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Oh did I mention? I finished Arc En Ciel!

Raveled Here

Pattern: Arc En Ciel by Maria Leigh

Needles: Size 3

Yarn: Noro Taiyo in colorway 23 (same as model!)

This is probably the only project I've done straight from the pattern, no mods and the same COLORWAY of the same YARN as the one in the book. The book in this case was Knitscene Spring 2013. We got the magazine at the store and for some reason this sweater haunted me until I convinced myself to buy the yarn (spendy!) and just make it. Even while making it, which took months, I sort of figured it would be hideous in the end. I mean really, its a rainbow sweater.

But it turned out AMAZING! It fits so well and is comfortable and cute and flattering and warm! I sort of want to make another in a solid color it fits so well! Of course, that was the one mod I made (the truth comes out). The gauge on this thing was impossible for me and my losey goosey hands, so I stuck with my own gauge and knit the 32" size, which turned out PERFECTly.

The colors of the yarn were lovely summery jungle colors. I really enjoyed working on something this bright and cheery, and even when the knitting was boring, the colors never were.

Gladys Hat

Apologies for the bad photo, but I am just so excited about this hat that I must post now! I purchased this yarn in San Fran on a trip to AGU. It is 30% silk, 30% baby alpaca, 40% extrafine merino wool. The yarn was lovely to work with and I love the color, which is a rusty orange.

Yarn: Artfibers Carezza (fingering weight)

Needles: Size 3 for ribbing, Size 4 for lace

Pattern: see below

Raveled Here

I wanted to do a hat similar to the Royal Iris Slouch after I saw one knit up, but didn’t want to buy the pattern. This is a little different but I really liked how it turned out! My directions are below, but no guarantees on if they are perfect!

Used a size 3 needle to cast on 110 sts and did a 1x1 rib for 1.5 inches. Then I switched to a size 4 needle and increased stitch count to 112, starting a basic feather and fan stitch:

Rows 1, 3, 4:knit all sts Row 2: (k1, yo) 3 times, *(ssk) twice, sl 2 kwise-k1-p2sso, (k2tog) twice, (yo, k1) 5 times, yo; rep from *, end (ssk) twice, sl 2 kwise-k1-p2sso, (k2tog) twice, (yo, k1) three times.

I continued repeating feather and fan until the piece measured 7” total. Then I started decreasing in Row 2 of the feather & fan pattern. The first repeat, I did 4 yarn overs instead of the 6 in the pattern, simply skipping the two yos next to the decreases. The next repeat, I did 2 yarn overs instead of 4. The next repeat, I didn’t do any yarn overs, and following row 4 of that repeat, I quit doing the feather and fan and instead decreased as follows:

*(k2, sl 2 kwise-k1-p2sso) repeat from * to end, end k1.

k all sts

*(sl 2 kwise-k1-p2sso), repeat from * to end

k all sts, cut yarn and weave through remaining sts.

Oh, and I finally got around to getting a better photo of this.

Original Post

raveled

Gina ... Even older yet!! I finished this one in March!

Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed DK & Jamieson & Smith DK, both purchased at Yarn Harbor

I believe a size 6 needle....

raveled

This is inspired by: The Amazing Seed Stitch Wrap. I really liked this wrap, but the one thing I didn’t like is how the color blocks don’t seem to relate to one another. I had this yarn that I had purchased to make a replacement scarf for my favorite scarf of all time that I lost last year after wearing for over 5 years. The colors are the same. I originally thought about making a Linen Stitch scarf like the Scrappy Lengthwise Scarf, but Linen stitch is such a pain. I get sick of it very quickly. And, I’m not sure I would have liked the colors like that anyway. So, when I saw this wrap, I decided color blocks would be really pretty. But, especially since the colors I chose were very contrast-y, I decided to do a little striping in between each block with the other colors to tie the whole piece together.

This was great conversation, TV, social knitting -- super easy and mindless! Plus, the colors are bright and springy! When I knit it, it was still winter, and I was dreaming of bright sunshiny days, so having something bright and cheery to work on made me happy. However, finishing it in March, I still had a chance (tooooooo much of a chance...) to wear it before it warmed up (it was still snowing the entire month of APRIL!!!). Its also nice that since it is wool, it LOOKS springy, but is actually warm. Was a very quick knit!

Agatha ... And this was aaages ago.

Pattern: Fisherman's Daughter by Carol Sunday

Size 4 & 6 needles

Yarn: Berrocco Remix, 5 sk

raveled

The story begins. My gauge was super loose as usual. I got 16sts/4” instead of 17sts/4” on size 6 needles instead of the size 8’s so I decided to knit the 36” size even though I want it to be a little bigger than that.

Other mods - I knit the body in one piece in the round, and the sleeves separate. Had some trouble getting the waffle stitch right in the round and used a slightly different technique for the stitch than the pattern shows you (tho I can’t remember exactly what was different about it at the moment). I used the directions for the waffle stitch that I found in 365 Knitting stitches a year instead of the ones in the pattern. Included the “selvedge” stitches along the side even though they aren’t actually on an edge to have more vertical striping along the sides (always flattering?).

Cast on the tubular cast on, a method i’ve never used before. I like the look for ribbing edges, however I don’t like how it makes the edge very tight. I think I’d suggest using a needle up for the tubular cast-on to make the edge give a little more.

Finished it May 6, 2013.... but then made some subsequent mods. The collar was much too big and was making the front bunch up so i took out a few rows and it is only about 5 rows. I used this tutorial for an invisible bind-off because the one in the pattern made it look funny - it made a big bulge along the top of the bind-off. This tutorial is basically showing how to do the kitchener without the two set-up rows that the pattern has you do, and without separating the stitches onto two needles -- it shows you how to do it with all stitches on the original needles. Very nice tutorial & I like the product better.

After doing that, the top isn’t bunching as much. My other complaint was the ribbing at the bottom is not tight enough. Even though I was down 2 needle sizes (size 4 for ribbing, 6 for cables), the ribbing still was too loose. I actually went back and did sweater surgery on the ribbing at the bottom and decreased stitches then re-knit the ribbing down, I believe on size 3's. The product is a much tighter rib, which I like better. You can see it in the photos above (which were taken pre-surgury) where the bottom ribbing is kind of wavey and stretched. Eventually I'll get around to a photo after I had finished the ribbing surgery.

Overall this is an amazing sweater, one that I am very proud of. It was a lot of work! The pattern was great to work with overall, besides my confusions modifying it to be in the round (seriously people, who ENJOYS seaming sweaters!?), and the bunching at the neck which I think may be the pattern's fault. Uuuuuunfortunately, it is super thick and chunky and not very flattering on me. The cables sort of fall just so to emphasize things that don't need emphasizing. Maybe I need to wash it and soften up/relax the cotton more so it isn't as stiff? If I knit it again, I might just do the honeycomb pattern that was on the back on the front, too. It lays flatter and isn't as 3-d as the huge waffle cable.

Another thing I noticed, seriously AFTER I had finished the dang thing, is that I must have miscounted on the center cables, because there is one that is definitely not spaced the same as the rest (I believe it's the bottom one).

Overall, the sweater fits me well. The measurements are as expected. But, I would prefer if the sweater were shorter. As it is it comes down to my butt. It's just a little to long for me. And, if the cotton does relax, I think it will just be coming down even further. :(

Maybe I can do some more sweater surgery on this once it's sweater season again and I am wanting to wear it. We'll see. If I don't wear it at all, it might end up a gift for someone else...

Adelaide. Blanket. Naturespun worsted. Knit corner to corner with changing stripes, size 9 needle. Lovely knit, but monotonous. Very happy with the end result. Love the colors together. Best part was that it was STASH yarn!! Yay! Entire wedding present POOF right from my closet. For my very stylish and lovely friends Josh & Amy. It is very warm and squishy. Finished in June then started another blanket. Man, am I behind on posting here!

raveled

Summer of blankets. Here's my most recent finished blanket, for my dear friends Victoria & Matt. The yarn is all Cascade 220 except the turquoise, which is... Stonehenge fiber mill Shepherd's Wool. I purchased the Shepherds wool when I was visiting Philly this summer, and the rest is from Yarn Harbor in Duluth. Knit on size 9's. It didn't turn out as wide as I'd have liked due to the elasticity of garter stitch, which seems to pull the stripes together. Total yardage was ~1300 yards but it was still too short! I think I had cast on about 150 stitches, just wide enough to cover two laps. Unfotunately that means that although its wide enough for both of them, it won't cover the length of their legs sitting together...Shoot. Blocking would definitely help stretch it square. But, I didn't finish in time to block properly before the wedding. [Also didn't finish in time to get proper photos!] Oh well, hopefully she will do it herself (she's a knitter too), or maybe it will just stretch with use.The colors are bright and sunny though! Glad it's done.... whew.

raveled

Sabine

Needles: Size 5

Yarns: Purple is Crystal Palace Yarns Kid Merino, Grey is Schulana Kid-Seta

Raveled Here

My sister made this amazing cowl a while ago, and I wanted one. It is warm, and soft, and lightweight, and cute, and I loved it. I had a hard time picking colors, but finally settled on this plum purple and grey, in a varying stripe pattern. I originally chose this rusty orange to go with the rich plum, but it turned out that the colors did not contrast enough to be knit in stripes, so I switched the orange out for purple. Of course, when I did that, the constant stripes reminded me of witch's purple stockings-Ew. So I decided to vary the stripe thickness. This turned out really well. Not only did it make the knitting a lot more interesting, but I also like how it looks! I think I cast on 88 stitches or so, and knit until it wrapped around my shoulders once, bound off, and seamed up the two ends. This knit up pretty quickly (~two weeks?), and I have been wearing it every day since!

Camille Pullover

Pattern: Camilla

Needles: US Size 8

Yarn: SMC Select Extra Soft Merino

Raveled Here

I've had my eye on this pattern for a long time, but I wasn't sure if it would be flattering on me. I needed a quick and easy sweater to follow up my last sweater experience, and I had this yarn kicking around, so I decided to give it a go. The yarn, which is labeled DK, is springy enough to knit as a worsted. I used size 8 needles.

I made two significant modifications. My gauge was way off, so I recalculated the stitch count based on my gauge (My final stitch count ended up being between the small and extra small, but my bust measurement is 36"). When I finished it looked like it would be seriously too small. Then I blocked it and it looked like it would be even more seriously too big. I didn't pin it though, and it dried and shrunk back up into something that actually fits me really well, although the fabric is still very stretchy.

The second major mod was that I also changed how the sleeves were knit. After knitting the body bottom-up to the armpits, I used a provisional cast on to add stitches for the sleeves and knit the yoke. Then I knit the sleeves last. I needed to do this because I was afraid of running out of yarn. I only had 6 balls, or just over 800 yards. As it turned out, I had an entire ball left. Which leads me tho another point - I knit this sweater using only 710 yards!! Crazy!

It is very comfortable and the merino wool and the loose knit resulted in a garment that is warm but not too warm. I'm loving the color. The pattern is super simple and would make a really nice and simple first sweater pattern for anyone (all garter, simple increases and decreases in lace, no seaming, nothing fancy).

Unfortunately I am lacking in photographers, so my terrible bathroom mirror shot will have to suffice!

agnes

Agnes! This has been a long process. I decided to do a colorwork sweater. I knew a few things that I wanted: colorwork, self charted, pockets, shawl collar, ribbed button band/collor and bottom band, raglan sleeves, main color - cream/heather, accent colors - blue, rust, brown, green, yellow.

My plans were inspired by several things I saw on the internet: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Nasti/hint-of-colour - style - shawl color, design on top & bottom, natural color, etc.

http://linaceae.tumblr.com/post/14546473294/i-want-to-loo... -- style, but no zipper, no hood. i like the diamond shaped designs with lots of fine detail.

http://linaceae.tumblr.com/post/14128851949 - i like the structure & thickness of this, the multiple colors, and since i’m using worsted weight yarn, the design will be more coarse like this. Also like the purl rows between designs, but not sure if i’ll implement this in my version.

http://pinterest.com/pin/514677063635035874/ - like the style of this - shawl collar, ribbing, POCKETS!! I like the colors, but i don’t particularly like the actual fair isle design on here. I want something more fancy/intricate. A different style.

http://pinterest.com/pin/514677063635035821/ - i like the complexity & design of these fair isle stitch patterns. Since my version is worsted weight, they won’t be this fine, but I am inspired by these shapes & designs.

http://pinterest.com/pin/514677063634977562/ - love the design on here - especially the shawl collar, etc. My version will be a similar weight & thus similar design type. I like the diamond on her elbow. Will try to incorporate more colors but need to figure out how.

-----

Here's what I got:

Can you believe that I totally FORGOT to add pockets until I was wearing it and thought, dang I wish I had pockets? I decided to change my colors based on the availability of colors in Peace Fleece at the store, and I'm glad I did. I really like this color combo.

Other than that, I think I got a compromise of everything I wanted. It fits well, is big and chunky and cozy and incredibly warm (which comes in handy this week, the coldest of the year!!). I did a lot of re-knitting on this, due to the nature of the colorwork. First, it took me a while to decide on the colors that went best with one another. Since I knit it back and forth, I had to devise patterns that changed colors only every other row, but still maintained a consistent theme. I think I achieved that. I ended up making it a little longer than I originally wanted because I thought that it really needed another band of colorwork at the bottom with turquoise at the bottom, to balance the one across the shoulders. Last, I found these rustic metal buttons at Hancock. I originally was envisioning some dark wooden buttons, but I think these are perfect!

Raveled Here

Yarn: Peace Fleece Worsted, except the yellow which is two strands of Jamieson Spindrift Shetland, held together.

Needles: Size 8

#agnes #colorwork

You may or may not remember when I knit this cowl last winter. I really loved this cowl, except it is a little too big. When it got a big snag in it which turned into a hole, I stopped wearing it, thinking eventually I'd get around to repairing it. Instead, this winter, I got the inspiration and motivation to re-knit it. This time, I knit it lengthwise and sewed the ends together into a cowl. I made it wide but much shorter, to loop twice around my neck. I also went down from size 15 to size 10.5 needles. I really like how it turned out and have worn it a lot. It is still fluffy and chunky appearing, but is a little more manageable!

Raveled Here

#icy #cowl

Orange Braid

Before I show you my biggest Christmas knitting project, which actually required the use of a real (not phone) camera to document in all it's glory, here's my last Christmas gift knitting project! Had an extra skein of Peace Fleece worsted in this brilliant orange color. Improvised a quick and cute headband for a last-minute gift.

Here are my ever so basic instructions if you want to make one of these for yourself! On, size 8 needles, I CO 18 sts, 2 rows stockinette, then increased evenly across stockinette row to 24 sts. I did an 8-st cable braid, cabling on every 8th row. I did that until it fit around the head. If I did it again, I'd actually skip the last couple rows because the grafting takes a little length too, and mine ended up a little big (tho it fits nicely over hair). Grafted the CO & BO edges together, then blocked it and pinned down the outsides of the cables to make it as wide as possible.

Super simple project, quite trendy, and very cute!!

Raveled Here

#braid #headband

Chevy Mitts

I knit these over Christmas break, as a gift for a friend. I actually took the Strawberry Victorian pattern and re-charted it to be a chevron pattern. After I recharted it, the cuff ended up being a little shorter while the mitt part is a little longer, which I actually like better.

I used size 1 needles for the ribbing & Size 3 for the colorwork. The purple yarn is 100% wool fingering weight yarn from Natural Colored Wool Studio in Groton, SD, that I dyed myself with logwood. The light peach yarn I also dyed, with cochineal, and it is some Regia sock yarn.

These were a fun knit and turned out well. I hope my friend likes them!

Raveled here!

#chevy #mitts #strawberry victorian

Christmas Gifts: Caroleena Hat for my Mom

Pattern: Fair Isle Tam by Patons

Yarns:

Royal Fiber Spinnery Royal Platinum Alpaca Fingering (hand dyed by me, peach),

Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Classic 4-ply /4-fädig (hand dyed by me, light green),

Malabrigo Yarn Sock (the turquoise),

Natural Twist 100% Romney Wool (the purple)

Great pattern, easy to make and really great outcome.

#caroleena #tam #hat

Christmas Gifts - Mittens for Scott

Pattern: Original based on Scott's hand

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky, less than one skein!

Needles: Size 6

I was going to make a scarf for Scott, but he requested some mittens instead. These were another quick knit.

#mittens #scott

Christmas Gifts: Pinon Scarf

Pattern: Original. I wanted to make something with lots of texture, that would be masculine, reversible, and simple to knit. This was inspired by the gaptastic cowl.

Yarn: Brown Sheep Top of the Lamb Worsted

Needles: Size 8 I think.

#pinon #scarf

Christmas Gifts - Juno House Socks for Tina

Pattern: 125-15 Short socks with cables in ”Alaska” by DROPS design

Yarn: Brown Sheep Top of the Lamb Worsted

Needle - I think it was a size 6.

Quick knit, easy to understand pattern. Great gift. I want to knit some of these for myself!

Raveled: here

#juno #house socks #slippers

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