Wednesday, December 12, 2007

When I started Goddess,

it was with no concrete ideas in terms of the rules I mentioned - mostly because I thought the project itself would slowly present itself with clear segments. Like after a set of short rows, or shaping, or a change in needles. Well, it seems this was a mistake, in its way: with no stopping points, I knit right up to the bottom of the front section.

Goddess - The Front, originally uploaded by rubychan4.

That's about two balls of yarn knit on size US 4 straights (about thirteen inches long!) that any granny would be proud to own.

Well, after all that knitting on Goddess, I could no longer ignore my job application, so I finished it. A few ends still need to be woven in, but it's finished.

And then I started on the back. This is up to the bottom of the shoulder shaping.

Goddess - The Back, originally uploaded by rubychan4.

This picture is closest to the actual color.

Friday, December 07, 2007

Time has the uncanny ability

of escaping from me - I wake each morning (to me, the morning begins at around noon) intending to take those pictures I mentioned, and the next time I think of it, the sun has set. But I managed to get it done today, and I'm throwing in a few extras as a bonus.

An appallingly bad picture of the Bayerische sock:

First Bayerische Sock, originally uploaded by rubychan4.

And new buttons on The Sweater:

New Buttons, originally uploaded by rubychan4.

And the new buttons on me:

New Buttons - on me, originally uploaded by rubychan4.

The knitted job application:

Stunt Stitching Test, originally uploaded by rubychan4.

And the new project, knit with most of my first ball of yarn:


Goddess-in-Progress, originally uploaded by rubychan4.

And a detail shot of that border:

Pattern stitch detail, originally uploaded by rubychan4.

My camera seems to be unequal to the task of capturing that color - it's a darker, deeper, cool green. And I should go wind another ball.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

A few things

have been going on chez Rubychan, but it seems my attentiveness as a blogger has severely tapered off, and for that, apologies, dear reader. Firstly, I finished the first Bayerische sock (although that was not until the middle of November), and I will take a picture of it tomorrow, in natural light. I don't like the effect of lamps - they add too many shadows and make everything look too yellow. And in case you were wondering, I have started the mate, but I managed to make a mistake right after the ribbing at the cuff and I have not had the patience to go back and fix it. (Admittedly, it could be the work of a short fifteen minutes to sort out the problem; a fifteen minutes I cannot seem to make myself spare.)

Meanwhile, I bought new buttons, mostly inspired by a new pair of pants I bought (in which I loved everything but the buttons and the length - somewhat novel - the buttons have been swapped and I'm in the process of hemming). And while I was at the store, I bought new buttons for The Sweater. The original buttons were always intended to be temporary - the Hudson Valley, I felt, lacked interesting little sewing and knitting shops (at least, based on my limited reach when I was in the area), so I had bought some simple buttons I felt I could live with at JoAnn's, thinking I would replace them when I found a suitable substitute and had the time and energy to do it. It's embarassing to say that it happened over a year later, but I found some lovely shell buttons in that same excursion and swapped them. The added benefit is that the new buttons are larger and stay in the buttonholes much better (the old ones had the habit of popping out), and they hold the garment together better when I wear it, which makes me want to wear it more (and that's a little startling, because it is, after all, The Sweater). Granted, I also lacked the foresight to take pictures of it during daylight, so a picture of The Sweater and the new buttons is forthcoming. I promise.

In other news, I have begun work on a sample for a knitting website to become a stunt stitcher. And by begun work, I mean I have the sample eighty percent finished. The prospect of being paid to knit is just too attractive for me to take this sample too lightly, and my resulting meticulousness has made progress pathetically slow and halting. To be fair, the sample uses techniques I have never used before (the tubular cast-on and cast-off), but I have also screeched to a halt out of my own impatience and frustration.

And in the hope of motivating myself to finish my knitted job application, I bought more yarn today. Not that I need more yarn, or that I don't have enough unfinished projects that need to be resolved, but out of general knitting ennui and impatience. Those unfinished projects will get finished eventually, right? Anyway, I told myself that I could begin a new project (with the new yarn, naturally) only if I finished one row of the sample for every (say, five?) rows of the new. I haven't worked out the details yet, but that's the basic idea. It's like giving a child a reward system - a piece of candy for a good deed - but with knitting, and much more pathetic.

Quote of the Day: "Normally, I would feel uncomfortable taking unmarked drugs from a guy in a sailor suit singing to pudding, but hey, I'm desperate."