kitty: Pull Kimono #012-T8-484 by Phildar Design Team

Dear Phildar, I love your smart designs, your appreciation for the fact that women come in all sizes/shapes and if we choose to wear them no matter our size that the pattern size is available. (Unlike Vogue knitting who tells us what they think we should wear. I have chosen to boycott them, and will no longer give them my money after one of the responses to a letter they printed.) But....

Really, your construction at times leaves a lot to be desired and your yardage should definitely be checked. Pull Kimono #012-T8-484 by Phildar Design Team has been off the needles for a long time, but seaming it up just seemed so daunting.

The body is finally sewn together, but I have another 103 ends left to weave in. Or not, I may get the sewing machine out and just stitch the waist band ones several time and just cut the ends off or create a placket to hide them. So other than ends and the cuffs the sweater finally looks like a sweater vs 4 pieces gathering dust beside my bed.

Phildar in the future, please come up with something a little easier for your construction. This sweater is going back to my nightstand until I think I can face all the ends again. Sincerely, Kitty Kitty

kitty: happy evening

Pull Kimono #012-T8-484 by Phildar Design Team Hope you are having a beautiful Sunday evening! Just setting outside taking a break knitting. Dusk is perfect today, the sun finally came out after several days of gray clouds and with a cool breeze. If I didn't know better I would think it is fall. I have been working on this Phildar Kimono sweater when ever I have a few minutes of spare times, sadly though there have been very few sparse moments to knit. I really love the hand of the yarn, but I fear there is no way I have enough yarn even though I ordered the amount for a larger size since I was ordering it direct from FA. So I guess I will be ordering more black when I finish the front.

kitty: Phildar - Pull #012-T8-489

	Pattern:Phildar - Pull #012-T8-489 Fiber: Colourmart Tweed Silk This has been done for a few days, but I hadn't had a chance to steam the collar out. Seaming the ribbed saddle shoulders to the lace front was a pretty miserable experience, but I finally got it done. I just need to find a shirt to wear under it now. The Colourmart Tweed Silk reminds me a lot of Habu A-1. I really wonder if they are milled at the same place. The tweed silk was probably to soft in reality for this sweater, but the result is that the sweater weights next to nothing. I am also really happy that I changed the Faggot Stitch in the body. All in all, I am so happy with the project.
WWKIP - Working on a new Sweater

kitty: :( my so so, fo

The Specs: Pattern: 443 Phildar Tendances 06 - Pattern 33 Yarn: Knit Picks Main Line - ink Time: 28 hours ( front panels re knit 3 times, sleeves re knit 2 times) Cost: $31.84 (bought on sale when it was $1.98)

Ok. Ok, this fair weather blogger will post about the trials and tribulations of my last project. <I am just not happy with this FO at all>As I wrote before, the sweater is done. The bottle ink colour is not really photographing true to colour, but it is the colour of sumi ink. A very nice black, but a lot of blue green undertones. And every photo I took the colour of my table turned out very yellow even with no flash. Things I changed: 1) Increased the no. of stitches for the top lapel. The pattern called for 110 stitches for all 6 sizes. I couldn't get it to even go 2/3 around the neck opening. 2) The bottom part of the lapel was knit as straight ribbing vs. the one stitch offset in the pattern. This version close mimics the photo in the magazine 3) Changed the decreases in the sleeve openings. 4) Followed the decreases and increase from the back of the sweater vs the way the pattern was written so the front and back matched. Problems: The front edge of the sweater is curling so I need to try to block the heck out of it to get it to behave. Probably possible The big problem is what to do about buttons. The photo of the sweater shows a large area for the button band. In reality with the sweater I knit there is only about 2 inches for the buttons. I may just opt to drop them. The yarn is not to forgiving after ripping out so many times. The back has a much nicer texture and stitch pattern. I still love the yarn, but forgiving it is not. I really love Phildar patterns, mainly because they are written so they are large enough for me. The problem I have run into in the last two I have knitted is that there have been really a lot of issues with the pattern. Some from translation while others probably are lack of test knitting. I will still keep plugging away with them, since they have my size and the designs are lovely. I just wish they were more careful. MG has been nice enough to translate the one that I want to knit next so I am really excited. She is the best. :) Side note: For all my friends who have been asking what I feel about Xbox 360 vs PS3 for this holiday. Check out this link for a comparison of Ridge Racer on both platforms that a Korean blogger wrote and has been translated. It is all in the games!

kitty: don't you hate it when the picture doesn't match the pattern

Just wanted to say hello, real life has become really crazy so there hasn't been much crafting going on. Deadlines are pretty much taking over my life and unreasonable clients. I did start a sweater the other night when one of our system admin's decided to delete the config file for the raid controller. Since it meant a night in a waiting, I grabbed some knitting and got the back of the sweater knit.
Then last night I started the front panel, notice a problem? Hmmmmm the photo and the real piece don't really match now do they. Now the one I knit matches the chart, but the chart doesn't match the photo in the magazine.
So what to do now is the question? The one that matches the chart looks really wonkie. It does fold over nicely to form the bottom part of the lapel, but the ribbing just looks bad in my opinion. I am really not sure what to do. Also the length from the lapel turn and the button placket don't match the photo in the book either. I have about 2 inches before the roll where as in the photo they have a good 4. Obviously I am going to rip out the front panel, but I am really not sure at this point what to do. I am suspecting that the sweater in the pattern was knit from a different yarn and someone just came up with a pattern without checking, but that doesn't help me at this point. I also have been trying to spin every morning before I start my day, so I have about 625yards of 2ply hanging in the bathroom. Hopefully it will dry soon and I can get some pictures. :) Hope you all have a great week!!!

Kitty: New Phildar Pattern Posted

Is that a new Phildar Tendances I spotted coming out on March 15, 2005 and a New Baby Book. So remind me again why there is no US distributor for these patterns and yarn. :(

Addition: Thanks Tiffany, the funny thing is that I had an order arrive yesterday from www.knitntyme.com. So very good timing with your comment. The order arrived in good shape and was extremely well padded. Thanks also Anonymous, I have ordered from www.knitty-noddy.com several times. Evelyn, is a dear. Unfortunately, she was not getting in the new spring Tendances so I ended up ordering from knitntyme instead. I was very sorry to not order from Knitty-noddy.

Kitty: Spring Phildar Update

The last two Spring Season Phildar books just got posted Baby book and Family Book (I really like 438 and 478.)

Kitty: THANK YOU

I just wanted to send out a very special thank you do my dear knit buddy, MeowGirl. She stayed up late translating a pattern for me and when I woke up there was a .pdf file waiting in my email. Thank you so much MeowGirl. I really appreciate it. I can not believe you did it in one night. Or that you did it. I was very touched.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm wonder if I can sneak in some swatching this afternoon.

This sweater is actually in my future and not just in my dreams. All that lovely Terra Cotta alpaca from Elann in the closet is calling me. (Tendances " - Hiver 2004-2005 p31)

I also heard from both of my Secret Pal's yesterday. (The person who got my name and the person name I received.) Such a cool feeling getting email from both of them on the same day. Thank you mystery sneaky knitter and my pal who will just have to wait till april to see her thank you.

Kitty: Don't Tell

Shhhhhhhhh...... Don't let my Knitbuddy hear this but um um. um. I JUST GOT THE PHILDAR AUTOMNE 04/05 pattern book with the English insert. YEAH. YEAH. YEAH. I hadn't told her anything about it since I ordered from a site I had questions about, but I have become good friends now with the site owner. Knit-Knoddy is certainly a site that I would order from again and she has been super helpful in acquiring the French versions of the books. From what her distributor says, Phildar only does a couple of issues with English Translations. Lets hope they start to do more as more English readers learn the beauty of there patterns. There are several in the book that are on my list of projects to start.

[BONUS: YEAH IT GOT HERE with English Insert] Wonder what my knit buddy will say. She has been on vacation and away from her computer.