Loop the loop

I’m not knitting anything right now. That’s very, very unusual. I’m just so ambitious at present with McCord Works projects that I cannot justify a personal project. I’m crocheting like mad, and I have other weaving and dyeing ideas either in my brain or scribbled on pieces of paper. But I miss knitting! Argh! I need to rectify this situation as soon as I can.

Video found on Neatorama:

I see patterns for “fingerless” gloves and they annoy me. They’re tubes! That’s all! At least some knitters and crocheters have the sense to call them wristwarmers. I want actual gloves. And gloves are hard! You have to section off for each finger. There are several different ways to handle the thumb. These silly little tubes are not gloves. I’m not sure I could even call them mitts. Have some respect, grumble grumble.

I haven’t knit any gloves yet. I’m formulating my perfect pair of gloves, but heaven only knows when I’ll get them started, never mind finished.

• - Washable wool, sock to sport weight
• - Long enough to come up well onto my forearm
• - Thumb and first two fingers will have fingertips exposed, last two fingers will be completely covered
• - Pretty pattern that I can also use for the
• - Matching hooded scarf which I also haven’t designed yet

Sigh. Check back in a couple of years. These will be the best things ever, if I can get around to them.

Here are a few things I have learned:

1. Silk dyes much more easily than cotton. I would have thought it was the other way around. This means I’ll have to change up my technique and dye concentrations to achieve the results I want.
2. I do not like dyeing finished doilies. I like dyeing the thread first, and then working with it. That means I have to think much harder about silk vs cotton thread, and about the option of using colored thread instead of hand-dyed thread.
3. Twisting and twirling something that’s knitted and stretchy does not yield desirable results.
4. I can loosen up my rigid thinking a bit regarding tartan patterns.

It may not sound like it, but it was a successful weekend!

UPDATE:

This look promising.

More knit oddities! Anita Bruce knits starfish, plankton and other sea critters. Via Boing Boing. I love the monochromaticism.

You Knit What Part 2 is no more. Gone to that great yarn stash in the beyond. Sigh and farewell. They were a pretty worthy followup to the great You Knit What. The original blog is still available for viewing. And all I can say about that is…

SWANCHO!!! (must click!)

Melanie Porter knits chairs. Yep. According to her site, each chair is completely restored and reupholstered, and then covered with knit pieces. I’m sure, then, that she’s compensated for the natural stretchiness of knitting. I bet they’re fabulous in real life, and I bet all buyers will forbid their pets from ever getting near them! Via Design Milk.

Okay, so I’ve had very little time to knit in the past few months. A while back, I bought this really neat yarn on clearance. It’s silk and ribbon-ish. It’s also bright orange, sort of a tone-on-tone. I’m pretty sure the color is going to work on me. I hope so! I found a pattern that I thought would work great — garter stitch that’s done on the diagonal. Very drapey. But it was an odd combination of crashingly boring, and very meticulous at every edge, since it’s all on the diagonal.

Thanks to a lengthy car repair, I got to spend some quality time on the project today. And realized I wasn’t enjoying it at all. I ripped it all out. I can find a better pattern for the orange silk yarn.

Oh, wow, I stand in complete amazement of Althea Crome. She knit clothing for the upcoming movie Coraline. Don’t Panic has an interview with her, and here’s a link to her website. She’s definitely going in the Snark and Awe list. Found via Neatorama.

Patricia Waller has added some wonderful new works. And there’s knitting in there, too! Previously, she was all about the crochet. I’ve got her linked under Snark and Awe. The first site is her regular website. The second is a collection of images from a 2005 gallery show. So twisted.