perfectly sensible knitting projects

[usuallyhats]

I finished my knitted Steph!Batgirl hoodie! I've been working on it for over a year but finally it is DONE. It's based on Hanie Mohd's Batgirl in a sweater: I was going to dress up and try and imitate the art, but I'm lazy and it's freezing, so I didn't bother. Also, the purple's not really the right shade, but it's all there was in that type of yarn (all the nice yarn in better colours was pretty expensive, alas. Or made of pure wool, which I can't be having with), and it matches some of the cover art, so :D?



I still haven't quite got the hang of taking pictures of me wearing the things I've knitted, but I quite like this one.





The two I took before I spotted a good place to balance my camera and use the self-timer.



I wanted to do one of those cool poses that you see in cosplay photos, but it just looked ridiculously dorky. Since this is accurate to my life, I am posting it anyway.



You can just about see the articulation on the side panels in this one.

(I've typed up the pattern; it's a bit on the long side, so I've posted it in a backdated post here.)

Also relevant: Bryan Q. Miller is doing a Kickstarter for an all-ages sci fi graphic novel YES PLEASE. I enjoyed this interview with him, particularly for the comment that: "Kids will ALWAYS want to read something that's "for older kids/grown-ups". But the jump between Tiny Titans and Joker cutting his own face off is SEVERE", because... yes.

Comments

[jet]

Oh, that looks awesome! And warm and cozy :D

[usuallyhats]

Thank you! :D

[vilakins]

That's so cool, and clever you to design it! Will you add little toolkits or whatever they are to the belt? :-)

[usuallyhats]

Thank you! I am planning to make some little pouches for the belt, but I bought some fabric and dyed it yellow, and it came out the wrong shade, so currently I'm just glaring at it intermittently in the hope that that will fix it. ;)

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Your sweater is a thing of GREAT BEAUTY. :D

I really want to knit myself a Robin vest but I am lazy and yarn is expensive. Also I have never knitted anything that actually required sizing and gauge like that (usually I stick to hats) and I wouldn't know what to do!

[usuallyhats]

Thank you! :D

Ooh, you should definitely do that, it would be awesome! Could you find a similar pattern on Ravelry or somewhere and adapt it, if you don't want to start from scratch? I usually try things on as I go along and sometimes end up pulling it all out and starting again with a different number of stitches a few times before I get it right, whilst muttering grumpily about how the swatch LIED to me, but the satisfaction when it works is definitely worth it. :)

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

I've been looking, but the main thing is that if I tried knitting a normal vest and just adjusting it I wouldn't know how to make it have the little rounded skirt thing at the bottom. Because I think a critical feature of Robin's vest is probably the foolish rounded skirt thing. :P

[usuallyhats]

:D Good point! And it's possible I've just spend far too much time thinking about how you could do it. Maybe you could find a pattern for just the main bit, make that first, then either do the skirt thing separately and sew both parts together, or pick up stitches round the bottom and knit the skirt thing from the top down?

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

pick up stitches round the bottom and knit the skirt thing from the top down
That is a good point! I don't know enough about shaping to be sure how to round off the corners properly, though. I assume decreasing would help?

[usuallyhats]

Yeah, possibly an increasing number of decreases as you got towards the end? Or you could try adapting the circular bit from this pattern - it would probably be a bit fiddly, but you could pick up six stitches to be the initial six cast on stitches in the right front section, and then at the end of each row pick up another stitch and at the beginning of the next row knit the first two stitches together. No idea if that would work, though! Or you could knit the whole semicircle separately and then pick up stitches along the flat edge and start knitting the rest of it from there. ...possibly I am overcomplicating things now. :D

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...I think I am getting to the KNITTING HOW DOES IT WORK stage where thinking about complicated things makes me forget basic ones, so I don't know, haha. I have a hat to finish for a friend first, anyway. But thank you very much for the suggestions, and I suspect they may be helpful in the future if I do end up vest-knitting!

[usuallyhats]

*g* you're welcome! And if you do decide to make it and want any troubleshooting help or general encouragement, give me a shout! :D

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks, I will keep that in mind!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It's gorgeous!

[usuallyhats]

Thank you!

[the-smut-fairy.livejournal.com]

That jumper looks fantastic! Does it also help to take the edge off the usual winter temperature in your flat?

[usuallyhats]

Thank you! I wouldn't say it keeps me WARM exactly, but it definitely helps...

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Congrats on finishing your sweater!

[usuallyhats]

Thank you!

[invisigoth51.livejournal.com]

Amazing! That must have taken you absolutely ages! I bow down before your extreme patience :)

[usuallyhats]

Thank you! I think it's probably stubbornness rather than patience, but it works out the same either way. ;)