Update, long overdue

It's been over a week since I've posted and tons of knitting action has happened! First, I'm almost finished knitting the body of my Deep V. When I get there, I promise some pictures of steeking, pre and post. Second, I finished a Dream Swatch! Take a look:

Up close


Around the neck


In repose


I love it no matter how I'm looking at it! I knit it with Fleece Artist 100% silk and used vintage Phildar metal needles. They were a bad combo (slippy as all get out), but the Phildar's were all I had in 3.75 mm so I chose to go all out on the yarn rather than splurge on another set of needles. It's packed away in a little envelope now to become the most overdue Mother's Day present evs!

Third, I got a box of goodies from Elann!


I've had a hot pink Ribby Cardi chilling out in the big Rubbermaid container filled with yarn in my spare room for a while. I hated it. It's a terrific pattern, but it's just a tad (or maybe a truckload) sporty for my taste. So over the weekend, I ripped it and then sat and stared at it to try and get some divine inspiration. Finally I figured out that it needed to become a yoked fair isle pullover with motifs of my own design. So I ordered up some more Peruvian Highland Wool and managed to throw a couple of books into my shopping cart in the process. Riiiight. The Vintage Knits book is missing the chart keys, so I'm a little disappointed, but the patterns are pretty enough to assuage whatever anger and resentment I have. I'm also stoked to dig into The Art of Fair Isle Knitting. It comes highly recommended and on a quick flip through, I can see why. This is definitely going to become my primary resource for fair isle from now on.

Phew! Update done! Time to get back to the knitting...

Deep V progress!

I've passed the start of the neck steek! I love these colours and I love the shaping. BUT (and this is a big BUT), I'm a little nervous about the gauge. I knit, washed and blocked a swatch on 4 mm needles (the pattern calls for 3.5 mm) and hit gauge almost exactly. This baby, in its unblocked state, is measuring half a stitch more over four inches and is coming out to the small measurements instead of the medium. I'm thinking I should trust my swatch, right? But is this sucker really going to block out a whole size bigger?

Fake Vans skully style redux

As mentioned below, I had a bit of a problem with the original incarnation of my new summer kicks. The sharpie made a big silver blob where my pant legs rubbed and generally ended up looking hideous. So I had to reassess, which resulted in a fresh coat of white fabric paint and skulls handpainted with a 3 mm brush and silver fabric paint. My hand isn't totally steady, so they aren't as uniform as the sharpied ones, but they dang well will hold up a lot better. Chalk it up to a crafty learning experience.

Finished Fad-Classic!

My Fad-Classic has been finished for a couple of days, but my photographer didn't get back until two days ago, so I had to wait until now to post a pic. I love this vest - I feel like I'll be able to wear it forever, and you can dress it up trendy or casual and it looks great. It ate up two+ skeins of Butterfly Super 10 for the 36" size, so ended up being pretty economical too. You can't argue with a cute vest for under $30!

UPDATE: Fake skully Vans

I covet those cool patterned Vans slip-ons but totally can't afford them (or rather I prefer to spend my money on other things like beer and expensive jeans.) So I made some myself! Hideous beige things from Zellers + 3 coats of white fabric paint + silver fabric paint (for the elastic) + freehand skull-and-crossbones drawn on with a silver sharpie = better-than-the-original knockoffs!!!



UPDATE: The sharpie made a big silver blob where my pants rubbed!!! So I had to do some damage control - I painted over the silver blob with another layer of white then handpainted the skulls with a little brush and the same silver paint I used to paint the elastic. I've worn them, and no more silver blobs! Success!