spring sprang

WOW, some people actually begged to see my wedding dress (even some people i didn’t know were reading this)! i was kidding! here you go—

trust me, a LOT of preparation went into getting me to look that good . . . see all those hands putting on the final touches?
this outfit was a combination of a panne velvet skirt and a handknit-and-beaded top; the idea was to recreate a shabby, turn-of-the-century look. i knitted holes and tears into the fabric, and added beads. some areas were stitched roughly afterwards to fine-tune the fit and give it a mended look. it laced up the back (but really, how many pictures of someone else’s wedding gown can anybody stand?). i ended the knitting at the bottom edges, and did not bind off; after i got dressed i took out the string holders and allowed the edges to unravel throughout the evening. THAT was really cool! by the end of the night i had long, seaweed-like tendrils webbing around that skirt and trailing all over. i was comfortable and happy all through the event!

and now, back to the present; after all that was nice, but this is NOW! and now is where it’s always at: for instance, before it got cold and rainy/snowy again, i ran outside to get a picture of these

and these

you know, when i don’t blog, i miss it, but i do get a hell of a lot of more knitting done (i tend to get really involved in these posts). i finished the japanese feather shawl. it measures around 46 inches; i’m hoping it will stretch to 60-something inches.

it looks about as pretty as a mud fence. i wanted to block it tonight, but it’s already 8 pm, and i REALLY want to spin. also i prefer to do blocking in the sunlight, so maybe i’ll get up early tomorrow and get that done. it’s a hard piece to photograph, being such a deep blue. it might be better to do that outdoors, now that’s it’s nice during the day.

yesterday i was teaching all day, so i got a bunch done on my cable sweater. i finally got through the yoke (i decided to blame that ripping business on the devil needle), and started down one of the sleeves.

i can’t believe no one has figured out the cable yet! ok, let’s see . . . remember, it has 24 sts and 32 rows. OOOPS, i just realized that last time i gave that clue, i typed 34 rows by mistake. but it IS 32 rows. actually, here’s what we’ll do: you tell me what would be a helpful clue. obviously, the name of the cable is not a clue, and it’s way too helpful anyhow.

i am making great strides on my trekking socks

no pun intended. but they are handsome; i DO like the yarn. it’s not heavy enough for david’s work socks, but it’s nice for me.

and, to soothe myself at the end of the day, i went into the yarn closet and just poked around, looking for yarn to make a sample of a shawl i designed last year. i made one at the time with a rich, cranberry fingering yarn, but i gave it away. now i want to fine-tune and print the pattern for it, so i need to knit one up and try to make sense of my notes (hardee-har-har).
i decided on this fingering-weight alpaca from france

it’s one of the nice yarns i flashed the other day (AKA trophy yarn).

Persnickety Knitter left a comment about my trophy yarn the other day that really hit me between the eyes (go look; it will do you good). and she is SO right; it made me shudder to think that some day my richesse or my otre cashmere might end up in a jumbled bag of acrylics, and that there might not be a knitter to know the difference. from now on, it’s use it or lose it—stash party time! and that deserves one last smooch: