strike a pose! that’s VOGUE!

Oh 80’s music. How I miss you and your synthesized wonderfulness. But then we still have Vogue Knitting so that’s a bonus. I have to admit, I don’t generally knit a lot out of Vogue and the few things I have, I was left wishing the magazine came with a 360 degree picture to show you *exactly* what the finished object looks like – complete with the model standing in a *normal* position. But we can’t have everything, can we? No.

But then there is genius in those pages. Sometimes there’s just plain amazing-ness. MMM, yes, designers like Cathy Carron grace their pages and you think, Wow. The #12 Cabled Cowl is what I am talking about. I don’t know why I like it so much – I just do. Cathy actually has a couple of patterns in this issue of Vogue Holiday 2009 but the cabled cowl had me speechless. So naturally, I had to knit it!

  

I had Cascade 220 Heathers left over from the 2009 Boxing Day sale at Three Bags Full here in Vancouver, BC. I had only bought 2 hanks of the yarn, thinking I would knit a vest but I never did and subsequently I used some of the yarn for the Give A Hoot mittens. I ended up needing a fourth of a third hank of the yarn (so much for using things up) to finish the cowl, but I love it, so I don’t mind! The colourway of this particular Heathers is 9410. It’s actually quite grey when knit up, rather than a green. The photos are pretty bang on for the colour, they’re not washed out or over-exposed.

I knit this on 5.5mm circulars. I didn’t change needle sizes for the ribbing – mostly out of laziness. The measurements match the pattern exactly, which amazed me. It’s an interesting pattern in that it changes enough that it keeps you interested and just when you are thinking you don’t want to do it anymore, it’s over! Love it! This will definitely be a permanent addition to my winter jacket this year, especially when we are in Toronto and Ottawa at New Years.

long overdue gushing

I am amazed. Two blog posts in one month! I wrote last week that I hadn’t been doing any knitting. School has in fact taken over my life but I have managed to pick up the needles since then and have *magically* finished some things. While we were on the phone with my parents-in-law last week, I finished the *tedious* task of adding the fringe to an amazingly amazing scarf. I actually hesitate to call it a scarf because it’s more of a monster.

It’s also crochet:

 

When we were in Anacortes, WA, back in June, I found a book by Schachenmayr Nomotta that I had never heard of before but the patterns – oh, the patterns! It’s the first time I have picked up a booklet (other than made in Brooklyn) that I have liked each and every pattern.

  

The yarn that I used when *meant* to use up the rest of the Cascade Ecological left over from my owls sweater; however, I frogged it due to fit and had already started another one in another colour of yarn. Needless to say, I still have 1.5 hanks of Eco left. I actually have plans for it since there is so much left – I am thinking about a cowl or Bella’s Mittens. We shall see.

Back to this scarf. The design number is 6524 for those wanting to look for it. A friend at knitting group who taught me how to crochet this said it’s a kind of shell pattern. All I know is, it was the perfect first crochet project because I had to learn to read a chart, count my stitches and it wasn’t boring! Every row is different – AND right when I was getting the hang of it, it was over! I am definitely going to make another one at some point but in a colour rather than a natural for contrast with this one. It is 99” in length with the 12” fringe (6” either side). I am 63” tall so that gives you some perspective on the length of this monster. It’s pretty rad though, huh?

ps. My boots are an early Christmas present from dear hubby from Aldo.

neck fashion

I have not been knitting lately. School work had taken over my life. As has work and life in general. I don’t think I have had a busier Fall – ever. I decided to leave my full-time position. I am now back where I started: in Emergency. Working casual has it’s perks: I work with all the different lines, set my own schedule and have weekends off. Oh, and no night shifts. Whoot!

Needless to say, no knitting time. Until this past weekend. I realized that if Christmas knitting was going to get done, it needed to be started. But then I got distracted by this: {ravelry link}. I know, right? I had to make it. I had some Cascade 220 left over from my Give a Hoot mittens:

Sadly, they are still lacking eyes. One day soon they will be able to see. This pattern also happens to be one of my Christmas knitting projects. Another pair will be for my mom, who is almost as owl crazy as me. Hers will be out of an aran weight yarn. Her hands are slightly bigger than mine and she gets quite cold so I wanted them to be a little more substantial. And washable, so Misson Falls 1825 Superwash Merino comes to the rescue – in green.

Now to show off the un-blocked #12 Cabled Cowl:

It’s needs to be blocked but I made no mods. I like the “stretchiness” of it already. It’s soft and I think it’ll be perfect for Toronto at New Years over my winter coat. I am going to block it tomorrow and will take some “proper” photos of me wearing and loving it. haha.

Last thing to share: New books! I was wandering in two LYSs this past week and found two books I have been looking for:

I am in love with the Made in Brooklyn by Jared Flood. He is such a talented and resourceful designer. I love everything he touches. Norah’s book is excellent as well. I am knitting the Wilson Hat for my dad for Christmas. The Feldspar Scarf will be for my hubby – it will be the first knitted gift for him ever. I know right? He doesn’t like anything “scratchy” or “that would cause you a lot of work” – very thoughtful. But I want to knit him things!!! So I am just going for it – the Ultra Alpaca he doesn’t find itchy on his skin and I am going to soak it for longer in Soak or Eucalan to soften it up even more. Too bad – it’s time he had a knitted gift!

I finished another scarf this past week that I am anxious to share but I have no photos of it yet. I will get those done this weekend and post them soon. To everyone embarking on Christmas knitting:

~~ Good Luck ~~

missing missing

I have been very busy with school so this is just a very fast check in to say that I am here, just working on getting things in order with work, school and life in general. I am very excited to be able to spend a little time on me tomorrow afternoon – I am going to visit the new LYS in Vancouver, Gina Brown’s. I will let you know how that goes and hopefully have some things to share next week as I wind up some projects that have been on the needles long enough.

Have a great Halloween everyone. Be safe :)

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!