knit things i've noticed lately...

Following the urging of a friend, I started watching Outlander on Netflix – not sure it’s really for me - it is about a woman who gets transported back to the 18th century - but they do have some unusual, knitted accessories – wristlets, shrugs, neck things…just saying…
Oh yeah, and those mostly awful, cabled, aran-look cardigans that Amy wears on Big Bang...
Have you noticed the revival/resurgence (???) of an updated, drop-shoulder pullover? I’m seeing this a lot on live TV. The body seems to be a large square block with these little, snug-fitting sleeves attached at the lower bicep area. Some stylists are telling you to tuck a portion of the lower front into the waist of your jeans to take the width out of the hemline and ‘add’ a bit of shape to yourself…not sure if this is really works for me either but my sister Janet has a version.
It is an Eileen Fisher design, made in a fine wool, was on sale and she really likes it. I thought the colour was good for her but the style, not so much. It was sloppy over the shoulders, neck, through the bust/underarm and, the hemline was all-over wonky without being tucked! I think she liked it because she thought the sleeves fit - she's quite short and most everything is too long. What interested me was that it was sideways knit, in stockinette, and the hem and neckline had my automatic longstitch facings! I took some measurements and sure enough, the body is a 24-inch square and the sleeve is 13 inches long - I'm thinking about it!

surfin' the net....

Been looking for something to catch my attention and give me a reason to knit and I came across and old 'to-knit' list, headed up  by the 'good wife cardi' - got me digging and looking. Reread my old blogposts from April 2014.

https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2014/04/sometimes-i-only-watch.html

and dug out the old swatches.
https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2014/04/im-only-telling-you-this.html
Even went on Netflix trying to find it, skimming Season 4, and then, while I was having a coffee break, casually googled ‘the good wife cardigan’.  OMG, they have everything on there! I found it with a notation that the sweater was worn by Juliana Margolis in Season 5, episode 19!  
http://wornon.tv/18848

Now I have a mission! Can’t really remember why I abandon this project but I think it was yarn issues. I was so wrong before! It is all basically stockinette – the back has the deep wider rib at the bottom, but the front is all stockinette except for what looks like 1X1 rib on the hemline. There is no shaping at the sides, it’s just an open-front cardigan with the shawl collar formed by folding the extra width at the front under and back to make it look thicker and more complicated than it really is! At Shopbop.com (they even have a short video with the model turning full circle!), it was $450, no longer available of course and made of wool, yak, alpaca and cashmere, how exotic!  Their description:

         A draped shawl collar frames the open placket of a cozy Vince sweater, which is finished
         with a ribbed hem and cuffs.
Frames the open placket? What the hell does that mean? Watch this space!

searching...

I paged through the episode, hunting for shots of Wendy’s sweater coat. I’m not sure what attracted me - the stripes (rather random, not matching), the colours (olive, grey, khaki, black, I thought), the shape (belted in back, long-ish, bell-sleeved, open front and is that a sailor collar?), the fact I was sure there was a ribbed, long stitch facing on the fronts or, the pockets (block, patches)? I may never know but I spent the weekend thinking of it and then today,  punched ‘laura linney ozark sweater coat’ in Google and got a ton of stuff. Wading through all the images – there were pages and pages of stuff - I finally found this!

OMG! It was from Anthropologie, sold out, of course, called ‘Angel of the North’ and it actually said that Laura Linney/Wendy Byrde wore it on ‘Ozark’. It said it was wool knit, green, yellow, navy (???), 32.5 inches long with a removeable belt and had been $169 – I liked it better on the show, but it gave me more of a starting point. Believe it or not, I have a fair stock of wool in the brown, slate, khaki, gold -ish tones, some full cones, some leftovers...

i had a lump in my throat...

I found another one of those ‘editorials’ – this one was in KNITWORDS #32 – I am preparing for a few new classes for some upcoming seminars and one of my topics is ‘up-dating old classics’ – there were some great designs back in the early issues and I am exploring how best to tell knitters to go about re-sizing, particularly  sleeves, for a closer-fitting garment. Back in 1997 we were wearing over-sized things with 4-inch ease. A few years later, styles were changing, and store-bought stuff was becoming much more fitted. I was looking through the old magazines to find what I called the `first shoulder pad-free issue` and it was No. 32, Spring 2005. Previous to this, I went to the photoshoots armed with at least 4 pairs of shoulder pads in varying sizes and I remember Bill, our photographer, noticing halfway through the shoot that I was no longer shoving in the pads and adjusting everything accordingly! It was a banner day!
My editorial, as it appeared:

Of all the tasks of my job as editor of Knitwords, this one is usually the hardest and I always save it for last. The time when I sit down and talk to you, one on one. I think of you as friends, some of whom I’ve never met. Many of you I’ve spoken to, when you call to renew your ‘prescription’ or ask a question. I always get such a kick out of hearing, ‘Is this really Mary Anne? What are you doing answering the phone?’ Like, I’m only supposed to knit or write or edit. I can cook too, you know! In fact, one of these days, I’m going to put in a recipe or two and see if anyone notices.

I like getting photos of your family, dressed in ‘our knits’ with little notes indicating who’s who. ‘Here’s my granddaughter in the pink poncho. The guy is my husband.’ I get postcards from your holiday travels and I know you took KNITWORDS because you had the correct address! Your renewal forms have nice little notes jotted around the edges and on the back. I put these treasures on my fridge door, just like moms do with the kids’ drawings and school work. My family and friends have fun checking out the new stuff posted on the fridge ‘bulletin board’ along with my hopeful lottery tickets.
The delivery of this, our 32nd issue, will complete eight years of KNITWORDS. Back in our first issue, I listed my reasons to knit:
-To learn more about the operation of my machine.
-To make garments that complement my lifestyle.
-To develop techniques that produce a good-looking finished product.
-To combine an interesting technique with a new shape.
-To change the old rules.
-To design garments to inspire other machine knitters to explore their machines
- And most of all, to enjoy myself.
Well, eight years later, I look at that list and I could have written it yesterday. And I’m still having fun!
Thanks to all of you for your continued support and for being my inspiration.

OMG! This is 2018 and I think it all pretty well still applies!

project fog...

I may have mentioned that I’ve been in a knitting funk - I can’t decide what I want to make. I’d think of something, get semi-excited about it, go and look at my yarns and then it would fall flat. I put groups of yarns in the middle of the living room floor and studied them from different angles but, nothing! I started watching ‘Mad Men’ but it wasn’t really grabbing my full attention. I putzed around, made those pockets, fixing up ‘Omega’, made a Man Friend Hoodie for my baby brother and sure, I did things, but it was all on auto-pilot. I was still dreaming of my next knitted vision.
I finally went to my closet and began to drag out some of my all-time favourite pieces, trying them on and examining techniques to see if I could get inspired. I discovered that I particularly like lace (major surprise! ;-)) and I like that longer length A-line, like ‘Geezer Chic’ (#50), ‘Tumbleweed’ (#53) and ‘Lacy in Red’ (#40). My hairstyle plays a big part of what I currently like – I have this habit of growing it out, to shoulder length or slightly longer and then chopping it off, seriously regretting that and then growing it out again – it sounds quick but not really. Anyway, right now I have the chopped, very short version and with this, I prefer collared garments - the neckline is much more important than when I have longer hair. Go figure – it’s taken me a lifetime to come up with this!
I also made the discovery that even though I have used a lot of 4 ply wool in my knitting career and I currently have a pretty big supply of it – I really stocked up when The Knitting Gallery was clearing out their Forsell Pure New Wool – I do not have a lace garment in that yarn and in checking the Knitwords index, I see that I have only ever knit one cardigan in that yarn! It was in No 24, Spring 2003, called ‘Uptown’ back when full length cardigans were fashionable. This one, I made for Lindsay, our model, in her size and I liked it so much, I made one for myself in a denimy blue Bonita cotton, loved it and wore it quite a bit – that was one of the ones I dug out and I’m putting it back into my wardrobe rotation for spring (if it ever gets here!). It has a fabulous full needle rib shawl collar that I was extremely proud of and the hem band was a combination of circular knitting with a 1X1 look  that was the perfect weight to add swing and drape to the bottom of the cardigan.
So, I’ve made a couple of swatches, in lace, trying out some of those great double bed bands that I loved so much…more later!