See Eunny Knit!

The basic black of knitting, except not at all. Is there such a thing as basic barrier island?

I'm so pleased with the details on this one - when simplicity's the thing, details become paramount. So things like perfectly matched thread for almost-invisible buttonhole reinforcement, handmade wooden buttons on thread shanks, doubled neck and button bands for stability, and the discovery of the perfect puckerless bind-off for hems (the modified standard bind-off I described in the fall IK lace piece, with a YO after every other stitch) feel very good indeed.

Pattern: My own (if you can call it that, which I doubt)
Yarn: Phildar Crochet, in colors 0004 (atoll) and 0001 (beige)
Yardage: 4 50 gram balls (about 1000 yards) atoll, 1.25 50 gram balls (about 250 yards) beige
Yarn Source: All About Yarn
Needles: 2.75mm (US 2) Inox Grey circulars and 3.00mm Inox Grey circulars
Gauge: 7 stitches/inch
Modifications: --

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It was a good week. Back to work!

Posted by Eunny at 03:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (95)

It's the little things, you see.

Matching stripes across set-in sleeves is getting to be a bit of a fetish for me. The math to figure it out is straightforward enough, but there's still that moment of pleased suprise - adding up hypotenuses is never as exciting as matching the finished cap and armscye up and finding that they work, they actually work. Almost as though they were, you know, meant for each other.

The yarn is Phildar Crochet, a soft, skinny cotton 3-ply. It's not mercerized, and it's rather loosely spun - wonderfully lightweight and summery, but prone to pilling, even at the close gauge I'm working. Ah, well.

I'm headed to the beach for a week of sandcastles, steamed crabs and sunburn - and piles of work, work, work. I'll have wireless access there, so see you then!

Posted by Eunny at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (41)

Just for fun, you see:

I have a handful of "big" projects lingering in various stages of dream and doodle and development - by big, I mean those that require lots of thinking, that demand a little creativity - but right now, all I want is some plain, no-brainer knitting and a pretty finished object. So, then, a summer cardigan in soft crochet cotton. You know the kind: a slightly cropped, clingy thing ideal for breezy boats and roofdecks. There is nothing original about this whatsoever - it's a chopshop kind of pattern, plain ribbing at the bottom, button bands and crewneck, shaping as standard and straightforward as can be at body, armscye and sleeve cap - but it's kind of zen and soothing in its simplicity, ideal for these lazy days. Then, too, it's an excellent exercise for a sometimes over-ambitious knitter to take, since there are no frills, no bits of cleverness to hide flawed execution or bad planning. It's the steak tartare of knitting: naked, accented by only the humblest of embellishments, plainly awful when slipshod but immensely satisfying when done properly.

The colors are bright, yes, but I figure it's a summer sweater meant for the beach. Besides, how often does one find yarn and swimsuits that match perfectly?

Who could argue with that?

Posted by Eunny at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (48)