muriqui the woolly monkey

All Tomorrow's Monkeys

2010-08-31T13:34:00.009-04:00

Tomorrow I leave for my first vacation in 8 years.
I'm not so sure about this.
To Portland, OR.
It is poorly timed. Everything is in a state of uproar. It should still be exciting.

While I'm away, I'll be reknitting awry and lapse, and when I come back, I'll be rewriting and grading those patterns too.

I hope to have also knit the prototype for a new design. (There will be lots of time on planes and in the car. With layovers and traffic on top of that, most likely.)

In the meantime, I've opened a shop on etsy, and already had my first sale!
Hoping to soon have my very own MOO cards and tag stamps, too.

Let me introduce you to The Monkey. (Currently nameless. He is a black-handed spider monkey, though.)

This was the only pre-made item I had in stock, but I am open to all commissions, most especially of the monkey variety.

More interesting for most knitters - soon he and the original monkey (variegated spider monkey) will be up as patterns on ravelry. A friend is test knitting as I type.
Hopefully when I get back next week I can edit and post.

And then I really need to find a job - preferably in NY.
It's about that time...

Leather Elbows On a Tweed Glove

2009-07-22T04:04:00.015-04:00

alsatian pdf

likely with revisions to follow, perhaps with illustrations of the patching process.

Moebius Blocking, Illustrated

2009-07-20T03:04:00.021-04:00

One photo is all I have, but that shall hopefully suffice.

Turns out the crocheted slip stitch bind off is fairly integral to this pattern, there being none other I can think of into which it would be equally graceful and snag-free to weave a blocking wire every other stitch. And this is especially tricky through the X section.
If you can't crochet a slip stitch, whilst knitting a Moebius is the time to learn. An ironing board is simply inefficient.

Awry - corrected 7.28.09

2009-07-16T23:38:00.012-04:00

As promised, here's awry - an edited version of the sweater originally shown in my Slutt post - recreated neck, lower and lying flat.
(Yes, slip stitch crochet bind off is one of my newest favorite. things. ever.)

Note: The pattern still needs a few edits - diagram to come and - most importantly! - instructions on binding off underarm stitches...
(Details: pfft.)

awry pdf

Knitting Meme

2009-06-27T22:27:00.008-04:00

Omitting all I've done, I still have quite the list to slog through:

-Knitting with camel yarn
-Participating in a KAL
-Knitting with your own handspun yarn
-Slippers
-Yarnbombing!
-Publishing a book
-Fair Isle
-Norwegian
-Dyeing with plants
- Olympic knitting - I did the world cup, which was even better
- Teaching a male how to knit
- Knitting for a living
- Knitting smocking
-Steeking
-Machine knitting
-Knitting with cashmere
-Freeform knitting
-Pillows
-Knitting on a loom (?!)
-Thrummed knitting
-Knitting with dog/cat hair

Some will never be huge priorities for me; some are imminent. Some I'm looking at wistfully, wishing I had any partners in crime...

Gorilla Flax

2009-05-20T10:37:00.023-04:00

Or an ode to linen, specifically Louet Sales Sport Euroflax, one of the loveliest yarns on the planet.

This shall be installment 2 in my ongoing posts of Yarn Torture, which may or may not cease at number 820.

This is also a retrospective post, in that I knit (I contest the grammatical validity of knitted) the original item over a year ago, and wasn't planning on returning to the blog when I frogged, and thus have no pictures of the state of the raveled yarn.
Unfortunately.
They might have actually been helpful to someone; I apologize.

Anyway, here's the original:

My version of Lotus Blossom Tank from IK Summer 2008

And here's what it should have looked like.

I recall I was entirely distracted by the endless claims on ravelry that extremely shaped and reconstructed was the only way to go, when what I originally liked about it is the high-waisted length and the fluidity - although that combination may not work out too well for me; this was back before IK listed any model measurements at all, and she looks more fit and aerodynamic. Hum. I still want it, in this style. I must have it this summer.

Then, in another misguided moment, I decided to try to make the straps thinner, when actually all I really wanted was the neckline as in the original photo and a lower back neck (I can't stand high back necks on anything but t-shirts and dress shirts, otherwise as far from my neck everywhere as possible, please): Very Ill-Advised.
And skin tight ruins the entire look, in my opinion. It should look frock-like, instead it looks stupid.

So, in frustration that it wasn't working out for me I admit it...

I reknit the neck probably 4 or 5 times, unnecessarily torturing and partially ruining the yarn. Or so I thought.
But last month I frogged it and produced this instead:

Net Duffel Bag by Vivian Høxbro, IK Spring 2009

I'd like to add that as shown in the above picture, this is (post-knit) not only the result of no special treatment of the yarn whatsoever between ripping and beginning again - I was in a train and had ruined another batch of froggedness (later about that), so also didn't have the patience or yarn reserves to afford waiting to get somewhere to behave properly and then let it rest and recuperate before starting in again - but also without any blocking once finished.
(It is steaming as I write; pictures of that to be added later.)

In the process I had to rewrite the pattern, as the original bag used three skeins and was huge. (Yes, that's $76 SMP for a market bag, folks...) Perhaps the regular size would work on Amazonian women, but I think my version better suits most of the rest of us, particularly as it also stretches.

(Technical dirt: My incomplete squares are 2"x2", 23 sts per sq, 4 sts CO betw and 5 sts picked up into the sqs, 48 sts extra for straps, 9 garter rows ea, corded edging knit partially backwards.)

This is now one of my happiest projects.
The sheen and powderiness of this yarn and the undertones of this color remind me of dusty sunshine; perfect for accessories, not so perfect in a top, particularly not when you're prone to bouts of insomniac jaundice.
Later!

Deculturation

2007-06-22T13:17:00.008-04:00

At Kendall Square yesterday, Coco aka the Hurdy Gurdy Monkey made a corporate-sponsored appearance (evil Draper Labs, and not SAO after all, as previously claimed) and - as was only to be expected - people were swooning in mockery right and left.

Afterward, she lay in a disconsolate heap. (No photo.)

Viper Stripes

2007-04-08T15:37:00.010-04:00

This is my favorite scarf: this year's birthday/Xmas present to the Conspecific.
I meant it to mimic the hood of one of the viper-striped Mini Coopers.
It's 2/3 Blue Sky Alpaca sport, 1/3 Alpaca Silk.
I knit a prototype first in Karabella Aurora, but it was somewhat less delightful. So no evidence of that.

Sea Turtle Raglan

2006-06-05T15:38:00.006-04:00

Knit in May 2006 on size 8 needles: my very first sweater, for a very new baby. It's a modified version of a Debbie Bliss raglan sleeve pullover. (Found free for 6-9 months here.)
Yarns: 70% unidentified wool/acrylic, intarsia - Frog Tree alpaca, Manos del Uruguay cotton.

Lessons learned:
1. Even or perhaps especially defenseless babies don't deserve acrylic inflicted upon them.
2. Grubby hands make grubby yarn. Grubby & plastic don't mix.
3. Arms are treacherous. While you sleep, they grow. Incredibly long. Absurdly long.
4. Knotting is perfectly fine when the yarn is soft, felts, & you're running out of the bits of it you had to begin with.