deep water
October 2, 2010
I finished this sweet little vest just as the first heat wave of summer hit, so now is the first time I’ve been able to wear it and take some photos.
The details:
Pattern: Watershed by Amy Swenson
Yarn: a wool-alpaca-nylon blend that was – need I even say it? – recycled from a secondhand sweater.
Mods: none, baby. Knitted exactly as written.
Verdict: LOVE.
It’s cute hanging open too, but as I biked to the university library to crash a staff party in it, I pinned it shut at the front so as not to have it bunching up in my armpits under my bag strap. The glittery PVC puffy heart pin was a gift from the ever fabulous Krista, proprietor of Pixie Fashions.
The back:
Here’s hoping we enjoy a few more days of transitional temperatures before winter comes. I’m not ready yet to put this pretty thing away in my closet until spring.
Posted by jodi on October 2, 2010 at 4.09pm
what i’m working on today
August 25, 2010
A new sample of my Gatsby Girl pullover from the fall 2006 issue of Interweave Knits, in Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino. Since the magazine issue has sold out I’m planning to release the pattern myself, with a few optional modifications (such as, pictured above, no picot edge! plus, some options for a less Miss Manners-ish neckline).
The yarn is wonderfully squashy and lush, and doesn’t pill up in my hands while knitting like the Rowan Cashsoft of the original sample sweater did, undoubtedly a good sign as to its wear as a sweater. I think it’s about time I had one of these for myself.
Posted by jodi on August 25, 2010 at 7.32pm
more sweater factory
July 4, 2010
Sweater cut-out letter sign: craftily cute or painfully hipsterish? I still can’t decide.
The full length of knitting, just before I started chopping it up.
First cutouts.
Posted by jodi on July 4, 2010 at 8.01pm
the sweater factory, day 8
June 21, 2010
Posted by jodi on June 21, 2010 at 1.47pm
the sweater factory, day 4
June 18, 2010
Posted by jodi on June 18, 2010 at 12.00pm
the sweater factory
June 17, 2010
11am to 5pm daily, June 14 to 25, 2010
406 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario
as part of Storefront Residencies for Social Innovation, an initiative of Windsor-based arts research collective Broken City Lab.
The Sweater Factory is a trial run for a project I’ve been talking about doing for a while. Old sweaters are unraveled and knit on a machine into a long panel from which pattern pieces will be cut; these pieces will be sewn together on the serger to create new sweaters, which will be given away to visitors at the end of the project.
The first two days were taken up with setting up and getting to know the new knitting machine, which I hadn’t managed to get out of the case and try out before beginning the project (whoops). Now that we’re friends, new fabric is pouring off the thing at a pretty good clip, although the varying weights of the sweaters being recycled makes necessary constant little adjustments to tension. I hope to stop knitting and start sewing by the end of the weekend. Due to the short time frame and the summer heat, I’ll be making sweater vests instead of full sweaters (so far most of the visitors to the project who’ve been really excited about the prospect of a free sweater vest have been artists and various other types of nerd anyway, so striped sweater vests could become our NERD UNIFORM). The last few days will be devoted to hand finishing (ribbing!) and giving vests away.
Posted by jodi on June 17, 2010 at 9.29pm
running out of yarn
April 8, 2010
These socks are almost as tall as they’re going to get, with a little bit of yarn left to eke out some ribbing. The sloping lace stitch seems a little slouchy, and I’m beginning to worry that the socks might not want to stay up very well. All I can do now is finish them off and take them out for a road test. What I do know for certain is they are exactly the wrong length to wear with any sort of sock garter, unless I want to look like somebody’s granddad.
Posted by jodi on April 8, 2010 at 9.58pm
distraction
March 23, 2010
I started something new. No, the socks aren’t finished. Shut up!
The pattern is Verdaia by Jodie St. Clair; yarn is Fleece Artist Merino. I know already I’m not going to have enough, and yet I knit on. Sucker.
Posted by jodi on March 23, 2010 at 6.12pm
sock progress
March 20, 2010
Posted by jodi on March 20, 2010 at 6.29pm
aurora borealis socks
March 17, 2010
Somehow these socks were never documented even though they were finished almost a year ago.
The pattern is a bog standard toe-up, with afterthought heel and shaping for the calf. I don’t much like having a bound-off edge at the top of a sock, so the cuff was started separately with a long tail cast on, knit downward, and grafted on. Extra work but worth it.
The yarn is one skein Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Sock in the Marrakesh colourway and one skein Twisted Fiber Art Playful in Lizardman, in alternating stripes of four rows each.
Same striping pattern as this Noro sock I’m never going to finish.
Posted by jodi on March 17, 2010 at 5.35pm
