last catch up post

It's getting really hot in the city. We went into town today--I have been having this issue with my eyes, and have been off the contacts for a month. During that time, I realized that if something happened to my current glasses, I'd be kind of screwed. So today, I decided the time had come to get another pair so that I have a backup, just in case. Turns out my eyes are ok now--I'd scratched them pretty badly and they needed that month to heal--so I'm back on the contacts, but with more limitations than before, which means more time wearing glasses. No big deal--Spanky took me to the place she always goes for glasses, where everything is Japanese, and a bit cheaper (yet more exclusive, which combination you don't find all the time), and I found a great pair of frames. They're different, and a bit edgier than my current pair, which I love (Paul Smith!), but... Well, you'll see...

Anyway, afterward, we were traipsing about the Village, and ended up sitting in Washington Square Park, and the sun was just beating down. I am pretty sure the back of my neck is bright red now. Also, two things have become apparent to me. First, I need a pedicure. Perhaps I'll try to get one tomorrow, assuming anything is open here in the JC. Consider it my gift to the troops. There's no wearing sandals otherwise--no one wants to see someone's gargantuan, unkempt toes hanging out of their shoes... Secondly, I need to go back to the gym. I'm pretty sure I've inherited some sort of genetically inferior abs, because this gut cannot possibly have anything to do with the amount of ice cream and pie that passes my lips. Nope, no connection that I can see. So the only thing for it is to try again at the gym. I'm almost ready to cancel my membership, so we'll see which side wins out. My money's on the abs though.

What were we talking about again? Oh, yes...

FO #8



Pattern: Hip in Hemp by Gudrun Johnston

I really love her designs, and this is the first one I've knit. It was really straightforward, and I liked the complicated chart she worked out for all the different sizes. And I have to admit, the model for that pattern is super cute. She looks a bit like my niece did at her age, so maybe that's why I was drawn to the skirt.

Yarn: The pattern called for Elsebeth Lavold's Hempathy, which I'm sure is a very nice yarn. I wasn't going to spring for that though, and ended up using Knit Picks' Comfy Sport, which is 75% pima cotton, and 25% acrylic. It's really soft yarn, and best of all, machine washable, which is important for my sister, since she doesn't have time to really worry about special care for Isabella's clothes. My niece's favorite color is blue, so I picked every blue that Knit Picks carried in that yarn, even though I was doubtful about how they'd go together. Also, there were only three blues, so I added the white stripe to break it up a bit. Luckily, I think it turned out really well! The colors I used were Planetarium, Ivory, Marlin, and Sea Foam.

Needles: US 4 for the elastic band and US 5 for the skirt itself. I think these were random circs from my supplies for once, not my Boye set. Most of the time I look to see if there is one in the bunch I can use before fiddling with the Boyes, and this time there was!

Notes: My niece has this thing about wearing things around her gut (much like her aunt), so all her pants and skirts and stuff she wears really low on her hips. I have no idea how this happened, but the child has a refined sense of her own style when it comes to her clothes. Anyway, I made the 12 year old size, even though my niece just turned 9. I felt like the 10 yr old size would be outgrown too quickly, and since the skirt had an elastic waistband, we (meaning my mom, really) overlapped the elastic by about two inches, so that as she grew, we could take out the elastic a bit and it would fit for a while.

I made sure to buy the non-curling elastic, which is different than the regular. Make sure you look for that, because the other stuff can bunch up in the waistband. I can't remember how wide the stuff was we bought, but I went with my mom to Joann's and brought the skirt, and just tried different ones until one fit comfortably into the channel made by the waistband stitches. I waited to seam up the waistband after I was done knitting and blocking the skirt rather than doing the elastic the way it was written in the pattern, although the pattern gives my method as an alternate.



For the stripes, at first I was cutting the yarn after each round. Then I thought, brilliantly, that I would use this project as an opportunity to try carrying the yarn down the stripes, which worked as long as the skirt was solid, but once the eyelets started, the yarn I was carrying would show too easily behind the eyelets, so I had to go back to cutting the yarn for each stripe, meaning that I ended up weaving in all those freaking ends. But my mom has cable, so many long episodes of NCIS later, it was done!



The skirt, since it is a size too big, is predictably a bit long, and I had to leave before my mom sewed the elastic, so I'm not sure how it looks when she's got a whole outfit going, but I made her put it on to model anyway so I would get a sense of how it would look. She's a good sport--I told her she had to act like a supermodel and take direction for the pictures, and she did it with flying colors. You can barely see my sister behind her holding up the skirt. Heh heh.



All in all, I consider this a success. The colors worked out together, the skirt fits, basically, Isabella's happy with it, and it looks really cute. I also really like the yarn, and I think this might be the baby yarn I've been looking for. It's mostly cotton, can be machine washed, is probably a bit tougher than 100% cotton, and comes in some pretty good colors that are NOT pastels. Thanks, Knit Picks!