Textileophile

Hey blog! How are you all doing today?  I'm... middling. I was wandering my facebook memories this morning when I came across a sweater I made eleven years ago and I got the worst case of second-hand embarrassment for my 11 years younger self.  So, I decided what better thing to do than to share my embarrassment with you guys! ^^ What was baby knitter Jessica knitting on eleven years ago that could have caused such a cringe? This: It's a drop shoulder Ravenclaw sweater knit out of super bulky big-box craft store yarn. The sleeves are about 5 inches too long, they are massive, and the entire thing could fit two people, I'm convinced. I'm... getting less mortified the more I look at it. For one reason, I spent the ensuing YEARS getting sleeves to fit Zac at the underarm.  He has massive biceps you see, and although these are inches too long, they actually have enough room that he can move his arms and be comfortable in the sweater. For two reason, this is a sweater.  I...

Hey there! I'm having a difficult time getting into this post.  It feels like nothing has happened since I last posted, but that's a lie.  I've been stitching a lot in the last few weeks, and I've made a lot of progress on things.  Heck! I even made a whole sweater in that time! So, shall I get started? Last I left you, it was Christmas Eve!  I was about to wake up to some new sweater yarn!  I got enough to make a sweater I'd planned to make for years and years. Tastu by Marie Wallin.   And yeah, I got the yarn from the pattern.  I promise I don't *always* do that, but apparently I do it enough that it's a thing I do sometimes. I am pretty sure I didn't even stop to make a gauge swatch.  That's also something I do enough that it's a thing I do sometimes: cast on with wild abandon! I did a tubular cast on, which is a favorite for a nice polished stretchy edge.  And then I went for it.  The pattern is written flat and seamed.  I norma...

 I'm back!  On Christmas Eve of all days. Everything was a roaring success: cat sweater was sent to recipient and adored! I Agonized about the size that it ended up, but the lady absolutely adores it, it fits her nicely and that's that.  I sent the remaining batts and small balls of yarn along with the sweater.  It is out of my life! I think I've had enough cat knitting and spinning to last a lifetime.  Also, the knitting with it was giving two of the three people in my life hay fever. Tom Servo came together well! What a Cool Guy!  YES, the hoverskirt is just several inches too short, BUT I think he looks darling.  My daughter's scoliosis surgery was also a success! Before the surgery she was 4'11" (149 cm or so) and after, she's slightly taller than her grandmother, who is 5'2" (157.5 cm).  Her recovery is going well.  She's resting a lot, which is good.  Her pain is mostly controlled.  She's got a lot of spunk, and she's so brave...

 Life is moving along at a clipped pace!  The surgery was moved up to the early part of December so a lot is happening around here, mostly in my mind, to prepare. I had to stop everything to crochet the world's coolest dude, Tom Servo: Well, I've done his barrel body and part of his hover skirt, but I haven't gotten a picture of all that.  There's quite a bit of improvising for this. The pattern itself was the author's improvisation and well, it's not very thorough.  Adding to the complication, I'm using fingering yarn and the pattern is for aran(roughly double the thickness of fingering yarn).  I thought it would shrink down proportionately, but it did not. So, I'm letting a lot of the stress go and just having fun figuring it out as I go. The sweater. I knew you were going to ask me about that. Well.  The blocking did not go as expected.  In fact, only 4" or so of the sweater was the gauge I was expecting it to be.  the rest was entirely too sma...

 You know that thing when you don't do a thing for awhile and it grows in your mind and gets overwhelming and you forget where to even start when you get back to it? Blogging here has kind of become that.  Which is a shame, because like usual, I have things to talk about! The cat spin/knit for one, life news, and a finished item! Finished item first, naturally!   These are my typical 64 stitch sock with the eye of partridge heel.  I knit them in about 3 weeks, which isn't bad!  They are perfectly matched, from the cast on to the toe, so that's neat.  I used felici yarn from knit picks in the 'vampire vibes' colorway. I originally planned these to go to Hazel, but I gave her a few pairs of hand-me-down socks in the last few weeks and decided to keep them for myself. [Hand-me-down, as in I knit socks for myself and they turned out not to fit me that great?  I have so many socks now that giving some lightly worn socks (and less worn than a typical pair si...