SuperEggplant

So my mother is going to Japan again in November, and she hinted that she would like a pair of legwarmers to wear on the plane (she gets cold easily). I used some yarn left over from the bpt sweater and used the Leg-O-Chic Legwarmers pattern from Bonne Marie. I made some slight modifications to accommodate for our stunted leg length. They are a bit snug on me because I have monster-sized calves:

Tell your children: giant calves and legwarmers don’t mix! Actually, I thought about elongating the photo so as not to frighten too many of you, but eh, I don’t really know much about photoshop, and Halloween is coming, so a little scare isn’t so bad.
Am I the only person who believes the writers of the new television series Lost must have been inspired by Yann Martel’s Life of Pi?

Hey, so some of you asked about pattern information for Gash. When you buy yarn for a sweater from Artfibers, they offer you a free custom pattern! To your specifications and gauge! I just told them what sort of style I wanted, and they plugged in my size and gauge, and out popped a pattern. Here’s the title of the pattern, verbatim:
“Regular length Fitted Waist Cardigan with Moss St Band and None front bands
Set-in shoulder with 3/4 length Moderate Taper sleeves with Moss St Band
Round (crew) front neck and Shallow back neck with Crochet Edge collar”
So, if you buy the yarn and want the same style, ask for that title, and they can probably work one up for you! They give you options for the front edges of the cardigan and neckline. I did moss stitch for the front bands and two rows of single crochet for the neckline. If you would like more details, or if you contact Artfibers and they need more info, let me know!

I spent most of the weekend finishing up Gash, the little cardie made of Kyoto, the silk/mohair blend I got at ArtFibers in San Francisco. I thought I was seaming pretty quickly, but before I knew it, I had sat through two DVDs (I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, the documentary about Wilco, and this other documentary by Wim Wenders about the Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto). So, either I was abducted by aliens or sent into some time warp, or I am a slow seamer. It took me then another day to figure out an appropriate closure apparatus for the sweater. I tried making a frog closure, but it looked a little mangled and sad, so I decided to crochet a ball button. The problem is, I can’t really crochet! I can do a simple edging, yes, but when it comes to crochet directions, I just get all confused and don’t know my single crochets from my slip stitches. Finally I made some sort of ball, so then I had to make the loop, which took about a million tries and caused me to sweat and reach for the ibuprofen. Here’s the end result:

I’m pretty happy with it. I was suspicious of the loose gauge, but I think it is appropriate for this yarn and style of sweater. It’s a girlie fit, so I have to wear a smallish top underneath it. You can’t really tell, but this Kyoto yarn just glows. It is also so, so soft. This sweater took just 5 balls of yarn!