Saturday, March 18, 2006

My favorite white shirt and other things

Have you ever had a piece of clothing that looked fab on and you wore it until it was worn to bits and couldn't be worn anymore? I had a white shirt like that. It was great. I was 22 years old and single. That shirt looked hot! Hell, I looked hot when I wore it! It had a deep u neck and was made of some stretchy fitted material that hugged my body appropriately. Not too tight; not too loose. I felt like Goldilocks. It was just right. That shirt is long gone now. I have no idea when I finally tossed it. Marriage and two kids later, I'd almost forgotten about it until last night. Last night, I joined project spectrum. Since I'd committed to knitting two tops already with the KAL for the sexy knitters club, I really wanted to use project spectrum to expand myself artistically. That in mind, I pulled out my sketch pad and colored pencils. I sketched up several different designs for tops to knit or crochet. The first was in pink, which is the color for March. (I'll be taking a photo of something red (also for March) in honor of my late grandfather who loved to take photos.) The second was in blue because , hey, I like blue. That's when I got to thinking about that amazing top and how cool it would be to knit one up for myself. Keep in mind the original was a store bought machine knit spandexy blend in an impossibly small gauge. Still, I thought, why not pay homage to it and knit up something in a similar profile that makes me look and feel amazing? Why not? I've toyed with the idea of designing my own knits before but have never pursued it. Well, today is the day I put pen to paper, take some measurements and begin the rough draft of a pattern. I can't promise I'll finish it soon but my goal is to get the top done by the time summer is upon us. I'll likely source the yarn next month so this is the month to do the math. I'm pretty excited about it! In the meantime, I'm finishing up my lace shawl for the class I took a Needlecraft University (needlecraftuniversity.com). It's been slow going but I'm taking my time too. I'll post an in-progress pic later. I've just started on some socks for the two up at a time on circs pattern I got from knitpicks. I needed a quick project to work along with the lace to satisfy my impatient side. Today we're trekking to the Barnes and Nobles in Waco. I really wish we had one here but it's only 40 minutes away so I guess it could be worse. So far, I'm really enjoying teaching cycle class. I did a 70's mix (thanks to Stephanie at Nakedie knits on blogger for the cd ideas) that really went over well. I plan to do a couple more new cd's soon. Meanwhile, I'm looking for ideas to expand my workout in ways that will be fun. I've layed off the weight training so I know I need to pick that up at least twice a week soon. Maybe I'll devise some type of obstacle course type drills. Something dynamic and fun to do. Till then, I've got a load of knitting and cycling to do. Funny, this is something I enjoy even though I get paid for none of it. Knitting is just fun and I volunteer my time for the cycle class. It's at the gym on post and the classes are for soldiers and their dependents. I don't remember getting this much satisfaction from work I got paid a lot of money to do. You know, I'm just glad I'm able to do my bliss. How many people can say that?

1 comment:

MandellaUK said...

I think that recreating your favourite top is a good idea - or at least, paying it homage. I'm impressed by the fact that you're going to design something. I suppose I'm more of a technician than a creator, because I find design scary.

Have you got Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English book? If not, I can recommend it for ideas and info on how to do the technical stuff.