Okay, so I haven't posted in a dog's age, and I still don't have a heck of alot to talk about knitting-wise. Not to say I haven't been knitting, I have been knitting my poor little fingers to the bone! My joints ache and my skin is as dry as can be. The progress photos would be yawners though, so I decided to save you the total boredom and show you a snafu from my knitting past. The quick update would be: Knit-for-hires are still in progress, and taking way too long! One of them is gorgeous to my eyes, but I can't show photos until it is published, so..... My Retro-Prep Cardi is suffering from neglect, but I hope to soon be knitting away on it. My little hands could use a break from cabling on every fr*gging row!
For fun (and humiliation of a sort) I pulled out a finished object from the past. Or the deep, dark recesses of my sweater drawer. Clearly I had no clue as to how to fit a sweater to myself at this point in time. Or I didn't take the time to do it. Anyway, after all of that work on size 3s or 2s or whatever, I have a very beautiful sweater that noone, least of all me, on earth can wear. Unless I want to take flying lessons. Join the crowd in the Bat Cave. Ride in the Bat Mobile. Actually, that might not be too bad, depending on who is playing Batman. When I cast on for this jewel I knew nothing about gansey construction, so I knit it almost exactly to the instructions that Ms. Starmore had written. I did alter the length and the sleeve length, but I didn't really do much checking on the width or sleeve drop, I figured knitting the smallest size at a little bit of a tighter gauge would yield a sweater I would love to wear. Uh-wrong! Observation and other knitting disasters have taught me quite a bit. So if you walk away with a lesson today, let it be to really look at the sample photos of a garment before casting on the first stitch. Look a the photo of Eriskay. Red lights and sirens should have shined and rung wildly in my mind when I saw all that bunching up under the arm. My guess is that the sleeves are clamped behind the arms as well. Did you know that the photographers and stylists use all kinds of tricks to get a terrible fitting, poorly knitted or poorly designed garment to look good in the photo? (Knitters magazine should at least give it a try, have you seen the latest issue? The Lily of the Valley shawl was beautiful! Aside from that, I think I have a subscription to all the best-and worst-knitting ads of each season. But I digress...) If I cannot see every aspect of a garment in the photo I assume something is wrong. I think alot of knitters learned this one with Audrey this year. Oh the trouble they had with those decreases, yet when they went to look at the photo and see how the sample looked all they saw was a sweater cleverly hidden by the model's arms. A great idea for a sweater that the sample knitter couldn't interpret into a presentable piece of clothing. Another red light technique, the old scarf around the neck trick. More camouflage tricks-large colorful distractions like a hat, jewelry, soft (blurry) focus, standing behind something, holding a baby or other large object.......oh the list goes on and on. How about the model sitting in some inhuman contortion? If you can't photograph the sweater on a model standing in a normal positon there is something wrong. I just want to see the sweater on a person standing with their arms down, holding nothing. But again, I digress. Some day soon I will post example of some photo clues that mean bad sweater.
Back to the sweater at hand. Another error in judgement for me was the color. I look terrible in this shade of red. It is actually prettier than you can see here, I fiddled with the photo editor for awhile, but couldn't quite capture it (on my moniter the image on the left is closest). Too bad, I have the cutest plaid, pleated skirt to wear with it. So-the things I would change about this sweater if I were to knit it again? Well, I probably just wouldn't knit it for myself again, I should just design one for myself with all the changes I would have to make. And truth be told, I love this sweater, not the color, not the fit, but the idea of it. I feel I did a pretty good job knitting it. I like the tree the best and the underarm gussets rock, but I am not at all inclined to frog it and use the yarn for another purpose. So-here are the finished measurements: Chest=44", length=22.5", sleeve drop=between 9 and 10", mid-point of sweater to end of sleeve=26.5, neck (relaxed)=about 7", shoulder=6.75", and the sleeve is 16". This sweater deserves a good home, or at least the yarn (AS Scottish Fleet) should have a new life. Make me an offer-a trade or some other creative idea, all offers will be entertained!
Boy, I went on and on about that, didn't I? I do have some business that I have waited too long to take care of. A couple of weeks ago-the weekend of MDS&W, I had a contest in this post. I received some very creative guesses on this spring time ritual, but those who guessed anything close to opening the pool (it is the drain at the bottom of the still murky pool) were put into the skimmer basket and the pool boy drew the name of Natalie B! Congratulations, send me your snail mail address and I will send a little sheepy thing your way!
I have so much more to blog about, but it will have to wait until tomorrow-it involves some Knitting Secret Pal business, and a glimpse of the goodies I picked up at New Hampshire Sheep & Wool. I'll bet you can't wait!! Check back anyway, okay?
Bullseye! You hit it, and I was one of those knitters of Audrey who consulted the picture and found -- ARMS -- two pairs of them, in fact, covering those blasted increases. And then I have my Simply Noro sweater that had the same issue -- a man wearing it, reclining and covering up the fact that the bottom fits like a bell and makes me look five months preggers. Eww. So hopefully I've learned EARLY in my knitting career the pitfalls of those damn photos.
Posted by: Norma | May 21, 2004 at 07:36 AM
Yay! I would recognize that shade of green anywhere!
That sweater would probably fit me...The *ahem* "girls" need lots of room!
Glad to see you back...I've been watching your blog eagerly anticipating a new post!
Posted by: Natalie | May 21, 2004 at 09:32 AM
Hey, My daughter's FAVORITE color is red, and of course we live in Nebraska, where the college football color is red. The sweater will have a loving home, with a fellow knitter, who appreciates it! What might you want for a trade? I also saw your offer on KBTH, so I hope I'm not too late!
Kits, yarn, books? drop me an e-mail with a wish-list!
Posted by: Anne | May 21, 2004 at 10:33 AM
I'm so glad to see you back! I was just getting ready to email you. Glad to hear it was knitting keeping you away from blog-land.
Did you get something in the mail from me in the past week or so? I'm worried that it is hopelessly lost...
Posted by: annie | May 21, 2004 at 12:28 PM
Amen sister! What a great post!
Posted by: Leigh | May 22, 2004 at 10:15 PM
It's beautiful--even if it isn't perfect--for the fabulous story it tells!
Posted by: Dava | May 23, 2004 at 11:48 AM
Terrific post! I truly look forward to the day when you share with us some of the photo clues that may mean a bad sweater. I feel like I've learned so much already. Thank you!
Posted by: Vicki | May 24, 2004 at 01:25 PM