shhhh …

It will continue to be quiet around here as there is little to no knitting taking place. School is in full swing and it’s pretty busy! However, I have been wearing this:

almost exclusively over the past weeks – especially in the mornings when it’s chilly. I blocked it after this photo but it was more like washing it and laying it out to dry! I started this when we went to Toronto in July but ran out of yarn. Thankfully an LYS had just received stock for the fall and I finished it right away. I knit it on 5.5mm circulars out of Berroco Ultra Alpaca in one of the new colours: Gneiss (no. 6223). Very perfect. In terms of the size – when I can I will post photos that show it worn – I added an extra 16 rows of St st and 5 rows of the textured stitch before starting the garter. It’s more of a wrap than a shawl in size – quite large. And perfect. Will post photos asap.

whispers.

I finished the Whisper Cardigan back in August but since life was a little hectic and busy, I slung it over the back of a chair and left it until we came back from Oregon. I feel that it’s waited long enough for a proper entry and discussion. Firstly, I used different yarn – therefore, a different gauge and a slightly different look. I am very happy with the results but I’ll get to that later.

1. The yarn. I used Berroco’s Ultra Alpaca Fine in Prune Mix {colour 1284}. I’m not sure exactly what weight this yarn is but I would hazard a guess (at the risk of being wrong) that it’s Sport/Baby weight. I did a gauge swatch and I wasn’t actually that far off in terms of my needle size and ended up going down to 3.5mm, 2.5mm and 2.0mm for the knitting up. Basically, I went down an entire needle size for the whole thing! Not bad.

2. The fit. The Whisper is really cute just the way it is – and I plan to knit one just like the one in the pictures! However, as I am stash-busting right now and using up everything I have before I buy more, I didn’t want to spend a ton of time on the sleeves as I was unsure how much yarn I would really need. Also, if the fit with the different gauge and needle size didn’t work, why in the tarnation should I spend a bunch of time working on beautiful sleeves when it may get ripped? Right. Short sleeves with ribbing on the end as there wouldn’t be the weight to keep them from curling. I did the same at the bottom of the skirt as the yarn was curling upwards really badly, something (from another experience) I knew wouldn’t be fixed with blocking. I liked the look of the corners curling but not the middle of the back hem!

3. The modifications. Even with the change in yarn and needles, I didn’t actually change that much. I was surprised in the end. I only cast on 72 stitches at the first sleeve and cast off 6 for the armhole rather than 8. I knit across the back 11” and did the same on the other side. I was a little nervous about the gather in the middle but it turned out really well on 2.00mm needles. Picking up for the ribbing … I have no idea how many I actually picked up. I don’t ever count when I am picking up because I figure we all knit a little differently and 30 picked up stitchs might look great in the pattern, but I may need only 25 or as many as 35 for it to look as good! It just depends, so I can’t give a number for that. I can tell you that it was a lot! For the skirt, I did the same thing. I picked up however many looked nice. I continued with the pattern and added 2” to the bottom for a slightly longer skirt.

Overall, I am happy with the fit. I really like the colour. I am happy!

continuing quiet …

We went travelling down the Oregon Coast last week to get away from the city and to camp. Although my wrist is now quite sore (I should know better), I have a lot of knitting to share! Most of it is currently blocking on my new blocking boards and I will share my mods in upcoming posts. It was mostly stash-busting knitting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The drive from Pacific City, Oregon, to Portland to Seattle to Vancouver on Monday proved to complete a sweater, a mitten and finish 1.5 sleeves. Like I said – lots to share! Here are some photos of where we went:

The beaches were mostly deserted by people but highly populated by birds! We also did something completely out of character and rented ATVs in North Bend to explore the sand duns and ended up at the beach:

We did no shopping while away but of course by ‘no shopping’ I mean that we did do a little! In Homespun Quilts in Astoria, Oregon, I found some fabulous fabric (I don’t know what I am so drawn to red right now but I am):

  

In Canon Beach, I think my most favourite things I have found for a while are these:

I’m sorry that the second photo isn’t as good – the owl button is incredibly small and I was using my point-and-shoot rather than the ‘good’ camara (oh so lazy). BUT, let me talk about the Little Owls pattern – it’s quilted by fusing and top stitching but I saw it and just about fell over. I just love this pattern by Barbara Brandeburg. Amazing. I can’t wait to make it – I think my husband thought I had officially gone crazy when he saw it but oh well! I have been quite owl crazy for a while and I thought these would be good additions to my little craft collection of owls.

As I wind down on my summer projects and knitting to get ready to go back to school, I hope everyone else is getting inspired by the changing colours of Fall and pulling out their needles. Happy Fall!