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: 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: 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.

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!

Etsy Shop Update! Really!

Some "hurry-up and wait" emergencies at work meant I had some time to sit down and work on a long-overdue Etsy shop updates. Here's a few things that have been listed:


Merino/Silk sock weight yarn that I dyed using Eucalyptus leaves


Merino lace weight in tonal greens and blues


Merino/silk roving. Gorgeous stuff, lovely to spin. I could almost eat it.

Also- I have started a spinning batt club that I have listed in the shop. I have a lot of fiber that needs to be turned into batts, but the batts can not be squished down once I've made them. I live in an apartment that is filled with yarn, fiber and homemade beer.

I. Can. Not. Have. One. More. Fluffy. Fiber. Batt. In. The. House.

Or giant kettles. Dyeing yarn and making beer both require huge kettles, which are hard to store. No more hobbies that involve kettles. Space is my biggest issue when I'm making and trying to store batts, but I can make time to make batts and ship them out once a month. Membership is very limited as is my time, so sign up quick like a bunny!

FO- Lenore Socks

Can a pair of handknit socks be sexy? Before I started the Lenore socks, I would have said no. Handkint socks are incredibly warm, comfy and comforting. They can be silly, funky and downright gaudy, because you are either going to be entombing them in shoes or just you will have the luxury of bumming around in the privacy of your own home with them.

These are a bit special. I put them on and BAM, I was thinking I should start burlesque dancing and use the leftovers for tassled pasties and how awesome would that be. Foxy Soxy is here to rock your world, people.





Here's a terrible pictures with a flash, but you can see the lace better:


It looks like one of my cathedral arches collapsed when it got tucked under, but they really are symmetrical and perfect.

The specs: I used almost all of a skein of Socks that Rock lightweight in "The Raven" colorway. The pattern is Lenore by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I love the color- there are greens and reds and purples, but toned down with blueish-black. Also, this is the VERY LAST SKEIN of Socks that Rock lightweight yarn in my stash. I'm doing a little happy dance in my chair. (Not that I don't love it, I'm just trying to burn through it).

As with everyone right now, I've been crazy busy. I've been daydreaming about having free time and having everything checked off my to-do list. Also, not getting home until 2 am every morning: it's fun, but it's one unpleasant early morning. The end is in sight and I'm way overdue for a lazy day.

FO- Anastasia Socks

All this handpainted yarn is getting to me! I love the way it looks on the skein (oooh, colors!) but a lot of times you have to do the most simple of sock patterns in order for the whole thing to not give you a headache. I'm starting to like plain, solid colored sock yarn.

Yet, here I am, with a whole bin full of multi-colored sock yarn. What is a girl to do?


This was a skein from last years BMFA Rockin' Sock Club. I liked the pattern by itself, and I was okay with the purpley yarn, but when I started knitting, I was quickly overcome with doubt. The lace pattern got lost in the dark stripes. I frogged those socks and found a new pattern for the yarn.

I found the Anastasia pattern by Minty Fresh. The simple spirals worked well with variegated yarn while not putting me to sleep.


I cast them on during a weekend trip to Sag Harbor while waiting forever for a table at brunch.

By the next weekend, they were done.



I did these toe-up, two at a time on 2 circs. I was really happy with the pattern/yarn combination.



There is something oddly compelling about spiral patterns. Once I start them, I feel as though putting them down for a break would somehow interrupt the spiraling process...so I just keep going.



These are destined for giftdom. I won't say to whom.



The specs:
I used 1 skein (360 yards) of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in the Pepe Le Plume colorway.

Needles were 2.25mm (US 1) circulars- the Addi Lace variety. I am going to need to rave about these in a future post as they are my new favorite sock needles.

These are part of my A-Z stashdown. I have two more skeins of BMFA lightweight to knit up- I saved my favorite colorways for last.