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Monday, May 21, 2012

Cardigan & sock progress + San Francisco yarn shopping

Georgina Cardigan Progress

It may not look all that impressive, but somehow in the midst of illustration commissions and traveling and work and a toddler sleep strike, I've been making slow but steady progress on my two knitting projects--switching back and forth between them at random as needed when boredom begins to creep in.

The above is the first two bits of my Georgina cardigan, which should eventually look like the chartreuse view below:

Georgina Cardigan Color Options: Which Yarn to Choose?!

What's actually impressive about this is that I had the patience to knit a stockinette swatch and a lace swatch and block and dry them before diving right in... I have always foolishly skipped this step, which is why the first sweater I knit for myself ended up donated to the Goodwill, and the second sulks in my "to-fix" drawer.

As for the Waving Lace socks, they're more than halfway there, and I'm desperately trying to fend off an attack of Second Sock Syndrome:

Waving Lace socks progress

As I began to knit I was skeptical of my grad-dying efforts--I used "sock blanks" from Knit Picks and dipped them in a dye pot bit by bit, but the effect seemed more stripey than gradual...

My gradated turquoise sock blank

But in real life, the sock top is definitely a very dark turquoise gradually fading to a very light turquoise at the toe--hard to see in photos, but just trust me!

Waving Lace sock the first

And I wasn't able to fit in any fabric shopping whilst in San Francisco earlier this month, but I happened to be staying a short walk from the lovely Imagiknit yarn shop, which had a fantastic and huge selection of yarns (compared to say, a typical closet-sized New York City yarn shop) ... this is just a tiny glimpse of one room, with natural and locally dyed yarns on display, in true California style:

Imagiknit San Francisco, main room

Most importantly for me, they also had a toy corner to distract my toddler from pulling said yarns off the shelf while I browsed.

Imagiknit San Francisco--toy corner

Though little Z did help me pick out some nylon-blend darning wool to support my new sock-mending addiction:

Imagiknit display wall & darning yarns

In the end, I forced myself to buy yarn ONLY for my next project--a pair of Doctor-Who-inspired Tardis socks (because I am OBSESSED, though perhaps slightly less so than Meg the Grand), which should turn out something like this:

But all this time away from my sewing machine is beginning to make me itch. As soon as I finish my final sewing-related illustration gig, I am SO making another Jalie scarf top... or a Ginger skirt (the pattern finally arrived after being on back order for ages)... or those high-waisted jeans I've been craving...

What do you wish you could be sewing right now, but can't find the time?

P.S. Due to my hectic life lately I have totally lost control of all my sewing-related RSS feeds and it is bumming me out. I have over 1,000 unread posts, and my attempts to just target even my top top top favorite blogs for catchup have completely failed. I'm thinking it's time for a "Mark All As Read" amnesty here.

9 comments:

  1. Tardis socks! I'm hyperventilating!

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  2. Wow that looks like yarn heaven! We don't have that kind of yarn shops here. I'm impressed you only bought yarn for your next project.

    To answer your question. I would love to sew a bunch of summer dresses. But I have my job and I have to prepare for my exam for my sewing course. So I have to wait a couple of weeks to finally get the time to sew the dresses.

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  3. I am learning knitting and crochet. Still getting to grips with sewing hehe. Keeps me busy.

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  4. UMMMM I don't even watch Dr Who but I would wear the hell out of those Tardis socks! Those things are so awesome!!!

    I had to put all my sewing on hold this week so I could work on my boyfriend's Christmas present. You know, for the Christmas that was almost 6 months ago hahahahahaha I'm a terrible girlfriend :B I still have a few tweaks to make to the sleeves (which is what put me off for so long in the first place - the dang pattern changes!), but I'm hoping I can finish it up before we leave for vacation on Saturday :)

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  5. Def time for mark all as read (except for my posts :-)) And Z is SO big! What a cutie. BTW, just started knitting my new sweater yesterday. Maybe we should have a competition to see who can finish first - just to keep us highly motivated!

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    1. Ha, well, I will NOT be competing with anyone... I knit slowly and in small increments to prevent a flare-up of my carpal tunnel.

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  6. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.


    OMG.

    You are making those socks, and thus, my hero for eternity.

    *SQQQQQQQQUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*

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  7. I'm glad you had a great time in San Francisco. And, I can definitely empathize with the overflowing reader. It's crazy how prolific sewing bloggers are, right?! You go away for a weekend, let alone go on a real vacation, and it's too crazy to comprehend reading every post. Mark all as read.

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