a not-so cardigan.

Those of you who know me, or see what I post about and knit regularly, know that I never knit pullovers. I actually don’t know why – I just love cardigans. They are the reason I knit – some people are into shawls or socks … I like cardigans :)

But then I fell in love when Veera published this:

Pattern: Gathering Stripes by Veera Välimäki

Yarn: Phildar Preface in colours 36 (grey) and 35 (navy)

Needles: 4.00mm circs and DPNs

A very quick knit, I kept putting it down so it took me a while to complete. I started it in April and finished now … in late June. I made the 38” bust knowing it would be too big but I wanted 3” of positive ease at least. This also means I can wear it for the rest of my pregnancy (which isn’t long but that’s ok):

Modifications:

• Lengthened the body to 19” since my torso is so long.

• Instead of 10 stripes, I did 14.

• Rather than seaming the hems, I left them. I quite like the casual effect this has on the overall look of the sweater.

I have to say, I’m really happy with this sweater. I think it’ll see a lot of wear. While I was knitting, I was torn about choosing the blue versus some gorgeous rust that I had in my stash but I’m glad I went with the blue. And it’s soooooo lightweight! Perfect for cool summer evenings, which we see a lot of in Vancouver :)

ETA: I backed the wooden buttons with small, clear buttons from my stash to give the collar a little more structure as it was very floppy. I’m really glad I did this & would recommend doing that if you’re having the same problem :)

comforts.

Ooooh madelinetosh. Your yarn, your patterns, your overall look … why do you tempt me so?

Although I really like the results of this cardigan and I wished I had pushed through, finishing it sooner; I just wasn’t into this knit. As I mentioned last time, I am lacking my knitting mojo but I really wanted to finish at least one sweater this month … especially the one I started because I was pregnant and would be able to wear throughout the whole pregnancy without worrying about it being too small, short, flattering, etc. But did I get it finished? No. Not until the last 2 weeks of pregnancy and just when summer is starting and I am already boiling (have been for a while!). Herumph. I hope this will see lots of wear in the Fall :)

Pattern: Creature Comforts Cardi by Amy Hendrix

Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in colour 2443 – neutral

Needles: 5.00mm

Modifications:

• Cast on for the 38-42” (med/lrg) size. Halfway through, I decreased every 6 rows until I had the stitch count for the 34-38” (sm/med) size (12 decreases total).
• Knit the chart and St st portion first, seamed the sides, then knit the ribbing in the round.
• 3” of ribbing around instead of only 1.5”.
• Made the armhole a bit smaller, as it kept falling down my arm when I tried it on!

p.s. Thank you so much to the comments from last post! You all completely inspired me – and although I am really looking forward to baby coming, I have decided to take advantage of the quiet time and cast on for something I have wanted to make for a long time but didn’t know what yarn to use. Instead of stash busting, I went to my LYS and spent a little more than I usually would (no workhorse yarn for this project!) and am swatching this evening for the Acer Cardigan – something I have been wanting to make for a loooong time :) xo

mojo.

I thought I would join Ginny in her Yarn Along today since I am really enjoying my current knitting project and reading a great book. First, the book:

I love everything Barbara Erskine writes – this is her second newest book. All of her books are historical fiction that generally go back and forth between the past and present. I always enjoy them! In terms of knitting, I am working steadily on the Creature Comforts Cardigan – I actually think I will get it finished today and since the weather is gorgeous here, I may even get it blocked and dried!

This has been a labour of love for me – I love the effect of the oak leaf pattern but for some reason my heart wasn’t in it. I threw it on my dress form last night and love the results … but I am just not into knitting right now. Will Knit For Food’s Michelle posted this a while back and that is TOTALLY how I am feeling. There’s just nothing I am working on right now that is really fuelling my fire but I am craving something great … Not sure what to do about it. I definitely am not into baby knitting – I tried but with having a little one in July, there’s just no point! I’m looking forward to some winter 6 month or even 18 month knits but it’s too far away to be knitting something for then since we don’t know the gender yet.

If you have a pattern or have knit something really awesome lately that you really enjoyed, I would love to hear about it! Maybe it’ll get a fire lit under my butt ;)

Happy Wednesday!

one wall of one room. done.

I, of course, am talking about the nursery. There is still a bunch of furniture in the room that we need to move out – more for minimal extra ‘stuff’ in the room than anything else. BUT. I have organized the dresser (aka. washed and put things away), put a light bulb in the lamp, and finished a couple of things that have been in the making since … 2009.

The summer prior to getting Charlie (our Golden Retriever puppy who’s now 2 1/2 years old), we drove down the Oregon coast. Camping and showing off the coast to M. was wonderful as it is one of my favourite places in North America. We stopped in Canon Beach and I took a look around one of the great quilt stores … and found “Little Owls” by Barbara Brandeburg. It’s a tied quilt that can only be described as completely silly. I actually started it almost immediately when we got home but soon put it aside. What was I going to do with it? M. was not going to want something like this above our bed!

So, I rolled it up in a towel and garbage bag, threw it in the back of our closet and left it.

I pulled it out this Spring in hopes of finishing it. The heat n’bond needed to finish it off was a pain to work with but I didn’t want to spend the time sewing the owls down either by hand or on my machine. I just didn’t see the point of spending the time. Lazy, I know, but this is not an heirloom!

It’s silly and fun. Perfect colours for a gender-neutral nursery! Here’s an up close of the owls themselves:

You may have noticed above that there is a ‘package’ sitting on the dresser.

It is a travel change pad. I saw the idea on someone’s blog a long time ago, filed it away and didn’t think about it again. After making all those diapers, I had about 2 meters left of the PUL fabric. I cut a roughly 16” x 40” rectangle out of the PUL, quilting cotton left over from the owls quilt and batting. I did some top stitching on the PUL and batting to secure it together and allow for washing (necessary for a little one).

Made a sandwich, stitched around, turned it right side out and folded over one end to make an 8” pocket. I stitched up the center to create two pockets: one for the liners and one for the outer diaper covers. About 4 liners and 3 diapers fits nicely.

All-in-all, very successful, free and simple. It took me about an hour and a half to make it. And it’s super light, unlike the ones I saw in the stores.

If you can believe it, I have finished the ‘baby sewing’ I wanted to do and am on to some Christmas presents that I am planning to finish next week and put away. There has been knitting, albeit very little. I will share that with you soon :)

Also, Charlie would like to say something. He’s very concerned with all the changes occurring upstairs at the moment. He thought you might want to know. Charlotte doesn’t seem to be nearly concerned enough, according to him. He would like to know what’s going on :)

And I am pleased to announce I am officially finished Grad school! We drove to Northern Alberta this past weekend and I convocated with my classmates on Friday. I am so pleased to be finished – and we had amazing weather the whole time we were gone. I have photos but haven’t downloaded them yet – I will share them soon.

I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday – I am still reading what I was reading a couple of weeks ago … and knitting what I was knitting … so no Yarn Along for me today :)

summer change.

In keeping with some of the blogs that I enjoy following, I wanted to post my summer manifesto as well! It’s hard not to be thinking about the summer when the sun has been out, I am 33 weeks pregnant today & life seems to be flying past me in this last trimester (I didn’t want to believe people when they said time flies at the end … but they are right). So here’s mine:

Number 10 is especially important to me – I have been keeping that running in my mind like a mantra the past couple of weeks. As we approach birth, breastfeeding and parenting, I am heeding all of my midwives' advice (I have 5 midwives – it’s a shared practice so whomever is on call when you go into labour, stays with you): “Plan for the best, educate yourself about the worst, keep your expectations low (to ensure no disappointment), and above all, remember that this is your experience, whatever it looks like.” I have approached pregnancy with this mind set and I have to admit, looking towards the end now, I can honestly say I have enjoyed the experience. I don’t want to be pregnant forever (especially because I keep spilling things on my belly because it’s in the way) but I’m glad I didn’t go into it thinking, “This is going to be the best!” or “This is going to be the worst & I’m going to hate it!” It was neither. It was what it was.

And now we are looking to a summer of enormous change! What are you looking forward to this summer?

plugging along.

I thought I would join in Ginny’s Yarn Along this week since I haven’t been sharing much of my knitting lately and I am really enjoying the book I’m reading right now.

Inkspell by Cornelia Funke is the sequel in a trilogy to Inkheart (the last book is called Inkdeath). They are ‘children’s’ books but I love the story. I read Inkheart before the movie came out – which is getting to be a long time ago now – and loved it. Inkspell has been sitting on my shelf waiting for me to open it. I finally plunged in this week. It is not disappointing me! I love the character of Meggie – she’s definitely my favourite. A friend of mine likened these books to Harry Potter, but I think that does both series a disservice. They are both good fantasy stories and I am enjoying the Ink books for different reasons than Harry Potter. The fantasy world of Ink is pretty cool – Cornelia weaves a masterful tale!

In terms of knitting … Gathering Stripes is coming along quickly. I haven’t really shared about this since I have been sewing up a storm instead but I’ve been working on it in the car, work and in the evenings. I am currently half-way down the first sleeve. I am torn about whether to finish the hems as per the pattern or to follow Kelly’s modifications … she didn’t sew the hem but instead left it curled nicely … I quite like it … thoughts?

For those in Canada, have a wonderful May Long weekend – I hope the weather is beautiful wherever you are & that you’re doing something fun :) We’re going camping … in a tent … when I am 7.5 months pregnant – I don’t think it’ll be a big deal and I’m dying to get out of the ‘city’ but I’ll let you know how it goes haha … :)

same same.

I can’t say that the self-induced sweatshop of diaper sewing has finished as I have 8 sitting next to me half done. They only need their leg elastic and top-stitching. The end is in sight! Overall, I have really enjoyed making them. They became very fast in the end as I started to operate on auto-pilot while making them, my mind wandering elsewhere. It was quite enjoyable! I didn’t include in my cost breakdown the cost of thread – this ended up being close to $20 because they eat thread like crazy. I was able, however, to use up a bunch of bobbins that had odds and ends on them since I didn’t care about coordinating colours/matching fabric to thread. Something to keep in mind :)

I have been knitting, though!

Since I really enjoy Ginny’s Yarn Along on Wednesdays, I thought I would share what I’m reading & knitting.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain is an account of both research and experience about being introverted in an extroverted world. I picked it up after hearing her interviewed on Q with Jian Ghomeshi. Her ideas about introverted-ness, along with the research to support many of her claims, captivated me as I am a classic introvert – although I have learned to be quite extroverted when I need/want to be. For anyone out there who is quiet – not necessarily shy as she outlines in the book that this is quite different – it’s a book worth picking up for the sheer joy of reading how to find our ‘sweet spot’ in balancing our natural tendency as introverts to want time alone but also be active in the world around us. It’s also nice to read that it’s not a disease and there’s nothing wrong with us if we don’t absolutely love group work! What a relief!

In terms of knitting. Kelly inspired me to finally try the contiguous method, which I have read/heard is the most perfect fit of all the sweater construction methods. I was curious to understand the method so I bought Walnuss and cast on for Same Same – I know, confusing. You get both patterns when you buy Walnuss and can opt for either method – I wanted it for the contiguous method, hence casting on for Same Same. I have finished the yoke and am currently finishing the armholes. I placed it on my dress form last night & Kelly was totally right – the fit is unreal. I’ll keep you posted. I’m actually thinking about making this a pullover rather than another cardigan – not sure at this point but may join it in the round beneath the bust.

The yarn has been reknit and stashed repeatedly for a long time – it’s discontinued Rowan Purelife (DK) Organic Wool. I absolutely love this wool but I think because it’s my favourite colour and I love it so much, nothing I make is “good enough” in it and I end up frogging it. Hopefully, this will not be another one of those stories.

I’m out into the garden to weed – we have sun here so I want to take advantage! Happy Wednesday :)