The last two days I've been working on clearing out my giant basket of hand wash. I love the fresh air smell that clothes get from hanging on the line. Hanging hand knits on the line is certainly breaking the rules for blocking but I did do with a few items. I told myself it was okay because it is very hot and dry so the knits will dry super fast and therefore won't stretch out. I know, another rule broken: don't put your hand knits to dry in full sun.
I'm happy to report that everything survived in good form.
This jacket that Felix is helping me to model is the top half of this skirt. After I cut the skirt off I picked up stitches along the front of the jacket and worked asymmetrical flaps in seed stitch. An antique silver pin keeps it closed. I made this at least six years ago when I was going through a Victorian bed jacket phase.
Out of nowhere, Felix says to me, "I'm cold". Mind you, it's about 90 degrees. Quickly, I wrapped him in this candle flame shawl and snapped his picture. He's such a good helper. This is another knit from years ago. I used Brown Sheep bulky and a free pattern off the Internet. And, shocking, I hung this on line too.
Finally, in today's show and tell, one of my favorite sweaters Raspy from Rowan's Denim People.
20 comments:
Those are lovely Kat, I especially like the simplicity of the sweater.
I'm often surprised at my kids wearing woolens in the california summer heat too!
In fact my daughter decided she wanted to knit a sweater so we went and bought some bluky alpaca today and she (with a wee bit of help) is going to make an adaptation of your poncho/vest design from knitscene spring issue! She has even drawn a little sketch of herself in the finished garment! I'll let you know how it goes.
Look at you-- a laundress--I love my clothes line too. Who needs a dryer in L.A. anyway...Felix is cute as ever and I love the blanket--the color changes are wonderful...
I particularly love the jacket. Gorgeous! :)
Yes, drying outside, awesome!
I love that you got 2 wearable things out of one! Beautiful blanket, Raspy is a winner!
Ahh line drying. I'm with you. There's a time, place and type of item that combine well for line drying.
The victorian inspired piece is really lovely but Felix takes the cake. 90 degrees, wrapped in a shawl. He's too much.
I love that Felix helps you not only email, but model shawls in 90 degree weather, as well! :) And I love your re-refashioned jacket!
In Rowan books there are quite a few pictures showing clothes hanging on the line! I do that all the time, too.
Felix looks like an angel in the beautiful shawl;-).
Raspy is one of my favourite sweaters too. It looks great on you.
i love the candle flame shawl! the colors are beautiful. i found the pattern but i cant find how much yarn ill need. any ideas how much you used?
thanks everyone for all the nice comments. it seems line drying is more popular than I thought.
Anonymous: I used 6 balls of Brown Sheep bulky. I know this because each ball is a different color.
New life to old knits, love the refashioning. And Raspy has always had a special place in my heart - you wear it beautifully. And Felix, Rowan model-in-training.
You look beautiful in Raspy! Someday I'll make that one. I just found your blog via "Corners of My House" on flickr. I don't know how I missed it; it looks like my kind of blog!
:)
Hi Kat,
I just got my hands on the new knitscene and wanted to drop you a line to say how wonderful your designs look up close. I also stopped by Edna's blog to congratulate her...how nice that you guys get things published in the same issue. You are both very talented and inspiring!
I am completely in love with that "victorian phase" jacket of yours !! :-P
Wow, lots of knits show and tell. You're a brave woman for drying knits on a clothes line. I get ultra paranoid about stretching. I like the Raspy, but was never really thrilled with the idea of knitting with Rowan Denim. Making something larger on purpose and then skrinking it down to size? The results seemed too unpredictable. But your lovely version of a cool sweater (kind of Matrix-ey, no?) makes me rethink my earlier prejudices :)
Sylvie: Thank you! I like it much better now that I made it into a short jacket.
Connie: Raspy is something I wear A LOT. The shrinkage is in the length so it's not that hard to figure out the gauge. And, I love how the denim fades over time. I've always been a jeans kind of girl.
beautiful shawl. I really like the colors you chose and the large stripe horizontal pattern with the candle flame pattern going vertically. Very pretty/elegant.
Cat, love your patterns and love your Raspy. The neckline on yours does not seem to have the problem a lot of others do: does not ride up at the front. Did you do some shaping or knit a larger size? I am about to start knitting this and would like the neck to look as yours does.
Hi WendyM,
I hope you check back here for my response. Blogger doesn't display email addresses so I wasn't able to reply directly to you. Anyway, I knit Raspy just as the directions said to. It doesn't look like it's riding up because the neckline is wide and slides off one shoulder. In other words, the size I made has a lot of ease. The sleeves are long too.
I did check back and thank you.
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