Some of you may recall that last year I made an Ingenue pullover from Wendy Bernard’s gorgeous book Custom Knits. If you have no life at all, you may even have wondered why I haven’t done a proper Finished Object post, complete with a triumphant picture of me wearing said pullover. Well, there’s a very good reason why I haven’t done that.

It’s horrible.

Actually, that’s not true. Empirically, Ingenue is a beautiful garment. The pattern is lovely, with it’s 1960′s Audrey Hepburn styling. The posmerino yarn is soft as a dream, gloriously warm and slightly haloed thanks to the possum fur. The colours are stunning: I think it is one of the best dyeing jobs I’ve ever done. No, the problem is entirely me. You see, I was temporarily insane when I chose this project – I forgot that I’m not 25 anymore. I was a completely different shape before my babies: effortlessly thin, practically breastless, long-necked, long-legged, you get the picture. The ’mod’ styling of this jumper was exactly the sort of thing I loved to wear (and looked pretty damn good in, if I do say so).

Yes. Well. I am very much not that girl anymore, a fact that was brought home to me when I saw the one and only pic there ever was or will be of me in the Ingenue:

That's me on the far left, looking like an overstuffed teddy bear.

Yes, I’ve gained back all the weight I lost two years ago (and then some), but I’m sure that even if I were still slim this jumper would not work on me. Because even at 70kg I’m a lot curvier than I was 17 years ago, and the Ingenue’s basic shape is not one for curvy girls.

So, having established that this shape was wrong for me, I then had to figure out what was right. A bit of Google-Fu and a quick trip to the library later, and I had my answer: Trinny and Susannah’s Body Shape Bible. It turns out that my post-baby body is a Cello, a more statuesqe version of the classic Hourglass and, right there in the section on what to avoid:

Polo-neck jumper or shirt - you have breasts, quite large ones in fact, and anything that covers your cleavage is a big no-no. You’ll simply look shorter and wider with some sort of deformity in the middle of your chest.

Yep, that about sums up how I look in the photo above. As for what I should be wearing, there’s a whole list of “right” shapes there on the linked page. As it turns out, my wardrobe isn’t chock-full of wrong:

• Most of my t-shirts are scoop- or v-neck (or henley, which can be unbuttoned partway for much the same effect).
• The 2 or 3 dresses I do own are high-waisted, if not halternecks (they are mostly autumn/winter wear).
• My jeans are all boot-cut rather than skinny, and my very favourite non-jeans pants are wide-leg.
• I generally prefer cardigans, which create a vertical line, distracting from the predominantly horizontal nature of my shape.

So I’m not too badly off, and now I have a shopping list of styles that will work for me; both now, and as I get my weight back down (which is most definitely on the cards for this year).

As for Ingenue, it will be returned to string in the very near future, and I have already picked out the pattern for its next incarnation - Foxhollow, a brand-new longline gorgeousness from Amy Swenson:

(c) Amy Swenson 2012

Stay tuned, because this isn’t over. There will be wardrobe purges, new clothes bought and made, and all manner of fun as I figure out how to dress this version of me.

So, I wanted another socky project, something fairly no-brain-ish (but not too boring), and the Crazy Zauberball I bought in Brisbane was still sitting there on my desk flaunting its colours at me right beside my copy of Favorite Socks*… sooooo:

They’ve been getting fairly regular love, at least one pattern repeat per sock per day (usually while ogling Christopher Eccleston watching Doctor Who of an evening). Amazing how fast things will grow if you actually work on them.

And then, just because I can, this morning before the boys’ swimming lessons I pulled out the skein of Socks That Rock Froggin’ that’s been lurking in stash for a couple of years now, and I waved the skein at Ravelry, and this is what fell out:

This represents about one hour’s worth of work, sitting poolside while the boys had lessons.

*Rav-links all.

Click, then scroll down.

As Amy (and probably others) guessed, the final installment of this series (for now, because I’m sure that Mum will come up with further evidence of her crafty brilliance in the future) is Sasquatch’s quilt. While we were looking at quilts to get an idea of what they would like, Boyo chose a style (log cabin), but Sasquatch fell madly in love with a specific quilt – a scrap quilt made from old green work pants and flannel shirts (see thumbnail at right*). He announced “I want that one.” I explained to him that he couldn’t have that particular quilt, because it belonged to someone else: “See there, where the owner’s name is embroidered on one of the green patches?” “Well, I want one just like it.” (he appears to be going through a laying-down-the-law phase at the moment). In the end, we agreed to send the pic to Grandma and let her use it as inspiration. Here’s what she made of it:

It’s bright and cheerful and he loves it, as I knew he would. And, as before, the back is a collaboration with Auntie Marie, this time with an over-riding chicken theme for some reason…

Sasquatch is a bit blurry here because nanoseconds after this pic was taken he fell over backwards and landed on his bum.

Hilarity ensued.

~~~

*I can’t for the life of me find the blog where I discovered the original quilt pic. At the time I wasn’t thinking about blogging, I just saved the pic to my hard drive, and emailed it to Mum. I spent a good two hours this morning looking for it, but evidently my Google-fu has deserted me. Should the owner of the quilt ever read this post, please leave a comment and I’ll be more than happy to give credit where it’s due.

~~~

ETA: Thanks to Amy for finding the website for the quilt. It’s the Peterson’s Greens quilt; scroll down for the story behind it. I think they’ve updated the site since I first saw it, because I’m sure I would have remembered this story.

One of the interesting things about these quilts is the back. The wedding quilt I showed you last week is backed in plain unbleached calico, but the back here is a collaboration between Mum and her sister. Auntie Marie dabbled in quilting some while ago, but lost interest before she finished anything, though not before amassing a fairly decent stash of fabric. When she heard that Mum was making these quilts, Auntie Marie took the opportunity to do a massive de-stash, and unloaded the lot on Mum, who cobbled together completed blocks, partially finished blocks, and various fat quarters and other lengths of fabric into the gorgeousness you see here:

Finally, Boyo insisted on being in the pics with his quilt. Here he is pointing out his favourite bit.

In amongst the beautifully crazy hodgepodge of shape and colour on the back are a couple of pieces of mustard-brown corduroy, and he zeroed straight in on that as his favourite fabric. It’s a texture thing.

This quilt has been going in fits and starts since 1989, when Tech Support and I were newly engaged and Mum was a newish and very enthusiastic quilter. The original plan was that Mum would piece it, and I would quilt it. Over the years, life got in the way (as it does), and other projects and other crafts have taken precendence (as they will), and to be honest, I am amazed it survived the six years it spent in a wardrobe at the old (and very mouldy) house here in Blayney. Last year, Mum got excited about quilting all over again, and took it back to Grafton to finish it.

And here it is. It’s a “Storm at Sea” pattern, in which straight lines do an optical illusion thingy and appear to curve and swirl like water. It is so very beautiful that it makes me want to make the bed first thing every morning (something I am not known for), just so that I can pop in there during the day and admire it.

Thanks, Mum. I love you, too.

(And yes, I wrote this whole post just to make that joke. But I really did cut my thumb).

Yeah, I know. Not my best work. According to the annual round-up that landed in my inbox this morning, I wrote 40 posts in 2011, and only 5 in the last six months. That’s what the kids these days might call an epic fail.

So I’m going to try again. Even if it’s just a weekly update on what I’m knitting, I WILL post at least once a week this year.

To catch you up with what’s been happening since the last time I posted, there’s been the usual frantic pace of Term 4; between swimming lessons, volunteering in the school canteen, Boyo’s 4-day school camp at Narrabeen, four assemblies, two class parties, a Christmas stall and a school dance, I feel like my feet hardly hit the ground in November-December. Then once school broke up there was the inevitable rush of Christmas prep, made more interesting by the fact of Tech Support being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, so we are in the process of completely overhauling our diet and lifestyle. He is slowly feeling better as he adjusts to his meds and a whole new way of thinking about food and his body. He has another two weeks of annual leave before he goes back to work, so we are working on various coping strategies – healthy snacks that he can have on hand, packed lunches, an insulated water-bottle.

Christmas was lovely, just the four of us at home. Lego brought us a Christmas miracle – three hours of absolute silence as the boys worked on their new acquisitions. It was bliss! There was a time I used to think Lego was overpriced, but now I tell you it is worth EVERY SINGLE PENNY!!!

Finally, I’ll leave you with this song. It pops into my head now and then, and I love it, because it’s about taking joy in the little things.

• A lengthy period of Groundhog Day – you know how that goes; washing, cooking, cleaning, not-killing-the-children, yada yada yada…
• Then there was huge and epic spring cleaning, which resulted in the most beautifully tidy house for two entire weeks.
• Then there was school holidays, during which it rained almost non-stop, and I had to pack suitcases for… (wait for it)…
• Actual honest-to-God holidays, when we dropped the boys off with their grandparents, and Tech Support and I went to Brisbane for TEN WHOLE DAYS! I took my ‘puter along, fully intending to blog, but I forgot the power cable, and once the battery ran down, that was the end of my most excellent plans. So instead of blogging, I read books, and knitted socks, and took long walks around the city with T.S., visiting the Botanic Gardens, and sitting in little sidewalk cafes, drinking coffee and watching the world go by. While I was there, the Quilt and Craft show was on, so I did a half-day there, and bought a ball of Crazy Zauberball sock yarn, and a quilted bag kit. Then it was time to pick up the boys and head home.
• This week, I have been working my way through the post-holiday mountain of washing and sewing like a mad woman. Yesterday was the school’s annual Book Parade (I love that they do it at this time of year – it gets me off the Halloween hook), so I had to produce costumes. Boyo has recently fallen frantically in love with Emily Rodda’s Deltora Quest books, so it was a no-brainer that he would want to be Lief of Del, but Sasquatch dithered for ages before he decided that he would be Sam-I-Am from Green Eggs and Ham.

I have been working on this post all afternoon, and every time I try to add pics or links, WordPress craps itself. So here’s one last attempt at piccy goodness.

]]> http://kissmyfrog.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/what-i-did-on-my-holidays-and-after/feed/ 8 DSCF5211 KissMyFrog http://kissmyfrog.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/how-i-know-spring-is-on-the-way/ http://kissmyfrog.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/how-i-know-spring-is-on-the-way/#comments Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:26:57 +0000 kissmyfrog http://kissmyfrog.wordpress.com/?p=3560 ]]> 1. The peach tree is budding.

2. The daffodils are sprouting.

3. The wattle is blooming.

4. Yesterday I woke up feeling like someone had marinated my eyeballs in napalm and then cooked them a la flambé (and trust me, you do NOT want to see a pic of that. Ever).

5. I want to eat salad all the time. This happens about this time every year. After a long winter of soups stews and casseroles (all of which I love), I suddenly want leafy greens and crispy veg. Today for lunch it was roasted pumpkin and red onion with spinach, feta and pine nuts.

And it was delicious!

Mission accomplished.

The other day, in my Bendi post, I made mention of a Noro mission.

A few weeks ago, when the new issue of Knitty came out, I fell hard for this hooded cardigan. It called for Noro Silk Garden, a yarn I’ve long wanted to knit with, but never known quite what to do with. And I was just a couple of weeks away from Bendi, where there would be several vendors selling Noro - it was kismet!

Photo by Lisa Kay

Once I got my haul home, I got started. This is a first for me – I don’t think I have ever in my life knitted a pattern in the recommended yarn, even back in the day when all I knew was Patons and Cleckheaton. Even weirder, I’m using the same colourways as the designer used for her version – a blue/green/purple and a pink/orange/bronze. And why not? It’s a beautiful thing.

This pattern is so beautifully simple – a two-row stripe that really lets the long slow colour shift of the Noro shine. I’ve almost finished the back of mine; here’s how it’s knitting up:

Happiness.