Cathode

Have you ever seen a pattern and said “what a preposterous garment.  I would never wear it in public, non-knitters wouldn’t get it” . . . and knit it anyway?

Meet Cathode. It’s completely preposterous and non-knitters don’t get it. Heck, even knitters don’t get it. Just ask the new SnB I’ve been going to (God bless them for humoring me so ).

I don’t hate it. I actually kind of like it. The superdeep ribbing with extreme negative ease makes it about as flattering as any sweater with bulky boucle could be.

Look at that negative ease! It doesn’t even look like a sweater when not being worn, it looks more like a washed-up sea creature.

The thing that makes it cross the line from simply odd to utterly bizarre is that collar. It looks particularly weird from the back.

The real reason I knit this, I guess, is that Artful Yarns Circus was on sale at Woolcott about three years ago when I was living in Cambridge. I completely fell in love with the colors, and Cathode was the most obvious use for it. I found this yarn to be a real bear to work with – it was so fluffy that it was much easier to pierce the stitch than to knit it properly.  The finished product is very warm though, even with the short sleeves.

Oh, who am I kidding? It doesn’t make any sense (at all!) but I like it anyway.

Week 16 – Clamshell Pattern

Today’s swatch is Clamshell Pattern, which is a total pain in the butt to work! I found it impossible to k5tog tbl with knitting needles, so I used a crochet hook.

This is the wrong side, which I thought was interesting too.   If I ever needed a stitch to approximate toad skin, this is what I would use.

Blue Streak

Exams are approaching fast, so I’ve felt very scattered and unsettled lately.  I’m very close to finishing both Serrano and Cathode, and despite my best efforts to finish projects I found the lure of new projects to be irresistible.  I couldn’t help but notice that they share a common color scheme with Cathode. 

While my love of the color green is well-documented in these pages, blue is my real favorite and I really appreciate a good purple.  I’m not sure I’ll wear Cathode much (more on that in the upcoming FO post) but the colors have worked their way into my brain, and I just want to look at blue and purple all day.

That and my anniversary is coming up, so maybe I’m just especially drawn to blue because of the time of year.

I started Ishbel in that wonderful tosh sock I mentioned the other day.  This is perfect project for soothing myself with mindless knitting.  I’ll run out of the stockinette portion soon enough though.

I also started Wisteria in Cascade Sierra. I wasn’t sure what I would do with this yarn, but it’s such a nice Wisteria-like color! I’m also pleased with the definition of the cables so far. This is the perfect project for when I want to focus on something other than law. Soon enough I’ll be done with the cabled yoke, and it will be zombie knitting, so it can take Ishbel’s place in that regard once I get to the lace portion of Ishbel.

I also have some dark blue cotton fine for Orangina, but I haven’t cast on for that yet. I probably won’t be able to help myself though.

The blog may be be rather quiet for the next month or so, but I have the feeling I’ll have plenty to show for it on the other side of all this.

Week 15 – Tear Drop

In honor of April showers, here is the raindrop-looking Tear Drop pattern.

If you squint, they look like Easter eggs. Happy Easter!

March 2009 – In case you missed it

Once again, I recap my favorite knit blog posts from last month.

Best retro styling 

Best 1990s reference 

Hottest yarn pr0n 

Hottest garter stitch pron 

Tied for best stripes:
Tomato
Stripes!

Favorite Interweave FO 

Tied for Favorite Knitty FO:
From the beginning of the month and from the end of the month

Must-have Ivy Day fashion

Prettiest colorway (even prettier in person) 

Best Vest 

Most Amazing Socks (and hottest wrong-side pr0n) 

Happiest Mittens 

Week 14 – Arcade Pattern

Today’s swatch is Arcade Pattern.  It’s shown in a 9×9 square in the book, but I think it looks much better as a single row border.  And that’s all I’ll say about that, since it’s in a design I’m working on now ;)

The Stash

Are we not doing Flash Your Stash this year?  I’ve hardly seen any mention of it.  Oh well, my stash looks just about the way it did last year (except that some of the pink and magenta in the first photo is now Exchequered, the spruce colored CTH in the bottom photo is now Shetland Triangle, and the whole lot of it is being stored in space bags to protect it from moths).

Anyway, instead of the full stash-flashing I’ll present you with a preview of what I’m thinking of knitting this spring and summer.

This loveliness is Tosh Sock in Clematis, a lovely blend of black and purple.  It needs to be something that would really let the color shine.  Maybe Ishbel.

Here we have Debbie Bliss Cathay. I have enough for a short-sleeved cardi, I think. Maybe Decimal without such wide sleeves.

I’ve had this Wool Bam Boo for awhile, but it’s sort of an awkward amount that I don’t think would quite work for a top. I’ve been wanting to make Tuscany for awhile, and it’s the right amount of yarn.

This Sierra was a relatively recent acquisition. It’s a lovely color, and I have a full bag, so it will be a sweater of some kind. I haven’t decided which one yet though.

I also have some Cotton Fine en route from Little Knits which I’m going to use to finally make Orangina.  Something possessed me to cast on for Ester last night, but it doesn’t look like much yet. 

All this finishing has driven me mad.  I want to start a million things right now!