FO: Cable rib socks

Just a quickie, as I've been out on an adventure and I have been trying to organize my thoughts and photos on it, and my laptop has come to a grinding halt.  I'm in the process of backing everything up so I can wipe my hard drive clean and start anew, as that is the only thing I can think of that will get this up to speed.  

I finished a pair of socks- the Cable Rib Socks from the Interweave Favorite Socks book.  

So the yarn...is ugly.  I've overdyed these since I took the pictures (and blocked them, so they look a bit neater) but ugh.  The yarn is Austerman Step in "grass", and it looked just peachy on the shelf, but when I started knitting I realized pretty quickly that it just wasn't working.  I loved the greens, but the reds and pinks made me feel fairly nauseated.  I kept going though, and then threw them in a pot with some food color, which made the reds pop less and the dulled down the pink and white stripes.

Still, they are socks, and they are a gift of the practical nature.  The yarn seems sturdy enough, and they are machine washable.

Also, I realized something amazing and unrelated to socks this week.  If I want to lose weight and get more exercise, it's best to start a pot of homemade stock on the stove.  Then, go out to dinner in Brixton, and when you are almost done your Pad krao, remember you left the stove on.  This causes a surge of adrenaline the likes of which I rarely experience, and I sprinted back home in my heavy rain boots and layers of rain gear, peering ahead hoping not to see firetrucks the entire time.  Well, I ended up not being in the awkward situation of explaining to my landlord exactly why I burned the flat down, and I came home to a happily simmering pot of stock and the apartment smelling quite homey and good, and collapsed in a heap after breaking the 7-minute mile barrier that I had been aiming for years now.  In rain boots.  In my head, I knew it was going to be fine- I usually leave stock on the stove for three or four hours at a time with barely a glance into the kitchen.  Just being out of the house and knowing the stove was left on made my head leap to automatic worse-case scenario.  In all my life, I have never ever forgotten the stove being on.    

Lesson learned.  Leave the stove on if you want to be in great shape and run like the wind.

FO: Brattleboro Hat

Oh, it's time for the return of the masses of Paris! I've grown fond of having the city practically to myself in the cold dark winter, but, alas, it is not meant to be. The soundtrack of my life now consists of the daily parades of people awkwardly banging along with their wheely-suitcases dragging along the cobblestones. Alas, I live in a good Paris neighborhood with nary a tourist attraction within a kilometer, so it's only when I veture out of the neighborhood that I realize what a crazy lovely place Paris is to visit. And everyone does.

I can't hide, so I join them. A very chill Saturday, picnicking on the Trocadero. People watching and watching the tchotchke vendors occasionally getting chased across the plaza from a rather elderly cop that had no chance at all of catching them.

I also had a total freakout meltdown at how flithy my camera was. It wasn't the lens, but one of the internal mirrors somehow got coated in dust, but I didn't notice until I got home and loaded the pictures up. I suffer no more as I found a nice camera shop that humored my french and cleaned her up like new.

Yet another quick like a bunny, easy as pie hat.

This one is from the book, "New England Knits", which has a pretty good assortment of warm woolies that are slightly more fabulous than anything you could possibly purchase at LL Bean. Since it seems to be still winter-like almost everywhere that I have friends, I'm sure it will get some use.

The hat is made by starting a rib band until it fits around your head, then picking up stitches along the top and working in moss stitch before decreasing for the crown. The pattern calls for working buttons, but I couldn't be bothered and just sewed them into place.

Easy, cute, warm. Another good gift to send off. I love making hats for gifts because I can throw them in an envelope and ship them flat, which cost about half the price with international shipping being what it is.

FO: Briar Rose Pullover

While it doesn't get cold in Paris like it does in Maine or even New York, it's nice to have a few really heavy-duty warm sweaters to keep you toasty on the rare day where the temps do dip below freezing.

I reached for a bag of Lousia Harding yarn called Thistle. It's a Suri Alpaca and Merino blend. I took to heart how Pariseins love to wear all black with a bright pop of color and I choose a rather stunning shade of sunshine yellow.

I cast on for the Briar Rose Tunic, a cover girl from Interweave Knits:

I made a couple modifications as I went. I took a full 8 inches off the body, but still ended up with what one might call a rather immodest dress. I decided to put my decreases in the ribbing section on the side instead of in front of it to give it more of an hourglass illusion. Finally, I reversed-engineered the sleeves so I could knit them from the sleeve cap down, and just stop when I run out of yarn. It worked out brilliantly, and I ended up with a long-sleeved sweater with just a couple of yards of yarn left over.

It's so warm and cozy. Once blocked and worn, this yarn blooms and sheds like crazy though, so this is a decidedly outdoor sweater.

I am hoping the shedding stops or slows up eventually. Everything else I wear with it ends up looking like a giant yellow cat has used it as bedding.

I love wearing it though and have done so several times already. It was fantastically easy to make and the cabled yoke detailing makes the pattern.

FO: Petite Facile

I am having one of those days at work that the only thing I have to really happy about is that the girlscout cookies are here. Suddenly, life is good.

I recently made a sweater for a wee one, which never really inspires me. Forgive the boring pictures of a baby sweater without a cute baby bundled up in it. A boy-child yet to be born, but it got sent out with a flourish today as I won't care to figure out where it will be in the grand scheme of things when said baby makes an appearance. Better be safe and get it out early.



I am none too precious with baby clothes. Hence, the worsted weight cotton that I bought at the sale that Suss had when she closed in New York. That was six years ago. I am loathe to make anything but baby clothes from the yarn; it makes my hands ache. It's machine washable and I'm assuming that the precious little bundle of joy will most likely throw up a few times before his first birthday. This uses up the last of my stash of it. Please hold your applause.



I actually have no idea what size mini-person this might fit. Babies are either shockingly small or surprisingly huge to me. If I make something larger then I know it will fit eventually, unless they have a terrible genetic disorder and they end up being a regular guest on Maury Povich. Does he still have a show? Never mind. I don't want to know.


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The sweater pattern is called "Petite Facile" -the "Little Easy" and it's from Interweave Knits Winter 2011 issue. It's written as a solid-color, but, having limited yarn, I saw the opportunity for color blocks. I think it's cute, and it doesn't even look like I was afraid of running out of yarn. Or does it?



It had a fun construction with short-rows for the sleeves and some easy finishing. I made the 3-6 month size, but because I didn't do a gauge swatch, I don't know how accurate this is. It will fit eventually.

FO: Shawl-Collared Lattice Sweater, Pour mon Mari

I am always on the prowl for the perfect guy sweater. Men are very particular- they usually have a well-defined comfort zone when it comes to fashion, and anything teetering on the edge of normal will not get worn. It has to have unique details, but not too complicated or fussy or delicate. Color is important as well- the more drab and boring the color, the more loved it will be. Think of dirt, of UPS Brown, or the color you get when you mix all your watercolors together. That's what we're aiming for.



Cables are okay, but he says, "nothing too Irish". So no crazy cabled fisherman sweater, which aside from the basic plain sweater, seems to be the most popular men's pattern.

I found a pattern in Knitscene the fit the bill. It's called "The Lattice Sweater". I dug around in my stash and found some appropriately drab Cascade 220 Heathers in the color "Sparrow". I got to work on it- I knocked out the sleeves first and then did the body up to the 'pits when I was in Orlando on a business trip.



Everything gets joined at the yolk with raglan decreases, and the neck is split and the lattice cable gave me something interesting to do, finally. Except that I mis-read the instructions and ended up doing half the amount of decreases necessary and realized pretty late in the game that this would fit off-the-shoulder. Sigh.

I tinked back to the armpits, joined everything again, and did the correct amount of decreases. Much better now. Funny fact- when I realized my error in decreases, I denied it at first and continued to knit another few rows before I ripped it back. What the hell is wrong with me? In the end, knitting the yoke a second time didn't kill me as much as I thought it would.

I am going to re-knit the shawl collar though. As it is now, it's not big enough, and it's always teetering on wanting to stand up on its own. I want it to be bigger and drapier. He agrees. A little drama is okay once in a while.




Despite the fact that half the sweaters I've made haven't gotten any use at all this year due to the fact that it rarely hits a temperature cold enough, I keep slogging on with woolie knitwear with the plan of moving to someplace very cold one day. Maybe I should start taking classes in Scandinavian languages and brush up on my reindeer-herding skills.





At the suggestion of a friend, I think there should be some short-rows in the back to give it more shape. The front wouldn't ride up if there was more space for the shoulders. When I fix the collar, I might as well just keep going and rip back a few inches into the sweater as well.



Aside from the minor fit issue, he loves it. It was finished in time for his birthday, but since I fitted it to him multiple times it wasn't a surprise. Surprises when it comes to fit = not a good surprise at all.

I used a full six skeins of Cascade 220 and size 6 needles (size 5 for the ribbing and the collar) to get 19 stitches per 4 inches. I made the 44 3/4" size- his chest with a t-shirt on is 42". It's fitted, but it still gives him a good amount of ease. He loves it (and if he didn't, he wouldn't have the heart to tell me, but since he's already worn it a bunch I'm just going to stick with "he loves it") and I'm happy with it as well. Viva winter!

FO: Leyfi Pullover

Fa-la-la... I finished something....



Actually, I finished it a couple weeks ago, but their isn't enough daylight in my week to get a decent shot of it. I think if you are going to spend hours and hours handknitting something you really need to do your work justice with a nice well-lit outdoors or studio photographs. This usually isn't a problem from May to September, but wintertime can be a challenge.





The pattern is called Leyfi by Romi Hill. It's from Interweave Knits Fall 2010.



I used 2 skeins of Cascade Eco Wool. The way the sweater is constructed makes it fun- you start with the crazy open lace turtleneck, work your way down to the shoulders, and then split for the lace sleeves. It flows together seamlessly.

I might have made a mistake in interpreting the pattern- I think the sleeves are meant to be more of an open lace pattern. I knit all the yarn overs through the back loop like the pattern said, and now that I look at other people's finished project, I see that they didn't. It doesn't effect the fit per say, but it just makes it less lacy.



The only thing I did to modify was a few short rows in the front for boob-shaping. Otherwise, this sweater would be the same front and back. Also, I added some garter stitch to the bottom hem to keep it from curling up. This is my first completed sweater for 2012. I can only hope that I can order up some cold, snowy weather in time for this to get more wear before spring.

It knit up fairly quickly- once the sleeves were done, it only took me a few days to complete the body. It was hard to haul it around to work on the acres of stockinette stitch that made up the body, so I watched a few movies to get through it at home. Specifically:

In a Lonely Place:

The great Hitchcock film, "Shadow of a Doubt":

And, what might be my new favorite movie ever, "Le Trou".

I guess I've always been a sucker for great iconic acting and the suspense that these old movies had to rely on instead of CGI and pyrotechnics. I knew how this sweater would end anyway. Happily, and with a warm heroine.

FO: Merino Lace Socks

Well hello! I'm so happy that I didn't publicly declare my need to "blog more" in the New Year. I have some nice things to show off, plus plenty of events and pictures to share, but really no good time to sit down and collect my thoughts on anything in particular. Everything is good though.

So, first up, a pair of socks. They will be the last socks I knit for a while...I want to knit some sweaters this year and I'm finding that a pair of socks will ofttimes take me just as long as a sweater. So I quit. Cold turkey. I swear it. I do miss them dearly though- the sweater sleeves I'm working on don't fit in my bag quite as nicely, and when I pull them out, they tend to cause everything else in my bag to empty out onto the floor. I will survive this atrocity however.

This started out as a couple of skeins of Koigu KPPPM that I had in my stash. The colors were so pretty, and a cushy merino sock yarn is always a joy to work with. I've been wanting to make a pair of Merino Lace socks for a while, and I thought this yarn was subtle enough to make nice with the busy pattern.



I cast them on while traveling. The lace pattern was easy, but I didn't quite get around to memorizing it. It was a lovely fun pattern though, with a girly ruffle on top.



The pattern seemed like it might be a little too lumpy-bumpy to go under a pair of shoes, so I did the foot plain. I love them. An appropriate "last sock" to kick off my self-imposed sock diet.



I only did 4 lace repeats on the cuff and I'm glad I did- I had very little yarn left in the end. What I did with the leftovers was string up my darning needle and reinforce the heel properly. Socks are meant to be used and abused and worn and worn out, but you can try to fight it a little, right? It's like botox for socks.



They were gifted over Xmas to another knitter, who needed a little mood pick-up to go with cozy feet in winter.



Yup. It's hard to take pictures of your own feet.

FO: Insane Clown will Eat Your Brains

I made a sweater. I dislike the way it turned out. It's the Caftan Pullover by Norah Gaughan from the Spring 2006 issue of Interweave Knits.

It was supposed to look like this:

Pretty, right? It's all bohemian floaty and comfy. I might go to a gallery and spend the day decoding some modern art and then sip cappuccinos and nibble little cookies which cause me to not gain weight or have wild mood swings because of my blood sugar crashing afterwards. La vie est belle.

I cast on for it and started on my way. I do love Norah Gaughan and cables and sweaters and I'm even starting to like silk a little bit more. The cables are fun, and I liked the yarn despite the yarn being a slippery silk novelty yarn- Berroco Ultra Silk. It's a silk knit tube with a nylon roving core. Using size 9 needles this moved along nicely. It's such a pretty shade of summery beach blue.



I made the front, I made the back. I seemed them up. Then I realized: because the front is heavier than the back with all those lovely cables, it stretches out alarmingly more than the back. Even though I made them the exact same length and seemed the armholes so they match perfectly, the front just hangs down lower, like a tumor. A floppy, heavy tumor.





Also, because I still have a bit of dignity left, I seamed up the front panels instead of leaving my ta-tas to awkwardly flop around in the breeze. One the model, it works for her, but she's doing nothing but drinking soy half-caf skim lattes and batting her eyelashes at the off-duty fireman in the corner. Also, because the yarn is mostly silk, there's no way to keep the neckline opened up and keep from rolling over. Silk has not structure and it just wants to collapse in a heap. So it got seamed.

Except, seamed, the two front panels create a face.



A deranged clown face. This is almost as rich as people seeing the image of the virgin Mary in their toast or other mundane everyday objects- except this one isn't a peace and comfort to anyone. Insane Clown is Out to Get You.



It can not be unseen. I put the sweater on and then I break out in a cold sweat, get twitchy and then spend about 20 minutes trying to get this thing off me. Like it's a cicada clinging to me. GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF ME! Sadly, it does not. Insane Killer Clown Face is here to stay. It terrifies me, and I can really only blame the book "It" for all this.

Also, I didn't make sleeves. I couldn't give the clown any more power over me than he already has.

Ah well. You win some, you lose some. Novelty yarn + complicated pattern= the potential for Insane Clown to appear. The Insane Clown will appear to you someday in something you do- or does he just appear to me?

FO: Bamboo Frock Camisole

My A-Z stashdown continues as I plunder my stash for any non-wool yarn that I might be okay with wearing in summer.



I had 8 skeins of Bamboo Tape yarn in my stash. Like so many yarns from Rowan, it's been discontinued, but a almost exact replica will certainly appear with a catchy name like "Tapey Bamboo" or something.

I chose a pattern- after my previous lace project, I wanted something super simple- I wanted to be able to go into a movie theater on an overly warm day, catch a film and come out of the place with most of a garment done. The ribbon yarn did a little twist and coil trick, but otherwise I was as happy as I could be with it (considering it didn't come from a sheep). You just have to pick the right project for the yarn in order to love it.



The yarn basically has no shape- it just becomes this drapey mass. It would be impossible to do lace in this yarn. Just let it hang out and drape. If you fight it, it will win. Let it move like a jellyfish.





I used 7 skeins in the color "Tissue" for the Medium size. It's so pretty and purpley. The whole thing took less than 570 yards. I used size US6 needles.



The pattern is called Frock Camisole by Katie Himmelberg. It's from the Spring 2010 Interweave Knits, but they also have the pattern for free up on their website. It's a really simple piece- really, if you get gauge you can whip this up with no issues while you are taking a nap. It has a line of purl stitches running up the front and back to give it a neat seam. There's a tiny bit of shaping, you work the fronts and backs of the yoke separately and knit up the straps in reverse stockinette. The only real finishing involves tacking and sewing the straps to the front, and you're done.

I love it- it's wearable and comfortable. The fabric is dense enough so I can wear this without a security shirt underneath, lest my bra show through. It's a bit heavy but I'm really in love with it. As far as cute summery tops go, it's pretty much instant gratification.

I like it a lot better than my other Bamboo top, the Lotus Blossom, from a couple of years ago. This one is much more flattering.

Simply Marylin

I'm back! I have lots of catching up to do, but I wanted to show off a FO. I finished this before I left. It's the Simply Marylin sweater from Interweave Knits from waaay back in Spring 2004.



I've been wanting to make it for a while- it's a great casual pullover. Very wearable. I used 9 skeins of RYC Soft Tweed yarn, which is a bulky weight felted single. I dyed it in natural dyes since I got it deeply discounted ($1.50 a skein!) but in a pukey peach color.



I decided to knit myself the small size. It's meant to be big and sack-like, and that's cute on the model, who is practically swimming in the sweater. Not so cute when you have curves that will actually fill out the sweater.

I made a few big modifications. I knit this in the round to the pits since the seems add bulk. Because of that, I cast on 4 fewer stitches to make up for the selvage stitches. The pattern calls for there to be a cable running up the back as well...I decided to take that detail out. It just seemed odd to have a cable there. I added more waist shaping decreases.

The neck in the original is a huge cowl. I didn't need that extra bulk and most of the FO that people had looked awkward, so I changed the neck and shoulder shaping and I made a square-ish neckline and then picked up stitches and did a few rows of ribbing instead. I like it like this much better.

In the end, I went back and picked up some stitches along the bottom and added a few rows of ribbing. I didn't want to have to be tugging at the hem.

I'm very happy with this sweater! In the pictures, I was about to go out for a hike so I'm wearing a rather confining jiggle-free sports bra, so I'm usually a bit bustier and fill out the sweater better.