Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Today's Post Is Brought To You...

...by the verb "to frame".

I'll use it in a sentence.  "When taking pictures, I am terrible at framing."  Here's another.  "Usually when photographing an object, you want to frame the entire thing within the picture."

Yes, well, I've always been one to learn from my own experiences.  Another key word is "focus".  As in, "taking pictures that are in focus is a good thing."  Again, I'm learning as I go.

Anyway, thanks for all of your encouragement in the last post.  It helped me get motivated to work on my projects again, which is always a good thing.  I even finished my sweater!


See above about framing.  This was one of my better pictures.   Almost all of me is in it!  Who needs the top of my head anyway?  (What I really need is someone to hold the camera for me so I can stop with this camera timer nonsense.)


I am very happy with the way this sweater turned out.  It honestly took maybe a total of four hours to finish it up, which was fantastic.  I forgot how quickly things knit up when you're using worsted weight yarn and size 8 needles!  It's like magic.  Super fast magic.


I started this sweater 100 years ago (that's nine months ago in normal time, back in June) and actually knit most of it over the summer.  I had a sleeve cap and the seaming to finish by the time I went back to school in the fall (and a collar and pockets), but it took me a while to get back to this project.

Pattern: Delain, from Bouton d'Or Catalogue No. 83
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca, Tanzanite Mix colorway, 8 skeins
Needles: US size 8
Time:  June 2009 - March 2010
Mods.:  Not many.  I shorted the shawl collar and lengthened the body and sleeves, as I tend to do


The alpaca/wool blend of the yarn makes this sweater super warm, quite drapey, and comfortably heavy.  Sometimes I feel warmer when I can feel the weight of a sweater or a blanket on me.

This was my first time seaming sleeves into a sweater (other than a sweater I made for my brother, which had raglan sleeves, so I feel like it didn't really count.)  I'm quite happy with the way it turned out, and the sleeve and side seams are invisible, which I was really proud of.


All in all, I am calling this sweater a resounding success and I love it a whole lot.  The pockets on the front are tempting to stick my hands into, but they're really only about two inches deep, which makes them impractical for anything other than aesthetic purposes, but they're tempting nonetheless.

Thanks for the yarn, Deirdre!

One more down for Project Free-The-Needles!  Believe it or not, I'm really nearing the end of that one.  ...or so I'm telling myself.


The Fox River sends its love, to anyone who cares.  (Which I do.)

Ooh!  As an aside, I love walking along the river, which is my go-to spot for FO shoots.  Today was quite warm and a lot of Spring or migratory birds are arriving/passing through, so I enjoyed that.  I was under a tree filled with my favorite Cedar Waxwings, and I saw a Bald Eagle, a Red-Tailed Hawk, Cooper's Hawks (mating... they were being quite loud about it too), possibly an American Kestrel, and most exciting to me, I saw a gang of Buffleheads!  Exciting to me simply because I have a "Birds of Wisconsin" book and keep track of the date and location of when I see the birds in there, and in the four years I've lived in Wisconsin, I hadn't yet seen these.  I always love checking off another bird in that book.

29 comments:

  1. The sweater looks great, and good for you for finishing it! My husband is always saying of my photos "it's crooked" or "the horizon is tilted". Yeah, so? I tell him it's how I see the world, a little askew.

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  2. The sweater is very handsome on you and it is a perfect fit, too. We love birdwatching in Wisconsin. On one trip we saw 37 species, which was a record for us.

    I was a little behind on my podcast listening and recently caught up on the latest episodes. Keep them coming! The one about colorblindness was very interesting and somewhat hilarious in a pitiful kind of way. ;) Imagine green people! I saw an ad today with green sheep and wondered if that looks normal to you as well.

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  3. Peter
    I love your new sweater. Great pattern, great fit, great knitting, great color. Congratulations!

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  4. The sweater is framed. Aren't we looking at the sweater? It is just beautiful and looks like it fits you perfectly. Congrats!

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  5. Another lovely FO! The pictures are great, framed or not. It's awesome when you can wrap up such a lingering UFO, and with such ease! I guess sometimes, it just looks so daunting, sitting in the basket or bin, but when you actually pick it up, it's not nearly so scary.

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  6. Delain looks fantastic -- congrats on finishing it!

    I found your comment about weight = warmth interesting, as I'm same way. Things just seem to feel better if they have a bit of heft to them.

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  7. Yay!!! Finished sweater!!! And it looks perfect on you, of course.

    Also, you get better results with a timer than a lot of people get with a helper (or with a mirror--LOL!). So...good job on that as well. :)

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  8. The sweater is awesome, I love it. The photography is really good! I didnt know you were taking them yourself...wow..great job! I need to get a tripod for my camera....anyways...the river is really pretty!! I love birds too, just not when they are eating the berries off my trees and then pooping the seeds on my car...then I dont like them so much LOL :-)

    So what are you going to put on the needles now to replace the sweater?

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  9. It looks great! I love Ultra Alpaca...so nice to work with. And you're pictures look great, even if you're whole head isn't in them.

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  10. Awesome piece of work! Nice pattern in a very pretty colour. Beautiful smile, too =)

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  11. What a stylish and becoming sweater! Love everything about it: the shape, the cables, the colour, the pockets, the collar... Wow!

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  12. This is a fantastic project! What a great color, I have to say, and it looks really good on you. I think you picked the perfect project!

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  13. Delain looks great =). I had also assumed you had someone taking the photos, and then I got this picture (pun intended) in my head of you standing by a river with your back to the camera to get one of those pictures. I then imagined someone walking by and seeing you doing that. Awkward...

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  14. that sweater is gorgeous. all these men in my life, and no one likes sweaters. :( that hasn't stopped me from adding them to my queue however...

    hasn't the weather been fairly lovely lately? we are supposed to get up into the 40s this weekend, and the lake has been so blue the past few days, instead of its typical dreary winter grey.

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  15. Oooh... my favorite color of blue! I think the sweater is fantastic, and your knitting looks impeccable. Wowza.

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  16. No wonder you are so happy with it - it is absolutely fantastic! Looks great on you, and at least from the view over here here, the technical aspects are perfect!

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  17. That is one wonderful sweater and a great accomplishment! It looks fabulous on you.

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  18. DAmn!!!!! I love that!

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  19. I swear you get cuter every time you post. That sweater is fantastic. I want one. (That is a brilliant idea about the birds - I have the Sibley guide but I swear there are just too many choices and I can never narrow it down. I'm going to have to find a good one for Arizona. This time of year the migrants are going through my yard like crazy!)

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  20. It's perfect! You did a wonderful job and should be so proud of yourself! The photos aren't bad, either.

    Congratulations on the bird sightings!

    xo

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  21. 1) the sweater is gorgeous and looks great on you
    2) sending love right back to the river
    3) top of heads are vastly over rated, haven't found a use for mine yet

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  22. Great sweater! I think your looks better than theirs (in the link you provided)

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  23. Thank you, Fox River, I am indeed feeling the love.

    I love that sweater. It is so gnarly. I also love your framing work, especially in the first picture, haha.... You're lucky that you have a camera with a timer. I asked a total stranger to take my picture on the train recently. Strangely, I felt less strange after that.

    Back to the sweater...I really do love that sweater, now that I see it better--so much that I am tempted to try it. Is it all in French?

    This is a really enjoyable photo shoot, all around, head-chopping and all.

    P.S. Oh darn, I just noticed Five Ferns' post. I could have saved my virtual breath and said "ditto that." While I'm at it, I could echo Kenny's self-expression.

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  24. Great knit, handsome sweater, amazing fit, and I love the colour. When I see guys in sweaters like that I just want to hug them!

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  25. Lovely work. Is 9 months a long time for a UFO to hang around?(she says hiding the perpetual UFO angora cardigan further behind the stash boxes).

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  26. Love the sense of color and it goes so well with the colors of the river!

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  27. love, love LOVE the sweater!!

    The Sandhill Cranes are back!! WOOT!

    Buffleheads??<<<<<<<<<<runs to get field guide..brb. ;)

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  28. Love love love that sweater! Well done!

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  29. Great sweater. My husband grew up in the Fox River Valley (yes, he does talk wierd) I'll have to show him the Fox River love.

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