In the Mood for Snood

With the zeal of the converted I have joined the snood worshipping society of sewing and knitting bloggers. My extended family is already adjusted to getting their Christmas gifts from me somewhere between New Years Day and never, so I'm sure they won't mind waiting for these newly knitted treasures.

First, a snood for my SIL-to-be of Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick. I used the original Guardian pattern gone viral thanks to Karen. Here I am wearing it upside-down to demonstrate its versatility.



Next, another scarfette, this one for my brother. Brother and Sister-in-Law-to-be live in a colder climate than I so no doubt they are dying for something to tie around their necks.



This one is made of some 100% cotton South American Space Dyed yarn from the sale bin at the local Stitch Cafe with nifty buttons that cost more than the yarn.



Then theres another snood just like the other snood for DD. I've redirected the green scarfette from her to my mother but I forget why--oh yes, because it was already done and I could mail it on time for Christmas, except I didn't. Also we bought DD a coat that clashes with the color of the scarfette.

Next up: I've decided to make gift bags and envelopes of all the Christmas fabric we started using last year instead of wrapping paper. And I'd like to whip up something for DS and DH for Christmas, which is still 3 days (ok, 2 days and an hour) away. Plenty of time. Too bad they don't need snoods.

Ceci N'est Pas Une Snood.

OK, to be fair, it was never meant to be a snood. It's my DD's little scarfy thing, now complete with leather buttons. The original pattern looked like this:



--oh, my goodness, now that I look at the pattern again I didn't put the buttons where they were supposed to be! I forgot how the original looked and thought it should button as shown here (but without the buttons.) Anyway, I realized it could also be buttoned end to end to make what I would call a cowl, like this one, or this one, or this one, but which the entire sewing and knitting blogosphere, inspired by Karen of Did You Make That, calls a snood as it churns them out by the dozens.

I always thought a snood looked like this thing on the back of Honeysuckle Weeks's head as she plays Sam Stewart in Foyle's War:


But what do I know? A thousand blogging knitters can't be wrong, can they?

Here, by the way, is my purple scarf, completed.



I wore it today (maybe I'll block it later) with my latest Vogue 8575 as I cycled to work, stopping on the way to pick up more yarn to make this for a friend:



By the time I got to work I had cast on and knit the first two rows! (No, not while pedaling--I bike to the subway then me and my bicycle ride the rest of the way.)


This stuff is addicting!

Silk and More Silk

I went to Goodwill to look for ethical (i.e., used) buttons for DD's scarfette but no luck. Instead, I scored a wonderful baby blue silk sweater and a deep red silk blouse. I love silk and I love to buy silk at Goodwill. I always imagine I'm going to refashion whatever it is--usually a ginormous man's shirt, but then I just wrap up in it and that's that. As it turns out, these items just fit. I feel so frugal and ethical thrifting silk--although, I guess silk is not such an ethical fiber (as compared to wool or cotton) because the silkworm has to die to give it up. But I'll settle for delusional ethics.

Below is a glimpse of the sweater along with my WIP--the one row lace scarf by Turvid, which I'm making out of the rough silk yarn I spent too much on when I decided to try knitting again. I first made it into a small shawl that showed every single mistake and was too warm for my climate, so I unraveled that and now it's becoming a lacy scarf. Should I give it to my mother who will not wear it because it is purple but will be happy I made it for her? Or keep it because it is purple and I will wear it?



Oh, you can also see the state of my funky hair, currently bleached and treated with Manic Panic Virgin Snow to make it white (ish). Somehow I lose my nerve every time I set out to add color, but now that my classes have ended maybe I'll decorate it for Christmas.

(Actually, now that I look at the finished post my hair appears to be neon lime green. I don't think it looks like that in RL, but what do I know?

Picking Up The Pace!

Yesterday I finished two! projects! TWO! Well, except for one needs buttons. Here is the finished (but for the buttons) and amateurishly blocked scarfette for DD who is facing her first winter outside California:



Now, she's only facing what passes for winter in Washington, DC, so this little scarfy thing should cover it.

Also finished is another rendition of Vogue Options 8575, this one with long set-in sleeves in some mystery jersey from Michael Levine's $1.99 table. I still haven't decided if the print is pretty or really ugly--it is certainly synthetic.



Its mission in life is to be another cycling dress. I'm getting better at this pattern--the princess seams almost meet properly at the shoulders now.



And I have the neckline almost where I want it now. However, as a result, the bodice is almost too short.

To restore balance in the universe, atilt due to my excess of FOs, I started unraveling my first knitted FO of this milennium to utilize my somewhat improved knitting skillz on this nice silk yarn.



On my monitor, the color of the ball on the seat is closer to the actual yarn than the disappearing scarf on the back of the chair.

So, go me! Of course, all this productivity is the result of procrastinating on what I'm supposed to be doing, but whatever.

Happy Thanksgiving and Oops!

I've always wondered why sometimes a new post will turn up on my blogroll and then when I go to look at it it's not there. Well, now I understand because I did it! I clicked "share" on a youtube video to post it to my other, (even) less active and far more political blog, and it turned up here. Oops. I don't think my politics are any secret--my objection to both Hilary and Barack in the last election was that they are way too conservative--but I don't mean to bother sewists and crafters with them.

So to avoid another content-free post here, I offer a current WIP pic:


I managed to get this shot without my familiar, but you can see that the cat has been busy in the background distributing a ball of yarn around the rug. The WIP is a Sulka Scarfette pattern designed by Maya that I found through Ravelry when I was looking for something to do with the 2 skeins of merino, alpaca and silk Sulka by Mirasol that fell into my basket at the yarn shop. It's a Christmas present for DD, but it's safe to post it here because no matter how many blogs I have she doesn't read them.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving in the US and happy day everywhere else!

How can it be November already?

I confess, I've been caught in a procrastinator's vicious circle: months ago Tors of Girl Meets Wolf won my blogiversary giveaway, a set of vintage Singer Sewing Machine feet, and it took me forever to get around to mailing them to her. Bad me. And whenever I thought about posting to my blog I thought, "But first, you have to send those feet!" And so it goes. But now I've finally sent them off across the continent and then the Pond, along with a selection of goodies to assuage my guilt, so (in my weird little moral economy) I can post again! Lucky you.

Here's what I finished today.


It is Vogue 8525, made from some shiny, shreddy, see-through synthetic knit which is real pretty to look at but a bear to sew on. I bought the pattern a long time ago and probably wouldn't buy it if I were just seeing it now, having finally learned that shapeless clothing on a shapeless body does not produce a shapely silhouette. But look at those slash pockets! I've never made non-patch pockets, so go me! And although the FO looks like a sack, I am proud to say that it looks just like the photo on the pattern envelope, which also looks like a sack. Which of course raises (but, if you please, does not beg) the question of why I bought it.

No Malware Here

My sympathies to Hungry Zombie Couture, Ten Thousand Sewing Hours and Making the Seam, who seem to have acquired something malevolent from sewhotmommi, according to Google Safe Browsing Diagnostics here. Apparently if you link to these sites, as I did in my blog roll, diligent virus protectors will turn away your traffic with a malware warning. But there's no malware here, so I dropped the links (sorry ladies) and should be good to go.

If not, no one will be reading this, so whatever.