A Little Yarn On The Side

Ron:  We're here at the first full day of the Ravellenic Games, and in a stunning display of knitterly discipline, Ms. Sutton has just earned her second medal by finishing a mitten ornament for the Holiday Hurdles.   Bob:  Two medals in two days--that is impressive, though could this mean that our contestant is getting distracted from WIP Wrestling even earlier than anticipated? Ron:  Shockingly, she seems to have retained her WIP finishing focus, and is down to just the seams and buttons: on the first WIP entry.  At 8:41 she's still seaming furiously, so we may see a finished item before the day has ended.   Bob:  Three medals in two days?  That would be a new record for Ms. Sutton as a knitlete--do you think the addition of a training camp has made the difference this year? Ron:  It's hard to say this early, but even finishing one WIP will be more dedication than Ms. Sutton has shown so far this year.  Still, she has five...

Bob:  We're here at the first day of the 2012 Ravellenic games.  Ms. Sutton has shown an early burst of speed with an early medal in the Frogging Trampoline. Ron:  That's right, Bob.  Not only has she frogged with great speed and agility, the icky blue acrylic yarn has been tossed into a donation bin.  We haven't seen Ms. Sutton part with yarn willingly very often--if ever--and that was a surprising early move.   Bob:  It certainly was.  Considering the bin full of Red Heart acrylic yarn she insists is for ornaments and other crafting items--not to mention the stash of Fun Fur recently uncovered--it's surprising to learn there is any yarn so icky that Ms Sutton might part with it.   Ron:  Too true, Bob!  Perhaps the recent sewing room shelf project has truly created a sense of moderation in our competitor. Bob:  That seems unlikely, Ron, as Ms. Sutton was seen to be briefly browsing lace shawl patterns shortly before ...

Bob:   With the 2012 Ravellenic Games less than 24 hours away, we're here with one of the contestants.  Ms. Sutton, as a previous knitlete, what can you tell us about this year's games? Toni:  Well, as you know, Bob, there's been some contention with the U.S. Olympic Committee that Americans knitting in something called the "Ravelympics" denigrates U.S. Olympic athletes, while having their uniforms made in China by underpaid workers does not.  In the end, it was decided that since the knitters had no unskilled workers to exploit for profit or sponsorships to sell to fast food and chemical companies , it would be best to rename the knitting games to preserve the purity of the Ravellenic spirit. Ron:  Has the controversy changed the games at all? Toni:  Yes--this year we have more than 11,000 knitters worldwide set to denigrate the U.S. athletes, and an event that normally gathers no press coverage has been covered by NPR, the Atlantic Monthly , Busi...

 For those of you who are curious about EZ's Epaulet Jacket shaping, you can see some of it here: I'm guessing the shoulder will be a bit boxy since it's based on a square, but I still want to see how it turns out. The TENTH cross stitch thread is in progress: though not quite finished.  Obviously, doing 12 threads on this thing is actually keeping me sort of interested in it.  If I were thinking about ALL the stitching left to be done, I'd be sobbing in the corner, but just having to do 12 threads on it is doable.  I think. The sewing room project has generated a few patterns and books to be donated: I wish it were overflowing, but getting myself to admit that there is ANYTHING in there I don't need or won't eventually make is rather a unique accomplishment, so it's a start. Speaking of starts,   The new "Baby Attitude" quilt is in process.  I was a bit disappointed to see the quotation marks turn out to be going the wrong direct...

Andy added this wonderful little shelf to my temporary sewing furniture to hold the long, thin things like my blocking wires, sleeve board, and longest rulers. And we're seeing it again TODAY so you can remind me of it the next time I'm about to spend 30 minutes rummaging around in the sewing room for that plastic ruler grid.

This is my EZ's Epaulet Sweater.  It would actually be farther along by now if I hadn't been dumb enough to treat this like any other sweater.  Most top-down sweaters will have increases on BOTH sides of the markers for the sleeves if they have markers for the sleeves.  This is called "raglan" and is a sweater style that those of us who weren't Elizabeth Zimmerman use to make sweaters.  But the reason I am making this particular sweater is to learn her shaping technique for this particular sweater.  It starts with a long skinny band of garter, then you knit a rectangle just on the center stitches, then you pick up stitches on one side of that rectangle and knit another rectangle, then repeat on the other side, and then shape that skinny band into the neck band.  (Thank heavens there is a chart in the book for this--otherwise I would be writing this from a corner in the back of my closet surrounded by frogged and tear-soaked purple yarn).  Now this ...