PSA for you New Yorkers: Brooklyn General is having a fabulous sale through Labor Day. As the helpful BGer Illana noted upon ringing me up, "you got a smokin' hot deal!":
I picked up a bunch of yarns for baby things, as there is no shortage of babies to go around, which suits my small-project kick just fine. Up there you see six balls of Sublime Yarns Organic Cotton DK, which is new to me, and down below, three balls of Wool Cotton, a yarn I have used before and really liked.
You might find it an odd color for baby things, and maybe it is a little. But I think babies look great in dark neutrals, generally. This could be a reaction against my two years working at the Gymboree in the mall during college, which was nothing but opportunity after opportunity to Dress Your Child Like a Clown.
Progress on the BSJ (did I even tell you I was working on a BSJ? I don't think so!) is stalled. I was making it out of leftovers of this and that, but then - ironically, since it is a leftovers sweater - I ran out of the Chestnut Telemark I am sort of depending on as my main color. A ball is on the way. Not much of a hurry for this one, since it's a gift for someone whom we won't see until October.
Yep, there it is.
Sigh.
Notice anything about that picture? A little hazy, perhaps? Turns out it was taken with a broken 50mm lens, which promptly fell to pieces when I investigated what was going on. Oh well. The Amazon reviews warned that it might give out after a year's hard use. And so it did. [Takes a moment to contemplate the role played by disposable, mass-produced goods in killing society]. Guess I'll be ordering another one.
Last thing, I think. I'm looking for a fairly simple sweater pattern with a GIANT, I mean GIANT cowl neck, the kind you can pull over your head and disappear into, the kind so giant you can kind of pile it up over your face. Know what I mean? It's for the navy Morehouse 3-strand I bought at Rhinebeck last year, which MUST be used before this year's festival or I will be shamefaced walking 'round the grounds. Any suggestions? Think BIG!
p.s. - Chris got mentioned on Gawker! Well, not by name. And they were kind of making fun of him. But they weren't as mean as they usually are, and any publicity is good publicity!
p.p.s. - Sorry to have been out of touch! Things have been a little more lively 'round the old Flickr account, if you feel compelled to catch up :-)
The Cowl Pullover by Norah Gaughan seems to fit the bill.
Posted by: Ühltje at August 28, 2008 2:30 AMloooove the wool you got! wish i would be somewhere near the big apple :)
Posted by: asiye Ivedi at August 28, 2008 8:08 AMthanks, Ühltje! that is a pretty cool sweater that i'd never seen before. i
maybe it wouldn't be too hard to design one. hm...
Posted by: jess at August 28, 2008 8:10 AMmeant to say above that i *heart* norah gaughan. but i guess my blog thought it was html!
Posted by: jess at August 28, 2008 8:11 AMoh and i went to check out your flicker- very nice indeed!
and i cant relate to gawker, but did go and read the article... ahm and i cant relate to it at all- why in the world do people need to trash other ones? are their lives so bad that they would feel better doing this??? well it wasnt as bad as another one i had seen- so good on him...
Like this??
http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall04/PATTgiraffe.html
oh god, i wish i had the extra cash right now to go to BG! mmmmm, sublime.
Posted by: gleek at August 28, 2008 9:10 AMThere's a cowl pattern in the Winter '04 IK (that I made, pre-blog, Knit & Tonic made it too, but didn't like it as much, you can check it out in her "loser FOs" category). The cowl is a super simple tube, no increasing or decreasing. I think you should be able to design your own, or easily modify an existing pattern :)
Congrats to Chris for making it in Gawker! I love Gawker, and Gothamist, and especially Jezebel. They are witty, clever and offer biting commentaries. I am always confused to hear that so many people don't like them. Oh well, plenty of websites to go around!
You know, i wasn't going to go to the BG sale because I figured I didn't NEED any yarn. But baby things--I totally need yarn for those! Might go there tonight...
As for cowl patterns, I remember having the same hankering a couple years ago, but never finding one I liked and thus abandoning the plan (though this one was in the running for a while, and would be easy to modify for a larger cowl, I'm sure: http://www.girlfromauntie.com/patterns/clothing/trumpet/trumpet.php) There are so many more great patterns out there now, though, I'm sure you'll find something that suits. ;)
Posted by: maya at August 28, 2008 9:36 AMI think the colors are fabulous for babies. Bummer about the lens. I think those amazon reviews are invaluable. I would get a 85mm lens though OMG that is the ultimate dream of mine. :D soon it will be mine!
Posted by: Preita at August 28, 2008 11:45 AMI think the colors are fabulous for babies. Bummer about the lens. I think those amazon reviews are invaluable. I would get a 85mm lens though OMG that is the ultimate dream of mine. :D soon it will be mine!
Posted by: Preita at August 28, 2008 11:45 AMThere's this pattern from an old Vogue that I have: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/20-cowl-neck-sweater It has a gigantic cowl and you can probably even make the cowl bigger! The gauge matches the Morehouse 3 strand too. I really wanted to make it when that Vogue came out but I forgot about it until just now. Good Luck! It was great seeing you this weekend!
Posted by: Illanna at August 28, 2008 11:49 AMLady, you've totally got the chops to build your own giant cowl sweater. I think you should go for it!
And I'm all about brown for babies. What could be more practical for the dirtiest little people?
Posted by: Sarah at August 28, 2008 1:14 PMchris strikes me as someone with extremely thick skin so I'm sure he doesn't really care (or is even amused by it all) but i would be really horrified. i'm not really familiar with gawker but i always thought it was a gossip site anyways. strange.
so anyways, nice score from BK. you always make out like a bandit at these types of sales.
Posted by: Sandra at August 28, 2008 1:33 PMIt's not exactly what you're looking for, but the McQueen Sweater in Sensual Knits has a ginormous collar thingie. Maybe you can adapt that for your needs?
Posted by: Clumsy Knitter at August 28, 2008 2:51 PMAmen for dressing children in real colors. Why is it at the first whiff of fall, every freaking yarn store is having a sale? I'm tempted, but am determined to wait for s&w. Love the colors you picked :)
Posted by: Craptina at August 29, 2008 8:58 AMHow do you like the Heart pattern from Skif? It's what your post made me think of.
http://kpixie.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=59_335&products_id=4888
I love the look of of Skif designs, they remind me of Habu quite a bit.
I think babies look hip in dark neutrals, so I fully support your color choice.
The cowl might not be monstrous enough, but this one is in my Ravelry queue...
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/francis-revisited
I just love that you managed to blog about the moose burger :)
Posted by: schrodinger at August 31, 2008 7:45 AM