drew-o-rama

YES, I'M STILL HERE

No, I haven't been abducted by aliens. I have been really busy lately and haven't had much time for knitting. Instead of showing some random piece of knitting on needles, I have decided to jump onto the "100 things about me" bandwagon. I'm not going to number the list, so here are some random facts about your's truly. Enjoy.

- I started knitting in May 2003. I was really nervous and my gauge was too tight. I switched to crochet.

- When I got bored with crochet, I went back to knitting.

- My mom is a knitter. She started knitting in 1965. At the time, my parents lived in New Mexico at a hospital on a Navajo reservation. One of the nurses taught her.

- My mom is left-handed but knits right-handed because the nurse didn't know how to knit left-handed.

- I have a vague memory of my mom teaching me how to knit when I was maybe 10. I remember using big wooden needles and red yarn.

- I was very crafty when I was younger. I loved origami. My mom used this to her advantage and made me do all her gift wrapping.

- My mom let me decorate the entire house for Christmas when I was 17 and 18. I made a lot of the ornaments/decorations based on jewel tones and suns, moons and stars. It was fabulous!

- I am a graphic designer. I work at Xavier University.

- The design program I was in alternated quarters of school and paid internships. I interned in Cincinnati, Columbus, San Francisco, Boston and London.

- I lived in an area of London called Shepherd's Bush. I had 7 roommates- 3 Americans, 3 Canadians and 1 Aussie.

- I have been to every London Underground station in zones 1 and 2.

- I buy so many clothes when I am in Europe that on any given day I have at least one article of clothing on that I bought there. THANK YOU H&M (we don't have them in the Mid-west.)

- My favorite thing to eat in Paris is a chèvre chaud salad (hot goat cheese.) YUM!

- I love tea and hot chocolate (mmm, Mexican hot chocolate.) I hate coffee. Although, I don't mind coffee flavored candy and ice cream.

- I weigh 45 pounds more now than when I was 18.

WHAT SORT OF A NAME IS 'MOLL'?

Hey, look! It's a new project...

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This is the beginning of Moll from the Rowan Cork Collection book. I'm knitting if for my friend Gillian. It's my first cabled piece and I'm excited about it. So far it's going pretty well. Although, Friday night I noticed a mistake a few rows back and I have not touched it since. That's frustrating because this is the second time I started.

click for larger view

By the way, have any of you ever noticed how horribly knitted this garment is in the Rowan pattern book? There are gaping holes all over.  It's so surprising that they would even allow mistakes like that to make it into their publication.

Anyway, I also completed this cool little dishcloth.

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It was made using Rowan Denim. Once I finished it I used a bleach pen to "write". This is actually a test swatch for a later project that I am thinking of knitting. I am really pleased with the results.

MAY I HAVE THE ENVELOPE, PLEASE?

Before we open the envelope and find out who won the MAN-ALONG, here is my finished Skull Sweater...

Click image to enlarge | There's also a smiling shot

Ok, so it's not a skull sweater, and it fits me much better than it fits Dan. But, it's still a finished sweater. Here's the low down... When I got to the intarsia skull I was having some trouble, so I kept putting if off, telling myself I would do it over the Holidays when my mom had a chance to help me. She did help me, but I just had no interest. I wanted to fulfill my goal of introducing myself to intarsia, so I included the small, floating strip of white on the chest.

As for the sweater not fitting Dan- I have no idea why it doesn't. I used the yarn the pattern specified and I checked my gauge. I did like knitting this raglan sweater. I would make it again, and I think I will. I loved how easy it was to sew the pieces together- all straight lines!

Back to the MAN-ALONG... It was very difficult choosing a winner. The two I narrowed it down to both designed their sweaters. It came down to technical achievement. The winner of the MAN-ALONG is... April.

click image to enlarge | Here's another view of the sweater

I Just love this sweater. April is related to Elvis Presley; her inspiration for this pattern was a sweater Elvis wore in Jailhouse Rock. Maybe if we all ask really nicely, she will write down the pattern for all of us. 

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April receives a copy of the book Men in Knits, #10 ebony needles and silk needle bag both from Lantern Moon.

And, the winner of the hottest model portion of the MAN-ALONG is... Debbie's husband.

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Dan was very adamant about this one. I had a few favorites, but in the end, Dan's argument won (he claims he would try to buy this guy a drink if he saw him in a bar). The winner receives a manly gift certificate to Home Depot or Lowe's (his choice).

Thanks everybody for a great knit-along. I thought that it went very well. I think we should do this again next autumn. Of course, with some sort of twist. MUUUHHHHHAAAAAWWWWWWW.

And now back to our regularly scheduled knitting...

HOT MEN IN DA HOOOOUUUUSSE!

And here are the 15 contestants for the first ever knit-o-rama MAN-ALONG. I'll let you feast your eyes on all the eye candy first, and then talk your ears off after wards. (click on the thumbnails to enlarge photos)

 

	Adrian April Ariane       Cara Caroline Cece       Cindy Debbie Jenn       Judy Kate Lauren       Maggie Nancy Natalie

Everybody did a great job. I am really impressed with the quality of work. Also, some of you cranked out your sweaters like there was no tomorrow. I like all the cables that I see (my next project has cables). I love Ariane's striped goodness as well as Nancy's thick and thin variation. Y'all putting in a lot of zippers, too. Cece's felted vest is totally amazing- I would be a nervous wreck felting anything I was going to wear.

I will be debuting my skull sweater this weekend. Well, it's not actually a skull sweater anymore, and it's not actually big enough to fit Dan. Um, more on that later...

As far as the winners- they will be announced this weekend. I have a pretty good idea who is going to win each award, but I am going to let it simmer for a few more days.

There is a slight possibility that y'all could sway my decision if you leave enough comments about your faves...

MAN-ALONG IS OFFICIALLY OVER!

Ok kids, put down your needles, put that sweater on your favorite man, shoot some sexy photos and then email them to me... The MAN-ALONG is officially OVER. I have the following participants listed as finished:

Adrian
April
Becky
Cara
Cece
Cindy
Debbie
Jenn
Judy
Kate
Lauren
Maggie
Mélanie
Nancy
Natalie
Wendy

The names in red indicate those who have emailed me photos. If you are not listed as finished and/or you haven't sent in your photo you need to ASAP. Those of you who haven't finished and plan to, still send me your photo as I will post them in the future.

We will annouce the winner of the MAN-ALONG this week as well as the winner of the hottest guy/model contest. The winners will receive nifty prizes.

SEND IN THOSE PHOTOS!