Clear skies finally blew into Chicago this morning and we’re ready to take a break from the big Studio Chic re-org.

Time to take some pictures…

Our little turquoise CINNIE has been finished for a few days but we havent’ been able to get to it because of all the boxes in the way!

For all of you playing along: whoever told me I should keep most of my notebooks from college gets a kick in the pants! (Ooops. that would be me!)
 
Last night I went through a gazillion old binders full of negatives (yes! Black & White, etc) from ye olde college darkroom practice days. Stuff that seemed so wonderfully magically artistic, to my youthful eyes, in the cruel light of the now older future seem just rather, well, mundane.
 
Then, there were the journals from writing classes. Amazing how interesting things were in a tight co-centric way when I was a teen/young adult that now seem so, can I say, rather self-orbital and DRAMATIC.
 
Couple of really satisfying re-plays of boyfriend break-ups, though, that I’d completely forgotten! (Was in the habit of writing Letters I Never Sent…)

Well, here’s all the drama I need these days…

Pattern: Chic Knits Cinnie
Designer: Bonne Marie Burns
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold SILKY WOOL
Color: 09 Verdigris

This turned out just about how I wanted it – fits well – is lightweight and I think it will be just that added little layer that will make me a comfortable kitten at the summer TNNA show. Gone will be the days when an unwelcome blast of AC came through and shivered me timbers. ;p

I’m going to give it a test run this weekend when I go out to dinner with some friends – restaurants also have that characteristic –

One thing I might add: a piece of grosgrain ribbon along the hem area of the neckband (towards the waist).

Since the yarn used is so lightweight, I think a little stablization might make it ab fab rather than fly-away. Will just have to remember WHERE the heck I’ve re-org-ed my Notions…

Anybody need some separating zippers? I found a whole box full…

I know this doesn’t look very interesting

But to me it is NIRVANA.

It represents the last two days of my life. It is full of promise, it speaks volumes of progress…

This rack was a wall of yarn (and more) in Studio Chic until yesterday. You might’ve seen it before and know the reaction:
 
“Is that your stash in the background????
The new cardigan looks nice too.”

Today this rack is waiting in my closet to hold all my sweaters. Of course, on the hottest day of the year so far, my friendly organizer, Lulu & I will be moving Ton-O-Wool from the armoire they were living in to the closet rack.

But, this creates a super-crisis! On the second-to-last shelf of the unit, I had ALL of my incredibly huge collection of circular needles. They lived in the litte triangle areas: nicely, quietly, numbered and sorted, waiting for their inevitable call to action.

Even though I’ve been panicking about every hour or so during this downsizing process, this one bludgeoned me right upside the head! I just couldn’t visualize how I was going to store these anywhere else.

They need to be a Quick Draw. Can’t be living in a jumble in some drawer or box or dresser.

And as they say, Necessity is a Mother! And she lovingly saw something else that was going to stay in the room that could be repurposed with something that was in the Recycle Pile.

Here is a Plant Stand where one of my mannequins lives. It is now Needle Island.

I attached a rogue CD (remember those? I’ve got a whole box of those that are exiting the premises) rack that was in my office with trusty twist ties to the frame and moved the little number labels to their new home and VOILA!

Now, if only I could pack FASTER I could get back to my knitting!

Whew!

Even in the multiple WIP deadline reality over here at Studio Chic, we’ve had to make time lately to get our space ready to move.

One of our friends has been working with us to de-clutter the whole house and it’s kind of amazing what keeps surfacing.

In the middle of all this, because even a work horse has to occasionally stop moving so much and chew or flick, I’ve been making progress on my cotton/wool Vonica.

It’s at about 3″ after all the yoke pieces are joined together and now that there’s some fabric to work with, it seemed like the natural time to STOP and check the garment dimensions.

Here’s how I do it:

– I almost always knit things using circular needles, preferring them because they allow for a comfortable, flexible pile of fabric that can rest in one’s lap, even when something has lots of stitches.

- To get this ready to measure, I took another needle and knit half the row. Doing this allows the fabric to really spread out and not be all bunched up. Some folks like put their stitches on some scrap yarn to do the same thing, but since I had an extra needle, this saves that tedious task of putting the stitches back on the working needle later…

- Then, I spread it out on a cushion. Using my hands, I position and pat out the fabric so it’s as flat as I can make it, rolling the excess whose bulk rather anchors the fabric.

- Now, the garment is secured at several points with one of my favorite tools: corsage pins.

- Then, using my trusty tape measure, I check the cross-back measurement.

This wonderful fabric tape measure popped up while I’ve been de-cluttering the studio. It was in a box I’d dragged home last year from my mother’s house and it had: my first communion purse (that had a little prayer book inside); my junior high school clarinet; my high school year books; and a wicker sewing box full of this and that.
 
What makes this sort of incredible is that it is actually from my sophomore year Sewing Class!

Mrs. Patten was my teacher and the class was in Room

Hee.

But I digress…

Back to my knitting: it was with great pleasure and relief to read the result on the tape.

Since I’m making a finished measurement of Size 36, the Back would be 1/2 of that or

Oh yeah…