Get this...I'm now a colorway!

I first met Axelle on the floor of Stitches East last October, and we talked about a pattern she wanted to submit to Knitty.

She did, I loved it and it was in the last issue.

What I didn't know until I saw her blog's url in her bio was that she also paints gorgeous colorways of luxury yarns. Until recently, only animal fibers like cashmere and alpaca. But recently she's added [can you guess where this is going?] silk.

She's been keeping me in the loop as she expands her range. So I got a little brazen and told her about my dream colorway...chocolate cherry. Click here and scroll down to the 2nd colorway. How cool [and gorgeous!] is that? And she says she has fine tuning to do on it...I can't imagine what the final result will look like.

What will I make with this yarn? Oh, you already know. A Clapotis, sized à la Cari.

This is way cooler than having a sandwich with your name on it, if you ask me.

And yes, she takes orders.The list of her colorways, for your convenience.

random covety questions

1. I live in a really big city. Does anyone in Toronto know where to find the Amy Butler fabrics and patterns? Someone in town MUST carry them! [Yes, I've checked the website. It's no help.]

2. I will soon have to upgrade my digital camera. As you can see in the shot below, I've got graininess up the yingyang and the resolution's too low for my purposes. I need a 5mp [? this is the only variable] camera with a macro setting, image stabilization and as much optical zoom as I can get. So far based on online reviews, the only likely candidate is the Panasonic [seriously?] Lumix FZ20. But it's almost a thousand bucks up here...which is too much for me.

A lot of you take great pics and I don't think all of you are using 5mp cameras. So I'd love to hear your opinions about your cameras, especially closeup shots, clarity, color reproduction and graininess or lack thereof.

Please use the comments and help guide me, o readers!

For Julia

What you probably don't know is that, since last fall, I've gotten mental over Blythe dolls. I'm NOT a doll person, really. I'm at best a kitschy action figure girl [my favorite to date is my Mary-Catherine Gallagher figure, and I gave dad the new Jim Henson figure for his birthday last year].

But in the last few months, I found myself captivated and then obsessed with these dolls that scared kids in the 1970s, and so were discontinued. The new reproductions are now fashion icons and Blythe is HUGELY popular in Asia. As of today, I have four. Their most characteristic features are their big heads and their eyes that change color and direction.

Coincidentally, Julia created sweet tiny ornament sweaters last year that I was sure were Blythe-shaped. And they were! A happy fluke.

Julia asked me to post a pic if I used her pattern to knit a sweater, so I happily oblige. This is Timothy. She was formerly a peach-haired doll called Mlle Rose Bud [all the reproduction Blythes have model names and come with matchy poo accessories]. Since I got her a few weeks ago, I've dyed her hair this color [which was meant to be brown, but I like it this screaming pink and it's going to stay] and cut her bangs. And now she has this Julia-inspired sweater.

The big challenge in dressing dolls like this, i'm learning, is their freakishly huge heads. Everything goes on feet-up OR closes in front or back somehow. I had to modify Julia's pattern by speeding up the decreases and then leaving the back open from the top of the raglans up to close with a little button at the back neck. I also used a finer yarn on 3.75mm DPNs so it would be more in keeping with the scale of her body. The pattern still needs further fine tuning, but it's a good pattern, Julia -- so I thank you!

Do you have footage of knitting-related stuff?

I just got the message below from a Dutch TV producer. If you can help her, leave your e-mail address in my comments and I'll pass it to her.

Thanks!

---

I am a Dutch television journalist for the news and current affairs
programme Tweevandaag. In Holland we are a bit behind but the knitting
movement is reaching our shores as well.

For our programme I would like to give attention to the growing
popularity of knitting in Holland. For this we will follow the work of
a knitting group In Amsterdam.

We are also very interested in the knitting groups in The States.
Because our medium is very ' picture hungry', especially moving
pictures, I am looking for little films on interesting events around
knitting, in particular the meetings of the pro choice groups and the
knitters against Bush, but there must a lot of other knittinggroups.

Many thanks for your help!

---

did you know Knitty has a PO box?

We do! It's very small, but if you send an elephant, they promise to keep it in the back and feed it elephant chow and rub its nose until I come to pick it up.

[don't send elephants.]

Knitty magazine
2255b Queen Street East
Box 527
Toronto, ON
M4E 1G3

I just thought you'd want to know.

Oh, dear dear me.

There are no words. Click here to see a Knitty pattern KNITTING another Knitty pattern.

I must meet Ms MK in person. She makes me snort out my morning coffee.

---

Edited to add:
Dave Barry's blog links to the womb. Ladies and gentlemen, Knitty has truly arrived now. Even if he is making fun of us.

My favorite responses in his comments to this post:
- "My dolly just told me she wants to be called 'Fallopia.' "
- "If THAT's what they look like, I mean, Seriously, can you BLAME me for being gay?"
- " 'Push down gently on inner tube to make cervix look plump ("pouty", if you will).' I can't stress enough the importance of this step. I can't start my day unless the cervix is sufficiently pouty."

Clapotis is done!

And yet I present a half-done progress photo. I get home from work too late to photograph it in natural light during the week, so this will have to do.

Suffice to say, i LOVE it. And I will knit it again.

No one told me!

I can't understand it. Why didn't anyone tell me about the exquisite perfection of the Clapotis?

Actually, I've been waiting to finish holiday knitting before I started mine. When I was on the wee book tour, I fell in love with some yarn at Make Workshop. Diana [the proprietress] hand-paints a line of yarn and I got to see some at my signing. I was immediately drawn to the swiss cotton [for obvious reasons] and came home with one big 200g skein of it. It goes from palest cream through spring green to soft pink to rich magenta. Je t'aime, coton.

Sure, it doesn't have silk in it, but it's so soft, it's nearly edible, without being wussy. Cause wussy yarn sucks.

So I cast on for my own Clapotis in my Make Workshop swiss cotton. I'm about half done. This will likely be a generous Clapotis scarf and I'll make a big shawl, a la Cari, in another hand-paint next -- silk this time. Oh, such tragedy, having to knit this twice! :-)

It's not just how gorgeous the finished product is that has me loving Clapotis. It's also an easily memorizable pattern with a lot of stockinette. Which I love. I'm one of those St st freaks, and proud of it. And clever me -- when i finished the increase section, i weighed the remaining skein to see how much yarn I should save for the decrease section. I almost never think that far ahead. Hanging around you people is good for my knitting.

:-)

I need good daylight for a progress pic. Maybe this weekend, if book work will allow. I'm working with the sexy steamroller and there's no missing deadlines around her!

Happy New Year!

I wish everyone a peaceful, happy, safe new year. That's a lot to wish for, but there's no point in compromise when it comes to wishes.