Sunday, June 12, 2011

Sweater sans boutons

I was sure I would have five buttons in my stash that would work for this sweater, but no it's not to be. You would think that a huge container of buttons would yield 5 usable blue buttons. Alas this necessitates a trip to Fabricville tomorrow to get five buttons; the question is can I get out of the store with just the buttons?

I am excited about this sweater. This is the first sweater that fits; I keep knitting sweaters but they all turn out too big. So this feels like a huge accomplishment. I used to be able to knit things that worked, but it has been years since I seriously knit anything. I guess you lose the sense or something. Anyway, this provides a great sense of accomplishment.

Close up of the collar, which is done in a patterned rib that I find really pretty. The cuffs are also done that way. I made some mistakes, but hey I am not a perfectionist and no one is going to look that close.

The pattern is this one, from the book Aran Tweed, published by Naturally Hand Knit Yarns of New Zealand.

This has made me excited about knitting and the purple sweater to be knit on circular needles is up next. The nice thing about having knitting is that it gives me something to do while watching movies. I am not a TV watcher, but over the past couple of winters, my husband and I watch a movie or two on the weekends. We don't watch new movies (don't want to waste my time watching morally bankrupt junk) so we favour British detective series. The latest is A Touch of Frost, great entertainment centred around an eccentric rough widower with a keen sense of justice.
I also highly recommend the series Doc Martin, incredibly funny series of a surgeon who retires from heart surgery after developing a phobia of blood. He becomes the GP in a coastal town in England - if you like weird characters who don't fit regular holes, check it out.

And, if you are into knitting, check out this blog.
Kitty Couture
Isabelle just taught herself to knit a few months ago and she is incredible! Her work is beautiful. I credit her blog with inspiring me to keep at the knitting.

5 comments:

  1. wow. the dress looks great and the sweater is incredible. something about knitting seems terribly accomplished to me as you are not just sewing material together, you are actually making the material.

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  2. You should take it up, Elena, it is a relaxing pastime for your hands. Simple stuff, like scarves, are good to start. I know lots of people love making socks, they are colourful and short projects.

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  3. I was perusing your sewing blogs and found GigiSews - she has great dresses on there - particularly that peasant one.

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  4. One more thought - I wish that I sewed and could make dresses like that.

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  5. Gigi is a wonderful seamstress, but she seems to have disappeared. There have been no posts from her for over a month. I know she lives in Florida where they are particularly hard hit by the economy. I hope she is alright.

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