penny for your thoughts.

For my birthday this year, Mom and Dad gave me yarn. They are awesome. And know me!

I chose Berroco Blackstone Tweed in 2601 (cream/natural). I have lots to say about the yarn but I am too excited to tell you about Old Penny [Forestry #11] – so, I will do that first. Veronik Avery’s patterns have always caught my attention – I love her attention to detail and fibre choices for her garments. Her St Denis collections are beautiful. I am so looking forward to knitting some of those patterns soon.

Back to Old Penny (or Forestry #11 from Vogue Knitting Fall 2008). I made some major modifications to the construction of the sweater. To get gauge, I used 4.00mm needles.

First, I knit the sweater seamless from the bottom so I cast on the stated number of stitches for the back, right and left fronts. I liked some of the modifications people had made to the back of the sweater, so I added 5 penny cables to the center back. The twist that some people added to the middle of the center back to create 2 pennies on either side looked really good but I liked the sweaters best that had only pennies across the back. I like the effect and the added ribbing effect that the cables give creates great shaping.

I knit the sleeves in the round to the armholes and then worked the yoke in the round. I decreased every RS row 21 times. The yoke measures 7.5” in length along the raglan seam.

I ripped back to the beginning of the yoke to add another 2 inches to the body as I didn’t like the length and knew I wouldn’t wear it if it wasn’t longer. I am so so so glad I did this – although I was annoyed at the time and put it down for a couple of weeks for a break from it, the satisfaction of knowing that it is exactly what I want for length.

I encountered a hic-up when I reached the collar, which proved to be quite annoying. I didn’t like the look of the increases at the “corner” of the R & L fronts before the shaping at the neck (see the photo below, where the twist along the button band ends).  After working and re-working the collar, I decided to go back to what I know and love: Short Rows. Japanese short rows to be exact.

Leaving the markers as specified by the pattern on either side, I worked to 12 stitches past the second marker, turned, worked back to the first marker and 12 stitches past, turned. I continued this to create 3 short rows on either side of the markers on each side – 4 stitches apart. I then just followed the pattern for Veronik’s spacing of short rows. I ended up with a total of 11 row markers on each side before working each short row across. I then knit another 6 rows back and forth before casting off loosely. Confused? Yup, me too. I just wrote down what I was doing as I was doing it but I am not sure I would be able to do it again.

Now, the yarn before this post gets too much longer! I thought the price point on this tweed was a bit high, however the yarn was beautiful to work with – absolutely beautiful. The mohair and angora in the yarn creates a beautiful halo that I don’t usually like but in this yarn, it works. It’s quite even which is sometimes not common in tweeds. I washed the swatch in eucalan and the finished sweater, I washed also in eucalan then spun it in the washer to get all the extra water out. The sweater looks as if I never did anything – the yarn’s sheen is gorgeous. I have to say, as well, the yardage isn’t bad either for a 50g ball.

This is hands down my favourite handknit. Oh, other than my Selbu Modern.

Before I sign off, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday. See you in the New Year!

-r.

p.s. Christmas came early this year for me since the dressmaking models came on sale at my local sewing shop, so yes, she is new & I love her! It’s great that even though it’s raining like crazy outside, I could still take photos and share with you. Any ideas for names for her?

kaffe. socks. & poetry.

I started these over a year ago after finding the yarn at Dressew here in Vancouver for $1.99. All I had to do to finish them was graft the toe of one of the two socks. And they had been sitting in a zip lock like that – needles still in the toes – for over a year. I finished them yesterday while shaking my head and thinking I can’t believe I didn’t finish these a year ago.

But they are done now and I have been wearing them all day! The yarn is Regia Kaffe Fassett Design Line Sock in colour Mirage Fog 4252. I knit these on 2.5mm and cast on 60sts. I prefer 2.25mm knitted socks and 64sts but they are comfortable and I will wear them – Live and learn, yes?

Definitely.

-r.

ps. I wrote a poem about these socks … Do you want to hear it? Okay. It’s pretty nerdy though …

They are just socks oh

But I love them so.

Have you seen the purple grey and green show?

Did we mention the yellow?

botanical.

In a scramble for a last knitted Christmas gift for my brother [P], I ravelry searched “hat, men, toque” and came up with Stephen West’s Botanic Hat. I had bought burnt orange to add to the brown Ultra Alpaca in my stash that I was going to put together for another Noro Striped Scarf. I was about 10 inches into it and hating every stitch. Literally hating it. There was no way it would have been finished in time for Christmas let alone for this lifetime.

The Botanic toque was the perfect answer – especially since P loves loves loves toques. I have knit him one for the past 2 years – both of which he wears. Why not add to the growing stash of toques since it’s what he loves? I have always gifted him toques, even before I learned to knit.

One thing about P when knitting toques for him is that his head is small. Weird, I know. In the pattern, Stephen calls for 4 and 4.5mm needles, so I downsized to 3.5 and 4mm needles. Worked perfectly.

No other modifications! It’s nice to have something finished in 2 days, off the needles and wrapped. I did want to share a couple of thoughts about this pattern. First, it’s a great pattern. The instructions are clear and concise. Secondly, because you are working on the knitted side, you can’t see the growing “veins” of the inside so I found myself constantly turning it inside out and back again. I liked this about the pattern -  especially when I got to the crown shaping. It kept it interesting and I stayed focused on finishing!

Alpaca tends to stretch. I wouldn’t chose alpaca for a toque again as just photographing it on M [husband extraordinaire] caused some stretching. The colours of the Berroco are perfect for P’s taste, though, so maybe some heathered Cascade 220 next time …

I love the reversibility of this toque – how cool is that?

I have another finished Christmas knit that is the largest gift knitting I have ever taken on. It’s drying and I am finishing the belt (yup, you guessed it – it’s a sweater). I will share that after Christmas as the person receiving it sometimes clicks onto this blog to check out what I have been working on! To be honest, I can’t believe it’s finished. Some of you will know what project I am talking about!

-r.

traveling in lace.

This is just a quick post to share a finished Christmas present:

You might remember that my mom asked for a couple of gifts for two very dear friends – the first Traveling Woman was finished back in the summer for one and this is the second. The first travelled to Halifax, where they get winter and storms so I held the yarn double. This one is staying here in Vancouver where we get rain but not really cold weather so I didn’t double the yarn.

I didn’t do yarn overs along the center stitch again – just M1L and M1R on either side. The yarn is Classic Elite in Silky Alpaca Lace colour #2409 Teal. Gorgeous. It softened beautifully when I washed and blocked it. Quite lovely.

-r.

tea leaves + tosh = POSH.

While in Toronto last week, I had the pleasure of visiting Lettuce Knits as per my usual. I love looking around the store and seeing the luxurious yarn – some of which is still hard to find here in Vancouver. I especially fell in love with the Madelinetosh Tosh Merino in Cove. Thoughts of Tea Leaves started to circle in my head and next thing I knew, I was at the till, paying for 5 hanks of gorgeous-ness. Each hank was different so after conferring with my 3 girlfriends that I went with, we chose these ones because they looked relatively similar …

Although the yarn cost an arm and a leg to purchase, I am really excited about working with this fibre – I have swatched for Tea Leaves already. I can only liken this yarn to Malabrigo Worsted but a luxury version of it – it’s soft with a beautiful sheen. It’s heavier than Malabrigo, though, and as I work through the yoke of Tea Leaves I can see that my wrist will act up through the entire knit. I am excited about the sweater – thus far, it’s gorgeous – but I probably won’t be able to finish immediately as I will need knitting breaks to rest my right wrist from purling. I need to learn to knit backwards …

Can I be in love with a yarn? What are you in love with right now?

-r.

sockies.

They are finished. One pair of socks in 7 days. A new record for me. And they are lovely.

I used 2.25mm DPNs for these bad boys.

I love the manly colour and they look especially good with jeans:

Another Christmas gift down – two more to go!

sockies for daddy-kins.

Remember my gift rant from last post? Well, I felt a lot better once I talked about the reasons that I like gift knitting – and I think in some ways it was a little prayer for something like this, “Please show me some indication that they appreciate the hand knits.”

So on Saturday, my mom says to me, “Do you know how to fix holes in knitting?”

“Yes. Is there something I need to fix?”

“Your father’s socks have holes in each of them and I didn’t think it was fixable.”

“What socks?”

“The ones from a couple of Christmas’s ago.”

“I didn’t know he wore those but yes, I can fix them.”

“He does and that would be great. I didn’t think you would still have any yarn in that colour to fix them with.”

“Yup, I still have it – just in case.”

HE WEARS MY HAND KNIT (and not very well knit since I wasn’t a good sock knitter at that time and they were different sizes/gauges) SOCKS!

We headed to Toronto on Sunday and as I was looking at all the WIPs that I have to finish (mainly sweaters, again from a previous post – no, none of them are finished), I thought, How about I make him a pair of socks for Christmas? If they don’t go well and I have trouble finishing them, no worries because we have another gift for him anyway …

So I raided my stash can came up with very manly Sandes Garn Strompegarn superwash in a brown tweed that I had picked out to knit another striped cardigan but I can get another ball no problem so I am not overly concerned about using this for Dear Dad.

I used the Universal Top-Down pattern from Vogue Knitting’s Ultimate Sock Book since I knit him bottom up socks last time and I don’t think they fit in the heel as best as they could have. He doesn’t have big feet – although he’s 6’ tall, he only wears a 9.5 men’s shoe (yes, I was super lucky and got his feet – my mom wears 10.5), so the sock was only knit until 9.5” from the back of the heel through the foot. My husband wears a 9 men’s shoe so thankfully, as long as they are slightly loose, they will fit Dad perfectly.

Rather than slipping the yarn behind to knit the heel, I slipped it with yarn in front to create a mock seed stitch.

This yarn has acrylic, polyester and wool in it so I am not worried about wear. Besides I can knit another pair!

I will cast the second one on this afternoon and I hope to have them finished before the end of the week …

We are heading to Lettuce Knits tonight to see SweetGeorgia’s Felicia Lo and her trunk show. Who would have thought I would have to travel all the way to TO so see Felicia rather than in our own city? Funny how that happens … I am taking a good friend to the Purple Purl this afternoon as well since she has never been there even though she lives here. It’s sunny here so although cold, it’s a sunglasses day in the center of the universe :)

-r.

gift knitting.

There have been a lot of things happening on this home-front that have kept me a little under the weather so when I was thinking about Christmas knitting, I was getting even more down: Really? I have to knit a bunch of gifts before December 25th and then wrap them and happily give them away?

When I caught myself thinking like this, I stopped myself and asked why I enjoy giving hand-knits for Christmas. Here are the reasons:

1. I love creating something a little extra special for my sister-in-law in Toronto since we don’t see her much and we miss her dearly.

2. Giving something handmade means that I chose the yarn, colours and pattern for the other person – they are “in” the project.

3. It’s not a burden to make things for the ones I love when it’s manageable and lovely.

How can I continue to enjoy holiday knitting without the stress attached?

I think the easiest thing to do is set some ground rules for going forward:

1. No sweaters. I’m not going to say never, but I think commission knitting for sweaters works best in my family.

2. Simple simple simple.

3. And quick.

So, for my sister-in-law in Toronto – where it snows entirely too much – I knit the simple Dolores Park Cowl by Parikha Mehta in Fleece Artist Big Merino. No I don’t like pink and no, it doesn’t look good on me – but for her, it will look stunning and gorgeous.

I added the flower out of the left overs. Again, very simple:

Cast on 20 stitches (leave 8” tail).
Knit one row (creates purl ridge on right side)
Knit one row.
Purl one row.

*Knit 1, make 1* repeat until last stitch, K1.

Purl one row.

*Knit 1, make 1* repeat until last stitch, K1.

Purl one row.
Cast off loosely.

Thread cast on tail through purl ridge and pull tight. Weave in ends. Add button to center. Add pin backing.

I hope your holiday knitting is coming along swimmingly (or knittingly, I should say)! Good luck and we are off to Toronto so talk to you … when we get back :)

-r.

p.s. Yes, the cowl really is this bright. We shot it in RAW format and then auto balanced – the photo is accurate in the colour!!!

unfinished. equals un-bliss.

I am feeling a little frustrated with the number of unfinished projects in my knitting basket. The number unfinished seem to be climbing and I am feeling a little overwhelmed. Part of the reason they are unfinished is because the majority are not simple, fast or easy knits.

Take the first project. Old Penny (Forestry) by Veronik Avery was published in Vogue (Fall 2008) which was their best issue ever in my humble opinion. It’s a very enjoyable knit – but the ripping and re-knitting for fitting purposes has put a damper on my progress towards the final casting off. I was finished and knitting the collar and realized that it was about 3 inches too short. Now I am re-working the yoke and I think the sleeves are too tight so I may have to rip back again.

The second project is an epic tale which will be shared at a later time in another post. Norah Gaughan’s Tilted Duster is still not done. It has been on the needles for a while and I am hoping the skirt starts to come to near completion soon … I am starting to get annoyed with the black. It’s amazing what happens when you start to knit with colour … all of a sudden, boring neutrals not the interesting knit do they make!

Although there are more projects on the needles that need to be cast off and finished, I am only going to share one more that is plaguing me. The Effortless Cardigan by Hannah Fettig is lovely … when finished. Unfortunately it is miles and miles of St st … which I am just plain sick of. I like some challenge in my knitting but I am putting up with simple for the shear love of the finished product – and I have the mostest perfectest yarn for it!

I hope I am not the only one with unfinished projects piling up around them. I think I will feel a lot better once I actually finish just one project – just one. That’s all I ask. I am putting my money on the Tilted Duster as the first one to the gate but at this rate … who knows? Thanks for listening to my little crisis! Hope you are finishing lots in your knitting bag :)

-r.

Garter Cowl.

Gauge: approximately 5.5stitches per inch.

Needles: 3.00mm circulars (at least 32” long – 24” circs and your stitches are all jumbled on top of each other)

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Sock (MC) and Knit Picks Palette (or an equivalent sock/fingering weight yarn) (CC)

Abbreviations: MC = main colour; CC = contrast colour

Cast on 302 stitches with MC.

Join to work in the round.

Row 1: Purl in MC

Row 2: Knit in MC

Row 3: Purl in MC

Row 4: Knit in CC

Repeat Rows 1 – 4.

Work until ~ 6.5 inches wide or almost out of MC, cast off.

When laid flat, cowl measures 27” long (54” around) and 6.5inches wide.

Enjoy!

-r.

for cool Fall evenings.

I stumbled across these in the Fall 2010 issue of Vogue Knitting in an advertisement.  I had seen them before but it was actually my mom who mentioned how much she liked them. The Long Striped Hand Warmers by Whitney Van Nes is a simple, easy-to-follow, instant-gratification-type pattern. I loved it.

That said, I almost didn’t share these because they have ended up having a little bit of a fumble. But a good friend said, “Carry on, carry on – they are for warmth – who cares?” She’s right and I can always make a new pair since these took no time at all.

Let me talk a little about these before I share the fumble with you. I chose Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift since I have been trying to stash bust and I had some gorgeous “Granny Smith” colourway waiting quietly to be knit into something. I also had some Rowan rowanspun 4ply needing to be knit. There is lots of the rowanspun left over and I fully intend on making another pair. There was not, however, enough to finish the mitts with the Jamieson’s. Bummer. Enter the Fumble.

Do you see it?  Yup. I had to sub in some of another colourway of Jamieson’s I had in my stash. The colour isn’t perfect – the Pistachio is quite yellow compared to the rich colour of the Granny Smith but it’s actually not that bad. They’ll mostly be under my jacket sleeves anyhow!

I used 2.75mm DPNs for the ribbing and 3.00mm DPNs for the body of the mitts.

I think what I love most about these is that there is no shaping. No fancy work. They are just simple simple simple. And so effective. Unbelievably effective. I am tempted to cast on for another pair now …

I hope you are knitting something warm this Fall!

apples. apples.

I love Fall – I think I mentioned that in a recent post. We have lived in our current apartment for almost 4 years but we have never been free to go to the Annual UBC Apple Festival. Since we will be moving soon, we decided to make sure to go this year.

I couldn’t resist an almond-caramel covered Granny Smith, though!

Apples seem to be theme around here lately because I am currently knitting with a colourway called “Granny Smith” – more on that soon!

colour backlash.

I love neutrals ... I love working with cream and beige ... I love to focus on the fabric and texture rather than the colour ... I think my tastes are changing.

Recently, thinking outside the box in terms of the knits I have been choosing to focus on has had me thinking about branching out and looking at alternatives when it comes to colour. Yellow. Rust. Teal.

They have been calling my name. Incessantly. “Come … knit with us … don’t be afraaaid…”

So what happens next?

Well.

Chaos.

Obviously.

And I love it.

Look, Ma! No GREY!

What happens when you put Noro Silk Garden Sock with a little hint of White Knit Picks Palette and allow the white, which is bright and bold, to fight against the colourful Noro?

Not just contrast, which in this knit I love, but also a bright cowl that reflects the light and leaves me feeling quite content.

The inspiration was a cowl I saw in Pacific Center in downtown Vancouver but it was grey and I just couldn’t stomach another grey knit (It can be so grey in Vancouver in the winter and I know I have to get outta that funk).

Also, I liked the idea of fingering/sock weight yarn since it doesn’t hover around –5 degrees for long here – you really just need something around your neck to take the chill of +5 degrees off.

The Pattern:

So on 3.00mm circs, I cast on 302 stitches and garter-stitched on! Every 3rd row, or 2nd “garter ridge” I added the Palette White. Knit until you almost run out of Noro Sock and cast off.

C’est bon! I love it. What chaos are you creating this Fall?

-r.

bright + beautiful + cute sweater.

A close friend of mine deserves a wonderful, colourful baby sweater knit out of yarn that she would probably never splurge on and buy for herself. Therefore, when trying to decide on a baby project for said close friend, it didn’t take me long to decide on Sweet Georgia – but which to choose? Enter Sweet Georgia Superwash Worsted. For a new mom, knitter or not, superwash is the only way to go. Check. Slightly thicker gauge for a warm sweater. Check. But what colour? Well …

1. Boy or a girl? No idea.

2. Bright or muted? Bright … but unisex.

3. Yellow or green? … Why do we always chose one of those two colours when the sex is unknown? … How about neither. A dear friend said to me, “Purple. I put my nephews in purple.” Awesome!

4. Must have buttons. Therefore it must be a cardigan for ease of placing said new baby in said new baby sweater.

5. We live in the city that just hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. Like it or not, baby will be born in the year that we had this enormous event and it would be nice to … What’s that? Sweet Georgia had a colourway that was a limited edition dyed just for the Olympics in the Olympic colours since she’s from Vancouver too? And it’s really beautiful and bright? But not too green? Really? hmmm …

Enter:

Sweet Georgia Superwash Worsted in Wetcoast Winter.

Perfect for the February Baby Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman on 5.00mm needles and knit in an afternoon. A perfectly enjoyable knit. In Stockinette stitch, rather than the gull lace pattern.

With the cutest 18mm lime green buttons with white polka dots to match.

This little sweater took one skein of yarn – although it was cutting it very very close – and I have to say that I am really looking forward to knitting another February Baby Sweater. I think between the joy of working with the Sweet Georgia and the colourway (which I ended up really liking), this was one of the most enjoyable knits I have done in a long time.

 

Did I mention the lime green polka dot buttons? I mean really. Can you get any cuter?

Yup. With sewn on buttons:

This post was written back in August while we were waiting for Baby Jack to be born. I couldn’t post it until now because Trace didn’t have to sweater yet and then I forgot about posting with everything else going on! Hope everyone is having a happy Fall … we are, it’s just hectic :)

-r.