Tag: chicknits.com

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The Adventure Begins Tuesday June 8, 2010

All good trips start with a first step and this project was just beggin’ for this:

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I put three cones of cotton in a low box and got barefoot with it.

You can see my winder is attached to a little wooden step-stool. This gives it a happy home with the right height for moi to park in front of visual entertainment and wail.

I made a big, triple-strand cake:

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I apologize but it was just so pretty, I had to “pose” it in a Yarn Cake Portrait for the ages before I cast on my Absorba.

But how big was it?

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Here it sits on the M-D book and you can see it takes up almost the whole 8.5×11″ page. Aiee! That’s a big cake ;p

What’s supposed to come next here are my first logs (I got to 2.5). But I did not like my gauge. I started out with a size 15 needle, ripped, then went down to a size 13 and ripped again.

It was just a little too loose — this yarn is thinner than what the pattern calls for and needs a little TLC to get going.

Now I am a woman on the verge of a cast on with the proper size needles. Powerful.

But will my Absorba be absorbA?

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New Threads Tuesday May 25, 2010

New Threads TUESDAY!
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Theory-Nonah-Dress-8816

This is a dress from Theory, called NONAH, and its lovely architecture recently caught my eye (and followed me home). This sleeveless dress has a unique shape, with unique combinations of materials and textures– the top portion, made from cupro (similar to tencel) & silk, floats over the almost sheer jersey portion, which is made from modal & triacetate. The drape of the bottom portion of the design had me skeptical (jophurs, anyone?) until I tried it on, and it was unbelievably flattering.

It is also has a characteristic that I’ve become intrigued with: Tone-on-Tone coloring. Even though the dress is totally Black, the fabrics it’s made from dye differently and give a subtle variation in color depending on the light source and time of day.

But what about those bare arms — what about the recent brutal air conditioning that’s poor little Chicago’s knee-jerk response to +90 overnights?

Enter CeCe:

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Finished this weekend, with some sleeve seaming, button sewing and a nice bath, this little lace cardi was just the rescue my goose-bumped arms needed this weekend at the Oriental Theatre while in the audience of the Billy Elliot matinee. The cotton blend yarn gives just enough warmth without stifling — the lace (and the buttons) add a little temperature control of their own. For even more fun, I love the look of a cardigan draped over the shoulders and this works nicely!

Pattern: Chic Knits CeCe
Designer: Bonne Marie Burns
Yarn: Phildar MARJORY

What’s next? I’m dreaming of a stole (or shrug)? Funny to be so enamored by rectangles and not at all interested in triangles…