mind of winter: Knitting my bliss

May 07, 2007

Knitting my bliss

Almost there . . .I think I mentioned earlier that I generally have a plan for the order in which I will make things, and that once something makes it into my queue, it generally gets knit, or if not, it gets ripped and revised. I do a lot of intellectual dreaming when deciding on a project, but once committed to the needles, I am pretty good at sticking to the plan. Lately, that has not been the case. I finally bought Mason Dixon Knitting, and decided I needed a quick washcloth. Then before I could cast on for the washcloth, I found myself knitting a nightie. Thursday night I went to sleep thinking of some silver and navy Filatura di Crosa Brilla that I had in my stash, and by Friday afternoon I was halfway finished with a simple Nautical top that I quickly designed.

Again and again over the last month I have found myself suddenly enchanted with one thing (a little less so with the washcloth - it's no nightie), and just immersing myself in it until it is done. I think in part this is because I try to restrict myself to having three things on the needles, and right now I am bored to death with the other two things I have hanging about.

The picots, a zoom out, and a reverse shot.

Rockin' my 1992 overalls. Good times.I am working on a black cotton stockinette hoodie for M -- the Man Hood -- which I designed and knit the pieces for on the Lil' Knitter over a weekend about two months ago. I've done much of the seaming, but the miles and miles of black cotton are just boring me to death. The Man Hood is such a slog, that I joined the slog blog and found that I still don't have the drive to work on it or write about it. Imagine if I had hand knit the pieces! I'm also working on the Lacey Tuxedo Top from the most recent Rebecca Magazine. The Lacey Tuxedo Top promises to be good once I get it on my needles (I did the bottom portion on the machine - all stockinette, size 2 needles - ugh), but since I haven't bothered to do that yet, it hasn't bothered to become interesting. Go figure.

I should probably take the rest of this week to get the Rebecca top and the Man Hood back on track -- and maybe I will -- but escaping from those two projects seems to have given me a huge burst of creativity. Although it is simple, Nautical is the first design of my own that I have actually executed this year. (I'm not quite finished - it still needs one more picot hem, seaming and some straps, but I'm almost there.) It feels very good to get something from my head into fabric and have it look the way that I want it to. If having two snores on the needles will get me a nightie and an adorable stripey top, perhaps it's alright to allow those two UFO's to marinate for just a bit longer. For right now, I'm knitting my bliss . . . .

Posted by Julia at May 7, 2007 08:34 AM
In (wo)man hood | lacey tuxedo top | machine knitting | main | nautical

Comments

cute tube top!

Posted by: shobhana at May 11, 2007 07:28 AM

What a cute top! I am also excited to see your tuxedo top progress.

Posted by: Erika at May 10, 2007 05:39 PM

Oh I love that tank top!!! Any possibility that the pattern may be available soon? :-)

Posted by: Claudia at May 10, 2007 04:52 AM

Wow, only three projects at a time? I could never do it. I've got like 15! Anyway, the top is totally cute!

Posted by: Hattie at May 9, 2007 01:55 PM

So cute. You are brilliant. I too love the tuxedo top, but size twos, not so much.

Posted by: Natalie at May 9, 2007 07:43 AM

I am with you and Wanda. Don't we have enough enough to be responsible for than to feel encumbered by our knitting projects? Knitting for me is the place in my life for whimsy, whether it be through juicy color, experimentation, or abandoning things when they don't make me happy. Try doing that if you are an accountant!

Posted by: Liz K. at May 9, 2007 05:52 AM

Fabulous top! I'm so glad to know I'm not the only one who periodically hits a wall midway through a project:)

Posted by: Rebecca at May 8, 2007 07:47 PM

I actually live in Roger's Park! Thanks for the comment-wish I had something more interesting to see!

Posted by: Heather at May 8, 2007 01:52 PM

Beautiful, Julia! And I love Filatura Brilla. Nice shine to the cotton. Your descriptions of doing boring stockinette on a knitting machine is starting to make me want one :)

Posted by: connie at May 8, 2007 11:58 AM

THOSE overalls... 1992. Hmmm.

Love the top; it looks fantastic and I can't wait to see the finished item!

Posted by: Jen. at May 8, 2007 08:37 AM

What a sweet little top! What type of straps are you planning? The picot at the bottom totally makes it, for me.

(And, uh, snazzy overalls, there. ;-)

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Hey Amy, Right now I'm thinking that the straps will consist of two simple crochet chains in the silver. We'll see. I'm still finishing a picot and the seaming today. Work is interfering with my knitting! :)

xox, J

Posted by: Amy at May 8, 2007 07:05 AM

wow, I love it...and I must say you are a "cloths horse"...is that how they say it...it's a compliment...they say Princess Diana was like that. Seriously, everything looks great on you.

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Hey Orli! Clothes horse is definitely the term you were going for. Check out this funny definition on wikipedia. I am definitely trying to step up my knitting to the point where I no longer have to buy fashionable clothes, and a lot of the patterns out there really are at that level these days. I hope to do the same with my own designs, so thanks! I take it as a compliment! xox, J

Posted by: Orli at May 8, 2007 03:59 AM

Very cute! But how do you make it stay up? Brilla is so slippery. Are you wearing doublesided tape underneath?

Oh, and will you post the pattern?

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Hi Guro - at this point it stays up for long enough to do a photo without straps, but I plan to have optional straps for it and use some strategically-placed elastic as well. I will make it available on the site if there seems to be interest.
xox, J

Posted by: Guro at May 7, 2007 11:50 PM

love the nautical stripes and it looks so good on you just as a tube. Perfect for these past days of terrible heat.

Posted by: kat at May 7, 2007 09:39 PM

Hey! I'm not the only one with the three-project rule. Usually mine are a sock, a medium project (like a sweater for a child - I have two) and a big project (like a sweater for an adult). Right now, I have a sock and two big projects, the latter which I posted about over at the slogalong (see "Mistaken Identity" - I thought one would be the slog but turns out they're both quite the grind). And now, thanks to you, I may go out and buy that Rebecca magazine - I must say I've been eyeing it...

Posted by: Tana at May 7, 2007 07:14 PM

So cute! A modern classic.

Posted by: rachel at May 7, 2007 06:23 PM

I was also thinking the Nautical top was really cute as a tube top! (On you, that is!) Good luck with all the stockinette. I just finished some stockinette projects and it completely burned me out! I have yet to pick up my needles for another!

Posted by: Heather at May 7, 2007 04:29 PM

Love it. It's actually very Rebecca!

I have the slogalong blues too (thanks for that link, I hadn't heard of it). Right now, I am focusing on my UFOs in an attempt to unburden myself from the past. I have a sweater for my dad that is stopped mid-stream. I knitted the arms and back on the machine, but I want to cable the front panels and nothing is working. Even the swatch is boring me. It doesn't help that it's 84 in SF today and my mind is drifting towards vacation.

Posted by: nicole at May 7, 2007 02:08 PM

Isn't that what knitting is all about? Knitting your bliss. If you truly want to knit the other projects you will, but it is nice to use your creativity to complete a garment and quickly too. It looks great.

Posted by: Wanda at May 7, 2007 12:40 PM

Extremely cute! :-)

Also, I just noticed that you had left a comment in my blog about the Canyon Hiking Socks. I couldn't find your email address anywhere, so I hope you don't mind me answering here: I'll be very happy to accept your generous offer! If you could send me an email, I'll send you my address. Thank you SO much!

Posted by: terhi at May 7, 2007 12:39 PM

SO cute- I really love those stripes! It actually looks cute as a tube top, but I know you have silver yarn to use up. ;)

Posted by: Nonnahs at May 7, 2007 12:22 PM

The top is VERY cute. it fits like a dream and the silver and navy just suit each other. I'm not so sure about the overalls though ;)

Posted by: Marnie at May 7, 2007 12:10 PM

I love the top! I am knitting a top out of Rebecca #23 and it is 12 inches of k2,p1 rib and I am about to die. It's times like these that I wish I had a knitting machine.

Posted by: Cathy at May 7, 2007 12:04 PM