1.19.2016

Answer: "Pressure".

Question:

"How can stitching creamy cables for Number One Son be a soul sucking chore?" 


I've got to find a way to enjoy this despite the urgency to get it done!


'Something to think about while I take a certain someone on their morning walk.

1.15.2016

Lucky Girl




French Darning/Embroidery thread from Loop of London picked up and carried home here for me by Number One Son for Christmas. 50% Wool with zero sheen. Love it.

Also love the book - as many stitches as I'll ever use - a gift from My Beloved also under the tree.

I must resist diving into these goodies though as I've got to stick with cabled knitting for the weekend and break the back of this sweater so I'm onto the sleeves next week sometime.

Right after I drop down to correct that mis-crossed cable...





'Lucky to catch that when it was still quick and easy to fix!

1.14.2016

"Rikke" by Sarah Young FO


"Rikke" by Sarah Young
Source: Free Pattern on Ravelry
Yarn:Cascade 220, Cascade 220 Heathers
Colours: Pink, White, Dark Grey
Source: Knit O Matic
Needles:
Start:December 14 Finish: December 18, 2015
Modifications: Added Furry Pom to the top and used Worsted Weight Yarn

Another hat. Another Christmas knit - kind of spontaneous - possibly prompted by the furry poms available at Knit-O-Matic when I stopped in to drop off my donations for the Syrian Refugees.

Very, very well received by my SIL at the big family gift exchange - no doubt enhanced by her fashionable DIL's gushing but I'll take it however I can get it!

Aside from all that, the approach to this garter stitch pattern, shamelessly copied from  "Woolythistle"  rests on how purl bumps appear when paired with bumps of a different shade , tone or colour on alternating rounds. I could see this being quite entertaining to explore (if I wasn't busy cabling my brains out these days!)

Colour play aside "Rikke" is a comfortable, well fitting hat.

I added one of these wee little tags picked up when I purchased the yarn and the pom. I was surprised by how well I liked it on the outside at the back.

Knocking off these backlogged FO posts is feeling good!

Thanks for dropping by!

1.12.2016

"Seathwaite" by Kate Gagnon Osborn FO


Pattern: Seathwaite by Kate Gagnon Osborn
Yarn: Yorkshire Spinners BFL Undyed
Source: Romni Wools
Size: One Size
Start: November 10 Finish: November 18, 2015
Modifications: None


Can you tell by the way this girl is smiling she was happy with this knit?

I had great luck with how knitted gifts were received this Christmas - this one getting it all going on Christmas Eve morning when she dropped by the house and I pointed out there was something under the tree with her name on it.

Seathwaite is the 5th installment of #FringeHatalong at FringeAssociation. It starts with a doubled brim folded over and knit together on the inside for a warm and springy start to a straightforward cabled beanie.

I picked up the yarn - West Yorkshire Spinners BFL - at Romni as I flew through the store mid December. Its the stuff I'm interested in knitting with at the moment. 'Must remember next time I'm in there to take time to look around for more.

I wet blocked it without pinning. It kept the cables nice and round while still opening up the ribbing of the band nicely.

Straightforward, error free, pleasant knitting, well received. Pretty nice!

Nice of you to drop by...thanks! 

"Arched Gusset Mittens" from Purl Soho FO


Pattern: Arched Gusset Mittens by Purl Soho
Yarn: Galway Heather,  Galway Worsted, Rowan Cocoon, Muskoka Aran Farm Yarn, Stoddart Farm Mohair/Wool, Berroco Vintage
Needles:3.75mm, 4mm
Start: October 10 Finish: December 23
Modifications: Various Minor - see below

Occasionally its fun to take a pattern and play around with it a bit.

This one's like eating peanuts - you just want one more, then one more after that -  I didn't lose interest after the first mitten, or in this case, even after the 14th - 'just got more and more interested in the thing.


Either side of  that lovely arching gusset echoing the thumb it accommodates - are three "chunks" just ready to be modified...
  • The cast on/lower edge - I did use the straight knitting version for a rolled edge but I favour the 2-row 1x1 ribbing pictured here.
  • The length of the cuff between cast on and start of the gusset - I made one pair super short to work with a specific jacket - these I worked a bit longer and others exactly as written.
  • The distance between the setting of thumb stitches on holders and beginning of shaping for the fingers is also ripe for mods depending on the hand you are trying to fit/the use of the mitten. (I made one pair particularly long and thin so they would work as liners for other mitts.

I've posted pics of all the various treatments in my previous Year End Tally post as well as my Ravelry page so for clarity - here today just these, my favourite version in Rowan Cocoon on super small-for-the-yarn needles - 3.75mm (instead of 7mm)

The yarn is gorgeous - silky, bulky, soft with a wee halo. Knit tightly in this pattern it created something at once utilitarian (warm and pretty wind resistant for a single-layer stockinette mitt) but also lux.

 In the creamy colourway, I think its a go-with-anything classic...


And speaking of Classics, one I'm less than keen to revisit but I'm doing so anyway...


The tubular cast was too loose on the first go-around.  I decided on the second to use a long tail cast on instead and it leaves the 2x2 ribbing crisp looking - better with the cables flowing "out" of the waist band I think so I'll redo the first one.

Not going to redo the uncrossed cable I just noticed - at least not by dropping down through the knitting. I haven't got the time.  I may make a quicker "snip-snip re-cross reattach" attempt later but for now its staying the way it is.


Off  to cast on another waist band/contemplate how far to go before I do the arm hole shaping. Thanks for dropping by!

1.08.2016

2015 Tally

Last weekend it occurred to me I haven't the slightest idea about my 2015 knitting tally. I guess my needles and I spent the year "living in the moment".

'Probably also why I've got six months of FO's yet to be posted! My New Year's Knitting Resolutions will start with staying on top of that stuff in 2016!

Good thing I maintained a skeleton of project specifics on Ravelry. Even with that its taken days to assemble the detail in this post!

I was "into" mittens in a big way...


Starting with Drop's Design "Silver Dream Mittens" - angora/wool/silk colour work. I felt like knitting them and think they are utterly beautiful in every way but apparently I was not into wearing them so maybe no surprise their existence slipped my mind.

The remaining 7 pairs; "Arched Gusset Mittens" from Purl Soho...






 These will be my new go-to mittens both for knitting and wearing this mild winter. Lots to say about these - worthy of their own blog post I think.

In 2015 Darling Daughter took up the needles in a serious way. Following on the success of the men's vest "Alberta" she stitched 2 embroidered versions of the Arched Gusset Mittens - love what she did with them!


She also knit Julie Hoover's "Dunaway" for gifting. Late one evening a couple of days before Christmas we undertook the hateful task of threading blocking wires through the ultra long sides of it. As we worked she noted the vast difference between the Cascade Superwash yarn of the scarf and the earthy Cascade Ecological Wool from the mittens and "Alberta" vest. As she spoke I thought to myself "she's a knitter now!".

Back to my Ravelry list though, hats were also a "thing" with me last year, starting with turning remnants into infant caps (Free pattern "Troll") and bonnets from vintage patterns I inherited from my mom/grandmother.

I also jumped on the 1000 Stitches for Syria bandwagon and I wasn't alone. I watched volunteers haul away two humongous bags of hand knits from one of the the LYS drop off spots mid November. For my part, I gathered up a few knitted pieces that were languishing around here and worked a new worsted toddler-sized version of the infant cap and a matching pair of toddler-sized gusset mittens. (Yet another unblogged FO)


My "hat thing" also produced "Baker Street" by Courtney Kelly - I wear this all the time. LOVE the Rowan Kid Classic yarn!


"Seathwaite", by Kate Gagnon Osbourn was A Christmas gift for a friend of Number One Son in BFL from Yorkshire Spinners. I seemed to be veering away from coloured yarns towards natural, undyed shades last year...


"Rikke" by Sarah Young - another Christmas gift...


 ...topped with a furry pompom!

Both of these were quick, yet to be blogged about, pre-Christmas efforts.

I made 4 Toys last year. I like making toys so with babies being born amongst friends and family I...


knit remnants into The Reversible Dog/Dog House


A "Chocolate" Bunny at Easter time - more remnant yarn for this one very cleverly fashioned from a knitted square...


Then, from the midst of the pre-Christmas frenzy, an unblogged Bone and a Ball for Hudson...

'Have to say I was downright shocked to see I completed 6 Sweater projects last year because it feels like it was a knitting year free of drama and angst and those are usually key ingredients any time I knit a sweater. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this at last!

EZ's Tomten in Bulky, natural wool yarn in an infant size was first up...


Then I finished the BT pullover "Hawser" that I'd started the previous autumn...


'Renovated My First Ever Hand Knit Sweater with a new collar and better assembly technique...


'Repurposed some deep blue Jo Sharp Aran yarn from an unworn cardigan to make a now frequently worn/never blogged knitted top...


Very last minute in June I cast on a very "Quick Sand" by Heidi Kirrmaier...


I wore it all summer long - a fantastic piece to keep the sun off - haven't blogged about this one either.

Then there was the uneventful knitting of "Slade" for My Beloved in utterly fantastic hand dyed BFL.

A lot to say about this one - another blog post that wants doing!

The only socks I finished last year were a tiny pair for a young baby, again using remnant yarn...


These persistent themes of knitting up remnants,natural, undyed fibre, knitting in the moment (and failing to post about them!) was best illustrated in the bits and pieces I worked on over the summer at the cottage as I played around with cotton remnants and jute string/rope I've been collecting over the past couple of years.


Two cute little gifts - a cotton washcloth and an exfoliating jute so envelope came of the exercise...



As did a Bag I worked up on the fly which, as we speak, is in the sewing pile awaiting a lining. (Its therefore also awaiting a blog post...boy unblogged FO's - possibly the strongest theme of 2015 for me?)


So my 2015 knitting was 30 easy pieces, remnant yarn and using what I had on hand without much thought or acknowledgement. 'Feels like that might have been a nice little break in the routine but that maybe 2016 would benefit from a bit more structure.

And speaking of which, before Christmas I noted I wanted to knit Number One Son a sweater - something quick and easy. 'Back from the UK for a couple of weeks he let me know last weekend he would like me to knit him something...a sweater, like one I knit for his dad...this one...


And lets review he is living in London England, where the daffodils start blooming in February. I've got to knit this thing (1800 yards or so of cabling) and mail it off ASAP if its going to get worn this winter.

So 'starting 2016 with a bang (and a tubular cast on) around here - good thing I "rested up" last year eh?!