acryl-a-rino?

i just heard the strangest rumour about debbie bliss cashmerino at knit club tonight. someone said a lady at one of the local yarn shops claims there is no cashmere in d.bliss cashmerino...that it is actually (gasp!) acrylic. has anyone else heard anything about this? i gotta say, cashmere or not, i love cashmerino. not that i think it's right to say cashmere and use acrylic instead, mind you. but the stuff comes in a great color palette and knits up beautifully.

son of fakie?

looky what linda just found. and what is it with these people and their insistence that it is crochet!

missoni inspirationi

i love how missoni breathes new life into the poncho with this sumptuous knit number. the stitches look almost like knit ribbons. and the classic missoni chevrons reimagined as monochromatic, sculpted panels are genius. how can something so cozy be so sexy at the same time? i guess it helps if you forget to put your pants on. or maybe THAT'S the secret of erin's secret underpants...?

bonnie: learning how to do smocking

after a little bit of preparation and a couple of false starts, i finally worked out the smocked waistband for bonnie. i am loving how this is turning out. it definitely decreases the width of the sweater, but it still has enough ease to fit nicely. and i actually like how it looks when it's pulled fairly taut width-wise.

it was a little confusing at first, but i finally figured out how to do it. after basting across with scrap yarn to form your horizontal guides (the gray horizontal lines), you simply weave the needle up through the vertical rib. then you insert your needle from the right rib to the left rib and join them together.

from there, you work diagonally, weaving up through the stitches and joining the ribs. once i got the hang of it, it was fun.

and it produces such a pretty, satisfying fabric.


p.s. i was all worried about this yarn being too bulky. yes, i could have used a nice DK (d. bliss cashmerino would have been yummy), but i think this is going to work out just fine.

eye candy

if a stitch drops in the forest

very cool. but what happens when you break up with the tree?

p.s. to jane: it's knit with plastic bags!

bonnie faye underwaye

after a barrage of swatching and smocking and frogging, i've finally started bonnie. i'm using the tahki pattern with a few mods. for example, i definitely want to do the embroidered smocking rather than the mock-knitter version the pattern calls for. i'm positive this was the method on the original bonnie. it's a fairly tedious process, but definitely worth the extra effort. you actually don't do the smocking until after the piece is done. not as much fun as the mock smock knit stitch, but it will produce a cool cinched effect on the waist that i don't think will happen with mock. i'm thinking about making the sleeves slightly longer to hit at the elbow. what do you think?


i love gloves dept. these marc opera gloves are so cute. i also spotted a fantastic pair of long missoni gloves while in saratoga last month. i've since scoured the web to find a pic to post, but can't find them anywhere. trust me, though. they were fab. and would be so fun to try knitting in a wild self-striping sock yarn and that classic missoni chevron stitch.

joy of saks

the only thing better than receiving the fall saks catalog is opening it up and seeing "textured knits" everywhere. of course, this is the cat's code word for "cables." leave it to the fashion world to tell us yet again what we knitters have known all along--knits are it. a full page of copy (as if anyone actually reads anymore) is devoted to wool and (be still my heart) extra fine merino wool.

in addition to some of these fab matisse-y fashion illustrations, not one, but TWO of which are knitting-themed, knits are everywhere in the book, from some cool layered marc looks to a very knock-offable tracy reese oversized vest. there's even a pair of super cute leather & rubber boots by juicy with cabled inserts. (no, i will not be attempting a copy of those.)

rowan anna: and then there were TWO

my first completed pair of socks--EVER. done. finito. ta-da!

but.

don't blink.

(sigh.)

cuz i think i'm gonna frog the hell outta them any minute now...

P.S. 9/29/06: i changed my mind. you're right. who am i kidding? i'd have to be crazy to frog all that knitting. nevermind.