Not so basic

Do you like to move to a new house/apartment/dwelling? Well, I have to confess that this is my least favorite activity. Many many years ago, when I was living in Moscow, my husband and I moved 21 times in 7 years. With a child. Maybe that was why moving to another country wasn't too difficult for us?
Anyway, knitting is my preferred passtime when moving. It helps me to distress and stay focused. The only problem - it is almost impossible to make anything complicated. I have to pick something straightforward. That is why the idea of Summer of Basics Make Along looked so attractive - pick something basic and have a purpose amid all the chaos and commotion.

 I picked the pattern, figured out its design, decided to make only minimal changes, and - voila! - the sweater was finished in no time. 

Pattern - Wolf River by Melissa Schaschwary.
Yarn - Rowan Kid Classic in black (approximately 7 balls)
I made the front and back the same as per pattern, and it still fits well (I was concerned about the fit but didn't have time to change the pattern). I really like the twisted stitch ribbing and how it divides the columns of lace. It is noticeable even in black.

I made some minor changes to sleeves though: knit them flat with only 7 decreases and added 4 sts in the first row of ribbing. And I did the 3-needle bind off from the inside of the garment.

Otherwise, I just followed directions which are clear and precise. There is a chart for the lace pattern in addition to the row by row explanations and you know how much I appreciate charts in patterns.

I didn't pay much attention while working on this sweater and made more mistakes than usual but even with multiple unravelings it was finished in no time. More - on my Ravelry project page.

Surprisingly enough I have already started the next project, this time not so basic.
Again I am using a Japanese pattern. It looks like a traditional fair isle sweater with a little twist. My last finished garments were in ivory and black. This time I decided to combine these two colors (I might add the third one at the end, but I am not sure yet).

I remember one day buying yarn in a yarn store and the owner asked me about my yarn choices: "Do you want it to be THAT dramatic?" This time I do. I go for as much drama as possible. Hopefully the yarn cooperates. Stay tuned...

Another sweater

My last project is finished and I am in love with it. It is from RichMore magazine # 128, 2016 and attracted me by its unusual construction and ribbing.
The ribbing pattern was easy and fun to make - not as boring as normal ribs are. After washing it really blossomed and looks like lace - light and breezy. The back and front are made simultaneously sideways. After making 1/3 of the top in one piece with increases for shoulder shaping I cast off one stitch in the middle and continued using two balls of yarn simultaneously, then cast that same stitch on and finished in one piece again, this time decreasing for shoulders.

All calculations and numbers are given in the pattern and are very easy to understand even if you don't know Japanese (I don't).
After finishing the body, I picked up stitches for sleeves and knit them straight gradually decreasing.

The sleeves are supposed to be tight. At first I tried to use ribbing for sleeves as well but soon it was obvious that if I wanted to follow the directions, the sleeve would be too tight for me. So I decided to just stick with the pattern and wasn't disappointed with the result.

The yarn is from Colormart. It is the same yarn that I got as a Christmas present from my husband some years ago and that I used for Cloudy (more details - here). It is hard to describe the yarn color - something between beige and oatmeal (maybe it is the same?). I didn't know if I had enough for the whole sweater but I figured that at worst it could be done with short sleeves and anyway it was worth the try. My gamble paid off. Not only I had enough for the long sleeves, there are some leftovers. One day I might combine them with the leftovers from the Cloudy cardigan and make something absolutely spectacular. Or not.
Here is another picture of this project on me. It is not form fitting, but the yarn, ribbing pattern, and construction together make it roomy without being bulky. And I love "roomy" when it is not bulky. It is easy to wear, especially in summer.

More - on my Ravelry page.
In other news I decided to participate in the Summer of Basics Make-along this year because... well, because I realized that some basics are missing in my wardrobe (I also think, that my kids wouldn't mind some basics as well).
The plan is to make a simple garment first and then a more difficult, sophisticated variation of the same idea to see which one I like better.
To start I picked Wolf River by Melissa Schaschwary. This is a lace pattern (and normally I don't do a lot of lace) adapted for thick yarn and rather big needles. I am using Rowan Kid Classic from my unraveled Echelon. Echelon was too big, long, bulky, and absolutely unwearable. One day it was unraveled, the yarn washed, rolled into balls, and stored.
I am making size L to get my size because my gauge is different from the original pattern. So far I like how it looks. By the way, I think black lace looks sexy:))))

There is also a cardigan with zippers in my plans for this summer. Yes, zippers in plural. And yes, I am terrified because I've sewn a zipper in a cardigan once before and the experience wasn't pleasant.
To fortify my resolution I bought a book with detailed explanations of how to insert a zipper in knitted clothes. If you know a good tutorial online about zippers, please let me know. I really need all the help and support that I can get. Any suggestions, recommendations, or just words of wisdom are welcome and much appreciated.
In other plans some simple patterns from good yarn and some color work.
I love planning my next projects, it is so much fun, right? Yet, I rarely follow my plans - so many distractions, new great patterns that call me like sirens. We'll see what happens. We are going back to Florida next week. Hopefully, it means more time for knitting.

Of hairdressers, horses, and other misfortunes

I go to see a hairdresser about once a month for a haircut and a touch up. At first, several months in Florida Keys away from my regular stylist seemed like a challenge to me. Then I discovered a salon in 15 minute walk from our place and promptly made an appointment there. After learning who I was and where I lived my new hairdresser asked a little bit unusual question : “So, what did you do with the stables?”

You see, the previous owners of our new property had horses and stables for the above mentioned horses.  At the moment of purchase these stables were already old and dilapidated. We don’t have any horses and didn’t need stables. On the contrary, we needed some space for a new house. So the stables were razed to the ground like all other old structures to make space for the new construction. I explained all this to my new hairdresser and thought that the topic of horses and stables was closed for good.  Yet, next time when I came for my regular haircut/touch up session, he asked again: “So, what did you do with the stables?”

I was a little surprised but then thought that he’d probably forgotten everything about our last conversation and said: “There are no stables anymore. They were razed to the ground"  

-  How come? – he asked with genuine surprise on his face. 

 - Because we don’t have horses, - I decided to be patient and explain the whole thing one more time.

If you think that it was the last time this topic came up in our conversations you are mistaken. He asked me the same question again and again; he kept asking it every time I saw him last year. And every time I restrained myself from a snarky or funny answer, didn’t even dare to roll my eyes – after all the guy was responsible for my hair – and repeated the same answer: “No more stables on our property… Because we don’t have horses.”

This year I was hoping not to hear about stables and horses again. In vain. We spent in Florida 7 months, and every time I went for a haircut I felt like in this old movie Groundhog Day – same questions, same genuine surprise. My Floridian hairdresser is a professional and he sees a lot of people on regular basis. He is used to have a small talk and remember pretty well all basic information about his clients (his memory about all other facts of my life is perfect). I don’t know why he cannot stop asking me about the stables and horses.

After a while I started dreading my monthly visits.Yet, every time I was too afraid to tell him anything back, even something along the lines: “I thought we covered this before” or “ I already told you that we don’t have stables because we don’t have horses”. I know. I am a coward.

Anyway, the reason I am writing all this is that I’ll be back to Florida eventually and am not sure what to do about the stables/horses situation. Here are the possibilities:

1)  Find another hairdresser (that would be farther from our place, and more time consuming)

2) Tell him that we did keep the stables and wait for his reaction. If he tells me something like “But you told me that you’d gotten rid of them” I could say “Then why do you ask?"

3) Tell him that we kept stables for zebras or giraffes that we are going to breed.

Which one from these answers should I chose? Any thoughts or suggestions? I would really appreciate your help in the matter.

In knitting news, I have nothing to show. Why? Because apparently when I move houses I become extremely distracted. Last year I was making my Blue disaster cardigan and it was such a disaster because I didn’t pay attention. 

This year I started making Pearls by Helga Isager from Rowan Fine Tweed. The pattern is amazing – very simple and clear. Yet, I didn’t have much time to really sit down and knit, so I kept knitting here and there till suddenly, when putting all parts of the sweater together, I discovered that the yarn that I was using was either from different dye lots or just different hues.

Imagine my devastation – the sweater was almost finished and I absolutely loved the result.

I couldn’t make myself unravel this garment. Instead I finished it and decided to dye it some dark color to cover the color variations. That is why I have nothing to brag about today. Because my wonderful, amazing, great creation died a sudden death during the process of dying. The yarn didn’t want to change color and just started disintegrating.  The whole thing ended up in a garbage bag. RIP, Pearls.  And now, after having tried it on, I want it really bad, and I want it in white!!!

Meanwhile, I turned 54, did some gardening and got all red, itchy, and scratchy from poison ivy, went to Boston, visited the famous Harvard University, came back, and started a new project. In that order.

 My 54th birthday - since there is nothing to celebrate, I didn't celebrate.

Boston is amazing, I'd love to be back and spend more time there.

I am not a big fan of gardening. We don't have much of a garden in Pennsylvania, just two flower beds. Not many flowers. Mostly beds. A lots of poison ivy though. 

My next project - a Japanese pattern. It is mostly ribbing and you know how much I love ribbing. So I had to make it. Hopefully, I'll have more success with this one. Yet, one never knows...

The Bare Necessities

No one would say that building a house is easy. It is not. It is rather hard. I tell from experience. Several months of experience. Last month was especially difficult for us with various inspections and a gazillion “last minute” things that had to be done. We even had to go to Pennsylvania for one weekend and then come back. The only thing that kept me sane was knitting.

In April I decided to make some clothes that I really needed for a change. The bare necessities, so to speak.

Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife...

I couldn't forget about my worries but I could make something useful and wearable. 

First, I chose Loving by Kim Hargreaves (again, quite a bit of time was spent contemplating the pattern’s name – why “-ing”?  it looks weird to me but maybe I am just bad at English grammar?) inspired by these finished versions of it on Ravelry. It seemed to be simple (only garter stitch with minimal shaping) project that you can take anywhere and that doesn’t require a total concentration. Plus, I had 6 balls of Rowan Felted Tweed DK in my favorite color – clay. If my calculations were correct, it was just enough to make a size S sweater.

And I am loving the result (maybe this is the reason for the pattern’s name – if you make it you are going to be loving it?). It is very well fitting and goes with anything.  And I was able to take it with me everywhere – to the knitting club, to Philadelphia and back. The whole process of making it went so quickly that I didn’t even tire of it. As soon as the sweater was finished I was ready to start another one in cotton – for Florida. But I had to stop myself because of this book.

Have you seen the patterns from this book? When I saw them for the first time I finally understood what was missing in my closet. Actually, several garments were missing, and I absolutely needed them right this second. They are all simple but very stylish and elegant, extremely wearable and useful, and it is really hard to pick the first one to make. Yet, I’ve been making sweaters nonstop for such a long time that a cardigan seemed in order.

But first a couple of words about the yarn that I wanted to use. Normally, I don’t buy artisanal skein-dyed yarn because: 1) it is too easy to miscalculate the amount needed for a pattern (especially, when you keep changing this pattern in mind) and impossible to buy more later; 2) I don’t like the way this yarn looks in a finished garment – too busy and too handmade at the same time (normally, “handmade” has a positive connotation for me, but sometimes it is just a synonym for “amateurish” or “sloppy”). 

I saw this yarn in a yarn store and was immediately attracted to it because of its color. Sounds familiar? Right, because it happens to me too often (which is why I avoid yarn stores and try to buy yarn online). The yarn – Swans Island washable merino wool from Washable Wool Collection – was on sale J))) but there were only 5 skeins of it ((((: 

Still, I grabbed the yarn and took it to Florida with me. I had 900 yards of this beautiful vibrant yarn and I could see myself wearing it as a cardigan. Yet, even a person of my size cannot make a whole cardigan with only 900 yards of sport weight yarn.

Later, I found a Raveler that had one skein of the same yarn in the same color and who agreed to sell it to me. Unfortunately, the color of her skein was slightly different from my first five. So, if I wanted to use this yarn for a cardigan, I had to figure out how to incorporate this one different ball without it being too noticeable.

Since I never worked with this yarn before, I made a big swatch, washed and blocked it to see how it behaves after washing. The result was amazing – the yarn “grew” and became more voluminous.

I thought that Ebony would be the right pattern for this yarn because its design is unpretentious and restrained: a good way to showcase the yarn, its color and structure. Plus, while making the body (back and both fronts are knitted simultaneously) I could alternate threads from two different balls thus incorporating my extra ball of slightly different color.

This little gem of a cardigan looks simple but there are many interesting details that keep your work interesting and result in an excellent fit. It’s all about the fit, this one! 

The directions for the pattern are clear even though some things are kind of implied and left untold. For example, eventually I figured out that all selvedge stitches are supposed to be knit on both sides all the time, but I was already finishing the right front and it was too late to change anything. So keep it mind, if you haven’t started yet. Also I ended up having enough space for only 5 buttonholes on the front edge (the pattern tells you to make 6) but I don’t think that it is a big deal. And I forgot to make eyelet row on my first sleeve (note to myself – do not start a new part of a garment while chatting with friends!) so I just omitted it on the second sleeve. Sorry, no eyelets on sleeves for me this time.

When I was trying it on while working on it the cardigan seemed to be tiny and at some point I was a little bit worried if I was making the right size. But that was the only size that I could possibly make with this amount of yarn so I soldiered on hoping for the best.  I was right because in the end it grew after washing and became the most adorable cardigan that I ever made. This pattern is what Kim Hargreaves usually calls “understated” but its color is enough to make a statement. It is short, not too warm, looks great with skirts and dresses, and goes with all my clothes (that are mostly black, or grey, or white).

The yarn is absolutely one of my favorite now. I would love to make more things from it for sure.

And I used my new label that I also like a lot. They are made from leather by a small Canadian company Orange Bridge Supply Co

One more thing. While traveling to Philadelphia and back I was wearing (again!) my Bo sweater. Making it was such a drag and I wrote all about it but I never wrote how often I wear this garment and how useful it is. And I felt bad about it and thought that this pattern needs some additional “promotion” because, if made from the right yarn, it is incredibly flattering, practical, and comfortable, especially while traveling. And when we returned to Florida, I asked my husband to take more pictures of me wearing it and put them on Instagram and on my pattern page on Ravelry. Check it out.

Meanwhile I started another project from Helga Isager’sbook. It is called Pearls. I am using the same Rowan fine tweed that I used for my Christmas sweater but in different color. I figured that all these bubbles can hide the yarn’s irregularities and imperfections.

As a result now I am leaving not in one but with many tiny bubbles. Can’t wait to see the end result. Hopefully, in Pennsylvania, where I am flying next week, I’ll have as much time for knitting as I had in Florida.

March Madness

-          - Do I look like a clown?

-          - Yes, but in a good way.

-          - What do you mean?

-         -  Like a cute and stylish one.

(from conversations with my husband)

Project: Sunshine

Yarn: Rowan Pure Wool 4ply in four colors

Needles: 2,5 mm and 3 mm 

Many years ago I fell in love with Alice Starmore’s designs. To be exact, it wasn’t so much love as admiration and awe. Never before could I even imagine using so many different colors while creating one garment. And the end result – oh, where to find words to describe it! It was like a painting or a tapestry, work of art – unique and priceless. The models looked stunning with mountains, lakes, or colorful fields as background. The steeks and knitting in the round without seams were well explained and seemed easy to implement.

I started collecting Alice Starmore’s books and bought yarn in all possible colors. I didn’t order the original yarn since it was either discontinued or too expensive for me, so I had to settle for something much cheaper. And then the fun began. I made several Starmore’s designs religiously following all her directions with steeks and yarn cutting. The finished projects looked pretty and unique but, unfortunately, I didn’t look pretty in them. Rather the opposite. They were too large, long, and oversized. I looked awful – like a shapeless midget with no legs, waist, or shoulders. Plus, they were very hard to wear – imagine wearing a tapestry or painting to a supermarket or class. They were not versatile garments at all. I gave away or donated almost all of them but one, which is still collecting dust in my closet but is never worn.

After that I started wondering why my knits didn’t look on me like on the models in Starmore’s books. At first, I blamed the yarn. I promised myself to splurge on well made English yarn as soon as I get a well-paid job (never happened, because as soon as I got a job I almost didn’t have time for knitting). Then, a couple of top-down seamless garments that didn’t fit later, it dawned on me that maybe the reason was the construction itself.

Seamless top-down sweaters, so popular now with Ravelry knitters, don’t look well on me. To get a good fit I need seams and structure. Otherwise, knit fabric just hugs my body at every protruding point in a very unflattering way. And it stretches a lot with wearing and washing. More it stretches, more shapeless and unflattering it becomes. Until one day I just bite the bullet and unravel it. Only you cannot unravel a multicolored concoction with steeks – remember, the yarn was cut. That is why for a while I didn’t do fair isle at all, or, occasionally, I would make a hat, scarf, or gloves (you can find great design for small fair isle projects), or even a vest (this one was made in pieces, without steeks, didn’t stretch, and is still wearable).

This year in Florida, surrounded by bright, cheerful colors, my appetite for color work was reawakened. After making Juno and getting many colorful balls of Rowan Pure Wool 4ply, I wanted to try my hand in creating something unique and special. Yet, this time I wanted it to be wearable and well fitting. Which meant no knitting in the round or steeks. And the rest is history, as they say.

I was happily finishing my yellow and white asymmetrical sweater when one day, coming from my daily walk, I looked at the sweater’s parts laying on the couch and got rooted to the spot: What was I thinking?!!!! Yes, I managed to make a whole sweater with only 5 balls of Rowan Pure Wool 4ply in yellow, but I definitely won’t be able to wear it any time soon. If ever. Where would you wear something like this?

Surprisingly enough, I got an unexpected encouragement and support from my husband, who usually doesn’t even notice what I am wearing. He is not into clothes or fashion, to put it mildly. Yet, this time he stopped and said: “Look, this one fits you really well! Congrats!” I blame the yellow – it is extremely noticeable.

Anyway, I decided to keep it for now (my first impulse was to send it to my daughter in New York), but switch to making more traditional stuff in less conspicuous color. See what I mean? Something versatile, that I can wear anytime anywhere.

Love at first sight

Do you believe in love at first sight? This question seemed to be of utmost importance to me and my friends when we were in high school. I remember one answer by a clever and prematurely wise guy who said: “I don’t believe in love at first sight, but I do believe in a new sight. When you look at someone for maybe a hundredth time and all of a sudden notice something that you’d never noticed before. And you fall in love with it.”

This, my friends, is the best definition of inspiration. At least from my point of view. I can go through my daily routine when all of a sudden my eye catches something unusual that I might have seen a hundred times but never noticed before and this new sight stirs something inside of me.  

For example, I had walked on the same road many times before I noticed these trees.

One day I looked at them and all I could see were cables, asymmetrical, lusty, sculptural cables… Immediately I had an idea of making something like this from tweed – white with grey and brown speckles. At home I went through my stash looking for the appropriate yarn and found 12 balls of Rowan Cashcotton DK that I bought many years ago in Edinburgh. My older daughter was studying at Edinburgh University then not so sure what to do with her life and where to go after finishing school. Obviously, it took her less time to make this important decision than me to choose a project for this yarn. It is not tweed, but still its color and structure give off a sort of organic, earthy vibe of growth and warmth. So it happened again – I looked at a very familiar object and saw it differently.

At the time I was making a sweater from an old Phildar magazine and kept looking at the magazine spread. Next to my chosen pattern was another sweater. At first I didn’t give it any attention – it seemed unusually ugly and overdesigned.

But after a while I looked at it again and imagined it in one color. Boom! It reminded me of the trees that I saw while walking. Or, maybe, the trees made me see this sweater differently. Anyway, I decided to try and make it.

I made some changes to the original pattern but not too many (besides the major change – making it in one color). All of them I described on my Ravelry page.J))). And since the yarn is smooth and silky, it is not too bulky. I made it longer and a little bit A-shaped, tunic-like.

My biggest worry was the sleeves. I was afraid that with all the cabling my arms would look huge and too muscular for my frame. So I picked stitches for the smallest size and changed the cable pattern a bit to preserve cables along the seam and raglan decreases.

I like the finished sweater very much. Even though it wasn’t a love at first sight, I definitely became very fond of this pattern.

 We didn’t have time to change clothes while photographing it so you have to believe me. It looks great with a skirt as well (with or without a belt). Kim Hargreaves would have approved:)))

While making this sweater I was watching Patriot (free streaming with Amazon Prime) and the main character was wearing a similar cabled sweater (made of dark green wool) in several episodes. Since I really enjoyed the show (and its soundtrack!), I decided to call this sweater Patriot.

As I said earlier, inspiration is everywhere. Sometimes you see it, sometimes you don’t. Here are some other examples of things that inspired me to start my next project:

I had 5 balls of Rowan Pure Wool 4ply in yellow that I used for Juno and my Blue Improvisation sweater. I’ve been thinking about a whole sweater in this color but, obviously, I didn’t have enough yarn for it. To solve this problem I decided to add another color: mostly white, but I also interspersed it with dark and light blue (because – why not, if you go color, you might go all the way, right?). I really, truly didn’t want any flowers, snowflakes, deer, or other traditional fair isle patterns and was looking for something geometrical instead. I found the right design in this book (I gave it to myself as a Christmas present, because I am worth it!!!).

It is easy to remember, blends colors well, and works for the asymmetrical part of my garment. Since – again, no surprise here – I picked an asymmetrical pattern from a Phildar magazine. This time the pattern is made in one color and I decided to reinvent it with added color work.

I am making it flat which slows the process down significantly. Fair isle is much easier when done in the round with only knit stitches. Yet, when knitting it flat (like in the old times, when I had no idea about doing it in the round) it gives you much more freedom with the shape and form of a garment. For me shape is essential and more important than the easiness and speed of the process. But I’d better explain it all later when I finish this crazy difficult asymmetrical thing.

Problems and solutions

-          -When will I see a refrigerator in our new kitchen?

-         - This is a problem that still has no solution.

(from conversations with my husband)

Knitting is inherently full of problems. There is always something that goes wrong even with the best patterns. Yet, years of knitting taught me that for every problem there is a solution, and if there is not, you can always unravel your work and start all over which could be also called a solution albeit on a radical side.

When the idea of the Blue improvisation sweater was born I imagined it like this.

Yes, I drew a sketch, like a real pro. Because it helped to visualize better how I wanted my sweater to look: with a cabled body and multicolored sleeves. Both techniques – fair isle and aran – are old and traditional, but combined in one garment – become more modern and, dare I say, extravagant. And almost everything went well. At least till I reached the neck line. It turned out to be a real pain in the neck.

I followed the original directions for the Iron Work Sweater and its neck line was too low and too wide for my liking (keep it in mind if you decide to use this pattern!). Problem # 1. Solution - I picked up stitches around the neckline with the leftover blue yarn and smaller needles and started working in the round in 1x1 rib (all knit stitches through the back loop) while gradually decreasing the number of stitches. I put all decreases around the seams so they would look as continuation of the blue seams on the sleeves. Unfortunately I didn’t have a lot of yarn left.

The last ball of Rowan Pure Wool 4Ply in Indigo in my possession was of a little bit different hue (how that could happen?!). That is why I couldn’t possibly have the turtleneck collar from my initial sketch. Problem # 2. Solution – I turned the collar, joined the last ball, and started increasing stitches mirroring the decreases (all the details are on my Ravelry page). There is a visible line at the place where a new ball was attached, yet, this line is inside the garment and no one knows about it besides me (and you).

Even though the sweater doesn’t look like on my initial sketch, I like it. The collar is stretchy and comfortable, it is much higher than it would have been if I followed the directions for the original pattern, and it looks right for this particular project.

The photographs were taken on Valentine’s day. We went boating – my husband and I, just the two of us. Funny, but for many years we didn’t even think of celebrating such silly things as wedding anniversary or Valentine’s day. Now, with kids gone, we are getting more and more sentimental. Or, maybe, we appreciate more our time together, or what is left of it.

Anyway, I was very pleased with this sweater. It feels soft and is weightless, fits me well and is warm enough. This whole experience – from the initial idea of a mixed techniques sweater till the final result – had a strange effect on me. It “freed” me from the directions’ constraints, so to speak, made me realize that I can do more than just follow directions. Something sort of snapped inside and released some creative potential that I never suspected to be there in the first place. Like a genie was freed from a bottle. And I started sketching, and looking for inspiration, and sketching again. That is how at the moment I got not one but two EXTREMELY challenging projects on my needles simultaneously.

One – a symphony of cables, big, luscious, and almost three-dimensional. Reminds me of succulents.

Two – another asymmetrical design, with a twist.

Both are not finished yet, and I am not sure how they will turn out. So I’d better write about them later, when they are done.

Meanwhile, I finished one little garment in between (it was my “to go” project that I could take to the knitting group with me). To make it I used Drops Recycled Cotton from my unraveled sweater. Why I unraveled it? I didn’t wear it, even once. Funny, because the wool version of the same pattern I wore so much it became almost unwearable.

I picked an old Adrienne Vittadini pattern that was made for a winter garment. I am a big fan of Adrienne Vittadini, I used to buy her books and yarn when she was in business. Many of her patterns are stylish, classy, and look surprisingly modern. I made a couple of them then – not everything worked well for me, but my experience with Vittadini certainly left me wanting more. This particular pattern was in my mental queue for the longest time. And I decided to try it in cotton with short sleeves – more practical for the life on a subtropical island.

What can I say? This t-shirt fits me like a glove, goes with everything, and will be worn a lot. And I like it. Yet, I didn’t get as much excitement from the process of making it, or from wearing it, as I did with my experimental blue sweater. No adrenaline rush, no jitters (Am I doing it right? Do I need to unravel and start over again?), no decisions to make. Just follow the pattern and enjoy the result. No fun at all.

Meanwhile my “blue” period is officially over and I don’t have a name for the new one. Maybe “green”??? 

Oh, and speaking of names. Now I got so much appreciation for people who find names for things. Like Sherwin-Williams paint colors. There are many colors at Sherwin-Williams, and every one of them has a name: “After the Rain”, “Blueblood”, “Hyperblue” – these are just few examples. I would love to meet a person who came up with these names. I confess, my imagination isn’t that wild. Actually, it stops working when it comes to naming a project. “Blue improvisation” is no better than “blue disaster”. How to deal with this problem? I need to find a precise spot somewhere between pretentious and bland. Or maybe the name is not that important? After all “What’s in the name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet”, right? Or, as a possible solution, just go to the Sherwin-Williams website and borrow a name there?