false pretences...

False pretences…

I really do not have much to say, I have reached the decrease rows of clapotis, so am on the final stretch, have to seam the sides of the manly vest, and that will be over…and done with.

So, am I the only person in the knitting blogosphere who has picked Clapotis up after an absence of a day or two, and exclaimed “ oh my gosh (heart palpitations) I dropped a stitch” yells at the nearest child to grab me my latchet hook, and exacts a swift and expert repair job…only to remember half-way through the row…that dropping stitches in Clapotis is kinda the point! Someone get me a merlot.

I arrived home from work yesterday to a card in my mailbox “sorry I missed you, you have a package waiting at the local post office, please bring i.d. when you pick it up” The local post office is open 9-4.30 mon-fri…while I am at work…elsewhere. I am itching to know which package of yarn it is, anxious to get my clammy little hands on it, and now I have to wait until Monday…waahh! Luckily I can write on the card, so that Blaise can pick it up, but she has to take my drivers licence and her passport!

As I am (hopefully) rapidly approaching finished status on the current projects ( which never stops me anyway) I have been designing a machine knit for myself, the process goes something like this:

- I ask myself what I would like (hmm, I dunno… a cardi?)

- Ok, so what style cardi ( hmm, I dunno…look in some magazines?)

- Go look in some magazines…mmm nope, look in some shops…no way jose, Sarah Dallas can do vintage knits, but the womenswear designers are just ripping off the old Lux and Patons knitting books, there is NO WAY I am wearing a knitted bed jacket in public, big satin bow or not! Occasionally I see something I like, but not often. If I do see something vaguely witty or interesting, you can bet that when I get closer I find it is made from 8ply acrylic, will pill like a demon, and fits wrong. ( the exception is anything by Caroline Sills, or Nom'D I am sure there are loads of other shops with beautiful knitwear…but not where I can afford to shop!)

- Sit down with my sketchbook, and pencil, draw a rough outline…ok so I want to wear it to work, so it has to be ½ way between hips and waist, as I am over 5ft 9 in, and am long-waisted, so get that annoying gap between the top of my pants and the bottom of my top…annoying that is, for anyone who is looking, I have had three babies, that has an effect on a tummy. I then think about the sleeves, what length? Tight or loose? Wrists? I have decided long, set in, moderate fit, with a lacy bell cuff, with a very light layer underneath the lace in a contrast colour. Ok, now we are getting somewhere…neckline? Hmmm, “V” looks best with a shirt and pants, ok, and no collar, just a continuation of the button band ( which will be a plain hem), waistband??? 2x1 rib? Hem? Lace hem?what about a lace hem, with the same back treatment as the cuffs? Too hippyish? Ok, 2x1 rib (also known as commercial rib) sits nice and flat, and doesn’t pull in too much…or maybe a cabled hem…or is that mixing things up too much, I don’t want the features to compete…ok ok, 2 x 1 rib…oh darn it, make a sample of all three….leave the waistband till later, hhmmm what about full needle rib?…right, now for the actual fabric…how about plain stst, but run two vertical lines of picot holes, and thread ribbon through them, criss crossing at intervals ? or picot holes outlining the neck shaping, and running down each side of the button bands, once again with ribbon. Or vertical lace stripes? Or a horizontal line a few inches down from the shoulder??? Arrrgghhh!!

- Think to myself…I have no yarn, all I have is black, and some really bright lilac…

- Go to the machine-knit yarn shop…it is closed.

- Check online, can’t find online machine knit yarn sales in Australia, have to write out an order, regret regret regret that I had to give away 2 rubbish bags of yarn when I left NZ.

- Visit the LYS, they have some old cones from out the back, lots of icky colours, but in amongst them, a blue/grey and a light grey, perfect, grabbed a skein of soft pink merino lace-weight for the cuff-backs, and soothed the stash beast…for now.

- Decide the buttons I have are wrong wrong wrong, resolve to behave like a grown-up, and go to the button shop when I have actually finished the garment…I am sure I can do it, I stuck to a 10 day detox just before Christmas for crying out loud!

- Decide that tomorrow when I got to the button shop, I will have to go to the ribbon shop too!