What I did on my Summer Vacation

I knitted. A lot. I probably tore out more than I created, but I can't stand to see mistakes. And evidently, I hate making a gauge swatch.

I ripped out the Mudflap Girl sweater (the pattern to which I appended a tail, so instead of "Mudflap", it's Mermaid...) three times. I just wasn't liking it and my intarsia is the suck. I'm changing the directions so that it's knit in the round, so there'll be almost no purling. Instead of intarsia, I'm going to do the mermaid in duplicate stitch. Wish me luck- it'll keep me busy during the 6 hours of meetings I'm going to have to sit through when school starts up again next week.

But I did have some successes- a couple of simple sweaters I liked, and I'm onto cables. I love cables.
This is the Ballet-T from Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham. It's made from two skeins of Malabrigo Yarn in Colchina. It's a soft variegated wool made by a woman's cooperative in Uruguay, so I can feel socially conscious while I'm scratching the hell of of myself.

I also made the same sweater in an acrylic (but soft like a t-shirt) yellow tape yarn for my friend Chris' baby. The edge is crocheted in a grey thick-and-thin yarn, so it makes it look rippled. Grey for a baby? Why not? Hopefully it will appeal to my friend Chris' city girl sensibilities.

These are my first venture into cabling: It's from Knitty online magazine's latest issue. The red on the left is Katia Idea Jeans ribbon that I had left over from last summer, and the glorious yarn on the right is some Italian ribbon yarn my mom couldn't seem to work with years ago.










And the latest, finished just yesterday, the Basic Cable hat from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation. Made from two skeins of Valley Yarns' Stockbridge (wool/alpaca, very soft) in Camel, from WEBS. He doesn't even know yet! Hopefull it will stretch to fit his large head. If not, I guess I've got me a brand new hat.








I also sewed a bit, but I bought fabric to sew with than patterns completed. I really need a real dress form. The one I made melted. I didn't do enough duct tape layers, I think. But I did manage to finish this skirt, made from Burda magazine. The soft pleats actually go in the back, and the front is plain a-line.

















I've still got this long weekend before my work tears me away from my craftiness.