Pay it Forward!

A while back I got the chance to sign up on Celeste's blog for a Pay it Forward event. I'd wanted to try something like this for awhile so when Celeste posted about this event I jumped at the chance to join in. Just a few days ago I received this gorgeous hand-knit scarf from Celeste.

You can find her official blog post on it here, but here is one of her photos (used with permission of course!)

It's so so so soft and pretty.

I've gotten a bit spoiled through this gorgeous weather we've been having and I'll admit that up until I received this scarf I was pretty much dreading winter. After receiving this scarf though, I've changed my tune. I'm now excited for the chance to pair this up with my wool coat. :)

I also received two of these paper garlands. I read the blog post about these and thought they were wonderful, and now I get to have some too! (photo Celeste's)

Now for the Pay it Forward part:

I need three people to sign up to receive a gift from me and be willing to "pay it forward" to three of their friends as well.

I will probably be selecting one of the people from among my "in real life" friends, but if several of you sign up I think it'd be fun to choose you all from my blog. Also, if there's more than three I'll do a random drawing.

I'm pretty excited about this. It's always fun receiving gifts, but I love giving even more, and getting to give something handmade? Oh yes, even better!

Here's the details if you would like to join in!

Pay it Forward Details (main points stolen from Celeste)

1 - You must be willing to Pay it Forward to at least 3 other people.

2 - Those people must be willing to continue the Pay it Forward event.

3 - What you give needs to be something from you. It's technically a 'deed', so what it is depends on you. It could be something knit, sewn, baked, even a huge pot of stew, be creative.

4 - I have 6 months to send something to you. Once you receive it you have 6 months to send it on again. (I consider the 6 months a guideline...I know I'll be quite busy in the next several months so my projects may take a bit longer to arrive!)

5- If you want to join in, you have until next Monday (July 19th) to comment here to sign up.

FO: Audrey

Ravelry Project Link

So I finally got FO photos for Audrey :) I ended up wearing it this weekend, so it wasn't until after I got photos that I realized I had meant to photo it over the dress I just finished sewing! Oops.

Anyway, this was such a fun knit. It's already seen quite a bit of wear as well. The only mod (excepting a few other minor things) was that I knit this to pattern gauge with a laceweight rather than a sportweight yarn. Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud is great to work with, it's a very fine and soft laceweight. I love the fabric I got with the gauge/yarn combo, but after seeing how it's wearing, I don't think I'd do it again.

Of course I'm still planning on finishing this one (with merino laceweight), so I guess I shouldn't speak so soon!

One of the other troubles with this fabric is that it doesn't have enough structure to hold up under closing the buttons. I chose the 30.5" size (to fit 33") and I'm really happy with the way it fits (my gauge was a tad off, so the measurements are a bit larger than the pattern...31.25" I believe, but I'd have to block it again to check). If I had knit this with a sportweight, the negative ease would be perfect, but since they pull badly with this combo, I'm sticking to leaving it as an open cardi. Which is fine, since I love it that way.

One of the few troubles I had with the pattern (which I believe was directly related to my yarn choice) was the twisted ribbing. It looks great on the finished sweater, but I never quite got the hang of purling through the back loop. Needless to say, it was slowwwww going!

Overall, I highly recommend this pattern, it was very easy to follow and so great to knit. I'm constantly envisioning more versions with other yarns. :)

What I've been up to...

Started some socks with this Pagewood Chugiak yarn that has been in my stash for a lonnnnng time. I think I've posted about this yarn before, a good project for it has alluded me for quite some time, but I finally settled with toe-up socks. Yeah, the coloring isn't the greatest thing in the world, but I need to make room in my stash for new purchases and I think for socks I'll be able to live with the pooling...
They'll be cozy at any rate...this yarn is great to knit with. :)

I sewed up this little cosmetics bag a few weeks ago:

The pattern is from I Love Patchwork (which is a lovely book by the way), and interestingly enough I chose a color scheme very similar to the author's. I'd like to try making this again, but larger. I was hoping to be able to use it for a knitting project bag, but even a small lace project is a bit too large for it.

Next up, my latest project. I'm currently about 1/3 of the way through sewing up this dress. So far I'm really happy with how it's going. I've even made myself re-sew bad seams (I'm usually waaay too impatient for that!).

I'm making the sleeveless version of this (so that's easier to wear a cardi over it) and omitting the buttons.

Finally, here's a photo from a walk I took several days ago:

Spring is definitely arriving! Everything is still pretty brown, but hey, the water is running again! Personally, I've already pulled out my collection of spring/summer shoes...and that's good enough for me! :)

FO: Olympic Blues

Yikes, I haven't blogged in quite a while! It's been a very busy last few weeks, but thankfully things are slowing down again so I have some time to write a bit.

Ravelry Project Page

As you Ravelers will know, I finished my Olympic Blues cardigan within the time limit and was very happy to have done so! It was certainly a lot of knitting!

Knitting Olympics Medal

Overall, I'm not entirely thrilled with this project. At first when I tried it on, I loved it. But after a quick peek in the mirror, I was a bit disillusioned. The drape of the cardigan makes it sortof swing out around the body, which means any waist I have disappears and so it accents my hips.

I think I'd like to try this with a belt, because I prefer the way it looks when pulled around more like a blazer shape. If I ever purchase a belt (finding a cute one that fits my waist is a challenge...they're all too big to wear at that point!) I'll get some more photos to show you what it looks like. Otherwise, I may consider adding a button closure with a crocheted button loop.

Ok, sorry! Now for the positive!

The yarn is pretty nice, it blocked soft and drapey and is fairly comfortable to wear. I like the stitch pattern and the sweater is cozy to wear (though the construction tends to make it feel like it may fall off my shoulders) so I know I'll get use from it. And of course, since I finished it in 17 days I don't feel like I wasted eons of knitting on it! Even though I sort of did...I just don't feel like I did. ;)

Progress: Day 3-4

I had a great time kicking off the Olympics with Celeste on Friday. Though I didn't get a ton of knitting done that night, the pace certainly picked up the next day.

I watched quite a bit of Olympic coverage over the weekend, and my highlights were the Pairs Figure Skating last night and the Speed Skating Short Track 1500m race the night before with Apolo Ohno and J. R. Celski. Great race to watch.

Anyway, here we have the progress of three days of knitting (haven't knit yet today) on Solaris:

Back: Completed

Front piece (both fronts and the collar are in knit in one very long piece): About 8" down.

So far, I'm on track (in fact, I'm ahead of my self-imposed schedule).

I am definitely concerned about yarn quantities. If I don't have enough I will either have to make shorter sleeves or go over the craft store and try to match my dyelots with another skein. Eek.

Ravelympics

The Ravelympics are coming up fast, and I'm still trying to decide on the perfect project. I knew instantly I wanted to knit a sweater, but I just haven't been able to decide on the perfect pattern.

I've included Rav link to each of the six patterns I'm considering (as well as any particular projects I like).

I'd love some feedback on these! I need serious help choosing! ;)

1. Geodesic Cardigan

Photo from KnitScene: http://www.knitscene.com/issue/spring-2010/geodesic-cardigan.asp

This came up on my Rav friend activity a while back, and I knew instantly that this would be one issue of KnitScene I had to purchase.

Gauge is about sportweight and the sweater is knit with laceweight. I have a LOT of laceweight in my stash right now, so to de-stash a bit would be fantastic. (this super yummy alpaca/silk blend is just one possibility for this knit)

Downside to the sweater? I'm currently knitting my 2nd Audrey sweater at this same yarn/gauge combo and part of me is getting a bit restless for a larger gauge. Also...according to the pattern, this has seaming. Eek.

2. Solaris

Photo from Berroco: http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/solaris/solaris_lg.html

I saw this a long while back, and thought it would be cute and cozy (maybe with a bit of modification to slim it up a bit). It's a lot of garter rib, but I do enjoy knitting that! Also, it has a very interesting construction. I probably wouldn't consider this sweater based on the pattern photo, but this project by Moonstitches is very cute.

3. Arisaig

Photo from Knitty: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/PATTarisaig.html

I've had the yarn for this ever since the beginning of summer last year. I'd love to get this knit up, but it's a lot of knitting! Fingering weight gauge and all. Plus, I'd be adding several inches of length (though I'd be shortening up the sleeves too). canarysanctuary's project is worth taking a look at, such a beautiful knit (in fact, it's the reason why this pattern is so high in my queue).

4. Four used to be the Alpaka Tunic from Interweave, but last night I swatched and my yarn isn't going to work out. Sigh...someday.

Photo from Interweave Knits: http://www.interweaveknits.com/galleries/bonus/fall-2009/alpaka-tunic.asp

5. Boulevard Zip

Photo from KnitScene: http://www.knitscene.com/issue/spring-2010/boulevard-zip.asp

This is another great sweater from the new KnitScene. I don't know that it's something that would usually be my style, but it is very cute! Worsted weight too...

6. Farmer's Market Cardigan

Photos from Interweave Knits: http://www.interweaveknits.com/galleries/bonus/fall-2009/farmers-market-cardigan.asp

Another worsted weight knit. If I knit this, I'll probably be eliminating the pockets and carrying the cables down the side.

So, that's it! Any thoughts? :)

A few things

Here's a few little things I wanted to mention before the New Year. :)

A while back Celeste gifted me this beautiful yarn she'd purchased from Joji, a woman who hand dyes in Argentina. The yarn is just lovely, the coloring is subtle but still defined and the yarn is very soft as well. I was so surprised by this gift, and am treasuring this yarn until I decide on the perfect project for it. It's 460 yds of fingering/sport weight so I have a lot of options!

Check out Celeste's post about her other purchases from Joji, or Joji's blog to see more of this lovely yarn.

This lovely alpaca laceweight was my Christmas gift from Celeste. (She knows my color preferences really well!) The color is a bit closer to a green (though it's still a blue-green) and has some subtle heathering. Very pretty...this is what I'm planning on making with it. Oh, and note the scale too. A Christmas present from my brother. I don't think he had any idea why exactly I wanted a scale, but he delivered! ;)

With the yarn, Celeste also said a pattern was included. She'd had a pattern in mind, but then realized it wasn't the right yarn weight so she had me choose one instead. I knew almost immediately I wanted to knit the cowl pattern linked above with the yarn and that that particular pattern was free so I suggested Audrey in Unst (even though I wouldn't be able to use the yarn for it, so I kind of cheated) and a few days later:

Audrey



The pattern is written for sportweight, but I'm knitting it with Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud (a laceweight) and loving it. The fabric is just lovely, I wish you could feel it!

FO: Christmas Tree Scarf

2009 Christmas gift for my mom.
Even though I had to race to finish this (I think I had it blocking Dec 23rd?) I enjoyed this project a lot. This is one lace patterned scarf I can see myself knitting again.


Ravelry Project Link

When I first began knitting, I realized that this pattern looked a little like Christmas trees, especially when taking the green yarn into account! I still liked it (and knew that the five knit rows per pattern repeat would be an asset to finishing in time) so I continued on. I knit two strands of Knit Picks Gloss Lace together to get a fingering weight yarn and I subtracted one pattern repeat (width-wise) from the pattern to end up with a 8" wide scarf. I was surprised by how much the yarn grew after blocking the entire scarf. It ended up growing nearly 15" lengthwise (finished dimensions 8"x65").

Overall, very happy with this scarf. And mom liked it too. :)

And thanks again to my sis for modeling!

FO: Slouch and Pebble Cowl

A couple more 2009 FOs. Both of these have been finished for quite some time (though it was just recently that I put buttons on the cowl).

1. Pebble Cowl. Mmm, mindless knitting. Just a seedstitch pattern with an added buttonband (because I realized that the cowl was going to be too small). The cowl has five buttons total, it seems to be easier to wear when three of the buttons are left open however, so I don't think I'd do so many again!

2. Slouch
This was a fun project to knit, and overall I like the hat, but I think I might like a beret better, maybe something more like this beautiful project from Celestial.

Thanks to my sister for modeling (hehe, I roped her into it after she agreed to model items that I actually made for her!)

FO: Kathmandu Hat and Mittens

Ravelry Project Link Hat

Ravelry Project Link Mittens

My first actual project with this yarn (though I had several failed swatches as well) was a feather-and-fan lace scarf. It didn't go very well. The Kathmandu Tweed yarn doesn't have much stitch definition at all, so while I loved knitting the scarf, I really didn't like the way it looked. I finally put the scarf away and decided to take the yarn out again if I came up with a better idea. A few days into December, I finally thought of something. A pair of simple stockinette mittens. Knitting up at 4sts to an inch, the mittens fairly flew off my needles and I was done knitting within just a few days. After finishing the mittens, I had an entire skein of yarn left so I decided to knit up a matching hat. I started with a 1x1 ribbed band, which I grafted together and then picked up sts around the band to knit the crown of the hat. This is my favorite way to knit a hat, even if it does involve grafting! I believe I finished this entire set in about a week. I gifted these to my sister for Christmas and I'm happy to say that she loves them! (She's modeling them in the photos).

FO: NHM #7

Ravelry Project Link


I was so glad when I finished knitting these mittens! I started with my row gauge too small thinking that I'd just re-chart the tips of the mittens if they ended up too short. Not as easy as I thought it would be at all! I also had to spend quite a bit of time working out the thumbs. The back of the thumb is left uncharted in the Selbuvotter book, so I worked it out in Microsoft Excel along with the front of the thumb which I edited from the original (in the original, the middle diamond is solid and split down the middle).




Once I finally got the tips and thumbs re-charted and knit up, I was happy with the way these mittens fit me, but I still wasn't sure how they would fit the recipient. Luckily when I gifted them I found that they not only fit perfectly, but the recipient loved them. Yay!

February Baby Sweater

Ravelry Project Link

This little baby sweater was such a fun knit. I wish I could have knit it in wool, but I had to make sure it was machine washable/dryable so Berroco Comfort Baby it was.

My favorite part of the sweater ironically ended up being something I'd done unintentionally. Elizabeth Zimmerman only mentions knitting buttonholes after she instructs knitting about 1.5" of the yoke, and because I didn't read ahead, I completely missed that instruction until it was too late to add knitted-in buttonholes. As you can see, what I did here was crochet one row across the garter yoke edge and then crochet another row adding three buttonholes (I chained three per buttonhole). I love the way it turned out.

Because I had to modify the pattern to work out an appropriate size with my tighter gauge, the division for the sleeves/fronts/back didn't work out exactly right. The sweater will still fit a baby, it just doesn't lay correctly because the fronts together are wider than the back.

I also knit the sleeves in the round, which was a lot quicker than the seaming method. Overall, I loved this project, even if I was knitting with acrylic!

Francis Revisited-Mods

Disclaimer: In order to make sense of these notes, you’ll probably need to have some familiarity with the “top down raglan” sweater construction. My notes might be a little confusing otherwise, since I didn’t take a lot of notes with this sweater, just enough so that I could repeat the knit later on if I wanted to.

When I began looking at the Francis pattern, I knew immediately that I didn’t want to knit at the large gauge suggested. I made several gauge swatches with my yarn (Patons Classic Merino, a worsted weight) and decided to go with about 5 sts per inch. After I began knitting the actual sweater I realized my gauge had become a looser 4.5 sts per inch, so I ripped the sweater and adjusted my calculations accordingly. Thus, all notes below are for my sweater knit at 4.5sts per inch. As for row gauge, I have 6 rows per inch written on my notes, but I didn't double check that after I began knitting.

Ease:

I ended up with about 1.5” of neg ease around the bust (sweater measures 31.5 at that point) and 2” of positive ease around the waist (sweater measures about 30” at that point).


The Pattern Mods:

I cast on 112 sts and divided them as follows:
40sts for front
2 sts for between increases (the sts that I increased on either side of)
12 sts for sleeve 1
2 sts between increases
40sts for back
2sts between increases
12sts for sleeve 2
2sts between increases

Raglan Increases:
I increased using a “make 1” increase on each side of each 2st increase column. So I increased 8sts each increase round. I knit two plain round and then did an increase round, I prefer the look of a steeper increase slope, but in order to adjust to the large neck opening necessary for the cowl I did the increases every two rows.

Side note: If I were to knit this sweater again, I would change the cast on ratio of front/back/sleeve stitch counts. For this sweater, by the time I was ready to put the sleeves on stitch holders and begin knitting just the front and back, the sleeves were still too small while the front/back sections were growing too large. I would probably subtract about 5sts from the front and 5sts from the back cast on section and add somewhere from 2-4 into the sleeve sections.

I knit in this increase pattern until the sweater measured 6.5”
Stitch counts (not including the 2 sts increase columns, or so my notes read):
Sleeve: 38sts
Front: 66 sts
Back: 66sts

When I removed the sleeve sts to st holders, I added one st from each "two st increase column" on either side of the sleeve (so each sleeve had one st added to each side of it, 40 sts). I also cast on two sts after removing the sleeve stitches to the needles.

Knitting the Front and Back:

Knit until top measures 4.25 from underarm cast on (the sts I cast on in place of the sleeves).
Work decrease row. (decrease 4 sts evenly placed on the sides of the sweater)
Knit until sweater measures 5.5” from underarm cast on.
Work decrease row.
Knit until top measures 9.5” from underarm cast on.
Work increase row. (increase 4 sts evenly placed on the sides of the sweater)
Knit until top measures 11” from underarm cast on.
Work increase row.

At this point my notes disappear. But I continued knitting plain (no more shaping) until the sweater was about 3” shorter than I wanted, and then I worked 3” of 1x1 rib and finished off with a tubular bind off.

Sleeves:

I cast on two sts for the underarm of each sleeve (42sts) and knit until the sleeves reached just to my elbow and then added 2” of 1x1 rib and bound off using a tubular bind off.

Cowl:

The most important part of course!
I picked up all the sts from the original cast on (112) and knit in 1x1 rib for 2.5” with size 8 needles. Every 2.5” I switched to a larger needle size (I used 8’s, 9’s, 10’s, and 10.5’s) and the cowl finished off at about 10”. I bound off with a tubular bind off. The tubular (or kitchener) bind off is the best finish I’ve found for 1x1 rib because it doesn’t give a ruffled edge. You could also use a standard “k2, slip first st over 2nd st” bind off, but I can never make that bind off loose enough.

To finish I just seamed up the underarms and wove in the ends. It’s really a very easy and fun sweater to knit, and I’ve already wore mine quite a bit!

Hope you found these notes helpful!

Francis

Ravelry Project Link
Pattern: Inspired by Francis Revisited
Mods are here

This was a great knit. Even though it's a sweater, it still became my "mindless knitting" project. Just basic stockinette with a little 1x1 rib and some shaping thrown in. I've already worn this a lot. It's really versatile and having the extra warmth around my neck from the cowl is perfect for chilly fall days.

I'd love to make this again someday with a really luxurious yarn, it's a simple enough pattern that a great yarn would really have a chance to shine. The yarn I used for this was Patons Classic Merino (bought before Patons changed the blend to what is essentially "misc wool") and it's holding up really nicely. As I mentioned when I started this project, the yarn was already knit up into a sweater that didn't turn out so well. After I frogged that sweater and washed the yarn, it went back very closely to its original state and appears to have survived the ordeal nicely.

Overall I'm very excited about this sweater and right now it's all I can do to stop myself from casting on for another sweater project. But Christmas presents must come first!

Design Project

I finally have photos to share! (and yes, I do need a haircut)

When I first saw this skein of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine, I knew almost instantly what I wanted to do with it...and now a few sketches, swatches, and several thousand stitches later, this:

My goal was to create a light gauge ultra-textured shawl (click on the photos to see the detail)that could be easily wrapped around the neck like a scarf. A great accessory to wear with a sweater in the fall or to wear over a coat in the winter. In fact, you can even wear it over a sweater and under a coat; the shawl shape fits well under a pea coat (which is how I've been wearing it). Ravelry Project Link

Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine (great to knit with, and priced really well at about $10 for 433yds)

I'm currently in the process of completing the pattern and getting it test knit. I'm planning on having the pattern written for two different yarns, an alpaca fingering (the Berroco) and a merino fingering.

WIPS

I was on an eight hour (round) road trip this past Saturday, so I got a lot of knitting done. ;)

1. Francis:

I finally decided on knitting this cowl neck sweater. I'll probably knit the cardigan design idea mentioned in the last post after I get my Christmas presents finished.

I'm pretty much working out my own pattern for this sweater, I'll have details on the mods upon completion.

2. Christmas Present One: Ribbed Hat

I finished this but haven't gotten an FO picture yet. Once it's blocked I'll have it on Ravelry

Super simple little hat. Knit for my brother.

3. Hat for me:

This one didn't exactly work out. But I did knit nearly an entire hat in just a few hours. Even though I was able to knit a hat this exact same size for my brother out of one skein of yarn (and had twenty yards leftover) I didn't have enough yarn to finish this hat. I'll need to go back and add a stripe of a different color or something I suppose. I may also find a bit more of this yarn in my stash box. I know I had leftovers from a couple of projects I made with it, so I'm holding out hope!

4. Fountain Pen Shawl

Technically I didn't knit on this project at all during the road trip. This is for a Christmas gift, and honestly I've been stalling on it. My deadline is shorter for this project though (mid-December) so I better get knitting!

5. Design Project FO

Preview photo ;)

Hehe, you'll have to wait a few more days for this one. I'll get some FO photos (was hoping to get some once it snows again actually) and then post details.