Sleeves in the same spirit as the sweater seen on Top Gear, but a shrug was much easier (and quicker) to complete than a sweater. Now that I have the lace pattern down pat, I might try a sweater version in the future… whenever my head is ready to do the math needed for the right shaped sweater.
Besides, I wear shrugs more often. This works!
Lime green sweater
Aaron and I have been massively hooked on Top Gear as of late, and watching as many episodes as Netflix has available on demand. In the episode with the race between a Bugatti Veyron and a Eurofighter Typhoon, there is an audience shot where a gal in a *gorgeous* lime green sweater is standing directly behind the host. I really want one of these sweaters, and it doesn’t look impossible to make.
[oddball geekiness]
Since all of the clips I reviewed on YouTube left this audience portion out, I queued it up on our Xbox and took a picture of my TV screen with my point and shoot camera. Not the most technically advanced way to do it, but I’m not sure if the image would have been much better for my purposes if I had done a regular screen shot *if* I could have found the video.
[/oddball geekiness]
Yarn
At first I thought it was a shrug, but at second glace it is looking like a shrug-style short sweater. The long cuffs are pretty obviously knitted, as is the collar and edging. I am pretty sure that the collar and edging are folded over for double thickness. The cuffs might be, too. It’s the sweater part itself that has me a bit puzzled. It sort of looks crocheted, but it might be knitted. Perhaps with really large needles? My knitting skills are infinitely better than my crochet skills, so it would be better for me if I can figure out a way to knit this. I dug through my knit stitch pattern books, and didn’t see anything that even remotely resembled this look. I used to have a sweater sort of like this, and it was definitely crocheted. This might be the right time to hone my crochet skills.
I’ve thought about subbing in some other lacy patterns, possibly the skull lace pattern I used for my kitchen curtains, but I really like the “hole-y” look of this sweater. I know how to knit simple lace, but I’ve never tried to make lace with holes this large.
Once I figure out the motif to use, I still need to make some decisions on construction. The last shrug I knitted was done wrist to wrist, sewed the sleeves together, and then cast on edging for the collar. This looks more complicated than that.
Someone donated a decent sized stash of beautiful lime green yarn to SCRAP this week, which I am taking as a sign from the deities that I need to at least *try* to re-create this sweater. I started with some gauge swatches last night, but I am going to do some more hunting for patterns I can modify so I don’t I overwork the limited amount of yarn. This might warrant a trip to the library, which would probably give more direction than the internet. There are some really terrific knitting sites out there (I *heart* Knitty) but sometimes I just really need to flip through some books for ideas.
On the train and working on a scarf for Miss Fish’s Christmas gift. Listening to “Singing in the Rain” and enjoying the scenery going by.
Started it in plain stockinette, but frogged it around 5:30am since I didn’t like how it looked. Trying out a “diagonal stripe” texture now.
Found a fun little Katamari Damacy knitting pattern here, and decided it would be fun to try! Note – this is not a very appropriate “social” pattern, at least not the first part- I tried working on this at a craft night and could not keep the increases right *and* hold a conversation at the same time.
Wound up having to pick up a bunch of yarn remnants to do this since I had gotten rid of 96% of my stash this winter when we moved out of our studio. I took it on the plane with me during a trip a couple of weeks ago, and the pattern *does* travel well. I finished most of the body work on the drive home to Portland, although we had to stop at the Safeway in Yreka so I could pick up something resembling a yarn needle since I had forgotten that part of my kit at home. Very pleased with how it turned out! I am planning on doing more in different shapes now that I have the general idea on how to make them. What I would do differently next time is to knit the face color in when I am working on the head instead of stitching it on later, and I would stuff the head with something lighter, as stuffing the whole thing with pinto beans made it rather top heavy.
These are finally finished! (or as finished as they are going to get for the time being.) Very pleased with how they turned out, and Aaron is also. I brought them to my knitting circle last week, and several people picked up on the skull pattern and the El Dia de los Muertos concept without me saying a word. Yes, my knitting friends are perceptive, but they also know me well enough to know this type of project is not unusual for me. (skull motif pattern here!)
Newest knitting project is a bobbled handbag from pink stretchy jersey T-shirt edging. Picked up a roll of it at SCRAP a week or so ago. Been really leaning towards knitting with non-yarn materials these days. I also have some corduroy carpet edging that I want to play with.
I’ve been going crazy with borrowing crafty books from the library over the last few weeks. I was very intrigued by a book on knitting with dog fur, but as much as Indy sheds he greyhound fur is not quite right for spinning. I might re-approach the idea in the winter. Also got the Debbie Stoller knitting for men book (title escapes me at the moment) and Aaron has asked me to re-work their robot tie pattern into a zombie one. I’ve been playing with Photoshop trying to get the grid right, but it should look pretty cool.
Many thanks to Sister Diane of DIYalert for interviewing me for PDX Profile. Interview can be found here: http://www.diyalert.com/node/5083
Union Rose is celebrating its first anniversary on July 25th and 26th. Big sidewalk sale, lots of fun stuff, and yours truly will be helping out at the kids’ craft area in the afternoon. More details available at http://www.unionrosepdx.com/calendar.html
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