Fruit of My Loom

A scant 3 years have passed (like lightening!) since I tripped into a suburban Joann’s with a 50% off coupon and scooped up a Bond knitting loom. That first year saw me knitting like a banshee, enlarging my wardrobe and, for maybe the first time EVER, wearing clothing that actually fit my frame (especially those gracefully long ARMS!)

The sweaters I made for work are now ready to be *retired* – they look tired, a little shabby; they’ve earned their day in the pasture, to be sure…

And, it’s time to make some new ones…

Luckily, I’ve been bit by the Machine Bug all over again after a demonstration Corinne and I gave as the October Program at the Windy City Knitting Guild. I took the Bond On the ROAD! up to the Northside (I’m a Westside girl myself, teeheehee) and proceeded to astonish and amaze myself when I actually got through an entire, I believe, one hour’s worth of machine knitting while being observed by actual audience! I think this is what happened because I have such terrible stage fright, I only remember about 30% of what went on – 2/3’s of the time are really fuzzy, (but warm – thank you all for your Very Kind Attention!).

What you see above are pieces of two seperate sweaters – both in Navy, my favorite Work Garment Uniform color. They lay tightly in obedient Stockinette rolls, as is the nature of the stitch, waiting for the finishing to begin…

I began calling the first one of my sweaters *Elemental* and the second rightly became *My Dear Watson* in response. Here you see the first front of the Dr.

It is loomed using the most beautiful Black Water Abbey yarn – 2-ply, one ply black, one ply a very rich purplish dark blue – in sum = celestial NAVY! I knit the body parts on the Machine and add the bands, etc, by hand. To keep the Project Juice ALIVE, I’ve picked out buttons from the Button Chest – believe me when I say that it took a long time to find the correct shade of black plastic button! WEIRD, but true, they are all slightly different depending on composition and finish, ie. shine, matte, semi-gloss. YES! I had a lot of fun auditioning the Buttons…

This sweater is destined to be the plainer of the two – fitted but fabulous, showing off the really rich depth of color of the yarn.

Even though I’ve seen some really fabulous trad Aran BWA sweaters, especially at Stitches Midwest this summer, I was just too totally blown away by this yarn’s hue to muddy the waters reflecting the deepest night sky.

…read all entries about Machine/Fusion Knitting HERE