Saturday, March 31, 2007

Possible solution for a problem spot in the stash!

Last fall, I bought about 1400 yards of Lily Chin Manhattan, which is a cotton/bamboo yarn with a nubby texture. It was one of the Yarn of the Month featured yarns, so I had a chance to test-swatch it, and I decided that I really liked it. I even went so far as to take the swatch for a road test-- I carried it around in my handbag for a little over a week (where it promptly gravitated to the bottom and got knocked around a lot) and, unlike most cotton yarns, the stitches actually stayed in place, which I attribute to the bamboo.
Anyway, after ordering all the yarn, I realized that I had no idea what to do with it. I am more of a stitch-pattern-oriented knitter than a colorwork-oriented knitter, and I soon realized that 1400 yards of a single color of nubby-textured yarn meant that I was going to be fairly constrained-- interesting stitch patterns, cables, etc. are pretty much lost on a yarn that already has its own thing going on with texture.
So, the big bag of Manhattan has been sitting in a cedar chest for about seven months now, and I haven't had a clue what to do with it. Finally, while browsing my favorite LYS after work yesterday (I am trying to make myself ONLY browse for a while, with the exception of a few books and tools, because I have to start making a dent in my enormous stash of yarns and UFOs) I noticed that one of the sample garments in the store might be just the thing. It's a shrug, basically a long rectangle which is doubled over and stitched into armholes at the top edges, after which you go around the perimeter and pick up a ribbed border, but the great thing about it is that I can tell it will be easy to modify the construction to fit my size and to lengthen the overall garment into kind of a cutaway, circular cardigan/jacket (I, like pretty much all plus-size, busty gals, look ridiculous in shrugs.)
Anyway, I am very excited about this project now. I finally found a project for the Manhattan that is casual enough to work with the character of the yarn, but won't be boring to make. Once I (finally) get a digital camera, which probably won't take too long to save for if I save up what I normally spend on yarn for a couple of months, I think I may have to make this project one that I document in this blog. It'll be my first official project where I use the pattern only as a suggestion and make the garment my own.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

What have I gotten myself into?

Mmmkay...even after a half hour of trying to get my page looking halfway decent I am beginning to see the original wisdom of putting this project off...which is primarily...how the hell to people know how to format these blogs??!! I was looking at just a few of the blogs that I actually read and realizing that they had, you know, icons and lists and stuff...this is way over my head. I don't have time to learn all this stuff at this point...I'm going to have to keep this low-tech for a while (I don't even know if I got the No Wool icon on my blog right-- was I supposed to add it as a picture? Oh well.

First post...will this end up like the pile of unfinished blank journals in the closet?

Well, well, well, I finally got around to starting my knitting blog.
I have been telling myself for damn near a year that I was going to hold off until I was done with school (I go to law school evenings and work during the day) but I cracked-- I wanted to join the No-Wool swap and I was too lazy to wait for the KAL sign-up email to get to me. Funny how my laziness cured my procrastination in this instance.
I wanted to wait because I wanted this to be a GOOD knitting blog, not a half-assed one. We'll see if I can use my whole ass this time. Fortunately, even half of it should be ample at this point in time.
My two biggest immediate challenges? No digital camera and no home internet connection. Insurmountable? We'll see.