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arguchikafter taking a few days off from the knitting hobby, i started fooling around with this aquamarine colored cotton yarn i've had in the stash for awhile. (FYI, in case you were wondering, it's not the yarn in my usericon, above; that stuff is a similar color, but it's wool and it's a darker shade.) i bought this yarn at least 8 years ago, possibly 9 or 10. i was going to knit it into a sweater for my now ex-sister-in-law but then i had second thoughts about both the color and the pattern for her. she had requested "green" and "non-wool"; this qualifies as the latter, but not really the former. the pattern i had picked out was just...not right for her. she's very petite and fashionable, and this pattern was for a cluttered, drop-shouldered, aran-esque thing. i ended up tossing the pattern, putting this aquamarine yarn in storage, and buying a bunch of dark green cotton chenille for her instead. (i never knit that up for her either--by the time i was ready to start the project, rex and i had separated.) anyway, so here i am with nothing to knit*, and i decided to start fooling with this yarn. i had no idea what i might want to do with it, but for some reason the color was calling to me. after knitting up a couple of swatches and experimenting with stitches, i finally settled on a tunic design trimmed in seed stitch, with a wide-ish neckline and a laced opening at the front. i thought it would make a nice beachy cover-up in the summer. it should end up looking vaguely hippie-ish, but in an understated, non-tie-dyed way.
i started knitting up one of the sleeves this evening, and i'm using a set of bamboo double-pointed needles (as is my wont, this sweater will be seamless just like my previous ones). the yarn knits up surprisingly nicely for cotton--it's mercerized, and it has a slight sheen to it. seeing this slightly reflective aquamarine yarn against the sandy-colored sticks immediately reminded me of the great lakes. the needles are the same color as lake michigan's sand, and the yarn is the same color as the water when it's got some air bubbles mixed in--like when you see it in the wake of a boat, or crashing up onto a pier. plus, the needles kind of whisper like waves when you knit with them (i know, i'm reaching a little bit). so i'm calling this one my lake michigan sweater.
i'm still feeling vaguely homesick and depressed, but i'm hoping that playing with this yarn and working on a summer sweater will help to counter the depressive effects of a winter spent north of the 45th parallel. as my friend L pointed out to me yesterday, we are in the midst of the darkest 6 months of the year. it didn't ever bother me when i first moved here, but over the last 2-3 years i'm starting to notice a distinct...let's call it a hibernatory desire...that's not really like me. i usually prefer to be out and about, busy, socially engaged, etc., but lately i just want to hole up in my cave. i probably just need to get out more.
*this isn't quite true. i have been playing with a "clicker cozy" for my friend L (she's in law school, and they use these little "clickers" to respond to lecture questions). i knit up an unsatisfactory prototype of that a few days ago, and haven't quite figured out how to fix what's wrong with it; the yarn is very fine and the project itself is very small (about 2"x3" and shaped sorta like a footie-sock, with an little window around the clicker's buttons), so i have to use some creative finishing techniques to shape the edges so that they look nice. once i get this thing figured out, i'll be able to finish it in an hour or two. i also have a bunch of lovely eggplant-colored wool and alpaca yarn that i haven't decided what to do with yet. it would be more seasonally appropriate to work on whatever that's going to become, but i don't want to rush it. i want to ramp up the difficulty level of the design for that yarn, and i need some time to contemplate the problem: i want this sweater to be more shaped and streamlined, thus more challenging to knit (more detailed shaping), but i also want it to have interesting surface details without looking all busy and cluttered. i'm thinking about adapting this pattern, which is knit to a completely different guage and with a completely different kind and weight of yarn than what i have, but has a look that i find basically pleasing. (i wouldn't mind knitting it up exactly as pictured sometime--i love a good bright orange sweater! i have one in my closet, actually, but it's a winter sweater with long sleeves and a mock t-neck.)
ok, that's enough. time to do something else for awhile. i've been fooling with one of my diss chapters today--the one that's the shakiest/least developed in my prospectus (it's my second chapter). it might end up being the most interesting one of the whole project, oddly enough.
i started knitting up one of the sleeves this evening, and i'm using a set of bamboo double-pointed needles (as is my wont, this sweater will be seamless just like my previous ones). the yarn knits up surprisingly nicely for cotton--it's mercerized, and it has a slight sheen to it. seeing this slightly reflective aquamarine yarn against the sandy-colored sticks immediately reminded me of the great lakes. the needles are the same color as lake michigan's sand, and the yarn is the same color as the water when it's got some air bubbles mixed in--like when you see it in the wake of a boat, or crashing up onto a pier. plus, the needles kind of whisper like waves when you knit with them (i know, i'm reaching a little bit). so i'm calling this one my lake michigan sweater.
i'm still feeling vaguely homesick and depressed, but i'm hoping that playing with this yarn and working on a summer sweater will help to counter the depressive effects of a winter spent north of the 45th parallel. as my friend L pointed out to me yesterday, we are in the midst of the darkest 6 months of the year. it didn't ever bother me when i first moved here, but over the last 2-3 years i'm starting to notice a distinct...let's call it a hibernatory desire...that's not really like me. i usually prefer to be out and about, busy, socially engaged, etc., but lately i just want to hole up in my cave. i probably just need to get out more.
*this isn't quite true. i have been playing with a "clicker cozy" for my friend L (she's in law school, and they use these little "clickers" to respond to lecture questions). i knit up an unsatisfactory prototype of that a few days ago, and haven't quite figured out how to fix what's wrong with it; the yarn is very fine and the project itself is very small (about 2"x3" and shaped sorta like a footie-sock, with an little window around the clicker's buttons), so i have to use some creative finishing techniques to shape the edges so that they look nice. once i get this thing figured out, i'll be able to finish it in an hour or two. i also have a bunch of lovely eggplant-colored wool and alpaca yarn that i haven't decided what to do with yet. it would be more seasonally appropriate to work on whatever that's going to become, but i don't want to rush it. i want to ramp up the difficulty level of the design for that yarn, and i need some time to contemplate the problem: i want this sweater to be more shaped and streamlined, thus more challenging to knit (more detailed shaping), but i also want it to have interesting surface details without looking all busy and cluttered. i'm thinking about adapting this pattern, which is knit to a completely different guage and with a completely different kind and weight of yarn than what i have, but has a look that i find basically pleasing. (i wouldn't mind knitting it up exactly as pictured sometime--i love a good bright orange sweater! i have one in my closet, actually, but it's a winter sweater with long sleeves and a mock t-neck.)
ok, that's enough. time to do something else for awhile. i've been fooling with one of my diss chapters today--the one that's the shakiest/least developed in my prospectus (it's my second chapter). it might end up being the most interesting one of the whole project, oddly enough.
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