When life kicks your ass, knit socks!

I finished another couple of shawls recently and I have a sweater languishing in my project bag, but I can't seem to focus on anything bigger than a sock at the moment.



Forest Canopy (ravelry link) and the Fountain Pen shawl (ravelry link) were very quick knits.

Fountain Pen got debuted at a friend's wedding a couple of weeks ago. If I can find a photo of it in action, I'll post it. Oh yes, and Handmaiden Mini Maiden is like yarn crack. I'm definitely going to use it again.



Here's Ricky inspecting Forest Canopy.



I knit this out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd worsted, which makes it a warm and sturdy, yet soft wrap for my chilly office. Also, it's cold out again.

Wing 'o the Moth

New projects are more fun than repairing old ones. I just finished a shawl that I actually get to keep this past week.



This was a fun and easy knit, except for the bits where I didn't pay enough attention to the stitch pattern in the body of the shawl. I also added beads to the twin leaf border - not many, but enough to add a bit of sparkle (details on the ravelry project page). The yarn is a bit delicate (it looks really fragile in places), so I'm keeping the leftovers in case of emergency repair work. We'll see how this holds up over time.

Winter gear

First, some lovely alpaca mittens that Ivanova made me and I promised ages ago that I would post a pic of them:


To go with them I made the wavy scarf from Knitty using Knit Picks Andean Silk yarn. This stuff is incredibly soft and warm. I highly recommend it. I'm not sure why this pattern got a "tangy" rating from Knitty. The pattern even says that it's easy peasy, as long as you use a row counter.

My favourite model

Here is my DS modelling the lovely Baby Surprise Jacket that Ivanova was kind enough to make for him. I've been meaning to post these pics for quite a while now...

Sweater surgery preliminaries

Arisaig gets a lot of wear, and usually that's a good thing. Unfortunately somewhere between Salt Lake City and Boston during a business trip last week, I noticed a hole in the cuff.



After getting really pissed, I realized that there's an easy fix. The sleeves are too long on the sweater, so I decided to rip back to a better length and knit back down.



I used circulars as a lifeline through the stitches in the row where I want the lace pattern to begin. I'll post updates as the surgery progresses.

Great big huge sewing project (part 1)

So here's the deal: C and I got married (finally) on December 27. In a moment of insanity last winter, I decided to sew my own wedding dress (photos on Flickr).

The bodice was sewn from a modified version of the Truly Victorian pattern TV490, which I altered to lace up rather than button up in the back. The skirt is TV221. The only reason why I'm still sane after this experience is that Truly Victorian patterns are incredibly well written, are very easy to resize and come with great instructions. C was also a big help when I was fitting the bodice and helped mark the hem on the skirt.



The fabric is red doupioni silk underlined with denim. I used spiral steel and white steel boning for both the bodice and the corset. I lined the bodice with rayon, but also faced the hems with gold/pink shantung silk bias strips.

Rather than use the typically puffy sleeves found on bodices during the Victorian period, I drafted a pretty generic short sleeve, which was cut on the bias and lined in the shantung.



I'll add more details in my next post, and show off the petticoat and corset. I also have to point out the bouquet and C's boutonniere, both created by the great people at the Welded Garden. The bouquet is currently sitting on my fireplace mantle in grandma's crystal vase.

C also got a new hat for xmas (ravelry project link).