:: fluff & hustle

Aug

2011

clockwork awesome

finished 2011, knitting, misc, scarves, yarn

19 Aug 2011

yes. i do appreciate the irony in the fact that i’ve basically replaced one genre of skinny white guys singing about their feelings (nu-metal) with another genre of skinny white guys singing about their feelings (indie).

now let’s never talk about it again.

as for today’s topic, let me just take a moment here and revel in the magnificent sunshine of this following piece of yarny artwork.

clockwork by stephen west

ravelry link

mokkasukka sasu & austermann step (80g & 50g / 3.5mm)

dear stephen. i think you’re a genious, and also kind of hot. please write more patterns so that i can send you money and ~~used panties~~ flowers.

which is not to overlook the supreme keanu reeves type excellence of the yarn. mokkasukka will change your life. get some. like, now.

also feel free to worship my shirt, which is awesome.

awesome, i said.

Aug

2011

my man paulie

liisa

cardigans, finished 2011, knitting

15 Aug 2011

you know paulie.

he’s the type of dude that’s all over you. like, really gets under your skin. he’s kind of hairy. a little prickly. and smells funny too. it was love at first sight, sure, but later you’ve come to realize he can be a real asshole sometimes. on a good day he’s all warm and fluffy, on a bad day you want to stab him in the face.

but still he keeps hangin’ around, and you like it. kind of. sort of.

paulie by isabell kraemer

ravelry link

size modified small

fortissima alpaka & drops baby merino (270g & 50g / 2.5mm)

yes it’s me in a skirt, get over it

i made some modifications to both the size and style, because let’s face it, no man nor cardigan could ever satisfy me the way god intended them to. i started out with size small but realized it would be too small, so i added a couple of increase rounds and regular garter rounds before separating the sleeves. then i knitted all the way down, finished the hem and added the collar and front bands, went “oh god not again”, and started over.

i didn’t like the garter hems so i made a wide ribbing instead. at first the edge seemed to flip over because of the wide stockinette parts, but binding off from the wrong side makes it sit nicer. left out the waist shaping too, because as you can see i have absolutely no waist anyway. pretending i do would be cheating, and cheating is lying and lying makes you sterile.

“eww, there’s nature in here”

for some reason the front garter parts seem to bulge out a little. it’s not that it’s too wide. i guess garter just doesn’t work with my saggy boobs. also the collar won’t fold stay folded like it’s supposed to. and the left sleeve is wider than the right. what else? oh yeah, i sewed the buttons at the wrong places. point it out and die.

i dare you

but paulie grows on you. like most guys do. and by most i mean anyone who tells me i’m pretty.

hit the jump for more info and photos.

paulie was made with the delightful company of the following movies, TV shows and music (feel free to make assumptions about my personality and/or intelligence based on this carefully transcribed selection):

happy-go-lucky (2008)

kiss kiss bang bang (2005)

on the beach (1959)

who’s afraid of virginia woolf (1966)

mildred pierce (1945)

office space (1999)

on the town (1949)

the strange love of martha ivers (1946)

rambo: first blood part II (1985)

spellbound (1945)

dark blue (2002)

yes, this picture just screams “rambo”

QI x6

little britain x2

the simpsons x3

entourage x6

live at the apollo x2

yes prime minister x4

silent witness x2

south park x4

messiah: the reckoning

air crash investigation

45 minutes special: diet or my husband dies

waking the dead

make ’em laugh

teen mom

pictured: collar and one saggy boob

midlake – the courage of others

moonface – organ music not vibraphone like i’d hoped
destroyer – trouble in dreams
andrew bird – the mysterious production of eggs
deftones – around the fur
metallica – ride the lightning
onelinedrawing – visitor
tapes ‘n tapes – walk it off
sepultura – roots
sunset rubdown – daytrotter session
okkervil river – the stage names
patrick wolf – lycanthropy
far – water & solutions
swan lake – enemy mine

also, ones i shall never admit having seen or heard (even though i totally did):

phat girlz (2006)
more teen mom

linkin park – hybrid theory*

*oh to be 17 again

Aug

2011

from me to you

liisa

finished 2011, kids, knitting

13 Aug 2011

welcome to the family, sweetheart.

sunnyside cardigan (modified)

ravelry link

size 6-12mo for newborn

regia silk (50g / 2.5mm)

Aug

2011

holy cow(l)

liisa

d.o.a., finished 2011, knitting, scarves

08 Aug 2011

i like cowls. my friends like cowls too. so i made a bunch.

(also i’m taking a short break from cardigans because seriously, one more of these knit-like-a-fruitcake-for-seven-days-then-realize-it’s-all-been-for-nothing experiences and i will start hurting myself. and others.)

this first one is yet another willow thingy for a friend with some unexpected preferences in color. i had to order the yarn for this number all the way from the U.S. because, for some incomprehensible reason, the requested combination of pinks, limes and yellows is not readily available in regular merino color charts.

it’s 100% “twisty” type of merino with different shades in each ply. according to the nice lady who dyed it, the color is called “spring in bloom”. i’d be more inclined to use the term “skitsovärjätty” (look it up) instead, but i’m terrified my friend will punch me in the mouth if i say such things out loud. so i won’t. phew.

then there’s the cowl i made for myself with the yarn that i’m totally prepared to have immediate sweet sex with in case such an endeavour ever becomes physically possible, koigu kpm. the color is so perfect that i’m stumped for words. no human language is worthy of its splendour. and the best thing is it only took one 50g hank, so i still have one hank left! ye-heargh!

tidepool by cayli harris

ravelry link

koigu kpm (50g / 3mm)

i wasn’t sure about the sizing because i like my cowls very close-fitting, so just to be safe i deleted one of the chart columns and cast on with 99 stitches instead of 110. which turned out super. the upper body part is long enough so it can be folded (like in the first photo) for extra warmth, or pulled up to the ears for extra coverage. managed to avoid the death traps of ambiguity too when reading the pattern, so high five!

if the cowl above is one i’m willing to have sex with, then this next one is more of the i’m-ignoring-you-because-you’re-so-fugly type. i hate it. i hate making it. i hate the yarn, i hate the pattern, i hate the very thought of having to go back and work on it. like giving sharp needles to fire ants and sticking them both into my ears.

eclipse by jacqueline ridzy

ravelry link

malabrigo lace (25g so far / 4mm)

you just don’t do it for me

but as you’re by now well aware, letting go is not an option. so i keep hoping it’ll finish itself. some underpants gnomes type of solution could work. or maybe i should just dye it black or something. anyone have any experiences dyeing malabrigo lace?

Aug

2011

more niceties

liisa

misc, yarn

05 Aug 2011

today’s another good day. seems odd. surely the universe cannot handle such good fortune in such a short time. maybe i’ll die in a weird gardening accident next week.

first i heard that my great musical hero and father of half of my future children*, jonah matranga, is playing a show here next week. i’ve waited for this for ten years. he’s basically the reason i went from goth (yes) to normal (ish) more than a decade ago (jesus christ, am i really that old?), and now he’s coming here. i’ll probably cry. and throw panties at him. he’ll dodge, but i’ll throw more.

then i had a doctor’s appointment for a sore ankle, and she was super nice and bent all possible rules to get things fixed before the weekend and totally made me feel like a real person and not just a sad sack of shi–sickness. usually doctors make me cry, because they’re inherently evil.

but after that i felt comforted enough to take a bus far beyond the city limits. saw swans on the way. and some big-ass 380 contrails. which alone would’ve sufficed to save my day. but after i landed at a yarn outlet store into which no earthly mundane worries can ever penetrate, i found more of malabrigo freakin’ sock. in candombe. with gorgeous shades of yellow. and some lovely manos lace too. it’s so soft i want to die. my body can’t handle this much orgastic pleasure.

also i found some neat little birch needles that incidentally come in packs of 6 instead of 5, so no more roaring rampages if one needle gets eaten by a dog (check) or stepped on (check) or otherwise mishandled (check). they come with a 5-year guarantee too, against breakage from normal use. a rather courageous thing to promise, if you ask me and my it’s-not-knitting-if-your-knuckles-aren’t-white technique.

finally i got home, and to finish off the day on a splendid high-pitched woohoo note, had two yarn shipments waiting. the first one had some silk/ramie blend yarn whose navy color is almost as close to perfection as the yellow koigu. my age-old antipathy towards the color blue has been lifted! i feel like singing! and dancing! and throwing panties!

the second one had three skeins of sivilla, which will eventually become a surprise dress for my 2.5 year old niece who’s crazy obsessed with the color pink (and who hopefully can’t read yet).