Flint Knits

The Failure: I didn’t win that contest. I didn’t even make it into the semi-finals! Since I had waaaay more votes than everyone else (thanks, guys!), I can only assume this is because I didn’t follow the rules (big surprise). When one of the people organizing the contest sent me a Flickr message inviting me to submit my picture, I just did it. What I did not do was bother to read the terms of the contest, which apparently include a rule declaring that photos must be head-to-toe. Fail!

On a happier note, Laurynn (who just knit a thong, by the way) is the lucky winner of a $20 woolgirl.com gift certificate. Woo hoo!

The Success: The stripey/pooley Charade sock? Turned out gorgeous.

Just a tiny bit of pooling around the instep, which I think I can live with. In fact, I was so thrilled by how lovely Sandra’s pattern is in variegated yarn that, instead of knitting the second sock, I immediately cast on for another pair in a different variegated colorway.

The Robot: My niece Claire had her first birthday this week, and she obviously needed a wildly inappropriate gift from Cool Aunt Pam.

pattern: Bender Bending Rodriguez, by Soph Viklund
yarn: Plymouth Dreambaby DK and Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Baby 
ravelry link (includes list of my mods to the original pattern)

If you aren’t familiar with Futurama, Bender is a foul-mouthed, cigar-smoking, poker-playing robot who bends metal and is fueled entirely by booze.

Perfect for an infant, no?

Fortunately, Claire’s parents are Futurama fans, and were thus superjazzed about the gift,

and her grandparents don’t watch the show, so they just saw a cute robot toy,

and Claire herself discovered immediately how flingable wee Bender is, with those long, grippable arms and legs.

So everyone wins. Happy Birthday, Claire!

**UPDATE! A LIST OF COMMON MODIFICATIONS TO THE FEBRUARY LADY SWEATER PATTERN IS NOW AVAILABLE HERE.**

As soon as I finished knitting Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Baby Sweater on Two Needles (more commonly known as the “February Baby Sweater”) for my niece, I thought, “I need that sweater.” Not for any other babies I know (and I seem to know an awful lot these days), but for me me me.(If you don’t already own Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac, you should. It’s the best $7 you will ever spend on a knitting book. For reals.)

Jenny was steps ahead of me, and had already made her own “giant” version, in baby pink. But I wondered if there was a way to make it more fitted on top, so the whole thing had a kind of 50s a-line shape to it. Enter the top-down raglan cardigan—the easiest sweater structure known to knitterkind.

I started with basic raglan shaping for the collar and yoke, then stuck in a row of eyelet increases just above the bust to add fullness all the way around. (I may still make an icord with pom-poms on the ends, and thread it through the eyelets, like so.)

And ended up with my new favorite sweater.

yarn: Sundara Worsted Merino in Green Over Ochre
needles: 5mm circular
buttons: 7/8″ wooden

Want to make your own? Sweet! I wrote up a free pattern.

[ravelry link]

YARN: approximately 750 (850, 950, 1050, 1150) yards of worsted weight yarn. This lace pattern is especially lovely in semi-solid yarns—I used Sundara Worsted Merino in “Green Over Ochre.”

NEEDLES:
• US 8 (5mm) 32” circular needle, or size needed to get gauge
• US 8 (5mm) double-pointed needles, or size needed to get gauge

GAUGE: 18 stitches / 4” in garter stitch

FINISHED BUST SIZE: 35 (37.5, 41, 41, 44, 49.5, 52.5) inches (bust is the same for S and M, but sleeves are 1.75” larger on size M)

A note on sizing: You can easily make this cardigan smaller or larger by casting on fewer or more stitches at the beginning, and/or doing fewer or more raglan increases—just be sure that your final stitch counts for the sleeves and body are a multiple of 7 so that the stitch pattern works.

My raglan math (such as it is) owes a great debt to Barbara Walker’s Knitting From the Top, and to Laura’s fabulous (and free!) “Easy and Top Down” pattern.

All mistakes are, of course, my own—bring them to my attention at flintknits@gmail.com.

NOTE: Most photos in this post are shamelessly stolen. Click on them to go to the photographer’s Flickr page.

Hi all! It turns out the perfect way to wrap up a Semester from Hell is to hit the road and drive cross-country to get together with a bunch of knitter-friends, drink beers, and swap cowls. Seriously, I’m like a new woman.

Ms. Specs (whose blog you should definitely be reading, and who is in possession of a most wicked, wry, trojan-horse wit that hides behind her quiet demeanor) made me a beautiful cowl, in my favorite bright blue-green, with the sproingiest sock yarn of all time, Colinette Jitterbug.

Thanks, S!! I love it.

And I got to knit a cowl for Ashley. This was exciting because I love her madly (this love has been documented thoroughly on her blog and mine. We do not need to elaborate at this point. Except perhaps to say that I now adore her even more because she turned me on to this dreadful/wonderful story of the sparkly, yummy-smelling, teenaged vampires of Forks, ND). ETA: er, Washington. Forks, Washington. Duh. Because there is no sunlight there.

This was also humiliating because, slacker that I am, I left it til the last minute and had to knit the entire thing in the car with her, while she drove us to Pennsylvania. (You might not know this from her blog, but Ashley has a cruel streak. She was so enraged by my irresponsibility that she forced me to spend a whole day with her 18 month-old nephew, who is, as Caro might say, “like a bee on a string”).

pattern: Mimosa Neckwarmer, by Tarja
yarn: GGH Aspen, from Threadbear Fiber Arts
needles: US8 and US10.5 circulars
button: from Rosie’s Yarn Cellar

Gorgeous photos by Ashley, of course.

The cowl swap has already produced a few patterns. Nova, Elinor, and Caro [Ravelry link] have posted free ones already, and Minty’s stunning cowl-to-end-all cowls pattern is forthcoming.

I cannot overstate how thoroughly awesome the weekend was. Ashley, Caro, Christy, Diana, Elinor, Jennie, Julia, Maritza, Megan, Minty, Nova, and Specs are people with whom I have heaps in common (besides knitting, obvs), and who consistently brighten my everydays with their art, wit, smarts, thoughtfulness, support, pies, and (some of them) unflagging dedication to online competitive word games. I’m lucky to know them and, now, even luckier to have met them.

Meeting folks in person that you already know and love through teh internets is a fabulous and totally unique experience. So go out and organize your own knitter meet-ups! Do it! And the next time you’re in the Flint area (okay, yes, stop laughing, please), give a holler! xoxo

So … I’ve got a lot going on right now. Like … a lot. I’m physically healthy for the most part, which is good, but other than that, things are … well, pretty fucking crappy. And very, very busy, with no sign of letting up any time soon.

This is why I haven’t been reading, or commenting on, your blogs, or looking at your Flickr photos. Which, in turn, is why I haven’t been posting much here. It hardly seems fair to expect you kind folks to take time to read my blog when I haven’t been reading yours.

And I thought that would be cool. I thought, “hey, the knitblog community is totally rad, and they’re generous and understanding enough to get that sometimes shit’s just hard and that, even though the knitblogosphere is something that can totally sustain you in those times, it also tends to be one of the first things to get sacrificed.”

And I know this to be the case with most of ya’ll readers and friends. Because you’re awesome. But DAMN, were my feelings hurt when I got this anonymous comment:

“Your blog used to be a lot better. You never used to abandon it for months with no new knitting… and only a creepy diorama of an obscure X-Files episode. You should either commit or delete, my friend.”

Seriously? I mean, I thought that diorama was gonna hold folks over for a while. It’s pretty fucking sweet, after all.

But, now that I’ve dropped enough f-bombs to make me feel a bit less cranky, I guess I’ve been shamed/disciplined into providing knit-related content.

Please to enjoy these hats. I love you all.

Except whoever left that comment. That person can get bent.

for: Britney (gifted in December)
pattern: Koolhaas, by Jared Flood
yarn: Moda Dea Washable Wool in “Real Teal”
needles: US #7

for: Kate (the pretty lady in the picture)
pattern: Beret Gaufre, by Veronik Avery
yarn: Moda Dea Washable Wool in “Real Teal”
needles: US #3

Monkey: We hereby dub thee … Ramona Bananapants.

First of all, it just rolls of the tongue, doesn’t it? Ramona Bananapants. Ramona Bananapants.

Second, it evokes a lovely kind of sexual/gender ambiguity: I mean, she’s Ramona! But she’s got a Banana in her Pants! (Take that, heteronormative gender fascists!) And, since Ramona lives on a queer grad student’s shelf where she regularly fondles (and, let’s be honest, humps) an ironically framed photo of Michel Foucault, it just seemed right.

Unfortunately, while Blogless Canadian Rebecca (yes, that’s her real name) chose the winning name, her entry came after the official deadline. SO, she is the proud winner of bragging rights and a small consolation prize.

The Woolgirl gift certificate will go to the runner up: the fabulous Heather, who suggested “Snatch” as a nod to Ramona’s vaginer-like countenance. As Ryan pointed out, sexually-themed names were clearly the way to go in this contest.

But don’t feel bad, Blogless Canadian Rebecca! I mean, no one remembers who got the crown when Vanessa Williams was robbed.

Thanks so, so much to everyone who entered those hilarious, adorable, thoughtful, and clever names. This was my favorite contest ever.

Oh, and I finished a pair of socks. Yeah, that’s right. A PAIR.

pattern: Nancy Bush’s Child’s First Sock in Shell Pattern, from Knitting Vintage Socks
yarn: Koigu Premium Merino, color #2504, from Yarnzilla
needles: 2.5mm Addi circulars

modifications: skipped 1 pattern repeat; substituted eye of partridge heel + wedge toe.

If you’re a sock knitter who hasn’t made this pattern yet, Do It. It was one of the most satisfying sock-knitting experiences I’ve ever had. That might have something to do with the yarn, though — semi-solid Koigu has never let me down.

And I only waited 8 months in between the two socks! (Laura is my sister in this — see her salty recipe for how to defeat Second Sock Syndrome. Or check out Megan’s strategy for embracing it.)

Happy Hump Day, all! I’m going to go spend mine with Ramona and Michel.
If you know what I mean.
(Know what I mean?)