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Posts Tagged ‘finishing’

Button, button

13 Mar

JoAnn’s has a lot of buttons. Unfortunately, not a lot of any one kind. Here’s what came home with me:

twist-button-choice.jpg

All silver, all look good with the grey-blue-green yarn. I particularly like the Celtic knot button, but it’s a bit too small. I’d have to tighten up the button holes. Which I kind of don’t want to do, since I’m so proud of mastering EZ’s one-row buttonhole (from Knitter’s Almanac). If they’d had more than four of this button in the 1 1/8″ size, it would have been absolutely perfect. Oh well.

There are more cardigans to come in the next few weeks. A dark blue wool/cotton blend, which would look great with the blue-black button in the center. Another in “pumpkin spice”, which sounds lovely but I’ve seen so many different swatches of this color, I don’t have any idea what’ll be in the box.

So for now, I’ll finish the collar, sew in the ends and cogitate on the buttons. Hopefully, a finished model shot this weekend.

 
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Posted in Blather

 

Keeping up the momentum

12 Mar

Still no buttons in sight for Twist, but that should be rectified shortly. Seaming is done, button bands knit, and the collar in progress. I won’t be going to Village Yarn & Fiber, though – I can’t buy buttons when they’re displayed in the window. Fine at night, or possibly on a rainy day. Not good when it’s even a little bright outside. (Sorry – I think I’ve blogged this peeve before. Still ticked off about it, though. They may have even moved their buttons, I wouldn’t know because I Have A Long Memory.)

The other thing about those darling button displays, with tubes full of buttons … How does one buy them? Do you take the whole tube up to the register, or just dump out the number you need? Have you ever seen more than 4 or 5 buttons in one of them? I’m planning to go to JoAnn’s for my buttons, because it’s sort of on my way home, and because I’m comfortable buying buttons on cards, hanging up on a display, in the center of a well-lit store.

Yesterday was splendid. I found the source of an imbalance in an account (we still aren’t done with our 2007 audit yet), and I had my annual review (much more glowing than I even hoped!). It’ll be hard to match that today. I’ve got one more account to track down, and another meeting with the auditor. This is actually more fun than I imagined, this finance thing.

Time to pack up the knitting. Wednesday is the long commute (by way of Avon).

 
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Posted in Knitting

 

FO – and pictures

26 Feb

Patti front detailI wore my new Patti cardigan yesterday, and was surprised that several people noticed and liked it. (Coworkers, the nurse at my gyn office, a waitress at lunch.) Weird – my handknits don’t usually get that much feedback. Though usually it’s a lace shawl, which is a different animal altogether. People don’t comment on shawls, either because they don’t wear them, or because they are so … unusual.
I’m happy overall with how Patti came out, though if I make it again, I’ll make a few changes:

  • knit longer below the pleats, and maybe an smidge more above. (Or maybe just get plastic surgery, or have the law of gravity reversed.)
  • knit the sleeves either longer, or shorter; they’re too short to be long sleeves, but too long to be short sleeves.
  • hmm – just the two things. Not bad.

Patti back detailI found the perfect buttons on an ancient cotton cardigan. It originally had 5 buttons, but was so old and tired that only three were left. I used EZ’s one-row buttonhole (from A Knitters Almanac) – how clever! Without the little flap that my own unvented ones always have. I also finally grokked why you should always make them (buttonholes) horizontal. The alpaca cardi I knit a few years ago, that would never stay buttoned? It had vertical slits instead of horizontal – too much elasticity, in the wrong place.

Now on the needles: Twist (Ravelry link), by Bonne Marie Burns. A simple aran cardigan, in Mission Falls 1824 wool (the wool of Saturday’s yarn crawl). I thought I’d make Ariann first, but then realized this yarn would be better for Twist.

I’ve got some Cascade 220 in a cart online somewhere, but I’m not sure what color I want yet. Lisa made hers in black, which looks so great (and Lisa’s is the entire reason why I want to make it! The model shots look kinda sloppy). But it’s February, and I need color. Raspberry, or fire engine red, or maybe pumpkin. Another reason why most people don’t mention my knitted garments: their stunningly inappropriate colors. My entire wardrobe is black, white, denim or khaki.

Tonight, I’m too tired to pick colors. Besides, I’ve only got the back (almost) done. I won’t be ready for Ariann for at least a couple weeks.

 
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Posted in Knitting

 

Productive Saturday

17 Feb

sammys-helping.jpgI had such help with the knitting Saturday! Samwich was at my side all day, ready to help should any yarn try to escape.Sammy’s pretty much been helping in this capacity for 2 weeks now, but Friday & Saturday were the first days I really got a lot of knitting accomplished. It was a good day, because a) the sun shone in the bedroom window like this all afternoon, and b) the mailman brought me a package.

Not the Knitpicks needles – I haven’t artisansock-withmarker.jpgactually ordered them yet, still debating the metal-vs-wood issue. But sock yarn from Wendee of Hazelknits (with a thank-you note and a sweet blue stitch marker!) appeared on the doorstep. The colorways are Baroness (on the right, shades of deep purples with a touch of teal and cinnamon) and Chocolatier (a variety of rich browns, from hot cocoa to bittersweet chocolate).

Today, I’ll be seaming. Patti is nearly done. I finished the sleeves yesterday, and set them to block. The button bands are done (still need to find buttons, though). And last night I knit the collar – which took WAY more yarn than I thought was reasonable.

All in all, Patti (Ravelry link) has used about 14.5 skeins of Merino Style, almost 1800 yds. The pattern reports it takes 1528 – 1910 yds, so I may have been dreaming when I ordered the yarn. Somehow, I thought I’d have enough left over to make Eunny’s Deep V Argyle Vest. Oh well.

Pictures to follow, after it’s finished (and I’m presentable again!).

 
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Posted in Knitting