Summer Lovin' Happened So Fast

Holy Cow where did the time go?  Bad, bad knitter!  Here's a fav Summer song for your viewing pleasure.  FYI I know every single word of this little ditty.  That's just the kind of girl I am.

I spent so much time on the go this summer that I totally put aside this fun verbal run-on project.  Apologies all around.

So here's the scoop.  I knit in three different countries this summer.  Cool or what.  I went "home" to Canada and brought my Lurex sweater avec.  I would post a pic of it but the camera just isn't picking up the metallic-ness of it.  I have to get one of my kiddies to take a pic of me it and will post that soon.

So I took the knitting with me and it pretty much sat on my Mom's coffee table for the next three weeks.  What were you thinking Gaz?  Anyhoo there it sat but then I took my babes to NYC for a couple of days and that's where the knitting fun started!  Yes Girls I finally made the pilgrimage to the "Wool and the Gang" shop in Soho.  It was the size of a shoe box but oh so heavenly.  The were nice and didn't think I was too much of a psycho so all in all I think I'd be allowed back.  I happily left with my new "Sexy Back" kit in hand.

THEN the kids and I joined the Swede and went to Provence where we always hang out in August.  That's when I got the needles out.

The Lurex stayed in it's bag while I started with the "Sexy Back".  Whipped it up in 3 days!  Here it is in all it's glory.

 I'm really psyched to wear it.  If I were to make another one, and will have to since two different people have asked, I'd make it a bit longer.  All in all I'm really pleased with it.  Thank you WATG!!!

THEN the Lurex came back out!  A fab pattern from a great book called Weardowney Couture.  I found the title on Amazon UK.  It's lovely but not if you're looking for a quick knit.  Most of the patterns are with smaller needles but my oh my are they pretty.

So NOW I'm on to a couple of things ( big shock that I'm doing two things at once).  I have started making a slouchy,( a running theme in my clothing since my summer diet of cheese, the best baguette in the world and Rose wine has made me look like Danny Devito as the pengiun from the Batman movie) RED sweater.  It is quite simply scrumalicious.  I can't knit it fast enough and with the weather in Brussels getting rather chilly, I have to hustle.

Oh yeah but I'm also whipping up a basket for my ever growing number of creams and lotions.  Middle age is hitting me hard and I'm finding solace in over priced cosmetics...Nuff said.

Now girlies, you are all caught up!  The next thing on my agenda is to come up with a sassy ( Whoa where'd I pull that word out from) name for my knitting group.  I'm liking the following and would love to know which one you guys prefer.  How about ""Obsessively Creative"? or " Eat, Love, Knit" ?

Holla Back will ya?

Big love,

G.

 
               

Knitter's Day Out

The Modes Museum in Antwerp held an exhibit entitled "Unravel: Knitwear in Fashion.  You just KNOW I had to go.  A scheduled tour with some ladies, both knitters ( believers) and non-knitters ( non-believers)  was arranged and it took all of my patience to wait and not to jump the gun and go the very next day I found out about it.  Here are some pics a friend took of the exhibit.

This was a huge piece of knitted rope that was probably 10 ft wide.  It was one of the few things we were allowed to touch so at one point we all jumped on it and had a lay down! 

I Want Candy

The colours from this video remind me of this great yarn! BTW Don't you just love this video? Taken from one of my favorite Sofia Coppola films- so hard to pick a fav though. Not only does it make we want to eat some cake but it also inspires me to dance around my kitchen quite a bit...for your viewing pleasure. Pay close attention because there's a really quick shot of a Converse All Star High top! Only Ms Coppola would dare to make a period film about one of the worlds most famous historical women and set it to a soundtrack including "Bow Wow Wow"!

Couldn't you just die! Isn't this yarn just like cotton candy? Or wait, more like pink lemonade???

I simply HAD to have it! The yarn is from Debbie Bliss and is called "Angel" for obvious reasons.

It's a very fine and delicate Mohair and when I went I went to pay for some other yarn I had chosen, it called out to me. As usual I had no idea what to do with it but again, as usual, I bought all three of the balls that they had. I asked the owner of the shop what I might be able to do with it and she told me of a really easy rectangular wrap pattern. Oh yeah but what you have to know is that I was doing all of this conversing in French. Now I can can speak French pretty much like a 12 year old! This bums me out to no end because I pride myself on being articulate with sales staff in shops ( read: overly chatty). Anyhoo so the shop owner proceeded to dictate the pattern to me as I wrote it down on a scrap of paper. Sounded fine so off I went.

My family and I were heading down to the family summer house in Provence in the South of France the next morning so naturally all my knitting came with. The house "dans la Sud" ( see...like a very clever 12 year old) is beautiful but can get a bit boring when the sun isn't shining so I go sown there prepared with things to keep me busy.

What I loved even more about the upcoming project is that it called for 7mm needles. The shop owner kept saying that it knitted up ever so fast so I was really keen. What she forgot to tell me was to remember that Mohair can be so fragile that at times it becomes a gigantic pain in the Ass!!! Pull on it too hard and it tears. Dare to drop a stitch or have a make an error in the pattern and you are doomed. Because of the size of the loops in the work I had to pull the piece apart if I saw an error a couple of rows down! Fiddly, very fiddly but I love the way it looks now that I have the hang of it.

She was right though. The pattern is really easy. It's a three stitch repeat on an odd number of stitches that goes: K1, *K2tog, YO, K1*, to last stitch and then K1. Just do that over and over on both sides. It's a lovely and simple lace pattern that looks pretty but not too old fashioned.

Doubt I'll wear it around much but I think it'll look wonderful draped over the end of a bed somewhere in my house.

C'est Magnifique non?

Bisous,

G.

Ceci N'est PAS une "Brief Update"!

Yish where did the time go? I bet some of you were thinking "there, I knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up" but nope, not this yarn babe!

In truth I've gone back underground again. Spring is a challenging time for many new knitters since many don't want to have yarn in their laps when the sun is shining and the weather is getting warmer. I've lost most of the crew I was knitting with but am not really bothered. For those of us who are true yarn addicts, the better light means that the yarn looks even more scrum-a-licous! Bring on the heat! I'll start knitting in Linen!!!

I'd be lying if I told you I was being organized with my projects. Is it wrong to have four, yes 4 on the go at the same time? I'm thinking NO so don't even bother answering! BTW that's just the top 4 now. I've got some older projects on the back burner not to mention yarn for a project that has yet to be determined.

I went to one of my local yarn shops here in Brussels because I had just finished a fab cardie project in a lovely Merino in charcoal grey. It was meant to be my cosy cardie that I could wear around the house to keep me toasty and I've gotta say it's terrific! It was so easy peasy that I was ready to make another tout suite! I've been meaning to post a pic of me in it but when I'm in it, I'm also in a nightie and Uggs and that look is not one that I'm ready to send out into cyberspace it you know what I mean.

Anyway so I hopped in the car on a rainy Saturday afternoon and went to see R at one of my fav yarn shops. Now going to see R is always a bit of a stressful situation for me because the woman, however knowledgeable, is sometimes hard to talk to! Don't get me wrong or anything. I wish I could pretty much LIVE in her shop and I get a buzz just walking in there, but I can almost HEAR her heaving a sigh of frustration at the very sight of little old moi. Ok, ok, so most of the time I'm a difficult customer but that's only because I'm super picky about what I knit. Anyone who knows me KNOWS that I love fashion, and that I'll only knit what I think I'll wear. The knitting world is only now slowly catching up to what's current and although I'm loving that designers have a newly found love of knitwear, I'm getting impatient with the very limited range of chic and cool patterns out there for girls like me to knit.

EEEK, just read what I wrote and it's quite the rant not to mention I took a bad ass tangent from the whole yarn shop story. Anyhoo it's the truth damn it, because knitting takes a hell of a lot of time and it isn't free and I refuse to forsake chic-ness just so I can declare I made it myself!

So what I end up doing most of the time is hassling her by picking out the yarn first ( is it really all my fault that it looks like candy to me all spun and fluffy and I just HAVE to have it?) and then saying "so I'm thinking about a loose V Neck sweater, can you hook me up?". She shows me the patterns she has, which are predominantly from La Drougerie, and while sometimes I get lucky, most of the time I don't.

Anyway so this last time I saw her I had my Phildar ( LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Phildar patterns. The yarn is shit but the patterns are the some of the most fashionable out there) pattern with me. Piece of cake I thought but boy oh boy was I off the mark. I showed her that I wanted to make the same cardie in a cotton or linen, and was told that it would never work as cotton was much heavier and linen would look horrid. Fine, I complied, bummed though I was but as I was turning to leave I saw the most delish looking Noro yarn in a yellowy,orangie, fuchsia pinky combo! I was in love I tell ya. "Ooooh R, what is that and what can I do with it?" I asked her.

 She began to tell me about Noro and how beautiful it was and how it knitted up. She then brought out a knitted shoulder bag made from the same yarn. As beautiful as the yarn looked in the ball it was not quite so pretty knitted up. I told her I would pass even though she was trying to convince me to make a sweater out of it. Now I ask

you, where the Hell was I going to wear a yellow, orange and hot pink sweater? Nowhere...that's where!

In the end I went home empty handed. In typical Gazelle fashion however, I was not letting the Noro thing go. Got home, went to the computer and found out all I could. Not all the colors were as bold as the one I had seen in the shop. The next day I visited my OTHER fav knitting shop and found a beautiful color combo! Now normally I'm not a variegated yarn kind of girl but there is not that much contrast between the beautiful purple and the blue and the green. Its lush and warm and I am constantly inspired at the look of it. It's become a real labour of love to knit and although it may not turn out to be the most fashionable thing I've ever knit, I will love it forever simply for it's artistic merit.

So that's the upside! The downside is that it's Noro "Sock Yarn" which means, wait for it, I have to use a 3 mm needles to make it up. A 3 mm needle is positively teeny weeny so when I'm saying its a labour of love I am NOT kidding. Heavy accent on the LABOUR bit!

Here is what it's looking like so far:

Interesting Non? I'm loving it! I'll keep you posted as to how it evolves.

Yikes! I have so many other things to write about but this entry is already far too long for my liking so I'll save the other stuff for some upcoming posts.

Big Knitters love,

G.

Delusional Knitting or Is there a Method to the Madness?

It's been a long time since I felt I had anything interesting to write about. The holidays came and went and I am grateful for the time I was able to send with the Swede and our children. They are no longer mystified by the concept of Santa and while I am proud of how much they have grown, part of me always yearns for the days when they were five or so when I used to get reminders to put out cookies and milk for the big man's visit.

Our quiet and cosy Christmas meant that I had heaps of time to knit. The sweater in the Debbie Bliss Silk Aran began to do my head in! The yardage is positively tragic involving starting a new ball almost every 10 cm of the back of a sweater. I'll go back to it eventually because it's such a beautiful color but I wanted to make something quicker.

So here's the thing. Take a look at the pic. Have I gone crazy? Am I just knitting and knitting and knitting without purpose? Is it a shawl? a blankie? a bird? a plane? The bloody piece is almost 170 cms long! The interesting thing is that this is the only piece of the project.

Sorry but I won't give it away just yet. Of course the Yarn Babes I hang with already know but still. Wait and see. I'm hoping the finished product is as kick ass as I think it will be.

Stay tuned for further updates.

G.