Eddie Izzard is hysterically, riotously, manically funny. And smart and well-educated and does NOT talk down to his audience. If you are not familiar with him, search for his videos on YouTube. No, wait! I've done it for you!
#1 son introduced me to him several years ago by giving me for Christmas the DVD of his Dressed to Kill HBO special. I didn't watch it right away -- had never heard of Eddie Izzard -- so I didn't know what I was missing. But once I watched it I was hooked.
Way back in March I saw that he was coming to Minneapolis in May. Checked with Andrew, still in Mexico, yes, he wanted to go if he were here at the time; his internship application with Partners in Health in Boston was still pending so he didn't know where he would be in May. Checked with Matthew, yes, he wanted to go, absolutely. Checked with Smokey, no, Eddie Izzard was too edgy for him. A quick online trip to Ticketmaster, a virtual swipe of the credit card, and wham!bam! I had three tickets.
A short rant: Ticketmaster, while convenient, yada yada, certainly tacks on a lot of fees -- facilities fee, ticket fee, convenience fee, printing fee, boat payment fee, kickback fee, college tuition fee. Sheesh. All those fees increased the cost of the tickets by something like a third, and those tickets were not cheap to begin with. [/rant]
When the actual day came Andrew was out of town, having gone to a music festival in Illinois that weekend. Smokey still didn't want to go. So Maggie, Matthew's girlfriend -- who had never heard of Eddie Izzard -- got ticket #3. We met up downtown, had dinner, and hit the historic State theater.
Once again I failed to take pictures, but let me paint a word picture of the theater. It opened in 1921 and was considered a technological marvel of the time. Until 1958 it had the largest movie screen west of the Mississippi. It hasn't been a movie theater since the late 1970s, but miraculously, through all its varied uses -- vaudeville house, movie theater, church -- the elaborate murals and wall sculptures have remained intact. There are cupids, there is gold leaf, there are crystal chandeliers. It is BIG, seating around 2,000 people. In other words, it is a special place and one that is fun to go to.
No, wait! I found a couple photos online.
I cannot tell you much about Mr. Izzard's performance except that he touched on many subjects -- Hannibal coming over the Alps, Minneapolis and local humor, Alexander the Great, language, Michelangelo, school, grades -- and that it was all very, very funny. He referred to himself as an off-duty transvestite, so he was dressed more or less normally -- blue jeans, white dress shirt, and a black tail coat, possibly denim, with red lining under the swallowtail. No elaborate makeup, no 4" heels, no sparkly sequined dress, more's the pity. But he was so funny we loved him anyway.
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I would like to solicit your ideas on a knitting project. Here is the sweater I am thinking of, a short-sleeved summer number from More Big Girl Knits by Amy Singer (of Knitty.com fame) and Jillian Moreno:
The yarn I am planning to use is at the left in the photo: Madil Eden and Eden print (Ravelry links), 100% bamboo, worsted weight, and 22 st per 4"/10 cm. The pattern calls for Rowan Summer Tweed, 70% silk/30% cotton, 14 st per 4"/10 cm. Obviously, my gauge will be significantly different than that called for in the pattern.
I know that a pattern can be rewritten for a different gauge; it seems to me that this one will be easier than many because of the diagonal construction. The garment is knit top-down in one piece, and the diagonal texture of the front and back is formed by increasing 2 stitches every other row at the top of the sleeves and at center front and back, 8 stitches increased each time.
(This next paragraph is complicated. These word pictures can be tough sometimes.) The center front and back reach the desired length at the same time that the upper yoke reaches armhole depth. (You can see that by following the last narrow stripe from the center front up to the armhole.) At that point the knitter puts the sleeve cap stitches on holders, casts on a few more stitches for the underarm, then works back and forth on one entire side, say, left front and back, at a time, doing double decreases along the side "seam" and short row shaping at the bottom front and back of that side. The short row shaping achieves the straight-across-the-bottom edge. When one entire side is done, the knitter does the same thing on the other entire side. The whole garment is knit in one piece, using double increases at center front and back and double decreases at the sides, plus short-row shaping along the bottom edge, to achieve the tubular shape of the body.
It seems to me that once I recalculate the number of stitches I need to cast on, the rest of the body can be knit according to the pattern. In other words, as long as my row gauge is proportional to the original row gauge in the same ratio as my stitch gauge is to the original stitch gauge, it will all work itself out. I will be knitting on more stitches and will need to knit more rows, but as long as I knit each section to be the desired number of inches long, all will be well.
I generally prefer tops to come just past my hips rather than be as short as this one. To lengthen this top I would continue to knit in the round (after putting the sleeve caps on waste yarn and casting on additional stitches for the underarm) and maintain the tubular shape of the body by double increases front and back and double decreases at each side. On the other hand, many garments are too long waisted for me, plus few summer tops are hip length; if I want mine to be shorter than the pattern is written, I would commence the short-row shaping/filling in each side sooner.
The reason I like this pattern is that, because of the use of different colors of yarns, it seemed to fit my vision for my yarn. I had been picturing my bamboo yarn in some kind of summer t-shirt-like thing using the print for the sleeves and solid brown for the body. This pattern uses three shades of the Rowan, shading top to bottom from lightest to darkest, and creating a deep V yoke effect to echo the neckline. That seems to me to be a far more flattering design than my t-shirt idea. I plan to cast on with the solid brown, switch to the variegated yarn for as long as it lasts and probably no farther than the lightest color yarn is used in the original, do a couple of narrow stripes as the color transition, then switch back to the solid brown for the rest.
I have never used Rowan Summer Tweed so I don't know how it behaves in a knit fabric. My bamboo yarn makes a very soft fabric that drapes well but does not have a lot of body. I had originally cast on the printed yarn for a narrow Clapoutis, but it curled too much and I was not happy with it.
So, my questions are these:
- Does my rejiggering of the pattern make sense? Does it seem do-able? Math is easy for me, so the calcs are not an obstacle.
- I am rather more, er, well-endowed than the model in the photo. Any ideas on how to make the front bigger without changing the size of the back?
- Will the soft bamboo yarn be suitable for this pattern written for the nubbly Summer Tweed?
What say y'all? I know there is a lot of knitting expertise out there, so any and all advice/opinions are welcomed. Thank you for your support.
