Pringle "Squirtlenarf"

Grainy from the dust on the mirror. Eeeeeew...sorry!

I made this copy of Pringle's Amphora Stole years ago and finally I've started wearing it more, probably because I've been wearing my hair up a little more often now (with it down, my hair just gets all tangled by the wool rubbing up against it!). People always want to know what it "is." I don't know, does it need a name to be whatever it is? Someone finally termed it a Squirtlenarf (sweater + turtleneck + scarf), so I guess I have an answer for everyone now, though I don't know if it'll really help them understand it any better.

Debating Sweater Coats

Back from a very tropical summer in Taipei and now San Francisco weather is so cold in contrast! Granted, it's actually been pretty nice for this city the past couple days, but being back has me thinking about winter knits already, particularly about large slouchy sweaters over mini, silky dresses with riding boots. Or trouser socks and heels. So here are my inspirations and possibilities:

The Twinkle Diagonal Stitch Coat
What it looks like styled in an editorial:


And what it looks like in normal life, looking much less fluffy and cozy:

via NYmag

And in all the pictures on Ravelry, the sweater looks even less fluffy! Maybe because most people subbed for the Twinkle Soft Chunky, though. And I don't know how I feel about the shortened sleeves, but that's easy to fix anyway. And I really like the huge collar on this next one, but I wonder how that would look with the trellis coat..

Twinkle Mystery White Sweater Coat

via NYmag

Has the pattern for this sweater been published anywhere yet? In another picture I saw on flickr, the side view shows that the sleeves have braid cables on them, if that helps anyone help me any. :]

Twinkle Bulky Coat from Vogue Winter 2008

And on the runway:

via NYmag

Maybe I'll knit this one, since it's the most consistent-looking when you compare photos from different sources. (I just noticed that the two different models are wearing the exact same things for these two photos. Is that the only outfit that goes with the sweater?) Or the Siréne du lac cardigan from her Town & Country Knits. It's so hard to decide! I wish I could just try on samples of these and then decide based on fit and how they look on me. That would be taking away from the mystery and excitement, but it would also take away from the frustration when you're all done and you try it on only to realize that it is not flattering at all! Off to go think about this some more...

Lobster Mitten Sweater Hood

Giles, Winter 2007

P.S. My Silver Belle is done! Pictures some other time. Ooh, and I finally got a Ravelry invitation so I have been spending the last couple days on it. I am really surprised at how professional and comprehensive the site is—I totally did not expect that.

Calvin Klein Collection

I want to make this! I wonder if that huge sweater from the Vogue anniversary collection of patterns is based on this one..

Silver Belle update coming soon. I made some modifications—shorter + narrower sleeves, no cabling up the back, and a different but still undetermined collar—so progress has been a little stop-and-go. But things are looking good so far!

Silver Belle Progress Report

The peplum is done [do normal people even know what a "peplum" is? I had to look it up in the dictionary] and actually was done a couple weeks ago. I had to do a couple modifications, though: doing exactly what the pattern said left me with so many rows of regular 4x4 cabling for Panel B at the top (to get a length of 9.75") that the peplum flared out towards the bottom like a trumpet. Which I didn't like. I'm making the size s, which is apparently what the model is wearing, so how did they end up with only 2 rounds of the 4x4 at the top? I thought maybe my gauge was off (I must admit, I'm not too fastidious about swatching), because some other finished measurements didn't match the ones on the pattern, but I did the right yoke and checked the gauge off the seed stitch there, and it seems to be fine. Hmm. Anyways, here's the neck part of the right yoke:


The bottom part of the neckline also looks different from the sweater the model's wearing, but that might be because it's sort of stretched out on her or something.

And people have been asking about the yarn, so I thought I should say that I'm using really old Sympathie by Filatura di Crosa: 35% mohair, 45% wool, 20% acrylic in color #754.

And on an unrelated note: look, Charlene—your rose plant!

And my strawberry plant—my first strawberry. Or maybe second, but I forgot to take a picture of the real first one before it shriveled up and died, so. And now this strawberry is gone, too, because I ate it :] But it was so small it was hard to tell what it tasted like.

i own a piece of a farm

So I picked up my very first box of Eatwell farm-fresh veggies and eggs. Oh, I should've taken a picture of the eggs, too, but here are my heirloom tomatoes (and the gypsy peppers underneath) in the cardboard box they came in. The box also came with a melon, thyme, a brown bag of different kinds of little potatoes (authentically dirty, too), yellow plums pointy at one end, 2 red onions, a basket of cherry tomatoes, and a newsletter inviting me to a tomato sleepover at the farm! So cute. If I were the pitch-a-tent kind of girl. Or if someone pitched it for me.

Silver Belle Update: the bottom skirty part is done, and I've experimentally [that's not the word I'm looking for, but I can't think of it] knit one sleeve and am now up to the body part. I don't think I'm going to want the sleeve to be as fussy as it calls for in the pattern (and I'm thinking I might not even have enough yarn for it), but I figure I'll just knit it up and piece it together to see how it fits before I decide what to do with it. Anyone else making this?

Clay Cake

I finally put my Silver Belle knitting down long enough to finish this!
Next step: Latex 74.
Oh, and here is the accidental kitty that happened as a result of all this clay sculpting:


Speaking of Vogue Knitting, the preview for the fall issue is up! Thanks to girlkae for letting me know. :] There are a couple sweaters I might want to make, especially among the free downloads, but it's kind of hard to tell what they look like with all the posing. But I've started Silver Belle, so I'm going to finish this one first. god, 376 stitches--I have never had to cast on this many at once before. Here's my progress report:

Grey Sweaters

3.1 Phillip Lim is my new love. Look how cute this sweater is. I want to make it, but since I think it may take me forever to figure out this pattern from scratch, I may have to settle for the Debbie Bliss pattern featured on the cover of the Vogue Knitting Fall 2007—still cute, but I feel like it'll look too grown-up on me.


P.S. If anyone knows how to put two photos side by side, please let me know!