Yes, still alive

I'm sorry, I've been a seriously delinquent blogger, I haven't touched this space for ages! I don't even have any good excuses, such as being too busy travelling to exciting places, or making a whole new person. Ugh. I think the problem is that my knitting doesn't excite me so much anymore, so I'm not motivated to take pictures of it, and if I don't take pictures, then I also don't update Ravelry until much later, and I don't blog about it either. It's not that I don't enjoy the knitting, it's more that I'm not in awe of the finished objects anymore because it's very much been there, done that. I really don't feel the need to discuss every single pair of toe-up stockinette socks I knit, you know?

In any case, until I figure out what to do about that, here's a roundup of some of the things I've knit over the past little while:

Green Gable (on Ravelry)

Pile-able Pups (on Ravelry)

Poppy (on Ravelry)

(Yay, the sleeves more or less match! As do both sides of the front! I don't think I'll be knitting another sweater out of Silk Garden anytime soon, worrying about getting the matching to work took too much out of me)

Citron (on Ravelry)

Katrina Rib (on Ravelry)

I'm happy that I'm now able to knit sweaters for myself that more or less fit. I don't think that I have a sweater FO that I'm 100% delighted with, but everyone who knows me well will probably say that that's pretty much an impossible endeavour. It's enough that I'm at least willing to wear them out in public! My next sweater goal is to tackle a fingering-weight sweater, maybe a Featherweight Cardigan?

And now I'll probably have to elapse back into blog silence, because I have to get a start on my Christmas knitting. Who knows though, maybe I'll manage to sneak a little something in there for myself, too.

Will she wear it?

Guess what? I finished (more or less, I still have a few ends left to weave in) my Nothin' But A T Shirt!



It looks like it fits, doesn't it (sorry about the pyjama pants)? Sort of? Well, at least it does in this posed photo which doesn't involve my moving around at all. The yarn is very soft and is fantastic for next-to-the-skin wear (mmm Calmer), but it is also rather unforgiving of any lumps and bumps or tummy poochiness (and bra outlines, it appears!). I think I'd look just fine in this first thing in the morning or immediately after Pilates, but I don't know about the end of the day after I've had my 3 meals. =)

For the most part I'm relatively happy with the finishing, with the exception of the front neckline. The pattern involved binding off the stitches in the main colour, and then picking up stitches in the contrast color to knit the hem. The first time I did it I used the same size needles as I did for the rest of the sweater (5 mm, US8), and it turned out flare-y and funny-looking. So I ripped it out and redid it on 4 mm (US6) needles.



It looked much better, but as you can see the neckline is not 100% smooth. I had to go back and do a lot of duplicate stitching to get it to this stage, and it's still not perfect. I wouldn't really mind so much except that this area is directly under my face and therefore rather obvious. Little irregularities under the arms wouldn't bother me nearly as much.

So, will I be wearing this in public? I'm not sure yet. It needs another light blocking to get rid of any finishing irregularities, and then I'll try it on again. It's funny, I have plenty of store-bought sweaters that, while possessing very even stitching, don't always fit in the most perfect and flattering of ways (if only!), but for a handknit I feel like the "standards" are higher. Even though we all know that just because we supposedly made something to fit our measurements doesn't mean it always turns out that way.