21 October 2010

Que Sera, Sera

There's this superstition every knitter knows: knit a sweater for your boyfriend and he'll leave you. It's usually referred to as the Sweater Curse and it even has its own Wikipedia entry, believe it or not. Of course, I'm not superstitious, but you know what these things are like - you don't really want to put them to test :) And then I couldn't wait any more. Come Year Seven of our marriage, I decided the time was ripe. I mean, the seven year itch and all that, I thought I might just as well knit him a sweater if it's going to be a critical year anyway. And what other sweater but Cobblestone and what other designer but Jared Flood (do I hear sighs, girls? :))?

And what d'you know, he even posed for the shots :)



17 October 2010

Scarf Odyssey 2010

I know the title of this post sounds like a sci-fi parody in which, after centuries of battle for supremacy with Hats and Gloves, Scarves get to rule the world, but, trust me, a psycho drama is a more likely genre! I've counted the number of scarves and shawls I've knit so far this year and it is 15 plus 1 in progress. Now, if this is not material for a psycho drama, I don't know what is! 16 scarves! In 10 months. And out of these, three were knit twice and one was knit 4 (four!) times so it is actually 21+1! And still, by some strange whim of self-preservation, I don't think I am obsessed with scarves! Oh, sweet self-delusion!

The first in the row was Kim Haesemeyer's French Scarf, which I knit for myself in two shades of grey and then for my husband in brown and red. Looking back, this must have been one of the early signs something was not quite right but I missed it.





Later the same month, in only one day, a chunky cowl was born - Trish Woodson's My Kind of Town Cowl.



It happened after I got my hands on some Phildar yarn, which miraculously appeared in a local yarn shop. Another scarf that came out of the same miracle was Entrelac Scarf by Laura Spradlin.




February was marked with some green cotton used for Marina Orry's "Irene" Scarf.



After all those cables and chart reading, I needed some mindless, endless garter stitch scarf. And sure enough, tried and tested Strikkelise's Baktus came to my rescue, just in time for 2010 Ravelympics.



In March, for a short moment, it seemed Jolene Mosley's AeRang, with its airy lace design, might herald spring and with it the ebbing of my scarf mania.



But obviously, it was not to happen. If anything, it got worse and I knit 2 (not one but two!) identical scarves in super chunky furry yarn, one for my mum and one for my mother-in-law.



Such a heavy, robust yarn and 10mm needles simply begged for something finer, more delicate. What followed was AnneM's Revontuli



and soon after that Sabine Riefler's Anne Shirley.



In July I surprised myself by proving to be reasonable enough and choose not wool but cotton for summer knitting and make only two shawlettes by Liz Abinante: Yvaine



and Travelling Woman.



The summer cotton spree peaked with me knitting four Montego Bay Scarves, designed by Amy R Singer. Now, what tells me there may still be some hope for me is the fact that only one was for me and the remaining three were gifts. You'll see only three photos because two of the scarves were made in the same yarn.




photo by magrit


photo by magrit

September meant that birthday season was approaching. Hastily, I made DeVine Neck Warmer by Melissa McColl for my best friend's birthday and then, having bought too much yarn (surprise! surprise!), I made one for myself too.



The last in the row is Sharon Maher's 3-2-1 and you're done - curlicue scarf, the only crocheted one so far.



And yes, I almost forgot, there's one that is in progress at the moment and that will, let's hope, keep me occupied till the end of the year so that I do not make any more scarves/shawls/shawlettes/cowls/wraps/neckties/neckwarmers. It is Mags Kandis's Modern Quilt Wrap.



Ok, that's it. I've come out. If after this post you no longer want to read my blog, I'll understand. Really, I will.

10 October 2010

Međudržavni skup

Već nedeljama mi u folderu Drafts stoji post s naslovom 'Septembar'. Stvarno sam htela nešto da napišem kako ne bih preskočila mesec (kao da je to uopšte važno, no žudnja za simetrijom je čudna i moćna stvar) ali sam bila neverovatno lenja i neinspirisana. Ne za pletenje nego za pisanje. Toliko me je mrzelo da bilo šta napišem da sam razmišljala da li uopšte još želim ovaj blog. I tako je septembar došao i prošao, u mrzovoljnom premišljanju i promišljanju smisla ovog bloga. Što ne znači da je isti i pronađen niti da se došlo do nekih dubokoumnih zaključaka. A ni do eliminacije lenjosti, kad smo već kod toga, ali to je već druga tema.

I onda se juče desilo nešto što me je konačno nateralo da se trgnem. Nas nekoliko je otputovalo u Zagreb da se upoznamo s pletiljama iz Hrvatske. I provele smo se fantastično, zahvaljujući velikom gostoprimstvu i druželjubivosti s kojom su nas dočekale. Hvala vam, devojke, na prelepom danu! Ne sećam se kad sam se poslednji put toliko smejala. A da ne govorim o tome da nismo zaklapale ceo dan - u povratku nas je Magrit spasila sa Septoletama inače bismo sigurno ostale bez glasa :)

A umesto grupne fotografije, evo nekoliko uposlenih ruku :) Ko nas zna, spojiće ih sam s licima :)













Nisam uspela sve da uslikam ;) ali ćemo to ispraviti drugom prilikom.