Sunday, February 21, 2016

Commitment

Yesterday, I saw an amazing car parked on our road.


To think about the commitment and dedication of the person who knit this marvelous thing - a crochet cover for a spare tire! Look closer...


I had to stop and admire the craftsmanship: the colors, design, and execution are just flawless. The only thing - you'd sooner see it as a sofa or a pillow cover. The juxtaposition of the girly, homey, handmade knitting with a "muscular" car in all its technical glory had a striking effect.


This unusual knitted cover seems to be made as a statement and an object of art rather than for utilitarian purposes. And I applaud the audacity and ingenuity of its maker!



Sunday, February 14, 2016

Blok

I just finished my last project and I am in love.

Even after so many years of knitting not very often I feel so satisfied with the result.

I wanted to make Blok the minute I saw it on Ravelry. Using the yarn in the original color scheme. And - which is rarely happens to me - using the original yarn.

Normally, I would go to my stash and find something similar there, or just unravel an old sweater or two that I stopped wearing. Or buy something online and on sale. This time I had a lot of ColourMart Jeelong that could be used for the pattern, but I needed two more colors. So I found online the original yarn used in the pattern and ordered it. The yarn WOOLFOLK TYND is extremely soft and rather easy on your hands. Even though the whole pattern is just stockinette stitch on smallest size needles possible, the process of knitting was fast and pleasant. My hands didn't hurt and I was able to watch TV and read books while working on this sweater (I read two mystery novels, watched the first season of Better Call Saul and BBC's War and Peace - all in all, time well spent!). It flew from the needles almost effortlessly.

The pattern is well detailed and explained, so there wasn't any problems understanding it. I made only a couple of modifications. First, I changed the colors of the stripes on the sleeves: the last stripe with intarsia was supposed to be done in melange and white, and I made it with olive + white + olive.

Since I have very short arms and dislike long sleeves, I used the smallest needles that I had (2 mm, or US size 0) for sleeves (body was made with 3 mm needles), and I made one stripe 10 rows shorter than it was supposed to be according to the pattern.

Otherwise, I just followed the instructions.

 I really liked the way the collar is made (also - used 2 mm needles) and bound off. Normally, I would bind off, fold it in two and then sew the inside part. And let me tell you - it was easier to make the whole sweater than to sew the collar in one go. Here you are binding off while simultaneously connecting the inside part to the pick-up round.That was a new experience for me and I am certainly going to use this method in future. Actually, I am thinking of using this pattern again in future - I really like the silhouette, it is versatile, easy to make and to wear. Plus, I could use up some of leftovers from my stash. We'll see. As usual - more pictures on Ravelry.

Meanwhile, I started my next project already. And I am going to wear this one to the next meeting of our Knitting group. Yes, knitters live everywhere, even in South Florida. I found a group that meets once a week on Tuesdays in Starbucks on Key Largo. If you are in the area, please join us!