Queued: dresses

I have this skein of Madelinetosh lace that is sitting in my stash bin, waiting to be turned into a dress.

I initially intended to design a dress pattern for the yarn. In fact, I have a few not-entirely-complete designs floating around somewhere in my brain, but along with Liesl, these two patterns make me wonder if I'm just wasting my time when other gorgeous things already exist.

The first one, Teva Durham's Shetland Shawl Dress, is the kind of fluttery little overdress that makes my hands grabby in a store. These types of dresses, when found in the retail wild, always seem to cost some ridiculous amount- $200 or something.

I'd need to find the right sheath to wear under it, obviously, but very pretty.

The second is Mari Lynn Patrick's Featherweight Lingerie Dress, an etherial little slip that seems, from the completed projects, to be a bit short in the skirt, but still lovely (and easily modifiable for my long torso):

Along with these two and Liesl mentioned above, there's also Jennie Atkinson's Butterfly Dress, another lacy dress with a flapper twist.

The middle two dresses- the shawl and lingerie ones- are both in publications and not available as a Ravelry download. Maybe it's unfair of me, but I'm just plain uninterested in a pattern once it becomes obvious that I have to go off and buy a $25.00 book or hunt down a years-old magazine. I wonder if the publishers of the books are keeping the patterns from being distributed on Ravelry or what, but it seems like a wasted opportunity on their part.

Until then, maybe I'll do a few more sketches and hurry through my Meridien sleeves so I can try out a dress of my own...

- YX

Knitting in mixed company

A new yarn acquisition...

I'm in the midst of a stream of houseguests for most of the month. Today is a day "off" after sending off my friend, Athena, before welcoming my sister-in-law, Emily, tomorrow. My other friend, Jasmine, was in town last week. All these guests have made me realize how much of my daily life is spent at home, working on various projects. 

When guests are in the house, I always wonder how much knitting is appropriate. While we're hanging out in the living room, is it okay to grab my current project? When I'm home with my husband, I don't think anything of it, and he certainly doesn't mind. But houseguests? How do they see it?

I know I can knit and talk without distraction, unless I'm working on something challenging. Generally speaking, I can work away without much attention to my project, but I worry how it's viewed by my guests and non-knitting friends. Do they think I'm ignoring them? Is it rude? Where do we draw the line? I mean, is it okay for me to knit if we're talking about pop culture, but I should put it aside if we talk about something more personal? I see tons of threads on Ravelry about people being kicked out of class for knitting, taking projects to movie theaters or work meetings or sporting events... We knit everywhere, but should we? 

I would think knitting is sort of like playing games on your cell phone- both are things I find inappropriate at a dinner table. Buttttttt if I was chatting to a friend, I'd find her knitting much less distracting than if she were to pull out her phone and start playing Angry Birds or texting. So maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there isn't an easy correlation. And I realize that I'll have a biased response here, but I have to ask...

Where do you draw the line with knitting in public?

- YX

June Giveaway

It's June! This month, my sponsor is still Daydee's Doodads. For those who loved her bags, you may want to follow her on Twitter! She was doing a 20% off deal on her store because this month marks a very special time for her.

Remember how I told you she has Cystic Fibrosis? Well, this month marks the anniversary of her successful double lung transplant! How awesome is that?! I love science!

Anyway, this month I'm giving away a skein of DK falkland merino wool from Plum Street fiber arts. It's gorgeously purple and green. It would make a really pretty hat or cowl:

I love the depth of color in this skein. So balanced!

To enter, do one of the following:

Follow Daydee on Twitter

Like her on Facebook 

Or fave her Etsy store, if you're so inclined!

Good luck and have a great June!

WIP: Meridien

I haven't shown you my Meridien in awhile, so here are a few in-progress shots:

The back fits pretty well! I'm pleased with the length too, which is quite a bit longer than I initially expected. 

I really like the way the back panel looks, but I'm not super thrilled with the curve of the flounce and back (which is intentional in the pattern):

Here's a detail of the flounce area:

I'm on to the dreaded sleeves now (ugh!)... I'm still not entirely convinced that this doesn't want to be a vest. Can I talk myself into that? No sleeves? On something wool?

Hmm...
- YX

May Giveaway winner!

It's that time! Daydee's lovely project bag goes to....

Congrats, Wahoomerryf! What luck that your favorite was the one I'm giving away! I hope you enjoy the bag!

Daydee will continue to be our sponsor for the month of July, and I'll be giving away some lovely yarn this month. Make sure to keep up with Daydee's Doodads on Etsy! Did you know she raised $100 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in May? Her goal was $50, so what a great accomplishment to surpass the goal! 

If any of you have bought or use Daydee's awesome project bags, send me a picture in action and I'll feature it here on the blog! And tune in tomorrow for my next knitty giveaway!

- YX