reasons. They said they would drive it out when it got in--sometime after 2 am!

My first flight in 6 year was an interesting experience. Nobody told me I'd be taking my shoes off to walk through the metal detector. An odd sensation.

I also didn't realize that I'd be flying in a teeny little jet plane--the kind you have to walk out on the tarmac to get to. But that turned out to be fun. The whole flight up was very clear and I could look down and see the lights in the country and the cities as we flew over.

The lights look like bacteria growing in a petri dish from up there. I wish I'd taken a picture.

Later, back at Kerstin's house, Mary and I got to see Kerstin's fantastic fiber room and meet her spinning wheel. Everything is beautifully organized--yarn in baskets and books on shelves. I miss being organized; and now I've got some sneaky plans for Becky's room.

New Stash!

At Halcyon I bought :

6 skeins of Bartlett's yarn in Mountain Berry to make the Peace Fleece Everyday sweater.

Two skeins and one cone of Harrisville yarn in Olive (about 800 yards) to make a partial version of the Must Have Sweater. Apparently I need to buy MORE because I wasn't thinking and just estimated. (A cone! that has to be enough don'tya think?) Lesson of the day--cones are highly misleading.

Want to see the sleeve so far?

A Schacht hook for my Louet spinning wheel. It will be nice to have when using the lace flyer. Besides, it's pretty and gives me something to put in the spinning basket.

Claudia, a.k.a. The Spinning and Fiber Fairy, gave me a huge bag of some pretty blue fiber, which she dyed herself as well as some pretty white fleece. I can't wait to spin these up--thanks again, Claudia!

Tomorrow--QFF II !!

Here is the shawl collar all knitted and basted to the wrappy dress. The collar was knitted in two pieces and then I joined it in the middle back with 3-needle bind off. I think the collar could use a little more fullness/short rows in the back, but hey, it's too late for that now. I don't like to backtrack, and it looks pretty okay to me.

I used a random pillow to double as my dressmaker's dummy. I have a feeling Becky wouldn't go for that job and besides, she was asleep when I finally got around to the basting step.

The basting was pretty easy and I hope the actual sewing is too.

Here's one half of the shawl collar for the wrappy dress. Does anyone else's look like this (hi Rose!)? I am slowly working on the second half--it makes good mindless car knitting, making me feel ultra-productive to be getting something done while being distracted from the torture by another--Dave's maniac driving. (Well, now that the kids are in the back, just about any risk is too much for me. What you're passing somebody? Are you crazy man?!)

He's not really such a bad driver. I just like to critique. I can't help it.

This ball was wound using the stick end of a wooden kitchen spoon as a nostepinde. It was an experiment. I like the results.

(I broke down over Christmas and bought enough Koigu to make this) for Becky.

Yum!

Far less scratchy than a wool flower.

Who's there?

A big mistake

From the depths of my stash closet comes the sweater I wouldn't be caught knitting let alone wearing. But I'll take a picture of It just for you.

See how the button bands curl?
See how big it is--so big that I can wear it over my slouchy sweater in the pix.
See how UGLY IT IS?
What possessed me?

At 8 pm tonight, it will be carried to the couch, I will sit down, turn on the tv and rip the sweater out.

Something funny--I just walked across the hall to see Dave and he said, "Oh!! You're trailing something! Your sleeve is unravelling!" He thought I'd be upset.

click

Looks like the Wrappy dress I planned to fit Becky next Winter is already a bit too small for her right now. It's a good thing I decided to crank it out these past few months.

This was only a preliminary fitting, but it seems she likes it. There was no screaming and running away from me whilst I waved it in the air, while trying to be my most persuasive.

The collar is making me anxious. I do not like the way it attaches to the main piece and I am unsure how to deal with the transition from the foldover shawl collar to the blue strip that runs along the top of the fronts for about 5 inches. How to attach that part so there is no seam showing or causing it to flip over?

I'm still feeling Christmassy. Please bear with me while I put up a gratuituous picture of my kids around the tree....

Okay, I promised pix of the mittens. Here they are (no fanfare today--sorry!)

Here is one of the mitts I just finished using Copper Moth wool/silk roving from Rhinebeck. I plied the light pink and the dark pink together and really like how it looks in moss stitch. Now to spin some more for mitt #2. The pattern is loosely based on Ann Budd's gloves pattern.

And here is one of the mohair mittens, which morphed into a mitt somewhere on the way to Pittsburgh. I finished its mate last night.

I can't believe I haven't posted up since December 26th! I hope you all had wonderful holidays!

I did a lot of knitting in Pittsburgh--Wrappy is all sewn together except for that collar, the mohair mittens are almost finished, and a pair of fingerless mitts out of some Copper Moth handspun are coming along. (Still need to spin up enough yarn to make mitt #2 though.)

I've decided I like little projects like gloves and mittens.

I promise to take some pictures soon.