August 24, 2005

You wanted something big? I got your big, pally. Go on, click a thumbnail:




That's right! We've kicked into major multi-project mode like a mad, mad knitter Chez Skinny Rabbit. And it's all BIG! BIG and bad! Every knitting session is like a wrestling match with long rows and even longer circular needles. Neely* should have been clever enough to pick up one of these knits every evening:

1) Weighing in at 10 balls of Calmer in shade 474, light khaki, and 95 measly stitches for the back is "Whisper", from Rowan's Calmer Collection. Oh Whisper! How I've been wanting to knit you for the past two years! Why I procrastinated, I do not know. But procrastination is no more and I'm going at the Calmer like a starved knitter. One evening I cast on and flew through the tucks like they were a batch of Grandma's cinnamon cookies. [Cooooooookies!] And don't the tucks at the hem remind you of a melted candle? Yeah, me too.

2) Weighing in at 10 skeins of Phildar Quietude in heathery gray and 120 sts on an Addi circular is a Papa Vest. Yes, a Papa Vest. Remember the vest I started working on while I was on vacation in La Loire? Well, I bet you thought that I had hidden that under the bed and tried to forget about it. Haha! I did not. I worked on it while I was visiting my friend in the country. The seemingly endless rows in 5/2 ribbing make it easy to blab and knit at the same time. A good part of the back piece of the vest was knit while sitting outside and chatting with my friend, while our respective Messieurs Les Hubbies grilled every meal. As my Dad is a barbecue fiend connoisseur himself [five custom-made smokers and grills, anyone?] I'm sure he'll appreciate the barbecue smell that seems to have impregnated itself in this particular piece.

3) And the granddaddy of them all, weighing in at 9 balls of Phildar Auteil and 162 stitches [!] on a Clover bamboo circular, is my "Wrappy Jacket" from Phildar's Fall 2005 pattern book. Knit in one piece from side to side and taking up all the space in my knitting basket, this piece requires multi-tasking or it has the effects of a Seconal. I also worked a few rows on this piece while I was away, and now that I've returned I've been knitting it while reading the latest Harry Potter. [Thanks, Carolyn!] The looooooong rows in stockinette stitch make reading, watching dvds or otherwise watching Captain Destructo race around the playground like he's got a jet pack stuck to his back easy.

Speaking of loooooong rows, and to further prove how serious I am about my stash housecleaning (yes, there's more up), I'm putting to rest a project that I'm sure will remain unfinished. Out with the old and in with the new, and all that jazz. Say your goodbyes to:



The twisty kimono sweater that made me weep a thousand tears while watching Seabiscuit. I've been reluctant about putting this project to sleep over the last year, thinking I'd eventually want to complete it, but truth is I probably won't. Yes, yes. I know the final result would have been fab. But the color and endless repetitive cables have the effects of a valium and a fab final result is not enough incentive for me to get past a sleeve. No ifs, ands or buts about it. I've already returned the unused balls of yarn to my local boutique, have kept a few for another project and remain with this woeful lonely sleeve as a souvenir. Woeful and lonely, no more. It will be ripped out and recycled, and maybe made into a long scarf with a more complex cable pattern. Hasta nunca, amigo.

In other news, I'd like to give a big public thank you to my pal Sarah R., she of the witty commentary in my comments box, for thoughtfully sending me a goodie package of treats for the Captain and some knitting magazines for me. The knitting magazines, of course, mean that I've now reorganized my entire fall knitting lineup because I fell in love with several projects in the mags. [Read: stash cleanup will continue.] My knitting pals are serious enablers, let me tell you :-)

*Come on, this is an easy one. Name that movie!

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