At Last!

At last; the 1000 Branches Kimono (I really have to find a new, more personal name for it) is FINISHED! It was a much longer process than I had expected, what with a false start, multiple froggings, a totally reworked front band, and various other mishaps. But finally it is done, and I'm delighted with the finished product.

 Tomorrow I hope to get some pictures of me wearing it; after all, it's meant to be worn.

While working on the finishing touches (weaving in myriad ends, blocking, and sewing the side seams) I played around with writing a Haiku about the process. It was something that was brought up at the beginning of the KAL, but no one had seemed to follow up on the idea. Anyway, once I started I couldn't stop, and I kept coming up with different versions. So here are a few of them; let me know what you think:

KIMONO finished
Process excruciating
Results to be seen

KIMONO finished
The process was difficult
Results to be seen

KIMONO finished
Process excruciating
Product exquisite

KIMONO finished
Process excruciating
Product elegant

The Knitting; finished
The blocking; now being done
Tomorrow we see

Knitting is finished
the blocking is also done
photos tomorrow

KIMONO,  done at last
Difficult process to finish
desirous results 

April

It's more than halfway into April, and quite a while since I last posted. I've finally finished the knitting on my Kimono, but I still have a LOT of ends to weave in. I find that I can only work on that for a short while, and need to take a break and do something else. Since I've already finished my 2 April squares for the 2010 CAL/BAM, 

I needed something else to work on in between all that weaving. So I started  a new Feather 'n Fan project in a capelet version. It's been going very well; I really like the way it's coming along:

 

 

I'll post more photos as I progress, and hopefully, photos of a FINISHED 

1000 Branches Kimono.

2010 Block-A-Month Crochet-Along, February and March

I forgot to post pictures of the February and March squares; so here they are:

February 

and March

Now I'm just waiting for the April patterns

New Snag

I've run into a new snag with the Kimono. The front band is not working well; the seed stitch section is too wide, and the 1000 Branches stitch section is too narrow. If I continue in pattern as is, the band will be at least 4", which is wider than I'd like, and the 1000 Branches (done in narrow ribbon and supposed to be the focus of the band) will barely show up. So, much as I hate to do it, I'll have to frog back and make the seed stitch section 4 rows instead of 6, and add a row or two to the ribbon section to make it stand out more.

 I'm not looking forward to frogging what amounts to 8 rows of 202 stitches each, but I'll have to grit my teeth and do it, because I'll never be happy with it the way it is. I'm not sure whether I'll tackle it right away, or wait till my guests have come and gone. We'll see. I'll post progress as it occurs.

The End is in Sight

I've finished both sleeves, not easily. I kept having to frog and redo; partly because it wasn't looking right, and partly because I kept making mistakes. This whole project has been fraught with mistakes and revisions; but I think the end results will be worth it. That is, if I can come up with some creative way to add the front band so that it adjusts the fit. It seems a little big, even for a kimono, which is generally large by nature. We'll see what I come up with.

By now, of course, I am really anxious to finish it. I have a week until some friends from back home come to visit. I'd like to be done by then, not so much to show it off, but so I don't have it hanging over my head, waiting till I can squeeze in some knitting time while our guests are here. This doesn't mean I won't be doing any fibercraft while they're here; just not something that consumes my time aand attention as much as this has.