New Knit Stitch a Week: Ostrich Plume Stitch

Today I deviate slightly from my method to show you a little something I made with the Ostrich Plume stitch. It really messes with my mojo to deviate from my typical gray background with two swatches, but, I'll deal. :)

I used size 6 needles and a teal cotton yarn from my stash - you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

For some reason, I found this block VERY tricky to execute - there were only 4 rows to this pattern, but I guess they weren't predictable enough for me to memorize. The pattern is so lovely, but I kept messing it up and unraveling it.

This knit was that magical combination of tricky and boring - I had to focus completely, or I'd mess it up - but there was just enough repetition to be crashingly dull. I got about 60% finished, then I made a mistake, and could not for the life of me fix it. Also, it looked like I'd run out of yarn before I finished, so I grumpily scrapped it. At least I have this photo to remember it by, so it wasn't a total fail. :)

New Knit Stitch a Week: Diamond Honeycomb

I'm a fan of nice textured stitches and this one was fairly simple to do. My wool swatch (right) on size 6 needles curled a great deal. Blocking helped (those are the blocked swatches above) but the wool swatch still looks pretty curled, doesn't it?

Left: Using size 8 needles, I cast on 17 stitches in Teal acrylic thread from my stash
Right: Using size 6 needles I cast on 17 stitches in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Currant
Pattern found here: http://www.knittingstitchpatterns.com/2015/04/diamond-honeycomb.html

I'm fairly certain I messed something up in my "knit under loose strands" step on the teal swatch - see that long, loose looking portion on the left? I'd re-do that. Does anyone know any clear instructions on how to knit under loose strands? All I found were pictures that weren't super-helpful!

Here's a peek at the back (unblocked):


And here's the swatches before blocking:

My first sweater, part deux

I first started on a sweater quest about a year ago - but I was super-picky and indecisive about which pattern to go with. I started with a fabulous rainbow yarn, but I ended up combining so many different patterns that I just confused myself, and the half-knitted sweater is sitting sadly in my closet.

Enter, my first sweater, part deux...

I dug up some Red Heart Soft yarn from my stash (from a lovely batch I still have thanks to my crochet friend Linda - thank you again!) I still have the My First Sweater class to follow along on Craftsy, and I chose the Raglan Collared Cardigan pattern this time around. I'm knitting a size small which will hopefully fit - if not, I know a few skinny minnies who might get this for Christmas. :)

Stitching has gone fairly quickly - here is the back, all finished up:



I've also stitched through one half of the front, picture soon for that. So far I am loving the color: Really Red - and the yarn has a slightly chunky feel. I'm knitting on size 8 needles, which is also why it's going quickly.

Miss Korea was the drama on tap for this round of knitting, and my red sweater was a perfect (though unintentional) match to all the gorgeous reds that appear in the first 4 episodes.

I adore their use of color, and the beautiful way they repeat that red over and over again in this crowded nightclub scene:



The girl who plays Oh Ji-young, an elevator girl who decides to go for Miss Korea, is absolutely gorgeous. I adored the cuteness of her stewardess-like elevator uniform, and I also adored how tough she was..



And, of course, she is heartbreaking when she cries...


I loved the scene where she rescues her two co-workers from a party with her sleazy bosses, and replaces them with naked mannequins from their department store.. priceless.



There was something about the magical red of her lipstick, I found myself super-distracted by its prettiness every time it was on screen - it was like it was its own character... :)



There are other wonderful moments throughout this drama, like the mini romance of two side characters, which ultimately hinges on who is willing to cook for who:



Overall, it was a good watch, but much more male-centric than any drama I've seen yet. It had a slightly gritty feel, with the mob elements, and although Miss Korea is kind of the main character, I repeatedly got the sense that the story mainly belonged to the male characters. It seems more like the rare kind of drama a male audience would enjoy, so I'm really happy there were such strong female characters.

Back to sweater knitting!