Chevron Cardigan, Finally.

It's been done for a while now! Long enough to stain a shirt!

Am I even still knitting? Is that a thing?

This took way too long. Even longer to get pictures done.

The button bands have been done for a while and were just waiting to be soaked and blocked to length, before being sewn onto the fronts (see more below), and the neckline (picked up and knitted up) took all of maybe an hour, and that was with 3 failed impromptu attempts. But I finally hunkered down and did the whole sewing of the button bands to the fronts in a day, as well as improvising the neckline because I had run out of buttons and couldn't just knit it straight up.

Perfect fit. Except the arms could have maybe 1-2" more ease.

It's a hot pink-verging-on-red cardigan/bomber jacket-cardigan thing, and I think it will fit very well into my wardrobe (or any wardrobe, really, because this colour would likely go with precisely nothing in particular). I love it. But there are a couple of things I already want to change:

1. WHY DOES THE PATTERN HAVE NO POCKETS? And why did I not think to add them along the way? I realized this little dilemma after I had sewn the body together & tried the thing on to make sure it fit the way I wanted it to - which it did - only to reach down... and find that there was nowhere to place my hands. I guess I'll have to awkwardly hold them beside my body now like a regular person and try not to fidget all day long. So here's my advice to you, if you're considering making this cardigan: add pockets. I would probably make slanted pockets, but that doesn't seem like such a great option right now because it would interfere with the chevron pattern, so maybe even just vertical slit pockets 1/4 of the way into the fronts from the side seams. As it stands, I might just steek pockets into the fronts.
2. For the button bands, I would definitely have just cast on those stitches at the bottom of the fronts & put those stitches on hold. There's really no advantage that I can see with sewing completely separate bands onto the fronts.
3. I might even go so far as to say don't bind off the button bands at the top, instead knitting across while simultaneously picking up the neckband stitches. That way you'll get a smooth transition into the neckband. As it was, I had cut the yarn, so I ended up picking up half the stitches of the button bands, every stitch at the front neck & back neck until the curve started, where I picked up 3/4 of the stitches. Also, along the back, where the shoulder seams are, I only picked up 2 stitches for the first & last 4 bind off stitches. Then 1x1 ribbing up approximately 12 rows, complete with BO 1 at front edges 6 rows before the end, BO 1 & dec. 1 at each front edge, then BO 3 sts, then the final row was just BO all sts. That gave me the curved top of the neckband.

Dark spot of shame: remember to remove your buttons before long soaks!

So in addition to stashbusting this madtosh dk (67g remain), I also stashbusted with the buttons! (Obvs. Just look at how I had to alternate.) I was waffling between these and wooden buttons, but because it turned out more of a cardigan than a coat/jacket, alternating between these two types won out. And as you can see, I clearly ran out and had to use another one that's gold/black and fit in well enough with these two other ones. I think it turned out pretty well!

And of course, my previous rant about this madtosh bleeding scenario. The black that bled out of the buttons seems like it's here to stay. And I'm still not sure whether I can wear this with anything light in colour. Or anything that is any other colour. Which is a pity, because this would look amazing with white.

Reading & Watching (February through April)

I've been neglecting this space for a bit for everything (that chevron cardigan still doesn't have any completed pictures), but before I start losing track of all these pages in my notebook, here's my reading & watching (movies) list from February to now.

February

1. Henry IV & V (Hollow Crown BBC series)
2. What Good are the Arts? by John Carey
3. The Mating Mind by Geoffrey Miller
4. The Outsider by Albert Camus
• Why did it take me so long to start in on Camus? I mean, I've read the Myth of Sisyphus & other essays, but his novels/novellas!
5. Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs by Lisa Randall
6. Darwin's Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution by Rebecca Stott

March

1. Vlad the Impaler by M.J. Trow
• I really wish this were a bit more about historical Vlad than about the history of vampires in literature & film, but alas. Perhaps there really is too little known about the historical Vlad?
2. The Savage God: A Study of Suicide by Al Alvarez
• Yes. I enjoyed this immensely and would recommend it to just about anyone. That being said, it only covers the Western world, and I'm sure it's not totally comprehensive, but still really interesting in terms of seeing how views on suicide have changed and why these shifts may have occurred.
3. The Fall by Camus
4. Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut
• Same for Vonnegut. Loved the graph on Kafka. Sometimes it felt like he was trying too hard to be funny, but I suppose that's his style. Having read this makes me want to read his novels though, so those are now higher on the list than they were previously.
5. Banjo of Destiny by Cary Fagan
• Danny, Who Fell Down a Hole, was also on the list of to-read, but didn't happen. Banjo of Destiny was surprisingly enjoyable (considering it's a children's book)! The straightforwardness and simplicity of the plot was a little irritating, but I suppose I can't expect too much complexity for the targeted age group, and it even made a jab at psychoanalysis. Loved it.
6. The Educated Imagination by Northrop Frye
• This was a re-read. Still glad my English teacher got us to read it early on in grade 10.
7. So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
8. Reasons of Love by Harry G. Frankfurt
9. On Truth by Harry G. Frankfurt
10. On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt
• Another re-read, because I recommended these and wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about.
11. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
• It's been a long long while since I've read a YA book, but I'm glad I did! Burned through it within a day.
12. The Thing (2011)
• Couldn't for the life of me get my hands on a version of The Thing by John Carpenter. Got this one by accident.
13. Frank (2014)
• YES.

April (the month of mostly movies)

1. The Master (2012)
2. A Wolf at the Door (2013)
• Whoa.
3. Death of a Cyclist (1955)
• I wasn't sure until the moment she decided what to do what she was going to choose. To an extent, I did know, because of course it had to be that way, but there was a part of me that really sincerely hoped otherwise. And then the sort of bright look toward the future, because the cyclist went to get help at the end.
4. The Sunset Limited (2011)
5. The Big Lebowski (1998)
6. Inherent Vice (2014)
• Everything was pulled off so very well. All the connections. I mean, a bit simple in terms of how they presented it all to the viewer, but at the same time, the viewer would have been completely lost if they hadn't filtered it down to the most important information and made sure to emphasize the connecting points/names.
7. Her (2013)
• Incredibly beautiful. The entire movie: visuals, soundtrack, the plot.
8. Stalker (1979)
9. The Bear by Claire Cameron
• Had my doubts at first because of the POV, and the lack of anything concrete in terms of the bear itself, but I suppose the overarching presence of the bear sufficed and the novel didn't need the bear to actually reappear at all. Whether it was a dream or not where it did reappear, is another issue. Also, you're constantly thinking about whether Anna is a reliable narrator of events, and how much she actually did remember when she says that she remembers everything that happened.
10. Octopus! The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea by Katherine Harmon Courage
• I gave up on reading the other book on octopuses because of the way it was written. I picked up this one instead, which was well-written and engaging, but touched on the surface only of all the information that could've been passed on. I really wish these two books could have been put together into one, so that people interested in reading about octopuses wouldn't have to deal with horrible formatting and awkward writing in the former, and an insufficiently sated curiosity in the latter.

Still making my way slowly through these ones:

1. Plato's Republic has taken a backseat, unfortunately.
2. The Fruit, the Tree, and the Serpent by Lynne Isbell
3. Dostoevsky's Demons is still unfinished

And made a trip to Doug Miller's Bookstore, which is a real gem that I hope to visit again another day, and came out with another stack of books, so this will be a very busy summer.

A Little Too Free-Spirited

You can just throw it over your shoulders and it'll still land more or less evenly over them!

Another test knit for the lovely Nadia Crétin-Léchenne: I chose to knit Free Spirit out of the Shawls Junkie collection. And apologies in advance for the lighting: I completed everything very last minute due to school & applications for calls. But a huge thank you to my mom, who took the photos!

Double wedge by mistake... but I kind of like it.

Unfortunately, I made it a little too free-spiritedly, first knitting the reconnecting stripes section wrong (see the first two triangle sections, which look a bit thinner because I didn't knit to the correct part), then knitting a double-wedge section into one!

In full. Including the thinner stripes.

Still, the patten was easy to follow (despite my own carelessness), and it had enough interesting parts that kept you on your feet (though I clearly sat right down). Once you reach the second or third wedge, you probably won't even need to refer back to the pattern anymore, which is actually probably why I messed up so maybe don't take my advice, and you'll be able to knit it while watching a movie or two.

Staying squarely on my shoulders. Love it.

The shape of the entire shawl sits very nicely on your shoulders and doesn't threaten at every move to shift and fall off your person, which is quite nice also.

Which is all to say, go make your own Free Spirit! Perhaps not in quite as free-spirited a fashion as I did, taking liberties all along the way to make little mistakes here and there, or perhaps so. I'm not too miffed about the double-wedge, to be honest, and I'm mighty pleased that I've completely used up the Riverside Studio singles (doubled up to approximate pattern weight), as well as started in on the Spellbound (in Throne), along with biting into the Estelle Super Alpaca that I've had in my stash since the very very beginning. Not bad!

workschoolartworkschoolart

The back of the quilt looks so very calming from this angle

It's been a very busy past couple of weeks right now, and while it's slowed down a little, there's still the undergraduate thesis looming over my head that I need to have done in order to actually graduate. But a couple of exciting things happening/happened:

• I got a position I applied for at the library I currently work at! This is very exciting for me - I've been working at the library for years, but now that this arc of schooling is coming to a close (if all goes well and that thesis writes itself, of course! what do you mean, theses don't write themselves?), I finally applied for the position. While it's also rather bittersweet (changes are underfoot), I am very happy about this step for me! Especially since I will be staying at the current location, which means I get to stay with a group I love.

• I am currently part of a Juried BFA show at Gallery 1313, Queen St. W., Toronto! From what I understand, all of the participants are graduating students. The reception is this Saturday, March 19, from 3-6. This was very last minute (I only found out I was going to be in it last Wednesday), so I haven't had a chance to go see it myself just yet. This was a very pleasant surprise though, since I had been working on my own things not really too much a part of the print studio per se. (I was the one-student textile department beginning and probably ending with me once I graduate. That being said, I incorporated my work into my print practice to work alongside it, so I was technically still in the print studio...) My quilt & the accompanying book, The Plainest Weave, are currently in the show.
• In addition to #2, I am also very proud to have been chosen to be a part of the Toronto Printmaking Coalition Exchange Print! More details on that later, but the exhibition of all the exchange prints will take place June 8 - July 3 @ Graven Feather, Toronto. I am happy to say that I am done my part for that, and while there was a hiccup or two along the way (as with much of print, really), I'm incredibly pleased with how they turned out. They came out better than the vision I had in my head when I started - love when that happens. I still have to deliver them to the organizers, but they're almost out of my hands now, hurrah!
• More applications are due soon that I have to work on! 2 that I can think of right now, but that's not counting all the applications for gallery space & a grant that I've already sent out, in addition to the one for the job posting above (nevermind the fact that I also went for the interview).
• THESIS. That's coming up. And while I have everything I need to write it up, there remains the fact that I have to actually do it. So I've been summarizing all the articles all over again, because I've forgotten much of what I read & wrote last semester when we had to submit proposals, and piecing things together. I think I'm at a good place right now for that though. And I do so want to graduate. I'm pretty done for now. A master's would be great... in a year or maybe three.

Most of this happened last week. Add a reception into that also. And the interview for the job. And Open House preparations for the Visual Arts department at York. It's been a long long week. It's been real fun, but I'm glad it's done with, and that most things are settled now.

In other news, I'm looking at my reading list this month, which has not flagged from January & Feburary (forthcoming). This is great! And we're only just 2/3 of the way through the month, which means there's time yet to be going through the pile of borrowed items and try to return some.

Guess what? I did end up needing that lifeline!

Also! After a couple of false starts, I've gotten past one section of my scarlet billows dress and started in on the next yarn. I'm really hoping once it's done it'll transition smoothly from one to the other, especially since I've only seen it in one lighting condition... I did end up needing to use the lifeline I cast through that increase row, which made it all worth it. And the chevron cardigan is done, done, and done! I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I have worn it out and about and gotten compliments, and I like the way it looks, but it's in sore need of some pockets. I'll be dedicating an entire post to that hopefully soon, but just a little sneak peak (in words): madtosh, while I love working with you, apart from the fact that you're superwash and I now have my reservations about that, I'd really appreciate it if you STOPPED BLEEDING ALL OVER MY OTHER CLOTHES. Unfortunately (fortunately?) it really only bleeds where there's also moisture, which means wearing it on a warm day + long day = can't take off the cardigan cause it's a 'lil obvious. I've tried soaking it in some vinegar & a couple more soaks to get rid of excess dye, and it's blocking out again now, so we'll see. I did soak it too long and the black buttons started to bleed onto the surrounding yarn, but hopefully it won't be too obvious. Madtosh. Whatever am I going to do about you?

Collections

Just a list of the collections that have been popping up everywhere as of late! And somehow, they're all things I like? So here they are, in no particular order.

1. Interpretations Vol.3 (Joji & Veera) - almost everything.
2. Piper 2016 (Quince & Co.) - laceweight! garments! lace! What more need I say?
3. Indulgent Dreams (Hanna Maciejewska) - I have Deep Feelings about this one.
4. Shibui SS16 - just steal my heart, Shibui. As always.
5. Contrarian Shawls 2 (Amy Gunderson) - whoa.
6. Bundled in Brioche (Stephen West) - This is really exciting! West has such masterful control over colour & the incorporation of all sorts of diverse elements into his designs, in such a way that nothing ever looks boring, so I'm really looking forward to what else is in the collection!
7. The Colorblock Collection (Knit Picks) - Electric.
8. Celtic Journey (Knit Picks) - again, a couple of patterns in here that I like, e.g. Rhiannon and if I were a stole knitter, the Fildais Stole
9. 6 Bits Storybooks: DWELL - I'm not huge on knitting accessories, but there is a sweater in this collection, and I love it!
10. AUTUMN Collection 5 (Marie Wallin) - Aspen! Carmine! Sapphire! (Those lace "edges" are really nice.) Sorrel! Colourwork & cables & beautiful colour palettes. That's my jam. Not that I do much colourwork (or cables, really), but I do appreciate me some of that.

And then, on a slightly unrelated, but not really because still a new collection, note, check out the papercut collective's new Ahoy! collection of sewing patterns. I finally took the plunge and ordered the Moana dress pattern, although I was also very tempted to get an Adrift, just for that skirt variation. (ETA: Did end up getting Adrift also. That skirt. It's the first textile-related purchase this year, don't judge!) Use code AHOYPAPERCUT for a 15% discount till midnight Sunday in New Zealand. Did I mention free shipping worldwide?

Jane & co.

Hand-dyed, hand-woven, hand-sewn

Unfortunately not the best photo, but as I don't have access currently to a lighting studio, this will have to do. This is the project I had been working on all of last semester: a hand-dyed, hand-woven, and hand-sewn quilt! It was my first time quilting anything at all, so of course I had to go all out and do it as much from scratch as I could, right? Stitching together all the layers of the quilt sandwich took me a good 3 nights of hand-sewing, stitch by painful stitch (I didn't have a thimble the first night and drew blood after using my finger to redirect the needle upwards enough times), as I found out that quite unexpectedly - although I should have foreseen it - the quilt sandwich was too thick to go through the sewing machine, for one, and, when I tried, it got stuck and threatened to destroy the quilt blocks!

I'm not sure exactly how much yarn I used for this, but I'd hazard a rough estimate at approximately 7000 yds of laceweight & 2000 yds of fingering weight for all the fabric I wove up. Granted, there was a small pile of scraps at the end that were either too small to use, or that I didn't have to use since the block was already large enough. The centre of each block was woven in BFL using my Coccodrillo, and the surrounding strips were woven on Sandy using superwash merino. All the yarn save the undyed parts were dyed using Greener Shades dyes. All the structures required only 2 shafts, and there are 3 blocks of each weave structure in the quilt. It took me a good month or two to finish this in its entirety.

I made the quilt to accompany a book - The Plainest Weave - I made for the same project. I had had the idea since the start of the term, but just writing and rewriting the draft took a while, and I was making changes even as I was printing the first side of the pages.

Once I get better pictures of everything (probably closer to March, when we have our department's Open House and there's better lighting), I will be updating my website. And in the meantime, if anyone is interested in purchasing this & the accompanying book, feel free to send me a message, the only caveat being that I still need everything until March at least.

January Reads

Just a list of my January reading. I've finally been getting back into reading as of late (the start of the school term in September put a hamper on my initial motivation last summer), so I figured I should keep a list and see whether Goodreads won't give me any suggestions as to what I might like after I input 20 books. Also, seeing a list of everything makes it look like I've been doing something (because I overdid it with knitting a couple of days ago, and my thesis is currently going nowhere if only because we need to wait on something to continue it).

*Note on WorldCat: I do not see the public libraries closest to me even though I got most of these books from those libraries (I can only assume the system is not connected to WorldCat), so before going to purchase the books (which, feel free - I will enable whatever book-purchasing endeavours anyone might be entertaining), search it up on your local library catalogue. Libraries - both public & academic - are a great resource that I cannot recommend enough! All the luckier are you who have access to academic libraries (and access also to academic journal directories/search engines)!

*ETA: Also watched Mustang & Richard II from the Hollow Crown Series (borrowed also from my public library).
*ETA also: forgot about Zoobiquity by Barbara Horowitz (Amazon | WorldCat). I believe this was the first book of the year I read. I gave it a 3/5, but only because I can't give half stars on Goodreads, else it would be 3.5. Interesting, and I think it set me up for reading Your Inner Fish, in a sense.

1. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S.Eliot (Amazon | WorldCat)
• Delightful, as expected! The cover told me that much, and T.S.Eliot, of course. I was very tempted while reading to make a children's program with these little poems as the reading material, until I ran into terms like Chink, which quickly made me rethink that plan (not that I have any semblance of control over the programs anyway). It was published 1939, so I suppose it wasn't much of an issue then. Or so I hope, really.
2. Snobbery by Joseph Epstein (Amazon | WorldCat)
• This was actually Plan B for me. I couldn't find another book (called Snobs) in the catalogue of my public library, so I settled for Snobbery, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was very entertaining, and the style of writing was very engaging. I wonder if it's possible, really, to not be a snob at all (and not be a snob in the sense of snobbishly avoiding snobbishness), even if one were not to be given money, a good upbringing, etc. that Epstein notes. This is the sort of book I might purchase if I ran into it in a second-hand book store.
3. Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit (Amazon | WorldCat)
• Perhaps I had too high hopes for this, but I was left a little wanting when I had finished reading this collection of essays. I agree with what Solnit has to say, and it brought up issues I hadn't even thought to question before (e.g. notices telling female students to be careful & not wander campuses late at night, but not telling males to stay indoors, and how that in itself is problematic), but overall, it was not as revelatory as I wanted it to be. It's a good book, but my expectations made it into an ok read.
4. Don't Get Too Comfortable by David Rakoff (Amazon | WorldCat)
• While I found it an enjoyable enough read, sometimes I couldn't help but feel like the tone of writing was a bit too self-conscious at times. In a way that made it seem as though it wasn't quite on purpose, but kind of was, and tried a little too hard? And as a collection, I personally didn't follow from one essay to another as well as maybe I expected to.
5. The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan (Amazon | WorldCat)
• Relateable, but not life-changing for me. (I'm getting this feeling my expectations are set way too high.) I did enjoy Keegan's style of writing very much, especially in her fiction pieces. At first I wasn't sure whether I was reading fiction or non-fiction even though the section had a page that introduced all the fiction with a "Fiction" page, and tried to integrate all these names and lovers and information into one universe, which didn't quite work. Until I reached the non-fiction section and realized why it didn't work. Oops.
6. The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less by Barry Schwartz (Amazon | WorldCat)
• You know when you read something like The Art of War and everything seems so obvious you're wondering why anyone felt the need to write it down? This was kind of like that for me, except I valued reading The Art of War more (and would do so again). It was everything I expected it to be, covering the topics I expected it to cover, and providing the sort of suggestions I expected it to cover. Looking at the call number, it was also the first self-help book I've read (that I know of).
7. Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin (Amazon | WorldCat)
• I read it in a day. Well-written, punny section titles, and easy to understand. I never really questioned that there might be intermediary organisms and that they should fit into the theoretical framework so perfectly that it would seem the theory was pretty solid, but I still enjoyed reading this very much. The examples Shubin gives are not limited to fish (don't let the title mislead you!), and I am left wanting to read more on the topic, more in-depth. Shubin also included a recommended reading list at the end of the book (the notes section, I believe), which I skipped since I had a list of other books I had already borrowed, but which I imagine would satisfy my desire to continue reading on the topic had I pursued that line of action. I would recommend this to people.

And, in the same fashion as my knitting WIPs - why do I feel the need to start everything at once, all the time? - my in-progress reading list:

1. Demons by Dostoevsky (Amazon | WorldCat)
2. The Savage God: A Study of Suicide by Alvarez (Amazon | WorldCat)
3. The Mating Mind by Geoffrey Miller (Amazon | WorldCat)
4. The Outsider by Camus (Amazon | WorldCat)