swallows return

i heart you, i heart you

Finished. Hand-basted and then machine-stitched the zipper in today.

Pattern: I Heart You by Mandy Powers

Size: 26"

Yarn: Knit Picks' Stroll Sport

Needles: 3.25mm

making the cut.

So, I cut the cardi. Using Elinor's tutorial to hold my hand, I machine stitched down the centre of the columns of stitches on either side of the centre column where the cut is to be made. Ok, not so hard, like Elinor says, it OUGHT to be harder. Surprisingly, the floats did not get stuck in the feed dog, causing a hot mess of yarn to entangle beneath the working plate of my Pfaff; I managed not to accidentally stitch the front to the back; everything was actually working! Feeling some kind of thrill begin to rise up, I took my dainty stork scissors and proceeded to cut up to the top (the point at the top in the photo above is the beginning of the hood).

The edges rolled inwards; it was now officially a cardigan!

I picked up and knit one row of the stitches on either side of the charted pattern and then worked an i-cord bind off which produced a nice clean edge that I hope will lend itself well to a zipper closure (haven't sewn that in yet).

What the folded-over facing looks like - a bit scrappy but I'll finish the raw edge with a blanket stitch. At least I don't have to worry about those hundreds of yarn bits unravelling though, the machine stitches are short and doing their job wonderfully. So, weaving in ends, grafting underarms and zipper installation to go - whoopee!!

whale cardi progress.

I've completed the first row of decreases at the yoke. It's all downhill from here, right? (Except for the steeking part; I really hope I can just take my scissors and do it!)

I kinda flubbed up the sleeves by using bamboo dpn's the same size (3.25mm) as the nickel circular needle I used for the body. The resulting sleeve tension is looser than the body so, hmm, can you see those puckers up by the yoke? I REALLY hope blocking will help it lay flat. If I do stranded sleeves again, I am going the route of Hiya Hiya's 9" circulars, like I used on my Featherweight. So...just the yoke and hood to go for knitting and then steek and insert zipper!

knitting with my iphone.

The fact that I can sync knitting patterns onto my iphone is, I think, my favourite aspect of owning one. A friend of mine requested a worsted version of the Still Creek Tam so I thought I would see how well I could read the chart from my phone.

Here's the chart zoomed in a little bit:

Here's how to do it:

- open your pdf in Preview.

- go into the "File" menu and select "Print"

- on the bottom left there is a pdf pull-down menu, select "Add pdf to iTunes" (see below)

- open iTunes with your phone connected, go into "Books" and your pdf's should be there

- select which files you would like to sync and then click on Sync and voilá! your pdf will be in your iBooks!

 

more hats in 2012.

I've been wearing the same hat every day for a couple of months now so it's time for some new ones. These are my favourites. Clockwise from top left: Rosebud by Jared Flood, hat in English rib and stripes by Garnstudio (free!), Oak Knot by Juju Vail and Susan Cooper, published in Juju's Loops and Viveca by Berocco (free!).

These are my current favourite children's hat patterns. Clockwise from top left: Hrönn's Nightcap by Lucinda Guy, yalliejane's Spritely Hat by Kayla Dyches, venusintweed's Capucine by Adela Illichmanova (free!) and Sweet Hex Child's Hood by Lisa Shroyer (also free!).

What are your knitting plans and favourite patterns for the New Year?

featherweight cardigan: 97 grams

I finished this last week but was too busy making Halloween costumes to take pics, then we all got sick around here and then, finally, got a chance yesterday. I'm so happy with the way this sweater turned out and the cashmere is SO SOFT!!! It still smells a little bit goat-y but in a really good soft, baby-goat-cuddled-up-sleeping-in-a-barn kind of way.

Ravelled here.

That was my last unfinished project taking up room in my knitting basket but aaah, I've got some new ones lined up...first up, this, but with some changes of which I can soon show some pics.

featherweight cardigan sleeves

See that awful, ugly ladder in the sleeve above? That's what happened when I tried to knit sleeves on 3.75mm double pointed needles with a lace-weight yarn. No matter how hard I tried to keep my carrying yarn tight after the first and second stitches on each needle, that ladder would just not go away. Why then, did I knit the whole thing down to the ribbing? Was I thinking it would just magically disappear? or that I could readjust the tension row-by-row once I was done? Who knows. Sometimes one just has to do these things to get a good look at them and to figure out how to solve the problem. So, how to solve the problem... Magic loop? Nope. Knit sleeve in stockinette and sew up seams later? Nuh-uh. Replace one lost double pointed needle with 16" circular so I could work with five needles? No again. My saving grace was Hiya Hiya's 9" circular needle. Thank you Three Bags Full for carrying these! I raced over last weekend with kids in tow to pick one up and finished one sleeve last night and what a difference it made:

Nice, smooth, ladder-less sleeve. It felt a little awkward to knit with them at first but I kept my hands relaxed which resulted in a good match in tension. Should have this thing finally finished by the end of our long weekend (my Ravelry start date shows May 2010)!

a piece of the skye

Christmas has come a little early for me this year.  I was still in my pajamas when the letter carrier knocked on the door this morning but I knew what it was...he handed me my squishy package from the Isle of Skye - my Shilasdair Luxury DK!  An immensely soft blend of cashmere, angora and lambswool, hand-dyed with meadowsweet and overdyed with indigo. I gingerly slit open the top of the envelope, grabbed a skein and inhaled deeply.  For a handful of seconds, I smelled a different sky over the north Atlantic and quickly forgot all about the blobs of oatmeal on the floor. 

spring forward, fall back

Although it still awaits buttons, after a four month knitting hiatus and then picked up again at the end of August, I am FINALLY finished my Forecast.  I'm pretty pleased with it.  I did a circular yoke on this one and like the way it sits on my shoulders with no increases along a raglan "seam".  It really lets those beautiful cables and bobbles stand out in all their tactile lusciousness.  Not sure when I'm going to be able to make it to the fabric store for buttons but I will post more pictures of me wearing it when I get them sewn on.  Hmmmm...what to make next? I love these Latvian mittens...

?

 

I'm curious how a yarn company can earn profits from a creation that already exists? I suppose that happens in fashion all the time.  About two years ago, I posted this and perusing through Classic Elite's new Autumn 2009 patterns, I spotted this replica.  The leaves are inverted and the lace pattern ever so slightly different but I'm thinking this pattern should be free n'est-ce pas?