FO: Olive

Oh, ugh, I am so disappointed with this little pullover.  It just looked so adorable and casual and wearable on the model, I jumped right on it with needles and yarn.

I mean, it made the model look like this:


(c Helen Isager)

But me?  It had quite a different effect on me:

Ugh, really??  I even added waist shaping to try to pull in the sack a bit.  This just doesn't fit me at all, and I have no idea how my neckline ended up being a gaping maw of terror.

See?  The cute little scoop neck just splays out across my shoulders and I'm tugging at it constantly to re-shape it into a scoop.  I got gauge, I made the smallest size knowing it would be billowy and I'm not exactly willowy, but still.  I wanted it to fit and I was really thrilled with the colors I chose.    

It had cute details though- the yoke and the sleeves are in garter stitch, and the rutching at the neck and waist added interest to the sack.   I was in love with the shiny Danish packaging of this pattern and didn't see the reality of the situation before it was too late.

And I loved the yarn I used- Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in Tulip-Tree Beauty, with some assorted scraps for the garter bands.  I like the fit and drape of garments made in sock or sport weight yarn best, and because most of the knitting was fairly mindless I didn't take me all that long.  However, being handyed, there is more purple in the top half of the body than the lower half.  I didn't alternate skeins. I can live with that- it's not the worst thing about this pullover.

So I'm gifting this, which is just as well as I'll never wear something that I have to fidget with constantly and even wearing a sack around the house is just a bad idea.  I'm still searching for a lightweight casual sweater.  I've been having fit issues all over the place this year, which seems to be a phase that I can't get out of.  Maybe it's a time to make some socks for a bit.

Pattern is Olive from the Amimono collection.

FO: Scarf and gloves. Unmatched, naturally.

Once I had gotten all the gifties sent off in early December, something remarkable happened.

I stopped knitting.

Really!  I've had no motivation or inspiration at all.  It's weird, but it's cold enough out so that I think it will hit me again any day now.  I mean, I have a few projects on the needles, but I'm chipping away at them so slowly that I can't tell if I'm progressing at all.

Soon.

I did finish two smallish projects though.

First up, a luxury gift.  Tiny they might be, but made out of the softest cashmere.

I had two skeins of Debbie Bliss Cashmere in my stash forever.  The really lovely yarns tend to stick around for a while- I'll knit with all Cascade 220 down to scraps with no complaints, but I have a really hard time deciding on projects with the good stuff.  Since this yarn only has a miserable 49 yards in a skein, I was having a hard time choosing.  The only thing to make that small yardage-wise would be a hat for a baby, and I didn't know anyone currently expecting who wouldn't throw it in the washer-dryer without blinking.

Another option?  A really simple pair of fingerless gloves.  Not the most exciting thing in the world, but so soft and warm I almost kept them for myself.  

The pattern (and you barely need one) is from the Knitbot Essentials book.  They are called "70 yard mitts", but I made mine a bit longer and used every last bit of 98 yards on mine, and the police haven't showed up at my door yet.

Another gift:

I started a Hitchhiker scarf at knit night, and soon had used up an entire skein of Online Supersock.  This pattern was so simple, worked entirely in garter stitch, and everyone who saw me working on it could not believe that someone had created yarn that stripes so perfectly on its own.

It made for a perfect gift: it's a scarf, but a very unusual one, as it's asymmetrical.  I might just make some more of these if I ever get around to it. You can almost take a nap and not screw it up.

Oh, and just a bit of gloating as to what I got at a Christmas swap with my fab knitting group:

A skein of Wollmeise!  The lusted-after handpainted yarn from Germany.  I have no idea what I'll do with something this colorful, but I'm still in the stages of petting my precious.

Didn't think used to kind of be a knitting blog?

A pillow, made of sweaters

I'm finally getting around to a few projects that I've been meaning to tackle.  One of which is turning some ratty old sweaters into something slightly less ratty looking.

When the boxes arrived from Paris, I was astounded at how much clothes I had to deal with.  Especially after living out of my backpack for two months, it really hit home how much in my wardrobe is unnecessary.  It seemed silly to have all this stuff shipped across the channel and then start purging, but being apart from it for so long put things in perspective and I was able to make a few of the local charity shops a few bags of goodies richer.



I think Bry has a harder time parting with things.  He doesn't want to throw away anything he feels is perfectly good, even if it looks a bit dog-eared, pilly and worn.  He really only wears the same five or six t-shirts, but he had loads of them- most from various marathons and road races he's run, piles of corporate-branded giveaways, but also a lot clothing from traveling to far-off lands.  Take these sweaters, for instance.

They were supposedly Cashmere- "pashmina" that he bought for very little coin in Nepal.  They weren't particularity soft or well-made, but he loved them and wore them to tatters.  The green one had a pretty big grease stain running down the chin-to-belly zone that I couldn't get rid of, and it ended up slightly shrunk and puckered from my efforts.  The brown one was so pilled, there was no way I could even begin to make it better.  It took a bit of convincing to get him to part with these, but finally, he relented.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to hone some skills, so I decided to turn the sweaters into a pillow case for a throw pillow.  There are about a million tutorials on how to do this online.  Here is one of that I found helpful.  While I generally find upcycled things a bit too rustic for my taste, this seemed like a perfectly valid alternative to running out and buying something from a store.



First, I threw the sweaters in the wash with a pair of jeans, and washed them on hot to felt them.  Oh my!  I wanted the fabric to be nice and firm, without the pillow showing through and without a lot of stitch definition.  They pilled up and shed like crazy, and they ended up shrinking about 25%, giving me not a lot of usable fabric, especially if you take away the fact that the green sweater had that big stain, making the front useless.

I found a pillow form that I wanted to use, measured it, then cut out blocks of the sweater to fit, giving myself an extra inch of seam allowance just in case.  If you can't find the pillow size you are looking for, just buy a larger size, rip some of the stuffing out and sew it back up.  Being able to sew means you can get past all sorts of obstacles.

I hadn't sewn through knit fabrics yet on my machine- you need a special round-tip needle for the job or it will be a bunched-up mess.  I pinned the blocks of sweater together, zipped them together using a zig-zag stitch.  I found it a bit tricky to sew with stretchy knit fabric- I had to be very careful not to pull it along behind the dogs, or it would pull too much tension on the fabric about to be stitched.

The end result:



A perfectly lovely pillow for the couch.



I used the ribbing of the green sweater to pull tight the envelope of the case, rather than encase the pillow permanently.  I love to be able to throw things in the washing machine on occasion, and pillows are generally one of those things that will just gross me out if it's not given a spin with some soap and water every now and then.  



I probably could have sewn a bit more seam allowance, as it is a little loose on the pillow form.  Still, it's not bad-looking, and after a couple of careful passes with an electric razor to get rid of the forest of pills, it is unrecognizable, but a good memento of adventures in far-off places.

I'm looking for a little finishing touch for the pillow.  Maybe vintage pewter or leather buttons, or maybe a decorative topstitch.  Nothing too fancy or elaborate, but I will know when I find it.  The charity shops here are full of good stuff- I've routinely found real wedgewood pottery, tons of Burberry coats, and jars of vintage buttons and spools of thread.  I can't resist ducking in to each one that I come across- I've found quite a few little treasures and I'm filling up my notions box with beautiful, lovely things for pocket change.

The best thing is that the whole project took me about 20 minutes from the time I started cutting to the time I stuffed the pillow in.  Instant-gratification home decor, and it saved sweaters from going to a landfill, so warm fuzzies all around.  I could totally see doing one with a cable-knit sweater and having it look very fab, or layering a delicate lace sweater over contrasting woven fabric.  It almost makes me want to go out and haunt the shops for some more sweaters to recycle.

But I wouldn't do that.

FO: Saroyan

Oh, Cashmere!



It's generally just way too precious for me to justify the cost, but it doesn't hurt to try every now and then.

The market is flooded with so much cheap cashmere.  Instead of being an ultra-luxury good, the Chinese figured out how to mass produce it and now you can get a sweater of low-quality, but a label that says 100% cashmere, for less than $50.  Ten or so years ago, you would be paying many hundreds of dollars.  It's astounding.  Still, when you come across the real, high-quality stuff, it's worlds different.  It feels like heaven.

So, back when I lived in New York, at one point I inadvertently signed up for Groupon.  Ugh, Groupon.  Your idealist sales pitches make me feel inadequate for not getting my hair straightened and my face microdemabraided and my cellulite lasered daily.  I would pop one into my shopping cart every now and then when it was something I would actually use: usually restaurants I was already known to frequent, or a good deal on a yoga studio package that was somewhere between work and home.  Occasionally, a fancy yarn store would offer up one, and being no fool, I would grab it.

So I had a Groupon for Knitty City- a place on the Upper West Side that was just a little too far out of my daily grind to be of any real use to me.  I think you pay $25 and got $50 worth of product, or something like that.  It's a nice way to try new yarns anyway.  I showed up, looked around, and instantly noticed that they had Jade Sapphire 6-ply cashmere bundled up as a scarf kit- 4 skeins for $100, when the yarn is normally about $50 a skein.  So, for $75 total, I ended up buying $200 worth of the nicest cashmere yarn money could possibly buy.  It was still ridiculously expensive, the color selection made me a little depressed, but it came home with me and sat in my stash, occasionally being gently petted and dreamed of the day when I might actually have the balls to make something with this wonder of the textile world.

Finally, right before I moved from France: much travel time, the need to use bamboo needles on the plane, and the need for a fairly mindless pattern resulted in this:



A lovely, wearable Saroyan scarf.  It worked out perfectly- the yarn is so soft and drapey and cushy, a simple pattern was best; something unfussy.  I still am a bit ashamed of the ungodly amount of money it cost me for the yarn, but it's so snuggly and amazing and warm, $75 seems totally reasonable now.



The lace-leaf edging gives it a nice touch.  I've worn it pretty much constantly since I finished it and it's my go-to scarf this winter.  As it should be!





Despite the fact that I finished it while in Costa Rica, I managed to weave in the ends with my stubby fingers and trim them off with my pocket knife (gasp!) and started wearing it instantly, regardless of it being quite tropical in climate.



But it's fantastic, and my favorite thing ever (at the moment anyway) and I might even take this time to admit that I have worn this to bed on more than one occasion.  It's that comforting.  When I do reluctantly take it off, it feels like I've sawed off a limb and I totally feel a sense of loss.  The bottom line is:  I refuse to have a bad day when I am wearing this scarf.

Totally worth it.

FO: The Scent of Lavender Socks

While I was in the states, I had beaucoup gifts to distribute to friends and family. All this knitwear...

....gets gifted. My personal wardrobe is saturated with knitwear. I knit socks faster than I wear them out, I've made myself enough sweaters over the years to have a storage issue with them, and despite my efforts at population control, hats tend to multiply like rabbits. I feel like I will never have a chance to be cold again.

These are called The Scent of Lavender, a fun meandering leafy lace pattern inspired by Provence by Stephanie van der Linden. I started these while traveling around Turkey, and finished them up in no time. The lace pattern was easy, but I couldn't quite memorize it as it changes every row, so I had to have the chart in front of me the whole time.

The yarn is a skein of Sanguine Gryphon Bugga. I'm not sure of the colorway, Shelob maybe? I lost the tag at some point. No matter, the yarn has been discontinued in this incarnation. It's a little thick for socks you want to wear with shoes, but it's very warm and cushy and comforting and good for house socks.

Anyway. I love them, and there seems to be a delightful chill in the air lately.

FO: Sylvatica

Before I get into the rabbit hole of all the travel adventures, here's a sweater I made. LOOK.

Once upon a time, there was a really great online yarn store called Flocks of Yarn. Sadly, they went out of business. Happily, I am an opportunist. I bought up all the Fibre Company Road to China Light for a really steep discount.

If you get a chance to get your hands on some, please do. It's a blend of alpaca, silk, baby camel and cashmere. To die for. Obviously, not cheap.

I did bring this with me to France and decided to start an epic sweater with it. I choose the Sylvatica from Twist Collective, which I've been wanting ever since it came out. I love short-sleeved light sweaters. I generally have a couple of light sweaters like this in the wardrobe rotation. They are less casual than a t-shirt, and they look great paired with skirts...

....Or hiking boots and pants, if you happen to have been banging around in the mountains that day.

I loved the lace pattern in the front, but found it kind of silly to have one mirrored in the back, so I left that out.

I still need to find buttons for it. I'm thinking tiny pearly pink ones will do nicely.

I'm wearing a sports bra in these pictures, so normally I fill out the top portion a bit more. But, eh. That's traveling for you.

Yes, I love it. It's soft and drapey and I've worn it quite a bit already.

The only thing I might do differently is the arm scythe is a bit snug, but after a couple of wears it seems to have loosened up. It's infinitely wearable, and just a good all-round sweater to own.

I did have issues getting gauge, and knit this a few inches before realizing it was going to be enormous. I ripped back, did some math, and then cast-on for the smallest size. I also worked this in the round instead of flat.

While a sweater with fingering-weight yarn on #3 needles takes quite a while, I think the results are worth it.

The pictures were taken in the tiny mountain village of Chefchouen. All the buildings in the medieval medina are painted blue! It was a really beautiful place, and I'll have lots more about it later.

FO: Terzetto Lace Mitts

These took me forever to make.

I'm usually into making really sensible, functional knitwear. If I can't wear it and get it a little dirty, why bother? I'll never wear it.

Yet I cast on for the most delicate, lacy, frilly, girly things I could find anyway. The Terzetto Lace Mitts by Jackie E-S. Le Sigh.

As I was working my way along the first glove, I realized I probably wouldn't even wear these on the Metro, as the entire metro system smells like excrement and I couldn't expose my delicate beauties to such vile smells. So where would I wear these?

To Monet's Garden, that's where!

It's a lovely place, and pretty much all the women who visit there wear their loudest flower-print dresses.

I'll write more about our garden visit later. But these gloves. The first one took me a month to make, the second one took me 3 days because I actually sat down and worked on it. They are on size 0 needles and really fine laceweight yarn, but the openwork patterns mean they fly along.

My only modification is I made the hand one less lace repeat than called for. I tried them on and declared them long enough.

The yarn is Gaia lace from the Sanguine Gryphon (discontinued, of course). The color is "forget me not", which is so appropriate for the setting, no? It's a 60% silk 40% Cashmere blend and Oh OH OH so lovely. I have no idea if these will actually get a lot of use, but I'm happy to have them in case I feel like being fancy for a day. They aren't terribly warm, but so soft and comforting I had a hard time taking them off.

Etsy Shop Update- Yarn and Roving and OMG CASHMERE!

I had a bit of time off around Xmas to putter around the house with a nasty cold keeping me in. While the soulmate decided that the time was for making beer, at one point I jostled him away from the stove to put my dyepots on. Finally, I've got everything photographed and labeled and listed and ready to go! Oh, except for some lovely merino lace yarn that I want to re-photograph. That will be listed very soon.

Here's a few things in the listing.

A few skeins of handspun Shetland:


A couple colors of hand dyed Polworth-Silk top that I'm wild about:




A few colors of Superfine Merino/Superfine Kid Mohair pencil roving:




Laceweight Merino:




A few colors of Superwash BFL roving:


The best is for last (drumroll please...) MONGOLIAN CASHMERE ROVING!



SQUEEEEE! I can't say enough good things about this stuff. It's the softest fiber I've ever touched, and it spins up into a drapey smooth yarn, and then blooms into the most perfect little delicate halo ever. I have a limited amount of this, and I am still having a sale- 30% off! A real bargain as far as cashmere is concerned.

Check it out at KnotMyDayJob.etsy.com. The coupon code for the 30% off is "trente". Happy shopping!

FO: Glorious Cable Mitts

I'm a bad knitwear role model when it comes to my hands. I dislike the bulk of knit gloves, and only wear mittens if it's so freezing cold out that your fingers need to snuggle up next to your other fingers for warmth, like puppies. I do love the elegance of leather gloves, especially if they are lined with something wonderfully soft and warm, like cashmere or deerskin.

A few of my friendos in my local knit group made these Glorious Cable Mitts. I really liked the delicate but complex cabling and the fine gauge.

I started with a skein of A Verb For Keeping Warm Annapurna Cashmere in the Peacock's Tail colorway. It's dyed with Indigo. Aside from the gorgeous color, it's lovely yarn- a blend of cashmere, merino and nylon. Soft, and after a wash, the cashmere blooms and fills in the fabric nicely.



There was a little bit of "crocking" that is, my hands turned an alarming shade of frostbite blue. That's totally normal with Indigo, and after I soaked it I got hardly any bleeding at all. You have to think of indigo as not just a dye, but a live organism, so you learn to love its quirks.

I used size 0 needles, but realized pretty quickly that I'd have to fudge the pattern a bit as they were going to be huge if I didn't cut down the stitch count. 72 stitches were a bit too many if I wanted them to fit.



I ripped back, cast on 62 stitches, and then re-worked the cable pattern so that it would be centered on the new stitch count.



I love them.



They keep my hands free to fumble through my bag, find my phone, wallet, keys, metrocard, whatever. All that ribbing means they fit nice and snug. I love the cabling detail- it took a bit of time to work the cables but nothing so bad that it couldn't be done. They took me a little less than 2 weeks from start to finish. I didn't have the goal of having them Rhinebeck ready, but it worked out that way.



The thumb gussets are brilliant- I think I've only ever done an "afterthought" thumb, which just sticks out like a hitchhiker. These lie nice and flat without any thumb bulk to get in the way. They keep me toasty warm as they are snug around my pulse points. I did a stretchy bind-off so I can wiggle my thumb out and roll them back if I'm doing something where I don't want to get them dirty. Still, the ribbing keeps them snug across my hands so they don't get saggy baggy.



Someone stopped me to admire the gloves and asked me, "Can I just get those at Walmart or something?" to which I replied non-verbally with a careful peeling off of my new fingerless gloves and giving the poor ignorant soul a sound slap across the face with them.

No, actually, you can not get these at Walmart.