Two more Finished KOTOTW Projects!

WOO HOO! Hard to believe that the first month of the new year is already past - it has been a bit of a whirlwind, getting back into the swing of things at work after a lovely break, and getting Nathan geared up for all the papers and tests coming due at the end of his second quarter of freshman year.

First up: I want to show you some long-awaited FOs!

 

 

I finished my friend Kassia’s belated Xmas present, a tiny Audrey Hepburn doll out of a book called Knitted Icons by Carol Meldrun. I made a little pearl necklace and tiara out of some beads, and her dress is made out of felt, belted with a satin ribbon at the waist.  Kassia was just thrilled with her gift! To say she is an Audrey Hepburn fan would be an understatement. Her entire desk is sort of a shrine to Breakfast at Tiffany’s, decorated in a pink and black color scheme. I accidentally erased the photo of little Audrey in her new home, but I’ll go upstairs to visit Kassia this week to take another one.

 

January 13 was the deadline for scarves for the 2012 Special Olympics Minnesota winter games. My various knitting pals and I made at least 15 scarves; I took a picture of some of them just before I had them delivered across town:

 

I get such a big kick out of seeing the different patterns everyone comes up with. It would be amazing to actually see the entire stadium of participants, all wearing different handmade scarves, all individual and different like snowflakes.

 

January Knitting Night

 

We had our first knitting night of the new year, with some new guests. I somehow managed to forget my camera (naturally) but my lovely friend Renay took some photos of us all settled down and knitting away in our favorite Starbuck’s. My friend Ann’s beautiful daughter came and started a cowl, which she finished less than a week later; her mom said she was texting with her friends that evening who wanted her to come join them, but she texted back that she was having too much fun with her mom’s knitting group (!).  Ann is working on a cupcake baby hat; the top uses speckled pink yarn, which looks just like frosting with spreckles on top!

 

 

 

Another new knitter named Ann joined us, although unfortunately we didn’t capture a photo of her; she diligently learned how to cast on and is working on her very first knitted scarf. Ann has some kids in after school sports, and is looking forward to having something to keep her occupied during those long hours in the bleachers.

 

And Kitty also joined us -- she and Eva have known each other for over 20 years, and it was really fun to see them laughing with each other, and sharing stories with us. After a long knitting hiatus, Kitty is working on a soft scarf for her husband, and might have a UFO or two stuck away somewhere with which she needs assistance.

 

Here is Eva modeling a wonderful soft cowl out of Sublime yarn; she had already made one of these in a soft gray, and her niece promptly swooped it up during the holidays, so now she’s made another one to keep! I love Eva’s smile. This woman literally cannot take a bad photograph:

 

 

 Unlike yours truly, unfortunately.  Here is the finished KOTOTW project 29, the Florentine Shrug Shawl. It is so wonderful to have this finished – that was a LOT of embroidery! I really did enjoy it, though; it brought back memories of when I used to do needlepoint and counted cross-stitch. I sort of lost interest in both because the finished products are decorative but not useful. Something about the fact that knitting produces clothing, bags, blankets, and other useful things is part of its great appeal for me. Here are front and back views; I’m hoping to wear this with more appropriate clothes to a concert this week, and will try to get a better photo for you.

 

Project No. 31 – Damascus Dream Dress

 

I finished this dress last night:

 

 

I lengthened it a bit; I think it looks better on me than on the mannequin, so I’ll try to get a “live” shot of this one as well.

 

The collar on this one was so interesting. To make it, you first knit 4 pieces with 3 tabs on each end, and then you weave the tabs together at each corner:

 

 

The bottom hem has a picot edge. To keep it from curling up, I picked up the live stitches, purled a row to create a turning ridge, and then knitted a hem which I stitched down inside using sewing thread and stitching very gently, so as not to create a ridge. Then, I picked up stitches along the turning ridge and followed the instruction for creating the picots. I think this will hang flatter without that rolling problem I always have with my stockinette stitch edges.

 

So now I’ve started on Project No. 32, Senorita’s Floral Pullover. The side edges have inset godets. I’m adding about an inch and a half to the length of the pullover to compensate for my long waist, so I lengthened the godets a bit. The flowers are the same pattern used in Nicky’s Vogue Knitting anniversary scarf; they are made out of garter stitch with a row of eyelets created after the third stitch of every other row; the points are made by increasing a stitch at one end every other row six times, and then decreasing six stitches and repeating. Then, when you have made 5 points, you cast off and run the castoff thread through the eyelets and pull it all together. The little 3-stitch part becomes the central flower, and the points make petals on the outside, kind of like a daffodil. The centers of these flowers will have beads stitched into them, and then they are stitched along the front and sleeves of the finished sweater.  I have to take a 2-day seminar in a week or so; the timing is perfect for this project, as the body of the sweater is mostly plain stockinette!

 

Hmmm – 17 projects to go. I am hoping to finish by Christmastime, but that is a tall order for one year! You never know, though.  It depends on so many factors – how busy I am at work (blessedly, the real estate market is picking up around here), and how much time I will have left in the evening after struggling through math homework with Nathan (sure wish he had inherited my brother’s math-whiz skills…)

 

The weather is getting colder, too! I was sitting in a coffee shop yesterday reviewing some cases and knitting away. I realized that I was wearing hand-knit socks, a hand-knit sweater, a hand-knit scarf, and that I’d brought my hand-knit roses bag, and a hand-knit hat – I’d literally surrounded myself in my own handknits! No wonder I felt so happy and serene! The coffee shop was in Nordeast, a part of the city with lots of artists’ lofts and galleries. I was just sitting there sipping tea, and suddenly a man, an older gent, tapped on my shoulder saying I’d caught his eye walking down the long alley behind the Thorpe building in my bright purple coat and scarf, and that the contrast of the purple with the blue of my jeans and the flowers on my bag made such an impression on him. He closed his eyes, and the purples became oranges and ochres. Anyway, he saw me there when he came in for a cup of coffee, and while I was sitting, reading and knitting away, my polka-dotted reading glasses on my nose, he had sketched a little picture or two of me on the back of a business card:

 

Such a funny little thing to happen, but it made me happy.

 

XOXOXO, Mar

 

Comments

[RebeccaED]

What a neat experience to have someone notice you and then sketch you. There are so many interesting people out there, and the rampant creativity of people is just amazing. Your projects are great, love the little Audrey!

[Barb]

Miss Hepburn is adorable! I'd love to see a photo of her 'permanent home' (who doesn't love Audrey?)

And you, Miss Mary, never cease to amaze us with your incredible knitting - I can't get over how much knitting you do that ISN'T part of the KOTOTW project!! As if that project isn't the enormous undertaking on its own, but you always have so many little extra projects thrown in on the side (like it's no big deal!).

Love the Florentine Shrug - its gorgeous and the Damascus Dress is amazing (it seems like that was knit in no time at all (???) - you are a wonder woman.

What a beautiful compliment to have yourself sketched by someone - and no wonder - you are a beautiful, talented woman!!!

[Linda]

I seriously love the Florentine Shrug and the little Audrey Hepburn. They are both fantastic. The Señorita's Floral Pullover was one of the sweaters that I fell in love with when Nicky Epstein showed it off at the release of her book and the kick-off for your Knit-a-Thon in NYC. I'm really looking forward to your posts on your progress.

It is fantastic that someone sketched you knitting. You should have that little sketch framed and hang it in your home or office.

[Barb]

Ooooh, Mary, what a great idea Linda had about framing that adorable little sketch of yourself! How fun would that be?