Fo: Baudelaire Socks

I finished a pair of socks.  I'm in love with them.

They are the Baudelaire, a free pattern from Cookie A via Knitty.com.  Yes, I am a timely knitter- these were published in 2006.  I've been wanting to make them since they came out, but there are so many socks I want to make.  So very many.  I will get to them all eventually, and then I will demand that sock designers everywhere stop designing once I'm caught up.  

The yarn is Skinny Bugga in "Rose Weevil" from Cephalopod Yarns.  It's my favorite shade of red.

 The pattern, although there is a lot going on with both cables and lace, is not terrible to work out.  It's easy to memorize.  While I couldn't really work it out after a glass of wine, the pattern pretty much flew along and I finished these in no time.

Speaking of a glass o'wine, I found a few nice groups of knitters in the London area.  There are lots of options here and people are chatty and sweet, and I can just casually drop in and have a glass or a cup of tea and knock out some long sections of plain boring sections of knitting.  It makes for good inspiration as far as the knits go, and I'm finding knitting to be a good gateway into making friends wherever I end up.  

To gift, or not to gift?  I have plenty of socks.  Can I cram another pair in the sock drawer?  I love these so much.  They are just too pretty, without being too precious or delicate, and the yarn is so luxe and heavenly.  It's a little thick to cram into socks, but perfectly warm and comforting.  

I have a feeling these will see a few Maine winters to come.

FO: Vitamin D Cardigan

Y'all want to see a sweater I made?

It's radiant.

It's called the Vitamin D Cardigan. It's not hard, but skinny yarn and size 4 needles means that it did take some time. I carried it around for most of the summer with me, as it was pretty easy to just zone out and go on and on with.

I love these little throw-on wrap sweaters. Out of all the sweaters I make, they get the most use.

The one modification I made was I made the body longer, meaning that after I was done with the miles and miles of short rows, I added about 2 inches of plain knitting to add length as it would have been quite cropped otherwise. As a result, the fronts don't drape quite as gracefully as some, but I think I'd rather have my back covered. It's so well written though- lots of eyelet increases and a top-down design. The sleeves are written to be 3/4 lenght, but you could easier or longer depending on your yardage. I really squeezed mine, but I had enough to pick up stitches and do the garter trim with no issues.

I used up the entirety of three skeins of Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! in the "Sooty Dancer" colorway, and I used every last 1236 yards of it.

It's a lovely deep dark navy, with some purply blacks thrown in. A wonderful stormy colorway. I love this yarn to death for sweaters, but it started getting kind of fuzzy from it being pulled out of my bag dozens of times. Otherwise, it's just a fantastic yarn to work with. It's got wonderful drape and it is quite cozy and soft, and the cashmere blooms and makes things magic as soon as you block it.

J'adore. I will never take it off.

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: Clockwork Scarf

Oh, All these Gray Skies! The monochrome, the dreary undertones, the gray-on-gray low clouds, the fog, and an unearthly amount of rain. It rarely drizzles for more than a couple hours. All the rest of the time, it downpours or hails.

I have embraced this color palate as my own. Goodbye to sunshiny summery brights or warm autumn tones. Let us immerse ourselves in a muted, w'ntry mix.

Hence, the lovely grays, purple-grays and white I chose for my Clockwork Scarf/Shawl.

Quick, mostly-garter stitch. My favorite kind of mindless knitting that goes to see films with me.

Another great pattern from Stephen West. Just when I think I have enough things to wear around my neck, he publishes another pattern that will leave you wanting more. I love this one lots. You can wrap it around your neck a few times, or drape it gracefully.

The yarn is Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga- a skein of undyed and a skein of the David Attenborough colorway. I could have kept going and made another repeat of the clock, but decided to put the extra yarn aside for some upcoming colorwork mittens.

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: Isabella D'Este socks

Crafting rut begone!

I don't know if it was because it was summer, or I just have a bunch of tiny-gauge make-no-visible-progress projects on the needles, but gah. I need to get working on some woolies. It is autumn, and the chill in the air means I'm going to be needing a few wooly layers to get me through.

The fact that we have a skylight jammed open isn't helping. Oh, that skylight. It's killing me. We opened it on the first day we moved in because that is what they are for. AM I RIGHT? Yes. You move into a place with skylights, you should be able to open them because they are fantastic for ventilation when you don't have AC and you live on the top floor of an ancient walk up. It was a little alarming that once said skylight was open, we couldn't get it to close again. The problem here being that it rained all of June and most of July, then I was away for a while and now it's getting cold. We told the landlord pretty quickly about this problem. "You shouldn't have opened it", he informed us. The skylight repair people didn't get around to fixing it before they went on summer holiday, and to this day, the skylight remains jammed open. I go to bed at night fully clothed and with a hoodie up, and I generally sleep in a flannel bathrobe for good measure.

So yes. They are pretty. They are warm. I am happy. I knitted these all throughout my travels this summer, so they are also a sort of reminder of that. While I was too knackered to try to knit on the trail in Norway, I did have lots of plane and train rides to get started, and then I got to the heel at some point in Prague, and was almost finished by the time I was leaving Hungary. A travel journal of the most practical sorts.

They are the loveliest socks ever. The pattern was a wonder to knit. A picot hem on the cuff, an easy floral motif.

Then a graceful arc of twisted stitches that travel and cease the floral pattern above the heel and concentrate it at the front of the foot...

Once the heel is turned, the gusset decreases are hidden in the final touch: a pretty medallion to wear on your foot.

Voila! My new favorite pair of socks, in a bright sunshiny puckery lemon color.

Isabella D'Este socks from the Knitter's Book of Socks. Made with one skein for The Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga in the Oleander Nymph colorway.

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.

FO: Pogona

The quest for a closet full of elegant neckwear continues.

This was was a simple affair, knit up quickly and it used all but a couple of yards of a skein of sock yarn. I love small shawls that are maybe not quite functional for winter warmth, but for a breezy dressy addition to your every day. It's essential here, where you can pretty much spot the tourist based on the fact that they are not wearing scarves. It's almost a little obscene to see a bare neck at this point...it's like leaving the house without your pants. Scarf up!

It also doesn't get terribly warm here, so having constant cozy comfort doesn't hurt. I know, my dear friends and New Yorkers. You grow jealous at my 11 month knitwear use. Yes, in August it might get steamy here, but so far it's been sweat-free. Apart from an ocasional day where it might hit 75 degrees in the afternoon sun, it's far enough north in longitude so that I haven't had to go a day without a light jacket. I am a lover of summertime and hot weather, but I'm finding this a rather pleasant change over last summer and the 116 degree day where I decided that if I stand in front of the oven for a couple hours and stew a chicken, if only so it would feel much cooler when I move away from the oven.

Anyway. The shawl. Another Stephen West creation. Easy peasy. Just knit and purl. You start out with a paired increases, and as the shawl grows, you make more, so it ends up being a series of wedges, with the largest one in the middle. Yes, it's small, but after blocking it stretched out to be big enough to wrap around and stay wrapped, and that's all I really want. It's got gorgeous drape, and it's a good excuse to break out a nice skein of handpainted yarn that you've been hoarding. The top edging is a little tight by design, but it doesn't bother me.

I don't have proper blocking equipment- it all amounts to a few pins and hair clips at this point. Mine blocked out nicely, although the samples look like they were less pointed on the ends. I still view this whole moving and living in a strange land experience as if I'm just going camping, and dealing with the little discomforts of going without.

The yarn is Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! in the color "Shelob". It's very soft. I used almost the entire skein...I might have had 2 or 3 yards left over, but I kept knitting until I almost ran out before doing a couple rows of the garter edging. I've worn this a ton already. I didn't pack or bring too many of the shawls and scarves I've made over the years, rightly guessing that I would dive into creating more of them.

The pictures were taken at the Chateau Fontainebleau, where there are loads of rock climbers bouldering up huge stones dropped randomly by glaciers throughout the great forest around it.

FO: Ripley Hat

I made this quite a while ago, while I was still in New York. I wanted to get rid of a few single skeins of yarn I had, as it seemed wasteful to pack them away in storage and bring them with me, as it wouldn't take very long to turn them into a real garment.

This was a skein of long-discontinued, super luxurious Gaia Worsted from the Sanguine Gryphon. The color was "Dew on the Dragonfly". It's 55% silk, 45% cashmere and it just melts in your hands, and it's a precious little 150 yards in a skein. I needed a special something I could whip up quick that would show off the lovely color, and take advantage of how soft and lovely the yarn was.

A quick search around and I remembered a pattern I had been wanting to do for a bit: the Ripley Hat by Ysolda. It had a couple variations you could do, and some optional folds to make the hat slouchier. A perfect way to use up limited yardage.

The pattern was straight forward and a quick knit- even with all the extra folds it took me just a couple days. I opted for the slouchy version with a lacy brim. I packed it in my suitcase and it really came in handy in Iceland. Maybe not the most rugged piece to wear there, but it actually wasn't too cold so it suit my purpose just fine.

Added bonus being that the silk is water replant enough to keep my ears dry in heavy mist/light drizzle.

FO: Pas de Valse

Things have been a little crazed around here as I prepare for a whole lot of stuff. Right now, I am focusing on trying to wrap up and summarize work projects from the past 6 1/2 years. Cleaning out my hard drive was a pretty sobering experience. It's almost over now and I'm begging my co-workers to throw me a party already.

This weekend was busy, but we made time to go to the Louis Armstrong house in Queens. I'll have more on that later as it was a blog-worthy experience in itself.

Louis and his wife Lucille settled in what could be called a modest house, in a real neighborhood...except they had a triple lot in which they had landscaped a beautiful Japanese garden to entertain in. I just happened to be wearing my latest sweater, and the day was sunny and warm enough for a little photoshoot.



I half excepted Louis to come out of his house and yell at me to get off his lawn.





The sweater is the Pas de Valse by Marnie MacLean from Twist Collective.



I used 4 skeins of The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in Adonis Butterfly. I love this color blue. Since handpainted yarn tends to be a bit inconsistent color-wise I alternated skeins to make the color more even. I still ended up with an odd color splotch of green on one front though, but I'm not going to let that bother me right now. Aside from that, the yarn was a champion of loveliness- soft with cashmere and merino and it didn't stretch out when blocked (as superwash yarns tend to do sometimes). It's meant to be worn large and drapey, with a pin to fasten it whichever way you want. I personally like it low to give a more hourglass waist shape.



I do have a few gripes about the pattern. The collar extension was a bit sloppy to finish up in the back neck. The sample pictures seem to gloss over that fact that it's not quite perfect, and the instructions are a little vague when it comes to piecing that section together. I think the sleeves could be a little neater as well- they connect to the sweater by picking up stitches from the body and knitting down from the sleeve cap, and I don't like that look as much as sewn-in sleeves. I also think the sleeves as written taper too narrow, so I cast off when I had 50 stitches left on the needles (she has you decrease down to 34). I don't think that the sleeves would fit over my wrist otherwise- they are very narrow, fitted sleeves to begin with. I like the look of that as it is a nice contrast to the rest of the garment, but I think if you did it as written, you'll end up cutting the circulation off to your hands. I loved the lettuce crochet edging- it really finished the sweater off nicely.



I also love the drape and the shaping of the rest of the sweater- and there is a whole lot of shaping instructions to pay attention to. This is definitely making the cut and ending up in my suitcase. It's very flattering and wearable as far as a larger sweater goes. I kind of want to be the graceful and elegant person who would wear this on a regular basis. It wants me to go out and get my ears pierces so I can wear dangly earrings with it.



This did take a quite a while to make, and because I always had two skeins of yarn attached, it didn't leave the house. This is the 39" size. I used about 1550 yards of sport weight yarn- a lot of yarn goes into a long-ish oversized sweater knit at a fine gauge with a huge drapey collar. Aside from my pattern gripes, I enjoyed knitting this and I watched some good classic movies in the process.