Anyone Still Here?

Greetings, gentle readers.  Well, that was a long pause.  We have some catching up to do.  Let's see how much we can get done today.

First and foremost, I've managed to "stay on the sheep," so to speak.  In fact, in January I reached an important milestone:

[As always, thanks to K.K. Batts for allowing me to share her lovely badges.]

I'm happy to report that I did NOT celebrate by running out and buying a bunch of yarn or fiber.  In fact, I still haven't bought any, given that I still have enough to keep me busy for over a decade.  But I did recently make the mistake of visiting the websites of all the yarn shops I used to buy from.  Let's just say that while I don't quite have the "shakes," I probably shouldn't do that again any time soon.  I haven't officially committed to another year of no yarn shopping, mostly because I don't know what will happen when I get to Stitches West next weekend or what I'll get into at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May, but I'm still making an effort to avoid as much impulse shopping and general grazing as I can.  We'll see how it goes.

A break from blogging has not translated into a break from general fiber artistry, so allow me to share what I've accomplished since I last typed at you.

Tops

Remember all of the tops I was working on last year?  Yeah, I haven't finished any of those.  But I have made some others.  To explain why that isn't actually as silly as that sounds, I should mention that I switched construction techniques.  Previously, I was constructing my tops in flat pieces and sewing them together.  Recently I've been constructing them in the round.  For non-knitters, I've been knitting the tops from the bottom up as a tube until I get to where the armholes should start, and then I put half the stitches on one set of needles, and the other half on another set of needles, and work the front and back separately to create the holes for my arms.  Finally, I sew it together at the top, leaving room for my head.  It's a really convenient way to construct because you are working on the public side of the garment for most of it.  For example, if the top is primarily knit, I don't have to purl the back side until I reach the part where I split for the armholes.  I just keep knitting round and round :).  So now you are wondering why everyone doesn't always make tops this way.  Well, there are legitimate reasons for working in pieces.  One reason is that seams add structure to a garment, so depending on how you want the top to fit the body, it may better suit your needs to construct in pieces.  Sometimes the pattern is so complicated that it is easier to work in pieces.  For the most part, though, working in the round is working for me :).

Anyway, here are some of the tops I've made:

The top above was made from holding together a strand of laceweight alpaca/silk yarn with a strand of laceweight linen/silk yarn.  At the time I made it, it was my favorite thing I've ever made.  I've been visualizing making that neckline for a very long time and it was very exciting when my vision worked.  It was also my favorite thing to wear, until I began to realize that I am allergic to alpaca.  That was a heartbreaking revelation. (I have quite a lot of alpaca in my stash.  Eventually such stash will need to find a (or several) good home (or homes--I really have a lot), but I'm still in denial that I'm allergic to it so I'm having trouble letting go.)  I confess that I've worn the top a few times and just taken an allergy pill to lessen the symptoms, but sooner rather than later I will need to make another similar top and let this one go.  Sigh.

This next top is a special case, and yes, at the time I finished it, it was my favorite thing I have ever made.*  Remember last post when I mentioned getting my "knitting mojo" back?  This is the top that did it.  The yarn is the most luxurious blend of cashmere/silk that I have ever encountered (so of course the yarn has been discontinued).  Seriously, if you could transform whipped cream into yarn form, this would be the yarn.  Knitting it was amazing.  Wearing it is beyond words, although unfortunately it sheds like the dickens, so I don't get to wear it much.  But I hug it every chance I get.

I loved, loved, loved making this peach top.  It is literally a tube that I sewed some decorative straps to and was ready to go.  The yarn is a cotton/seacell blend (seacell is made from kelp) and it is super comfortable.  It is another discontinued yarn unfortunately.**  If I had more of it, I would make a nightgown out of it.

The top above is my new favorite top.  In fact, I'm wearing it right now as I'm writing this blog entry.  The yarn is a blend of cotton, bamboo, linen, and nylon.  This yarn is not as soft and comfortable as the other yarns I've used for tops (so of course I have lots and lots of it, lol) but I really like the drape of it and from a construction perspective, it's one of my most successful tops.

Other projects

I also recently finished another Swirl, my fourth.  This one was comissioned by a friend, and this is how it looked before I mailed it off to her:

It is made from 100% mink from my old pal MinkYarn.com.  It's super soft and I'm sure it will be very cozy to wear.  I didn't get to try it on because it's not my size, but I'm definitely tempted to start another mink sweater for me after making it :).  The mink is always so pleasant to knit with because it feels nice on your hands.

Speaking of sweaters for me, I do have another cardigan in progress.  I'm going to call it the "semi-precious" cardigan, because I used some of the precious yak/merino/silk that I had plied with a yak/merino blend so as to stretch my remaining stash of both.  Here it is so far:

I plan to add sleeves, but I am waiting until after Stitches West next weekend, because I have signed up for a class on set-in sleeves and thought I should wait until after the class when I hopefully will be better at it.  I've done set-in sleeves on my other garments, but there is room for improvement.

You are probably wondering about the Precious Hoodie.  I haven't made further progress on that, but I do plan to finish it one day.  It still needs the hood, and I'm still debating whether or not it will need sleeves.  One issue is that the yarn I'm using to make it is thick, and the garment is turning out to be rather heavy (in weight, not just thickness).  I think it will still be pleasant to wear, but I was inspired to start the Semi-Precious Cardi because that yarn is closer to a laceweight and that garment is turning out to be lightweight, but still warm because yak is such a warm/soft fiber. 

As usual, there is still more catching up to do, but we'll have to wait for another post.  I don't plan to make you wait so long this time (although we know how plans go), but today is day one of the Mad Dash 2015 (Team Cheshire Cat this year!) and though I've already done some spinning this morning, I should get back to work.  Wish me luck next weekend at Stitches.  Hopefully I'll be able to report that I behaved myself :).


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*I'm sure you've picked up on the pattern--pretty much the last thing I've made at any given time is my favorite thing I've ever made.  Which makes making things a very pleasant experience.  Obviously :).

**As I think I've mentioned before, I've bought a lot of my yarn on closeout at great discounts, so by the time I get around to knitting with it and realize how much I love it, it's long gone.