Knitting 2011

So I am not a very good blogger. Terrible, really. But I wanted to show that although I haven't been blogging I have been knitting! At least a little.

Meet Edgar Rhombus

Meet Edgar Rhombus

Rhombus: A parallelogram with four equal sides; an oblique-angled equilateral parallelogram. A diamond.

…and this is how Edgar Rhombus was born, as a diamond. This rhombus shaped scarf was a fun quick project. A variegated yarn with multi-color is a must. You need to be able to see each color form as you go. I use a left over piece of Lion’s Brand Amazing yarn. I did not have a complete skein, so I knitted until I could not knit anymore. The end result a short scarf-ette or long neck warmer with pretty colors.

And now for something completely different……………………………….

I Heart Seaweed

SEAWEED……the mere mention of the word brings images of bright green alien like floating tentacles happily greeting passersby at dim sum. Mmmm, it makes me hungry just thinking about it.

I instantly became fond of The Seaweed Scarf pattern by the simple nature of its organic name…seaweed and the patterns lovely flowing ruffles. I had this pattern on my list of things I would like to knit for over a year, just waiting for the right moment. I needed inspiration and to pony up the whopping $7.00 for the pattern. Then like a chocolate bon bon with an unexpected wonderful creamy coconut center, VOILA! I received THE yarn.


A beauty of skein of Malabrigo yarn in colorway hummingbird. The color is a blend of different shades of both green and purple. Knitted up, it looks like a crazy mix of seaweed, I just love it. This lovely yarn found me by way of my Ravelry friend Anniepurl who sent it to me as part of a Halloween swap in 2010.

The Seaweed scarf/shawlette pattern turned out to be a very enjoyable project. I couldn’t put it down. It knitted up much faster than I expected, which added to my satisfaction. The pattern itself is fairly simple little triangular shawl, but the beautiful little ruffle detail is awesome. The best part was that I learned a new bind off method. The bind off was something new and exciting that I had never done before and once finished it gave the Seaweed scarf/shawlette the beautiful finished detail.

Things I would modify
I would love to make the scarf/shawlette bigger, into an actual full size shawl. For this project I just didn’t have enough yarn to play with, otherwise I would have made it much bigger. I even thought about making the ruffle longer but did not want to risk running out of yarn due to miscalculations or ruining the ruffled pattern finish.

All in all Seaweed is fun to eat and create!

Queen Anne's Scarf

Yummy Yummy Yummy Noro garden silk!!!

I finally found a great pattern that truly compliments the lovely colors of Noro, and it was easy to make too!

I found the Queen Anne's Scarf a nice pattern for a quick and fun scarf. I crocheted this scarf up in no less than a few hours.

This pattern lends itself that you can use any weight of yarn, any length. As a result, its a great way to use up bits of odds and ends of left over pieces of yarn. Each motif could easily be made a different color, size, and texture.

Tiny Little Shrug

In a matter of three days, evenings really, I completed this cute tiny little shrug. This shrug will be one of many that will find itself in Christmas wrapping for the holidays. I used Stephanie Japel's One Skein Wonder pattern. The pattern is in adult sizes, but I decided I would try and altered the size to fit my 2 year old niece.

I used Plymouth Encore Colorspun worsted weight wool/acrylic yarn that would be easy to care for - wash and wear, in a variegated purple. I knitted the smallest size on the pattern and used smaller needles, US 5 for the body and US 3 for the edging. The result a quick and easy tiny little shrug.

I hope to make 3 more for my other nieces before Santa comes to town.

UFO's of the Worst Kind

The summer was slow with very little progress on my spring projects. My two spring projects, the February Lady Sweater for my Mom and the Short Sleeve Cardi have become UFO’s of the WORST kind. They are desperate to become FO’s and I have not been very kind and helpful to them. As a result, they haunt me day and night with eyes of resentment and bitterness. I can sometimes swear the dpn’s hanging off the Sleeve’s from the Short Sleeve Cardi’s points in my direction purposefully.

February Lady Sweater
I am making my Mom a February Lady Sweater in a rich scarlet ruby red wool – Cascade Superwash. When I first embarked on this project I felt very intimidated by the pattern. The pattern itself presented a bit of confusion in its directions for me because it made assumptions of the level of the knitter. I having a pea for brains could not get my head around the eyelet directions. My head was spinning faster then Linda Blair’s on the Excerist. Because of this reason my February Lady Sweater evolved into a very nasty UFO for months and months.

Last week, my brain grew from pea size to a walnut, with a little help from my knitting group. A few gals in my knitting group where able decipher the eyelet directions and thus progress on the sweater began.

…and my February Lady Sweater lived happily ever after, for now…???

My Short Sleeve Cardi
This is one project that started with the yarn first. I am knitting with Cascade Peruvian Jewel yarn, 100% wool. It's a thick and thin, slightly variegated monochromatic yarn .

The color variation and the thick and thin texture add an additional level of interest on a simple pattern "Short Sleeve Cardigan with Ribbing" from Stephanie Japel's book Fitted Knits. I am knitting this sweater for myself, but if my Mom likes it then I will easily sacrifice it for her.

And what better excuse to buy more yarn then “…..Oh husband, I have to buy more yarn to make another sweater for myself because I gave my Mom that sweater….wink…wink….”

The bulky yarn has provided a fast knit. It is for this very eason that this cardi is bitter. In theory it should not take months and months to complete this sweater. I have not been kind to my sweater. But I am now working on making this UFO become a full fledged FO. No more bitterness cardi, it can’t be good for your wool.

I began my reckless knitting journey by misreading the pattern from the get go. This raglan pattern called for knitting 15 rows for the yoke, instead I knitted 84 rows because I misread the pattern. The 84 were actually the number of stitches I should have on my needles. I made this discovery at around row 63, after looking at my sweater and wondering when I would be separating the stitches for my sleeves. To my dismay I had to rip back all 63 stitches back to the collar. After two days of un-knitting backwards, I was back on track. However, I must admit after this set back I was almost ready to drop the whole project.

At this point the body is complete, and one sleeve is almost done. I am extending the sleeves from short ¾ lengths to a full length sleeve. Ten more rows should complete the right sleeve. I need to start the left sleeve and the edging for the buttons. OH BUTTONS!! Yikes, I need to find buttons.

I have set myself a goal for October 31st as a deadline to complete this project, but I think November is more realistic. So little cardi hold no longer this bitterness, lets look forward to a sweet winter in which you will keep someone if not me warm.

My Luscious Lace Scarf

I finished my very first lace knitting pattern, the Luscious Lace Scarf (pattern is available free on Ravelry). This pattern was an ego booster. I had been trying lace patterns for some time now with no success. I figured out how to follow a lace pattern and read a chart, but lord help me it never failed after a few rows I would drop a yarn over or skip a SSK and off to the lily pond I go to rip it, rip it, rip it. If I was motivated enough I would start it over, but I never got very far in completing any lace projects until now.

The Luscious Lace Scarf pattern had a resting row or purl side. This was great! I never knew to look for patterns with a resting row. Of course, the beautiful lace pattern is only one sided but who cares when it looks so good. The pattern calls is writen for a lace weight yarn, but that was not going to happening, at least not for now. Baby steps for me. So I opted to use a DK weight. I modified the pattern because of the yarn and only casted on 40 sts and I knitted 3 repeat patterns instead of the 5 the pattern suggested.

I knitted this pattern using DK yarn Fable Handknit Baby Alpaca in colorway suede. It's 100% Baby Alpaca, 145 yards, I used two entire skeins. I am smittened with this yarn. In addition to being ultra soft it has a soft look to it. The yarn gives the scarf a nice texture that unfortunately I was unable to capture in the photo above. My only complaint is their limited color shades. They have several different colors but the shades are pale, muted-pastel-y, the colors of Easter eggs. I would buy more of this yarn in maybe mist, pear, or chocolate colorways.

I made this scarf for my husband's co-worker. She is a beautiful, sweet and thoughtful person who spoils my kids rotten for their birthdays, Christmas, and pretty much any other holiday possible. It turned out to be a belated birthday gift, about 6 weeks late, but I wanted to make her something special that would give her a warm hug every time she wore it.

Norway Capelet Inspiration - The Finale

I finally finished my Chanson En Crochet Capelet, well actually I finished it well over a week ago, but only now am I posting pics. Here it is in all it's wonderful crocheting glory. I completed it in a little over two weeks, but in reality it took about 8 to 1o hours of work, maybe less because I am terrible with estimating time.

I just love the pattern for the simple fact that it was a true self gratifying piece of work. And frankly I needed something I could finish in less than a month and be proud of. It's my first crocheted wearable project. Something I never thought I could do because I can be so dense when it comes to reading crochet pattern.

It is a great pattern for any basic crocheter who would like to make a wearable project. Almost every row was different and easy to follow. It was very gratifying watching the flower clusters form in such a simple manner. I modified the trim on the edges only slightly to get a more solid look. I also find that crochet is very forgiving, unlike it's cousin, knitting where mistakes can often be more noticable.

The yarn I used was Aslan Trends Artesanal (40% Cotton / 30% Alpaca / 30% Polyamide) in midnight black. It has a tweed look to it and is very very soft, from the combination alpaca and cotton. Initially I was not completely convinced I loved the yarn when I first bought it. An impulsive buy decided upon strictly by the color of the yarn.

I disliked the polyamide fibers that occasionally stuck out like a sore thumb and I found myself picking them out every time I came across one. Frankly they looked like hair from places where the sun doesn't shine. But then like fungus (and I do enjoy mushrooms very much) it grew on me. It is really great yarn. The texture it nice. The yarn drapes well, particularly in this pattern. I am thinking about going back and buying a few additional skeins in another color for another project. What project? More on that later.

Knitting Lace

Progress at last..........
So last month I began my first lace project. Sure last Summer I had given lace knitting a go, but I didn’t get very far with my Clementine Shawlette. In March I stated the Interweave -Juliet Scarf. Lovely pattern, but my goodness this pattern was giving me a headache. For a beginner this lace pattern this was not the “easy” pattern. It was a bit confusing and I keep dropping my yarn over. So instead of giving up, as I am guilty of doing quite often, I decided to find another pattern. In my quest to find the perfect beginners lace pattern I found the Luscious Lace Scarf by Knitting Pixie. This pattern was a dream come true.

I found this pattern easy to follow. It had what is called a resting purl row, much needed when you are trying not to drop your stitches and keep your head in order. The pattern called for 64 co stitches, I reduced it to 40 because I am using the Fable Baby Alpaca yarn in DK weight. I also only have 2 skeins of the yarn so I need to make sure I had enough to make a decent size scarf.

I am have halfway through my pattern and am loving it. I highly recommend this pattern to anyone looking to try a knitting lace and reading charts. It’s an ego booster for sure!!!

A little indulgence never hurt anyone

Last night I attend the Unwind (LYS) party. The shop owner, Stephanie provided goodies and beverages and encouraged everyone to bring non-perishable items to be donated to the SOVA food pantry in the area.

The folks from Ravelry - Jess, Casey and Mary-Heather where in attendance to meet and greet. They gave out buttons, stickers and were happy to meet follower ravelers. There were several other vendors on hand as well. The people from NAMASTE http://www.namasteneedles.com/index.php were there to promote their line of handbags totes and accessories. They have very lovely and stylish project bags. My favorite is the Namaste clutch bag. Its great for knitting needles, hooks, notions and other accessories. It also makes a nice and stylish everyday clutch.

Since Unwind was also having a sale, I gave myself a little indulgence and bought several skeins of Mano Del Uruguay - Silk Blend in Olive colorway. It's wonderful and I just love the color. It's in my stash now, but I am now in the search to find a cardigan or shawl pattern to make for myself. I won't be surprised if six months later this yarn is still sitting in my stash.