Good news!
My new pattern, I <3 NEON, has completed testing and has been published on Ravelry. You can view the pattern page and purchase it here.
The sweater was designed using Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Worsted, but thanks to my wonderful testers, it has also been knit up in Madelinetosh Tosh DK and Madelinetosh DK Twist. At a gauge of 20sts/4 inches, you can choose just about any DK or Worsted weight yarn that gives you a fabric you like.
Rarely do skeins of yarn speak to me in such a way as to demand that they be molded into something specific. Usually, as I think is the case with most knitters with significant stashes, a color or material calls out to me just as wanting to cuddle, and I, an impulsive shopper to be sure, give in and purchase whatever gorgeous colorway has caught my eye. Alternatively, I fall in love with a designer’s pattern and cannot wait to make it but tarry until I find the perfect colorway for it. For example, Maria Olson’s pattern Grey Havens told me it wanted to be knitted the moment I saw it, but it languished in my library for a few months while I waited for the perfect colorway to find me.
Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Worsted in Fluoro Rose & Edison Bulb
I knew I loved Madelinetosh’s Fluoro Rose color the moment I saw it. I even impulsively purchased a couple of skeins from another Raveler’s destash, my heart fluttering with anxiousness while I waited for her response to see if someone else had already claimed it. Of course, I had no idea what I would do with two skeins of sport weight yarn, but I knew I had to have them.
So when I quite luckily stumbled upon the Madelinetosh shop at a moment when they had a sweater quantity of Fluoro Rose on their amazing 80/10/10 worsted (a mix of merino, cashmere, and nylon), I knew I wanted it. The yarn right next to it was a fluorescent yellow color called Edison Bulb, and it started screaming at me as well. They both wanted me to buy them! And they wanted to be together! They wanted to be a striped sweater!
Of course, I happily obliged, feeling the rush of excitement that only yarn lovers feel over the thought that I would soon have have this yarn in my hands. And when it arrived on a Saturday afternoon, all six skeins stuffed into my little bitty mailbox, I was over the moon! Despite freezing temperatures and a crazy wind chill, I rushed outside to utilize what was left of the afternoon light so I could capture the brilliance of these hand-dyed yarns.
I made a gauge swatch and blocked it that night, and the next morning, I was ecstatic to find that my worries of color bleeding were unnecessary – the fabric was perfect, and the colors were incredible. I couldn’t wait to get started.
My new lovely square neck neon sweater!
Now, there are some quite lovely striped sweater patterns available on Ravelry, but none that I could find with my desired neckline. I’ve found that I am in love with a square neckline (although everyone but me considers it a scooped neckline), and my striped sweater needed a square neckline.
Too excited to search more for a suitable pattern, I did a few calculations myself and just started knitting, stopping occasionally to gaze lovingly at this intense, wonderful fabric. Since I didn’t want the stockinette to have to stretch too much while still being close-fitted, I made it with 1″ of negative ease.
I love the finished sweater! It fits perfectly, and I completed it in less than two weeks.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about a yarn and project before, and some wonderful Ravelers shared my excitement – the project page had garnered four favorites within just a few days, before it was even finished and while it was still just bits and pieces.
I love these happy colors! So fun!
I <3 Neon! I wear the bracelet my sister gave me every day – it says “sisters forever.” All four of my sisters and I have one.
I am really, really bad at resolutions, apparently. Funny, last time I updated was towards the end of Lent last year, and now we are getting ready to start up again. Remember that Doctor Who scarf I said I was going to finish? Yeah…it’s still WIP. And all those projects I started for Mal March? Yup. Most of those are still WIP as well.
An original design. Perfectly slouchy legwarmers.
But! I’ve been busy working on other things. My beautiful Madelinetosh DK in Steam Age turned into Legsi Warmers, an original pattern by me! They use a pleat-type stitch, with the tucks stylishly placed throughout the fabric to give the illusion of perfect slouches. I even included instructions to add an optional pocket!
Apparently my Steam Age loves pleated fabric. On Sunday morning, I woke and decided that I was going to make myself a hat. My gorgeous leftover bits of this yarn called out to me, saying it wanted to be a Ripley, a beautiful cloche hat pattern by Ysolda Teague.
After a quick pattern purchase and some mathfu to make the pattern suitable for DK weight yarn (it was originally written for an aran/bulky weight), I was off to the races! I entertained myself on Pajama Day, as all Sundays are henceforth known, by listening to Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander, beautifully narrated by Davina Porter, and knitting up a storm.
Ripley in Madelinetosh DK Steam Age.
By the evening, I had an adorable new hat. I love how the hat is simple enough to show off the gorgeous colorway but with pleats and lace elements to add just a bit of interest. Please excuse the terrible lighting and lack of action shot in the photo. Had a headache at work, so sunglasses, coffee, and my hat were employed to minimize the annoyance. Action shot!
I’ll get a better one as soon as I can kidnap someone to use my camera.
My latest color obsession is Fluoro Rose, a neon pink by Madelinetosh. I’ve ordered some new goodies for a striped neon (and very loud) sweater. I can’t wait for them to get here! I’ve also got a new design in the works, but more on both of these later!
-MB
Seriously. I’m pretty sure there is even scientific evidence to prove that we are not good at multitasking.
Take my recent knitting adventures, for example. During Malabrigo March, I started nine (9) Mal projects and one test project in another yarn. Plus, I already had an epic Doctor Who scarf in progress. I finished two of the MalMarch projects during March and finished the test project last night, which leaves me with eight in-progress projects, not counting my hibernating projects. My TARDIS blue Safiya turned out pretty nicely, eh?
Safiya in TARDIS Blue
My yarn diet clearly didn’t work too well, so I’m switching to a new rule: finish projects that are in progress! There are so many projects that I want to start now, so this is going to be hard. I was hoping that the mods would choose some lace projects for MadMay, but it didn’t work out for me – this is probably a blessing in disguise because I seriously do not have the time to start more projects, even if I already have the yarn for the projects (though I really want some fingering weight Steam Age). *sigh*
First up in my queue of projects to finish is the epic Doctor Who scarf, which is about halfway finished. I promised a friend I would make this for her, and I had planned to have it finished by March. We now see how clearly that did not happen. Maybe I’ll actually stick to this new resolution? We shall see.
Have you read Confessions of a Shopaholic or seen the movie? I love it. I completely identify with Becky. I admit I am a bit of a shopaholic. I don’t dodge creditors or have a maxed out credit card, but the logic for why you “need” something is completely there.
Malabrigo Rios in Arco Iris
I am supposed to be on a yarn diet. Unfortunately, I work in a high-stress environment, and buying things makes me feel better. We’ll call it yarn therapy.
Remember a few days ago when I said I was giving up yarn for March? On March 1st, I signed a post-it à la Meredith and Derrick that I wouldn’t buy any yarn this month. And then grad school happened. Couple that with the gorgeous yarn that another raveler posted in an iso/fs thread, and the impulses take over. Haha. I didn’t go nuts, but I didn’t even last a week, lol. My friend ripped up my post-it yesterday when she learned about my lack of will power. FAIL. Not sure yet what I’ll do with this yarn, but it’s pretty, yes?
Anyway, my MalMarch projects are coming along. I currently have five projects in the works, and I should have two of these finished this weekend and made significant progress on the others. I finally managed to get some beads, so I’ll start on a Jeweled Cowl for my friend who is graduating this month.
Malabrigo Lace in Paris Night with Miyuki Seed Beads
I also plan to start a TARDIS iPad cover for my sister who is graduating from college in May. I haven’t decided if I’ll use an already-written pattern for the cover or if I’ll make one up. I learned a neat little stitch while working on Safiya that I think will look nice as the edges to the little boxes on the TARDIS.
The yarn for the cover was part of my stress relief yesterday, but it’s technically for a gift, so it doesn’t count, right?
Exactly. There’s my problem: justification. And I can justify just about anything. LOL.
The first time I ever had to do a reaction with nButyllithium, I was afraid. I spent a couple of days procrastinating the reaction until I worked up my courage enough to just do it. And when I finally did, I realized that nButyllithium’s not so bad, and now I’m a pro at using it. I don’t even blink twice.
I just started working on Semele, and I was afraid. It’s a beautiful piece. Gorgeous. But I was afraid. One contributing factor: lace-weight yarn. Now, I have a ton of lace-weight yarn in my stash, so I’m not super afraid of it by itself. I’ve even made several lace shawls using lace-weight yarn. The other contributing factor is the complexity. The edges of the shawl are packed with yarn overs, knits, purls, knit togethers, and other knitting stitches. There are repeats, but only over several rows.
So, the night before last, I finally cast on using some Malabrigo Lace in this beautiful bright pink color called Cactus Flower (it’s more pink and less orange than in this picture). The yarn is so delicate and the pattern so detailed that I couldn’t take my eyes off of them. This is not tv knitting, for sure. I can’t even listen to audiobooks. This is a background music only project. But it is going to be awesome.
Now, like with the nButyllithium, I’m not afraid of the pattern itself. I’m kind of in awe. Like, serious awe. I keep wondering how the author came up with it. Now that I’ve gotten a few petals into it, I can “see” the pattern on the chart. And all I want to do is work on this piece. I can’t wait for it to be finished!
In other news, I also have four other MalabrigoMarch projects in progress and at varying stages of completion. It’s time I get to finishing at least one of them, lol.
It’s almost time for Malabrigo March!! I’m casting on tonight at midnight! This is my first year participating, and my goal is to use up all of my Malabrigo stash. This involves several projects, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m working on a plan.
I plan to [at least start to] knit:
And because I like math (did I mention I was this –> || close to a math major in college?) and spreadsheet programs, I’ve calculated how many stitches are in the patterns I’m starting with and how long I think it will take to do each project. If I knit really slowly and average five seconds/st (this is being extremely conservative in order to account for any possible distractions), it will take me about 81 h to knit the first five projects.
In case you weren’t aware, I am a chemistry grad student and work six days a week and super late on Thursdays, so I have to take that into account as well. <— This is why I may be overcommitted. On the flip side, I have little to no “responsibility,” other than for my fish, which, let’s face it, is low maintenance.
There are 17 non-Thursday weeknights in March, 5 Saturdays, and 4 Sundays. I can probably knit 3-4 h on the weeknights, 5-6 h on Saturdays, and 9-10 h on Sundays. (Ok, clearly I have no life. We’ll just ignore that part, since knitting is fun and relieves stress.) That will give me approximately 125 h of knitting time. So, yes, I think I can get through all of the first five projects and make a decent start on the others.
To help me along with these, I’m going to need some tv series recommendations. In January and February, I flew through Gossip Girl, Merlin, Sherlock, and the Vampire Diaries. I have the ability to obsess like nobody’s business. I have two episodes of the available seasons of VD to watch tonight, and that’s it for that train. I have already watched all of Lost, Charmed, the available seasons of Survivor, Doctor Who…though I guess I could watch the old episodes. I should get on that. Maybe I won’t cancel my Netflix membership after all.
