« The Unforeseen Advantages of Matrimony | Main | Like Mother, Like Daughter »

I really do let the other parts of this website stagnate sometimes -- today I posted the first new thing to DIY since June, which is a scarf that I finished before the academic year even began. It's been sitting in a drawer until now, because sometimes I seriously am that lazy. Apart from that, I should have some projects finished and ready to go soon enough -- I just don't have a lot of time to knit during the semester, and for whatever reason my finished objects tend to come in waves.

There is one project not on there, though, and too humbling to formally document. It is a completely finished Orangina top that will sit in the knitting cabinet until I gain the emotional distance to rip it all out to reclaim the yarn. See, I have nothing against the pattern for this garment. It's clearly written, and actually really easy. But, as I discovered after I ordered the yarn and began the thing during July of 2005, what I didn't factor into the equation is that I really hate lace. Can't stand the stuff. Who knew? While I can make cabled sweaters and semi-elaborate socks without stretching my brain, keeping track of the gaps and spaces in a lacy garment drives me insane. I had to completely scrap and re-start the front of the thing three separate times because of mistakes, and then ended up running pieces of embroidery floss through the stitches of every 4th row so, when I inevitably dropped a stitch somewhere and couldn't figure out how or why, my progress wasn't completely undone. As it turns out, though, I'm also incapable of running a piece of embroidery floss through all of the stitches on a needle. So, it was with much swearing and gritting of teeth that I determined that I would finish the damn thing, which I finally did -- 13 months later, this August.

After seaming it up vengefully, I tried it on over a tank, to discover that it fits terribly. Not only is it too big circumferentially, but the ribbing at the bottom isn't elastic enough to pull it in (so it hangs, in true boxy fashion, straight down from the shoulders), and it's way too short. Like, not even clearing the navel short. It looks like Like a Virgin-era Madonna seen through the filter of an incompetent home knitter. It's horrifyingly unflattering and generally bad, and doubly so when you realize that I spent over a year creating it and never bothered to think about the size.

So. That's the other reason why there haven't been many DIY updates.

That's interesting about the lace. Personally, I love it. But then when it comes to socks... well, let's just say I started my first pair in February and I have yet to finish them. Everyone has their own thing.