UnStripy

I love it. It's the best thing I've made. It fits him perfectly (actually, I haven't blocked it yet, but if it stretches a little that won't matter. He wore it to work the morning after I sewed on the buttons (oh, for a workplace where this outfit is acceptable!) Isn't it just the bomb? I love how it's sort of quirky and rustic and... just cool.

I'm not sure what else to say about this. The pattern worked out well. Ysolda hasn't done the tutes for the sleeves yet, so I worked out the decreases that I'd need to make and spaced them evenly down the length of the sleeve, working them where the sleeve seam would be if there were one. Turns out I did my maths a bit wrong, so after five decreases every ninth row, I did another eleven (I think) every seventh row. Seems to have worked out okay.


Sure, the flash is annoying, but it shows the wool detail a little better. You can see the variations in the handspun. And the delicious warm aspect in the natural black colour.

In an update on the guy at work I taught to knit: he came into my office the other day to show me that he'd bought Debbie Stoller's Stitch'n'Bitch in his lunchbreak. He also indicated that he'd gone a little awry with the knitting I set up for him, so I suggested he bring it to my office and I could look at it. He rushed in, then closed the door and dropped the blinds so noone could see that he (or I, I guess) were looking at knitting. He's terribly self-conscious about it. Any suggestions on how to make it better?

What to do with gauge swatches # 312

Set them underneath vases.

Buttons for UnStripy

It's done! I finished it while watching Wall Street last night (possibly the best film to come out of the eighties, from an art history student perspective. I'm sure Badly Coloured Boy got sick of me shrieking stuff like "Look at the interior decorating! The mock surface finishes! Everything is fake! The symbolism! The symbolism!").

Now I'm stuck as to buttons.


These are a great size, and I particularly love that they are made from scrap timber from the South-West (of Western Australia, for my interstate and overseas guests). So it'd mean the whole of the jumper is local, from sheep through buttons. But I only have three, and I think it needs four. And when I bought these a couple of years ago they were everywhere, including on ebay. I can't find any on ebay now, and I doubt the sort of low-budget, quasi-transient bead shops that were stocking them are still around or still have them. I did find some similar ones on etsy, but, well, they just aren't local. I found more! I wonder why these didn't turn up in last night's etsy search.


Well, I was going to ask y'all for opinions as to which looked better, the three large buttons, or the multiples that are (in my opinion) too small. But I don't care now! I'm getting more of those big 'uns!


These little ones are pretty neat though (kind of feminine, too). I've got eleven of them, and am saving them up for something special. Maybe my Stripy. That's right. I decided I loved BCB's handspun unStripy so much I want one. I'll put stripes on mine though.

Oh, and just because it's kind of cool, in searching for buttons I found this place, Cute As A Button. Sure, it's a little pricy, but they have red and silver leather buttons!

Easter

Was spent with a friendly orphan possum called Gazza. He's being readied for release into the wild. He's not so great and staying still for a photoshoot


but he is pretty tops at climbing (because I was pulling a funny face in the picture I'm not including the next picture in the sequence - Gazza diving off my back towards his cage).


I knit too. Here's my unStripy. In fact, the arm is done all the way to the wrist now. Look at the colour variations in the handspun - interesting, no? You can't really see the differences in anything but strong light. I like it. I think Brooklyn Tweed is almost right - a simple stitch pattern is best for handspun, but stocking stitch is just as good as garter, in my unhumble opinion.

Shaker knitting?

Not quite. But there is an element of function-before-form to this. A top down raglan, in handspun from Bilby yarns. The colour is 'natural black', and it was spun by a Beverley Ludlow, according to the label. I bought it at the Royal Show, remember? The handspun is very addictive to work with. It has, for want of a better word, a life to it that machine spun does not. The colours here are really accurate. I love the little reddish hints. Where it looks blurred towards the back of the photo it is not. That would be the single ball (supposed to be used for collar and cuffs) that was a shade lighter (it has a little more white fleece spun in). I spent months looking at all the yarn, in different lights, and when it was all balled up I could not for the life of me work out which one was lighter. I decided the bag was mislabeled. Or not. It happened to be the first skein I grabbed. There is a visible line where the regular-coloured-yarn starts, but how visible it is depends on the light. I decided not to rip back. The start of the raglan was a bit of a bi-atch, and Badly Coloured Boy could not see the difference (he's colourblind. Hence the name). Oh yeah, it's for him, did I mention? And the pattern is Ysolda's Stripy. I'm imagining wooden toggle buttons on the mock-placket (oo, shoulda seen BCB's face when I mentioned the mock-placket. He didn't know what it was, and he thought it sounded unpleasant).