MOONSTITCHES

Neighborly. Selfish?

A second one, started to give away but my girl begged me to keep it. So I gave it to her. My knitting efforts in the past mostly circled around me and she has all the rights to want a few knits for her own, too. And I must say I am flattered she likes wearing what I am making. This will change at some point, I guess. So I do enjoy it while it lasts.
And make one more Neighborly ;)

Since this little vest actually is knit in now time, being busy knitting it surely can't be the excuse for not writing here, or getting back to you who commented on the last Neighborly...
Life happened, mostly laundry it was, so my impression. Too little time for anything beside keeping it all running...

*We've been to see ARIMA SHINPEI'S WORKS at the Living Design Center OZONE last weekend, just beautiful! The postcard Dagny is holding is from the exhibition.

And if it wasn't enough that I already feel awful most of the times because I don't manage to write to you, Typepad with its fabulous update lately suggested me I should answer your comments online in the comments section to show that I care about my readers.

Phew, that really puts some pressure upon my shoulders. I already did have a bad conscience and now I am feeling even worse.
I will not complain how busy they made me when they switched the default address for answering comments from the commenter's email address to the comment itself and all my answers were going directly to my blog... My fault, I didn't look carefully. Good I discovered it eventually... what a relief I hadn't written anything embarrassing or too private in those replies.
But now there is the burden of giving the impression I wouldn't care about you because I do not keep the conversation on my blog moving, as they (Typepad) suggest to me.
Should that really bother me?
I confess I am no social networking person and don't connect to others via Twitter or Facebook. I guess all of that can be a lot of fun, but as long as a day is only 24 hours and as long as we must die eventually, I will spend as much time as I can not updating my various accounts. I will reply to your comments whenever I can but I will keep doing so mostly directly and not in public. Only if an answer is of general interest I will write in the comments section.
I am most definitely overreacting to the whole new Typepad with all its features around getting connected, increasing the number of readers, making everything quicker and easier and, not at last, creating the next blockbuster blog... After all this place was just meant to be for sharing my crafty endeavours. Nothing more.
And I am not half as concerned as I may sound, so don't take me too seriously.
And now on to this bunch of fingering yarns on my desk that are engaged in some stranded knitting...!

Have a good day!

PS: Yarn from stash, leftover Olympus make make from that beret and some Hamanaka Sonomono Slub I never knew what to make with.

Neighborly

Being neighbourly with Neighborly.
A quick and fun post about a quick and fun knit.
I think it's a great idea Jennifer of JCasa handmade had, such an easy way to do something good.
I do not know yet whom or where to give my second Neighborly I have started knitting but I will figure something out and hope it will cause as much happiness as in our house...

I love the boatneck and the simplicity of the design.
The collar isn't very sturdy and I had been thinking of making it folded but then I really liked that it looked not so perfect and also a bit unfinished. So I made just according to the pattern. Not knitting a ribbing around the armholes was requested by Dagny and I think it goes well with the floppy collar.

I didn't have any of the suggested yarns but was determined to use something from my stash, so I paired two left overs from cardigans I made. A subtly striping wool and as pilling-protector a silk mohair yarn.

LOVE how they are together!
I did knit according to the pattern (of course neglecting the instructions for the colour changes), only made it a bit longer (32.5 cm), and, as a result of a smaller gauge (16 St) the circumference at the hem is 90 cm. Good fit for my 6 year old.

A nice and easy to follow pattern.

Thanks for sharing, Jennifer!

Knitting Without Tears

No tears, no. Never when knitting. But it surely was more challenging than so many stories about first Elizabeth Zimmermann's Seamless Yoke sweaters I've been seeing on ravelry made me hope it would be. Knitting Without Tears and Knitter's Almanac have been on my shelves since two years, I think. But I never came around actually trying one of the patterns in those books. They did intimidate me. All those words, the lack of charts... being supposedly so ingenious and simple, and also: assuming the knitter got brains to make use of.

So, after much hesitation I finally dared to give it a try, hoping I was in for one of those success stories (Yeah, first EZ and it fits like a glove! Finished in three days! So easy!).
But... over here it rather turned out as fitting so-so, finished in almost two weeks and no, not that easy.
The first set of sleeves was too tight, the yoke looked very puckered.
After I frogged the first version I decided on old fashioned ribbing instead of faced or rolling hems.

It looks alright from a distance, but my decreases are really weird. Must work on those... anyway, the sweater fits and will be worn. And will look terrible in just a few weeks because the yarn tends to get quite fuzzy. Stash yarn, bought in the early days with not much experience.

I must say I was really glad I finished this sweater eventually. It is just a small thing and shouldn't have taken much time or attention, yet I managed to get lost in this project. Days were just flying by and I totally drifted away from blogging again, and communicating.
At least there is a new sweater in the house now and I think I did learn a bit while making it. That is always good.
I also think I do love seams because they give a knitted piece more structure and stability. Back in August I finished a cardigan (I try to take photos this week so I can blog about it) using the mattress stitch and not only was it very easy, it also looks nice and does support the cardigan's shape. I am sure I will give the Seamless Yoke Sweater another try someday, but not too soon.

Good start into a new week, you all!