my take on the eco romantic style for the supposedly elegant audrey

knit project: rowan 35 - audrey
difficulty (1-5): 2
size: xsmall (32 in)
yarn: rowan's calmer in amour (discontinued)
knitting specs: US 7 & 8 cir.

we must not type-cast audrey as just an elegant garment, because she can also take on a retro, grungy style. like her counterpart, burberry, bares such long tradition as a british classic; a staple tartan skirt can also be worn to fit one’s taste in fashion.

i was too utterly inspired by the eco romantic collection of the latest rowan and felt the need to join the rowan culture. i must express audrey as a rebel child. so, here you have my interpretation of this sweater in red, a deep lustful red.

it is highly likely that i may not have the same appreciation for such style many years later, oh well, fashion is always a fleeting thing. it is only beautiful in a present tense.

so audrey. a knit that was owned by many knitters due to the audrey knit-craze last year. i just finished mine these couple days. it was a quick knit, pattern notes were pretty straight forward, as rowan patterns usually are. i made my sleeves shorter so they hit just above my wrists. i did not block the sweater at all as i didn't want it to expand uncontrollably. all in all, it was not a difficult project and i like it just okay. though i thought i'd fall head over heels for this sweater. hmmm. did not happen unfortunately!

nonetheless, audrey is, without a doubt, a beautiful sweater, and i am glad that i made it. calmer is very warm and i love how the ribbing gives this sweater a fitted look. i love the lace edging for it defines this sweater as a classic audrey. i love this red as it is not your every day wal-mart red. it is a classic, deep, warm red. like a ripen tomato, a tango dancer’s shoes. it exudes passion and an understated elegance all at one glance.

you must already read my trouble with audrey due to this mysterious misalignment of ribbing. it still troubles me, more so when i look at becky’s or felicia’s audreys, theirs have perfect stitching, perfect seaming. sigh! however, i was quite happy with how painless it was for me to attach the lace edging. i used whip-stitch to sew them together, they look great! like it was never meant to be separated.

details of audrey

thank you so very much for all the heart-warming compliments on tivoli T. go make one for yourself right now if you have not done so yet!

Posted by blossom at 02:59 PM | Comments (29)

seaming madness

i have grossly underestimated the amount of time needed to seam the reverse stockinette that complicated with some (many) ribbing. and, with some alignment issues, i think my audrey will have very ugly armpits. if i were to knit this again, i will definitely adjust the rib pattern so the sleeves and the bodies' decreases are identical. i know that would be the case had i chosen to work on a different size. oh well. that was a depressing event and it had slumped some of my upcoming FO high.

second, the yarn. i love calmer, don't get me wrong. i think it is the best quality cotton yarns out there. however, do any of you calmer knitters had this problem- it is hard to get even stitches. and, i had a feeling that this yarn will be a major piller after a few wears. also, during the seaming process, the yarn invariably split in half due to excessive threading and pulling through. what was the deal?? so, another obstacle which further reduces my love for audrey. humph!

third, the lace edging. i have come to realize that my knitting weakness is the never-ending repetitiveness. rows of stockinette stitches don't bother me. ribbing, i can handle. but all the "repeat rows 1-12 two hundred times and you can not memorize the instructions of rows 1-12" kills me. so, it took me forever to make the lace edging. and all the while the fear of not being able to sew them nicely on the garment brewed increasingly. stressful. also, how many repeats? i don't want it to cling to my necks like a turtleneck wannabe, but i don't want it to slough too bad that you can see my bra. decisions, decisions. and, is there a "right" side for the lace edging?

lace and audrey, two separate things (for the moment)

Posted by blossom at 07:53 PM | Comments (10)

can somebody tell me what is wrong here? this is audrey from rowan 35. above picture: sleeve piece with nice decreases for the armholes, beautiful! ribs aligned; knit rows being eaten away nicely. now, look at the below picture: body piece, same instruction but resulted staggered rib... wtf?

i looked at the pattern probably 200 times today, the only difference between the sleeve and the body was: for the sleeve, rib pattern was established with K1, *P2, K2*, K1 (note you have a single K1 stitch on either end). but for the body, the rib pattern for my size (XS) is *P2, K2*, single K1 stitch did not exist. thus, when asked to BO 5 stitches, it resulted a single P1 stitch as the beginning of the row. and the following direction (P2, K2... ) automoatically screwed up the existing rib pattern.

nobody had mentioned anything on the knitalong. i must be on crack. please help!

UPDATE: i have come to a conclusion that i am not going to spend the rest of my life figuring this stupid ribbing out. so, i'm going to blindly follow the instruction. and, after this decision was made, guess what i found? ha ha!! i'm NOT on crack. though deep down in me i knew kim hargreaves could have done this better, but then again, who would be peeking your armholes and check if the ribbings are aligned? (knitters would).

Posted by blossom at 04:25 PM | Comments (3)

one complete sockapal-2-za sock

you are looking at a complete sock for the exchange. unfortunately the second sock is still as a ball of yarn. i am going to cast on for the second one in a couple days.

it really did not take that long to knit this pattern. i was overly multi-tasking when this sock was made. so, instead of having a pair of socks done, i finished the sleeves for audrey.

audrey's sleeves

as for butterfly, i'm still clicking away on the hem (therefore no pictures to show). however, after reading the knitalong on craftster, i've decided to knit it in round to avoid seaming the lace.

what else? a new project!! well, i had some linen drape sitting in my stash for a while and i was dying to use it up before the summer ends! so, grumperina's tivoli T became the perfect thing to make! with only less than four balls of linen drape, i'm hoping that it'll be enough to finish this top!! i do not want to buy another ball of yarn! one question, what type of cast on do you tivoli knitters do after the BO for yoke?

and when i'm not knitting, i'm constantly thinking how my self-designed sweater is going to turn out. i want to clear off my WIPs so i can focus on this project with full, undivided attention (adding on a brand new project kind of make this last sentence a bit phony!).

the beginning of tivoli T

Posted by blossom at 06:02 PM | Comments (12)

audrey, a sweater from rowan 35, was another new project i recently started. it's interesting how sometimes new projects just fall on your laps that you have no choice but to start knitting. this pretty ribbed sweater is definitely an example of that.

i swatched this time!

and so far, i'm clicking along pretty happily! 2X2 ribbing is great knitting if you don't want to think while you knit. just increase a stitch here and there, and detangle your yarn every so often. before you know it, you have some nice, stretchy fabric ready to serve as sleeves of your sweater. how wonderful is that?

calmer, soft as cloud!

is red my color?

Posted by blossom at 02:00 PM | Comments (7)

as my WIP consists only socks at the moment, it's time to start a few new projects on this fourth of july weekend. and what projects will i be working on next? well, remember this post?

yes, i'll be starting the famous "audrey" this weekend. and, the orangina by glampyre. so, in order to set the mood for "audrey", i will be watching the movie "roman holiday" sometime this weekend. i have never seen this famous movie, so this weekend will definitely be the one to watch it. awesome.

as for orangina, i'm hoping that this will be a quick knit, that i can start and finish it within a couple weeks. after that, it'll be time for butterfly.

have a great holiday, everyone!

Posted by blossom at 02:19 PM | Comments (8)

why do we always feel guilty when we purchase yarns? do you feel guilty when you need to buy, say, a pair of socks? i often wonder about that. is guilt a feeling that emerges when you do something that you consciously know that you shouldn't? is yarn buying a sinful activity for knitters?

how much money do you spend on yarn buying every month? how many of those yarns actually turn into functional garments? do you feel more guilty if your number of FO is far less than your yarn stash?

why in the world am i asking all these somewhat rhetorical questions? well, that's because i've just spent helluva lot of money in just under 10 minutes to get me some yarn.

this all happened when my lovely husband (affectionate adjective to describe husband is necessary as he may read my blog and find out my splurge one day) brought me an envelope sent from rowan last night, in it was a list of yarns that are on sale; in it, i found some rowan calmer and some jaeger ex. fine merino all 50% off. i've heard way too many good things about these yarns and i think if i'm going to get them, i should get them NOW!

and, of course, i did.

so, what will these yarns turn into? the beautiful audrey from rowan35 (one that owns by all knitters!) and this classic polo shirt from jaeger classic knit.

that's it. no more yarns for me. except...

this fall, eton and audrey are coming to my wardrobe!

Posted by blossom at 12:12 PM | Comments (3)