FO: Les Misérables

A friend gifted me a spectaularly special ball of yarn last year. Filatura Di Crosa Superior, a cashmere-silk blend, soft and lofty and fine, in the most alluring color of lipstick red.



I got to work right away on an appropriate pattern- something lacy and lovely.  I found this pattern online and got to work.  Although it called for 900+ yards of yarn for a large scarf, but I figured I would just sew up the scarf to make a cowl when I ran out of yarn as I only had 330 yards.

So miserable.

The pattern is easy- a series of yarn overs with dropped stitches lined up, to give it a carelessly destroyed and distressed look to it.  Still..It's cashmere silk blend!  You can't make it look bad.  Once you were done, you give it a good felting to firm up the fabric.  I did this rather ingeniously, as I had finished it while I was living in a hotel with no real way to felt it or let it dry....I used it as a bath puff for a couple days.  Soap, water, agitation, et voila.  It felted it perfectly evenly, it's super soft and surprisingly warm for something so full of air bubbles.

FO: Honey Cowl

Meow.

Ages ago, I fell in love with a skein of yarn. It's called "Kitten" from Tess Designer Yarns up in Portland. Cashmere Silk blends are easy to fall in love with. Ethereally soft, shiny and slinky with a gentle bloom, with lovely hand-dyed colors. I couldn't justify a splurge and I had to walk away just after petting until "friends" stepped in and dragged me away with my heels firmly digging up furrows of mud behind me.

So when a friend sent me a special care package with a skein of Kitten, I somehow managed to swoon and squeal with delight at the exact same moment. Epic.

What to do with this 325 yards of pure love and joy and happiness?

A honey cowl!

I felt that with yarn this special needs to be kept close, with no risk of it sliding off your neck to be tromped upon on the Metro, or forgotten draped across the back of a seat at the movie theater. A cowl with a simple stitch pattern was called for: it won't go anywhere.

I cast on 220 stitches and knit till the yarn was gone. It's lovely. It reminds me of said friend everywhere and anywhere I take it. It can be worn as one giant loop, or doubled up when it's particularly dreary out for a bit more warmth.

I will wear it always.

FO: Memories in Lichen

Hey, remember that time I went to Iceland and I ate lichen? Great story. Good memories anyway.

I finished something kind of big and time consuming. I brought a tote of lace and sock weight yarn with me when I moved and I'm forcing myself to knit it all. Sweaters on teeny tiny needles! No more of those instant-gratification projects of yesteryear, I have space and shipping constraints to think about. This sweater has been done for a bit, I was just waiting and waiting for a somewhat not rainy day out to wear it out. Who wants to be sodden by wet wool anyway? Still, it was on the needles for quite a while.

The pattern is called "Memories in Lichen" by Elizabeth Rislove Etler. Despite it being a little complicated, I loved the details and the fit and just had to make it.

From my stash, I had three skeins of Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga in a precious blue "Bomber Worm".

For the underskirt, a skein of Gaia Lace in "Cobblestone Mazes".

I cast this top on way back in June. I wanted a pretty summery top to traipse around in. Ah, but the rain came and didn't stop until August, and by that time I was most definitely sick a big pile of wool on my lap, so it went into the time-out pile. The lace panel skirt was not hard per say, but it did take your full attention. I just don't really spend too much time fully attuned to my knitting, so it seemed to drag on forever.

The underskrit was easy, and well worth it. I contemplated just picking up stitches and doing a ruffle at the bottom edge, but then you would always have to wear a cami underneath anyway, so I slogged through a mile of lace-weight cashmere/silk blend stockinette stitch to make it. I remember sitting in a sweltering movie theater (true fact: going to the movies here in July means you will probably be cooler outside) and trying to figure out just what the hell was up with this batman character and exiting the theater with a great deal of underskirt done. Magic, I tell you.

Once that was done it was all easy-peasy. The neck has an i-cord edging that I really liked- it gives it a very fished look. The sleeves I fudged a bit as I couldn't really figure out the instructions, but oh, short row sleeves never hurt anyone, so I just stuck to my tried-and-true method. I don't think I have enough of the gaia lace yarn leftover to make ruffled sleeves, so they are plain for now.

So here we are, finished and blocked. It would probably be a little warm for a summer top with all that lovely cashmere and silk against your skin but it could easily be layered. It doesn't get terribly hot in Paris anyway, but it seems like this fall doesn't get brusquely cold either. I will eventually go ice skating in this and I won't fall once and it will be glorious.

I love it.

It fits, it drapes, it's warm and pretty. Both layers pilled up a little bit where my cross-body bag hits my hip, but I snipped those off quick and it seems to have mellowed out with the pills. It's soft and cozy and I will wear it a lot.

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.