Demi Again

Nearly a year later...

A blurry photo is better than no photo at all. It turns out that a blurry photo is also much better than the effort required to take a better photo at 3am. Ergo...yes.

I decided to make the back plain because it would go more quickly and I found it more aesthetically pleasing. I hope to finish this piece in the next few days. (I actually put off knitting to redo my header and update all the various HTML issues with this blog. Now that I'm done, can I say: so gorgeous. I can't stop looking at it.) I want to finish the entire thing before I go to Paris. I have just over a month. Can I do it?

The color in this photo is much more accurate than in any of the previous photos.

Sick of Titles

Why did I decide to title every post on this blog? I don't bother on Prolix because I know I suck at titling. I always want a word or phrase that encompasses the entire content of the post (instead of one or two key points) while still being clever and maybe even a little erudite. Instead, my two choices are boring or trite. Blah for me!

Anyway, I originally started this post to voice my concern about having started the wrong size Demi. When I started this sweater, I chose the small size, designed for a 34" bust. I didn't think to look at the finished dimensions--Ms. Hargreaves gives 4" of ease. Is that a lot? I usually like my sweaters to be on the tighter side, although with the bulkiness of this one, I suppose it makes sense for it to be looser. I held what's done of the sleeve up to my arm, and it seemed to fit like I wanted it to, but I didn't pin it or anything, so I didn't trust that. My next step was to re-measure my gauge, hoping that it would give me a sweater a little smaller than the directions say. I found that my stitch count was indeed off, and I stupidly panicked. For about 5 minutes, I was bemoaning the fact that my gauge would produce a sweater even larger than 38", and that I would have to find someone to take my beautiful creation away from me (or else start over. I'm so dramatic that the first option was what plagued me more).

Then I had a revelation (And it's a revelation, it's a revelation, I thought you were a life-sized paper doll...). If I have more stitches per inch, that means that I have less total inches for the same number of stitches. Right? Right?! If I CO 61 stitches, my resulting work will be less wide than that of someone who got gauge spot-on. After thinking about this for many minutes, I have decided it's correct.

I anticipate finishing the sleeve tonight or tomorrow with the help of some Dogme 95 films (Italian for Beginners, Mifune's Last Song) and Thumbsucker, which I've wanted to see for quite some time. The latter appears to have the same quiet pretentiousness present in the Wes Anderson films I love so much, so hopefully I'll enjoy it.

Odessa & The Plan

band name!



It's almost too small for me to wear. I didn't swatch, since Grumperina said on her blog that the hat stretched. I used needles one size smaller than recommended, but I figured it wouldn't make that much of a difference. I might do this hat again with another pattern repeat or two. The yarn is gorgeous and the buttons are awesome.

I tried to get a picture of me wearing it, but I couldn't get it to work out and I got frustrated and gave up.

Pattern: Odessa from Magknits, designed by Grumperina
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK in Thunder
Needles: US5 DPNs - aluminum

Now for The Plan. Here's what I want to/should do in terms of knitting over the next few months:

1. Finish the DNA scarf I started. This must be finished before the Olympics start.
   
2. Knitting Olympics. Aimée (name Frenchicized courtesy of yours truly). Enough said.
   
3. Demi from Rowan Vintage Style.
   
4. Cashmere lace blouse from Loop-d-Loop. Except not in cashmere, cause I'm cheap. And also I don't deserve nice things. I'm thinking of getting KnitPicks sock yarn so I can dye it myself. That would be cheap. And badass.
   
5. ETA: I also want to finish my Butterfly sometime within the next century.
   

And then sometime I should really finish up my Sesame.

My mom heard about the Knitting Olympics somehow, and wants to make two Baby Einstein Jackets from Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch.

Demi-Manche

Don't come looking to me for creativity in titling.

This weekend I worked a bit on Demi, and I bought buttons for the neckline.




I don't know which buttons I like best, although I'm leaning towards the blue-black wood ones. You can't see it cause I'm a crappy photographer, but the middle set has a bunch of filigree-type work going on.

I have a repeat and a half done, so I figure I'm about halfway through with this sleeve. Not bad for starting only a week ago, I guess.

Demi-Repeat

Don't think that I'm above making French puns with pattern names. Just wait 'til I knit Aimée.



So you can't even really tell there's a pattern going on in that photo. It's a little better in real life. Basically I have half a pattern repeat (AKA a demi-repeat) done on one sleeve. Yeah, it looks like a pile of wool guacamole in that picture.

I'm kind of sort of thinking of joining the Demi KAL, since I've been following those blogs since the KAL started (I'm a hardcore Demi fan). I just don't like being chained down to a KAL. I also don't like the fact that when I inevitably place the project on the back burner, I have something of a written contract (albeit documented in electrons) laughing at me, for all to see.

I really need to find a solution for photographing my knits. There's no place in my apartment that allows for me to get far enough away from the item so the flash doesn't wash everything out. I want to be able to focus on the details. Grar.

I'm going to be in the car for a good 5 hours over the next few days, so hopefully I'll get a little more done. I'm still grasping to my previously-stated dream of having a sleeve done before the Knitting Olympics start.

I Been Workin' on the Cathode

All the live-long day...

I got fed up with doing the body, so the black part isn't as long as I would like, but I'm hoping blocking will fix that. The only thing I hate more than endless stockinette is endless ribbing. I'm only 1.25" into the ribbing, and I hate it so much already. I'm hoping to get it done this weekend so I can finish the sleeves and the neckline.

I want to start Demi at the beginning of February. I'd be happy to have a sleeve or something done by the time the Knitting Olympics start. I've pretty much decided on Aimee for that.