sweater girl

i stopped in my tracks when i saw this sweater

on Anya Ziourova

as posted on Stop It Right Now

i need to make a version

anyone know the original maker of this sweater?

and photo?

knit inspiration

rachel roy

knit inspiration for fall

i just saw this 3.1 philip lim knit dress on the outnet.  what a great, simple and elegant silouhette.  i would love to do a sport weight hand-knit version of this.



After examining my friend's vintage beige mohair turban that her aunt knitted, I realized how easily I could make one on my own.  I also remembered 1.5 balls of vintage beige mohair that had been languishing in my stash yarn since I first learned to knit -- I'd come across a great bag of yarn leftovers at Goodwill while thrifting one day in college, and grabbed it for a few dollars, telling myself that one day I'd know how to use the stuff.  Mission accomplished!

recently knitted

I love all the looks from this collection -- the reference to a cable knit sweater in the embroidery of that last piece.

Julien Macdonald f/w 2010

recent things

Warm handknits

a blizzard and rare snow day!

Strength Hat

I just finished this hat (thanks for the free pattern, Smariek!) for a friend of my boyfriend, who's fighting cancer and in real need of a bone marrow treatment.

We've also joined the Be the Match registry to hopefully save someone's life who is in similar need.

Registering is super easy, and it's a great thing to do.

You can sign up online, and within a few days you'll get a kit in the mail that you send back to the National Bone Marrow Donor Program for them to process to see if you're a match. To complete your kit, all you have to do is swab the inside of your cheek with the provided cotton swabs, seal the kit, and put it in the postage-free envelope. Then, you wait to hear if you're a match for one of thousands of people in need of a life-saving marrow transplant.

Wouldn't it be great to give someone a second chance at life for the holidays this year?

Here's a great video of Joshua and his brother going golfing the day before his bone marrow biopsy. His positivity and sense of humor are really inspiring. Watch!

Guess Who...

... is wearing one of my handknits?

The stunning and inspirational Style Bubble Suzie!

(Look for posts soon about new items in my etsy shop!)

Knit Inspiration: Chunky

via Vogue Nippon

Knit Inspiration Fall 2009

Mila Jovovich at the Louis Vuitton show

FO: Chapelet #2 Sweater

I finished another knitted item recently, for an even more impressive FO: my big sister's second born baby, Miss MLC! She was born September 15 and let me tell you...she's an absolute doll. Can't wait to meet her, and I won't have to wait too long.

Clearly I snapped these photos before I sewed the buttons down, but you get the idea. I went with baby blue because the baby's sex was a surprise to us all, but I thought that this shade would look lovely on either Chapelet or Chapelette, considering first born's complexion. I sewed the buttons on using a buttercup yellow thread.

FOs: Natural Beauty Pillow Covers

I crocheted one; knitted the other. Details are Raveled.

knitting nostalgia

Ah, the good old days of hand crafting and stereotypical imagery in the media....
It's a family value.

via a beautiful mess

i miss knitting

and grey, cold weather days

and wearing mitts inside while sipping coffee

maintenance

Last week two friends came to me with handknits I'd made, hoping I could help keep them in running order. After my recent post about selfish knitting, I found myself spending the weekend darning some well-loved mitts and putting alpaca through a series of gentle rinses. It's a nice reminder that the gifts I knit for people are really cherished.

Big Love

I've come to determine that I am generally not a big project/sweater knitter.

Or I haven't been -- got away with not knitting

a single adult-sized sweater in 2008.

I aim to change that this year though, and to that end I've set a (modest for many, but pretty lofty for me) goal of knitting a sweater for myself each season.

I started knitting with dreams of shelves stacked high with

big, cuddly, custom sweaters of every color,

and it turns out that I've mostly knit gifts and smaller projects for the past few years.

Time for some selfish knitting, I say!

Here are some sweaters I have my eye on for the 2009 queue:

Selma Cape by Kamicha

83-1 Pullover by Drops Design

Long Cabled Vest by Gayle Bunn

Green Gable by Mari Muinonen



Francis Revisited by Beth Silverstein

wintertime blues (greys and rusts)

FO: "Toasty" mitts:
I started knitting these simple stockinette mitts out of baby alpaca the other night while drinking beers and eating West Indian with a friend.
I've seen others like it floating around
blogisphere lately -- inspired by the simple Toast versions.

I'm totally submerged in Blues history right now.
Listening to Robert Johnson,
watching Scorsese's The Blues, and
practicing harmonica on the tin sandwich my friend gave me.

the finishing touch

I've had a really lovely first weekend in my new home. Friday night, my original plans changed only to be replaced by a fantastic late night with new friends. Saturday was spent recovering and getting a few things in order, and so far Sunday's been used to indulge in sleeping in later than I've allowed myself to in years, and finishing up some knitting projects that have been languishing in my baskets. Normally, I resent the finishing bits of knitting: weaving in ends, sewing, rinsing and blocking, etc., but this time it feels terrific -- taking care of business. I also found one of the first knitted items ever, knitted out of a medley of the thrifted mohair yarns that inspired me to learn to knit in the first place.

It's oddly, happily warm today, and the sun is making beautiful patterns all over the brick building across the way from me.