Springtime and RAD Lace Recap

I get to walk by this tree to and from work everyday. I am going to miss San Francisco. I still haven't recovered from being beat down by the snow in New York. After not catching a cold for over a year, New York gave me cough that won't quit.

I finished the back of the Vogue minidress. Here she is, blocking on my floor. I really like the silvery grey color of this KPM.

I forgot to blog about the RAD Lace exhibit, which was one of things I was most excited about seeing in New York. Well, I was a bit disappointed, which is surely why I forgot about it. About half of the exhibit was too far of a stretch from knitting or lace, and much of it was purely architectural. To me, many of the pieces just happened to look "lacey," which seemed to be enough to qualify it for the show. I was looking forward to seeing a bunch of awesome knitted stuff in one place, but I only saw a handful. Check out this knitter's review of the show: I think she sums it up much better than I do, and she has great photos.

I suppose I let my expectations go too far. Oh well. I feel like a hypocrite writing this, though, because I studied architecture in college and liked to push the boundary of what is considered architecture by making my models out of cloth and sewing them together instead of using museum board with glue. I shouldn't be such a hater.

Overall, it was totally worth the visit. The tiny knits by Althea Merback are mindblowing and the fiber obtic chandelier is beautiful.

My First FO: Steek Tank from Loop d Loop

I rediscovered this is my closet yesterday and wore it for the first time in two years. Actually, it is only the second time I have worn it since I made it.

It's the Steek Tank from Teva Durham's "Loop d Loop" book. A couple of years ago, I used to casually lurk about on craftster, mostly on the sewing boards, until I came across a knitter who had made the steek tank. I fell in love with the sweater and vowed to learn to knit so that I could make my very own steek tank. First I bought the book, next came yarn and needles from knitpicks, then hours of instruction courtesy of knittinghelp.com, and not long after that, I had my coveted hand knitted steek tank. I wore it once (to show off that I had learned to knit, and even made a whole vest!), and that was it.

For whatever reason, I had a hard time pairing it with my usual everyday wardrobe, so I slowly forgot about it. I cleaned out my closet recently and found it in a lonely section of my closet, and yesterday, decided it was just the thing to wear with my new grey jeans. So here she is, a past FO, but a significant one, finally deemed worthy of a couple of photos.

Details: Steek Tank from Teva Durham's "Loop d Loop." Knitted on size 15 circs with Knitpick's "Panache." Finished in 2005, too long ago too remember how many skeins I used.

Spoils of New York

I brought home some extra special things from New York...

Koigu kpm from Purl. I fell in love with this yarn while knitting my entrelac scarf on the plane, and when the salesgirl at Purl suggested it for the Vogue dress, I had a 'duh' moment. It just seems so right that I couldn't believe I didn't think of it! I'll have to find another use for my loverly orange alpaca silk. Shouldn't be too hard.

I also picked up some new clothes! I visited Built by Wendy in Brooklyn and got this dress.

I managed to squeeze in some subway knitting on the longish ride from the Lower East Side to Columbia. Perhaps the first of many similar rides.

My favorite part of the trip, besides seeing my sister and her girlfriend, was Coney Island. What a bizarre and surreal spot. I heard that it will be torn down soon, so my wonderful hosts drove us over there to check it out.

Yes, it really says "shoot the freak." I don't think this would go over too well in SF.

There are no words to fully express the magnificence of these kittyfeet.

Next Up?

In two days, I'm leaving for a short trip to NYC. I'm not a big fan of planes, trains, subways, or any enclosed space, but the thought of my travel knitting makes them seem not so bad after all. Hours and hours of uninterrupted knitting? Awesome! But what to take with me? Not another gigantic Twinkle project, and surely not the 18 skein afghan that is only 3 skeins away from completion. Gotta be something on smallish needles, and I don't do well with sock knitting (I never finish the second one). I've been playing/obsessing with different ideas of what to bring with me.

I bought this gorgeous mandarin orange skein of Blue Sky Alpacas "silk alpaca" yarn to swatch with for the Vogue dress. Got gauge, love the yarn, adore the color, want to go ahead with the project, but the yarn store is closed Sunday and Monday. I guess it'll have to wait.

I've always wanted to try entrelec, and always wanted to try kpppm. So there you go. I think this will most likely be my New York knitting. I certainly can't buy any more yarn, or else I won't be able to justify spending any more money at Purl! Hopefully, I'll have something to show when I get back.