The Making of a Queen

It's no longer an empty threat, my friends:  I have yarn, and I'm not afraid to use it.

What you see here is two sleeves (being worked together), which are the beginning of your long-awaited Queen Bee cardigan.  

Here's a profile shot, in which you can see one of the steeks, with a sleeve growing on either side of it.  Those who have made this sweater in the baby version (The Bees Knees) will notice that I have added a skep motif to the border.  That's because I decided that the original proportions of the sweater were perfect for a Smally to wear, which means they are not right for an adult.  I needed to make the scale more, well, Queenly.  Which feels right to me so far.

And why, you might ask, would I start with the sleeves?  Because I've knit this motif before, and I've used this yarn before, but this is the first time the two have really met.  It's actually my gauge swatch, in addition to  being my first pass at the newly-enhanced Bee border.  I wanted to make a swatch which stood some chance of becoming part of the sweater, and my steeked cardigans only contain 2 knitted pieces (that's right: a cardigan sweater made from 2 tubes: how sexy is that?).  So it was either the conjoined sleeve unit, which starts out with 132 sts, or the main body tube, which begins with 336.  Even I can figure out that kind of math.  Sleeves it is!

And of course you will want to know what yarn this is:  Blue Moon FIber Arts BFL Sport.  I'm using (clockwise, from top left) "Saffron Surprise", "Chestnutty", "Harriet", and "Mossay".  They are playing very well together so far.  I can't wait to see what happens next.

After a whole year of working on Top Secret book projects, I can't tell you what a relief it is to be able to openly tell you all about what I'm working on!  I also thought it might be fun for those of you who go on to make this design, to see what I was thinking as I worked on the original.  I don't know about you, but I always wonder "What were they thinking?" when I knit another designer's pattern.  At least in this one case, you'll know!

And speaking of what I'm thinking, here's a word on the sizing of this piece:  The nature of the big (30 sts!) motif repeat presents certain sizing constraints, but so far it looks like the sizes in the pattern will be something like (finished measurements)  40", 43", 47", and 50".  If the size you've been hoping to make falls outside that range (smaller or larger), drop me a line or post a comment, won't you?  This is your chance to help me get the size range right (if possible). 

Can you believe it?  I've been promising knitters that I would tackle this project for over two years, and it's finally happening!  Bust out the honey, my Queens.  It's gonna be SWEET.

Multiplied

When I passed the final deadline for my book, waaaaay back in November, I may have come a little bit unpinned.  All the stress from the book project culminated in a roiling thundercloud of pent-up knitting energy.  A cloud whose storm would just have to  blow itself out.  The deluge took a very strange form, and it's only now, after the last gust of the tempest has finally died away, that I can identify it for what it really was:

Hurricane Bunny Slipper:

Or, if not a real hurricane, at least a Tropical Depression:

I made 8 pairs of felted bunny slippers between Thanksgiving and New Year.  And there at the end, the gene pool started to mutate, because the last pair of bunnies actually came out chickens.  Scary.

I'm glad the slipper storm finally subsided, because the next evolutionary step from chickens would have been something really weird, like Ring-Tailed Lemurs, and nobody wants to see that.  Least of all me.

I never have fallen prey to this particular disease before: Potato Chip Knitting.  You know, where you keep telling yourself "just one more, and then I'll stop".  I have never wanted to make the same pattern more than once (heck, I'm lucky to get TWO sleeves, never mind a whole second sweater).  Usually, as soon as I'm finished with a project, I'm totally out of love with it.  In fact, it's usually kind of dead to me, and I have to put it where I can't see it for a while before I like it again.

Not so with the Bunnies.  I flatly could not get enough.  It was a full-on Bunny Binge.  So disturbing.

And then, as suddenly as it began, it was over.  I even took a few days off from knitting, which was very strange indeed, and actually caused my family some concern.  I read a book.  I went to a movie with Phillip, without any knitting in my purse (when he noticed this, he panicked a little bit - it was so cute).

And now I'm ready to do the next thing.  Which I am pleased to announce will be something you have all asked for.  A Lot.  I'll be blogging it as I go, and it will correspond to the Sweater Workshop ("Stranded with Mary") I'm teaching HERE, starting January 14 (Sign up!  Let's play with string!).

Happy New Year, Gentle Readers.  I'm pleased to be back from my trip down the rabbit hole.

Aftermath

At our house we use these fabric bags with ribbon ties instead of wrapping paper for Christmas.  Just like wrapping paper does, they end up in a pile on the floor after the frenzy of present-opening.  Bailey seized the opportunity.  I resisted the temptation to join him.

The Huff family attended 4 parties in three days this year; with both a brunch and a dinner on Boxing Day.  We are well and truly pooped.  And we all have food hangovers.  Phillip and I felt so debauched and gross after the 3rd party that we took a donation to the food bank in the hopes of restoring karmic balance.

Today I'm finishing the sample for our Mystery Knitalong.  And then, just because it's the ONLY thing I haven't indulged myself in during the last few days, I'm going to spin.  Just. Sit. And Spin. 

For those who went back to work today, I wish you a very quiet, and short week.  There's a special vibe around the workplace during the week between Christmas and New Year, and it's not altogether unpleasant; Half the world is on vacation and the other half is just phoning it in.  And for you who are on vacation, I send my hopes for a peaceful day of reflection.  And if you need it (like we do),  the antiacid of your choice.