Sil's Fab Knitblog

Hall-o-weenie!

This year, Fake Niece Zoe wanted to be a Ghost Princess for Halloween.  The annual costume making extravaganza is underway.

No probs there chica!  Fire up the Bernina and off we go.

I used Burda 2463 and used white crepe backed satin, white organza studded with tiny crystals and white chiffon over top for the ghostly tattered layer.  I let Zoe tatter her own costume, which she enjoyed greatly in the upper left photo.

All in all the costume turned out extremely well and she looks lovely in it.  I am biased, but you gotta admit it's a good costume.

Happy Halloween!

Dusting off the sewing machine

Because I've been busy making fake niece Zoe's Ghost Princess costume for Wednesday, my mind starting casting further afield and seeing what else wanted to be made by moi.

I poked through the newest Vogue patterns and found this wonderful skirt (Vogue 1018) that would just be fabulous in a nice soft stretchy jersey.  Very schexxxy.

I am also partial to this pretty DKNY dress pattern.  I may be reacting to how comfy it looks, while still being stylish.  I like both those attributes very much, and most especially together.  You could wear this dress out to a nice dinner and still have room to eat up.

No sneak peeks of the costume though, so stay tuned on Wednesday for the cutest fake niece ever.

All socks all the time

Everywhere I've been lately has been unseasonably warm.  Rhinebeck was much too warm to even contemplate wearing a gorgeous handknit sweater.  I arrived in San Francisco and it was about 85 degrees there too.  Okay, back to LA yesterday and the awful fires aren't visible where I am by the beach, but the smoke and ash make the sunny day overcast.  It's also wicked hot here and opening the windows is not an option.  A small inconvenience, I realize.

Driving down I-5 on Tuesday, I began to see how many resources were being rounded up.  There were dozens of fire engines, CDF and military convoys.  There were also huge AT&T disaster satellite trucks that were massive - so massive they were going over the grapevine at about 5 mph.  There were about 7 of those.  There were also power company convoys and insurance company vehicles.  The most poignant was the small convoy of Noah's Wish  volunteers who shelter and reuinte pets at disasters all over the US and Canada.  I made a small donation because I like what they do.

Okay, back to some knitting.  It's much too hot to even take Tilted Duster out of the bag in which it's shoved.  I finished my plain vanilla socks at Rhinebeck, even though it was too hot to need them.  They're the usual 60 stitch sock with picot hem and short row heel that's my favorite to wear.  The lovely yarn I used is from Twisted and I've got no clue as to the colorway.

Then I began some Monkeys!  Yes, one more monkey virgin bites the dust.  I can see why they're popular.  It's an easy pattern to remember and the resulting fabric is very attractive.  I am making them with a picot hem and short row heel (big freaking surprise there), so they're kind of a mutated monkey.  The sock yarn is the lovely wool/bamboo/nylon blend I bought a Rhinebeck from Maple Creek Farm (no website listed).  It's very soft and yummy, so I'm glad I forced a certain sister of mine to get some too.  Hehehehe...

Does this count?

I wasn't going to buy much of anything at Rhinebeck and as you can see from my meager haul, I think I was successful.

As I was given to understand that "sock yarn doesn't count", I bought sock yarn.

From left to right you see purple Spirit Trail Fiberworks, green also Spirit Trail, black and pink is colorway Angela (it should be Good n Plenty though) from Gypsy Girl Creations and the sky blue is Maple Creek Farm wool/bamboo/nylon blend.

I'm going to play with the bamboo yarn first and make Monkeys as I think I'm the only sock knitter in the world that hasn't made a pair.  I've got that long cross-country flight to look forward to this afternoon, so I'm going to Monkey across the lower 48.  See you on the left coast kids!

Travelling socks

I safely slept my way across the country and Claudia and I are planning to drive up to Rhinebeck today.

Because carrying a 3/4 complete sweater as a travel project seemed silly even to me, I unearthed some unfinished plain vanilla socks to finish up during the trip.

This lovely sock yarn is from Twisted's etsy shop and is super.  I'm using my standard picot hem and shortrow heel and toe.  Easy.  The cool colorway notches up the plain sock.

So we're on the road and hopefully these will be worn at the festival!

I am not turning Japanese

Because I've ripped out the previous three (!) cast off iterations, I've got nothing knitwise to show.  Cast offs I've tried are basic bindoff, decrease bind off and sewn bind off. (All in my favorite Montse Stanley Knitter's Handbook.)  I hated them all based on their ugliness.  I'm now adding a bit of 2x2 ribbing and will do the tubular bind off.  I like that one most times (even though it's a huge pain in the ass) and hope that the added ribbing and a crazy amount of steam will work.  If it doesn't, I'll put this sweater in a Safeway bag and bury it in the yard.

So long story short, this Tilted Duster will not be done in time for Rhinebeck.  What's that you ask?  I'm going to Rhinebeck, despite being an unemployed person?  Why yes!  I've got time and free flights - a perfect storm of yarny goodness.  Yarn buying will be kept to a minimum, but considering what I've got in stash at present, that is a good thing.

What will California girl be wearing at the festival, how about this lovely sweater completed years ago from some sister spun Jacob fleece?  It's old and comfy and the pattern is from some old Rebecca pattern.  That'll do nicely in the place of the Tilted Duster.

I've "had" to go to Daiso twice in the past few days to get some stuff.  Daiso is a Japanese store with everything.  Literally everything and it's pretty much all $1.50.  Rather like the 100 yen stores in Japan (which I also adore).  Doesn't that look like a pile of necessities?  I thought so.  I'll be sporting my new red gingham eye shade (pictured upper left corner) on the flight so don't wake me.  Next stop Rhinebeck!

Princess Scary Spice

This year my favorite fake niece is wanting to be a Ghost Princess for Halloween.  She's 8 and it seems that the pretty little princess thing starts to turn to scary little princess thing.  Okay, I can play that game.

This is my Ghost Princess plan.  Make a non-poufy princess dress in white satin and organza and add pieces of torn tattered chiffon.  I'm going to use this Burda 2463 as the starting point and add the tatters as needed.  Couple the tattered dress with white face makeup, black roses and black kohl liner, and I think we can make Miss Zoe the prettiest scary ghost princess in Southern California (certain clubs in WeeHo excepted - natch).

Halloween on!

Travel project

I was on the road last weekend and Tilted Duster is just too big to drag around on airplanes these days.  I opted to bring my long mouldering Montego Bay Scarf.  The yarn I'm using is a luscious and gorgeous Buckwheat Bridge Angoras variegated yarn.  It's a combo of 60% cormo wool and 40% angora, so the dye takes beautifully to the mohair and the cormo is super soft.  Yummy.

The scarf pattern is easy and mindless, pretty good for traveling or tv watching and goes really quickly if you actually knit on it, rather than stuffing it away in a zip-lock bag.  I'm using 39 stitches and #5 needles, so I managed to knit up about 10 inches without even trying.  Nice.

A tilting whirl

There has been a heap 'o tilting around here lately.  This Tilted Duster is not hard and perhaps my next project should be a tad more challenging (like something along the lines of what my sister is starting), but for now we'll think of this project as comfort food.  Easy, satisfying and filling the knitting need.

As you can see from the photos, this really does go quickly.  The size 8 needles and worsted weight Lamb's Pride make for progress in the fast lane.  You knit the skirt piece in one piece with the ever growing stockinette sections to break up the 2x2 monotony.

I'm still going to see if a small 2x2 ribbed border will work to prevent the bottom from curling.  I want to banish curling but don't want to have to ruin the look and line of the skirt.  We shall see soon at this rate...

Missy Missy Muffin

My knitting is at a dull point so I'll tempt your tastebuds with a link to a super yummy recipe.  This Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe is courtesy of Angry Chicken's blog.  Click over for a super good, low fat treat.  This recipe made about 2 dozen cupcakes and the only change I made was I didn't use (or have) any whole wheat flour.  Super yum!