I know I said I wouldn't start any new projects until I cleared my old ones out. but I also did mention there were a couple of exceptions. and, really, ishbel knits up so fast that it hardly counts as a rule breaker.

pattern: ishbel
yarn: colinette jitterbug, fruit coulis, 1 hank and a smidgen
needles: 4mm
date started: 12.10.09
date finished: 12.21.09

this ishbel isn't for me, but for my lovely friend amanda, she asked if someone would knit her an ishbel in exchange for a mini quilt. I jumped at the chance, I love amanda's quilts (and every other project she makes)! just check out her flickr stream.

it actually would have been done sooner, but I ran out of yarn eight rows before the binding off. luckily I have friends in high places that were able to send me another hank that eerily matched. the funny thing is illanna is the one who originally got me the first skein of jitterbug a couple of years ago. so this officially makes her my jitterbug-go-to-person.

I got amanda to choose a yarn from my stash and she went with this pink and purple mix. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this yarn, but I pretty much fell in love with jitterbug and its plump stitches. I knit the small version, but it came out a little bigger than I intended it to. I hope amanda still loves it, I think it's a nice wrap around size.

now I need to figure out what to knit with the three ounces I have left of it!

Posted by bitter purl at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

starting a quilt is pretty easy, almost too easy. just grab some fabrics and cut, cut, cut. it's the sewing and finishing that are hard. piecing, pressing seams, actually quilting, and binding. that's a lot of stuff for a procrastinator. on a side note, how do some people finish two or three quilts a week!?

let's just say thank god I started early. how early? sometime in july. I didn't mean for this to be a christmas present, it was just a happy accident. I started with guns a blazing. I cut out the fabric and started piecing the rows. but then my ocd got the best of me when I noticed that some of the zigs weren't matching up with some of the zags. I figured it was my wonky cutting and ran to the store for a 4"x4" ruler. after cutting all the squares down they still didn't really match and now my quilt was a lot smaller than I wanted it to be.

last week I got myself motivated and decided that some sashing and extra squares would do the trick. the fabric is hello betty in the '30's palette with kona cotton in white. the binding is from momo's wonderland and the back is some kaffe fassett ikat dots I had in the stash. the batting is a bamboo / cotton blend that is super soft. I was really tempted to get some flannel to make it a snuggly baby blanket, but I didn't feel I had time to go out and search for it. I really love how it turned out though. the front is vintagey while the back and binding modernize it.

I stuck with some simple quilting because I don't feel I'm ready for anything beyond this yet. and to be honest, I really couldn't picture an all over pattern over this quilt.

the finished size is about 36"x48". I have to admit I was scared of throwing it in the washer. I kept picturing all the quilting getting ripped out and the whole thing ending up a sad mess. thankfully my fears were laid to rest when the quilt was nice and wrinkled out of the dryer. .

Posted by bitter purl at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

I had planned to post earlier this month about a finished vest, but things didn't pan out. oh, I finished it the vest. I just hated it. my pattern indecision should have been a sign. it doesn't usually take me weeks to find a pattern to knit. I'm the person that has way too many pattern ideas floating around. OK. so I don't like vests. there, I admit it. more to myself than you, but it's out. you know what else went wrong? not only did my gauge swatch lie (actually, I think I liked to myself just so I could get started), but I think the pattern lied as well. it told me to knit 10" armholes. 10"?! I'm not sure why I blindly followed this. never mind that the schematic clearly shows a 9" armhole. so not only should I not knit vests, but I shouldn't try to knit during thanksgiving weekend since apparently I ignore all sense when stuffed with too much food (and perhaps alcohol).

so what else is going on around here? I decided to force myself to clear out my wip piles that were taking over our apartment before I was allowed to start anything new. well, with an exception or two of course. so I've actually been making and finishing things! it's a crazy concept. the seeded jacket was unceremoniously frogged. the fabric felt heavy and too drapey. the first thing I decided to actually finish was tom's pentagon aran cardigan. I only needed to weave in a few ends and sew in the zipper.

pattern: pentagon aran cardigan
yarn: jo sharp silk roan aran tweed, brindle (121), 14 balls
needles: 4mm and 5mm
date started: 08.11.08
date finished: 12.07.09

this cardigan was first going to be an anniversary present (our first one!), then a thanksgiving present (who gives presents for thanksgiving?!), then christmas, then birthday, and now it's just a take this damn thing will you/ fake christmas present sweater. such indignities this sweater has faced. it really didn't need to take me over a year to finish, it just kinda got ignored. I had good intentions at times. I dragged it with me to maine last year to finish; when it was still dubbed an anniversary sweater. I even picked up the zipper this spring when I had hopes of this being a birthday present.

the zipper. I think that's what really stopped me in my tracks. I just didn't want to deal with it, so I stubbornly ignored it. of course, once I finally forced myself to sew it, it took less than an hour. the trick was to use double sided tape to "baste" it. then I pinned the hell out of it and sewed it with no fear. you can't have fear because the sewing machine can smell fear. it'll eat your fabric or make your zipper wonky at any sign of weakness.

besides the zipper, I loved working on this sweater. the pattern was straight forward and the cable pattern kept my interest throughout. I pretty much followed it as written, except I used a tubular cast on and cast off. the only issue I had was with the sleeves, they were way too wide and long. I simple ripped a few inches off and reseamed. talking about seaming, don't use this yarn for seaming! it'll just break in the middle of a seam. I know they tell you to seam with a yarn that's a similar color as the main yarn but I didn't bother and used some leftover koigu kersti. love it! it's like a little secret built in.

over a year later you would think tom would wear the hell out of it or, at the very least, feign excitement. I got nothing. part of me can't blame him. as much as I love the sweater, I don't love it on him. it's too loose in the body and his shoulders aren't broad enough for a drop shoulder design. in my mind he's more of a raglan man. he most likely let me carry on with this project more for my entertainment than his actual desire for the sweater.

of course, I had to make him something else to make up for it. definitely a much quicker gift that Ill show you soon.

Posted by bitter purl at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)