11 Wednesday Mar 2009
Posted in knitting
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Ok, this might be old news to some, but I just visited the site today.
My new to-knit list:
Ardent Jacket by Kat Coyle
Grant Park Pullover by Salena Lee
Little Liza Jane by Alison Green Will
I love new patterns!
08 Sunday Mar 2009
I love Malabrigo, and after knitting Ryan’s Malabrigo Koolhaas and Koolhaas mitts, I had to have something for myself. I saw a beautiful stitch pattern on a scarf at the Gourmet Yarn Co, and they were kind enough to give me the pattern. The stitch is called star stitch, and in a lightweight yarn like the one used at GYC, it really does look like a star. I wanted to see how it knit up in a heavier yarn, and Malabrigo was just the ticket. I actually think the repeats look more like a flower in the heavier yarn, and I just love how the color variations look with the stitch pattern.
I used Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Emerald. (I think this may be my favorite colorway!) The scarf was relatively simple, although I recommend knitting loosely if you don’t want to really hate the p3tog’s in the star stitch.
05 Thursday Mar 2009
Posted in knitting
This is my new favorite item of clothing! I’ve been wanting to try out the top-down approach for a while, and I couldn’t resist the garter-full yoke of this sweater. The yarn I decided to use was left-over from the Wedding Blanket for Kristin and Derek – Plymouth Homestead. I used about 4.5 skeins (~860 yds). I wasn’t anywhere close to the called for gauge, so (after a bit of math) I decided to make the smallest size, knowing that it should come out to be my size in this yarn. The only modifications I made: one less raglan increase, and decreasing on the sleeves to make them more fitted at the wrist. This was such a fun knit!
I love the neutral color of the yarn, but I wanted to add some interest with bright buttons. After shopping (a lot) on Etsy for the perfect buttons, I’ve settled on some very cute plastic apple green buttons from BigFish. She (BigFish) was very helpful – I initially ordered a grab bag of green buttons, needed 6 more of the ones I loved, and BigFish got them to me. I’m so excited to have exactly the buttons I wanted for this!
I highly recommend you try this top-down pattern. The design and the technique are so much fun! It has inspired me to try out a few top-down pattern designs. So far I’m really liking what I’ve been able to do with top-down knitting, and can’t wait to share what I’ve come up with!
Pattern: Garder Yoke Cardi from Knit.1 Fall/Winter 2008
Yarn: Plymouth Homestead
24 Tuesday Feb 2009
Posted in knitting
I’ve been bitten by the Noro Striped Scarf bug! I knew that I would make one soon, and when silk garden went on sale at L&B it just felt like the right time. I chose the colorways 8 and 292, mostly because I was in love with 8 and felt that 292 was the best way to incorporate some pink.
E and I arrived at L&B around 2:00 pm. We spent quite a bit of time there, so I’m estimating that I left with the yarn around 3:00 pm.
By the next morning, I was weaving in the ends. It would be safe to say that I quickly became obssessed with finding out what the next color combination would look like – so much so that I was finished before I knew it. I really enjoyed knitting this, and will probably make another. Not for a while though, and I think next time I will peruse the finished projects for my next favorite color combination.
Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, #8 and #292
Cast on 39 stitches, worked k1p1 rib with 2 row stripes. Slipped the first and last stitch of every second row purlwise.
24 Tuesday Feb 2009
Posted in Uncategorized
When making a simple ribbed hat for my Grandpa for Christmas, I decided to mess around with the ribbing at the top to try to add some interest. Ultimately Grandpa’s hat didn’t end up that exciting, but it did lead to the development of Forest Rib.
After drawing up a few ideas for the ribbing, I ultimately settled on a four quadrant design. The ribbing in each quadrant is ended at various lengths. The final look reminds me of those pictures looking up at trees and they look all curvy . . .
Hope you like it!
24 Tuesday Feb 2009
Posted in knitting
I’m happy to offer my very first pattern, a simple cabled hat called Cable Me Pink. I knit this hat in a sportweight yarn with a little bit of mohair, but I think it would look lovely in a different type/weight yarn. My goal was to create a cabled pattern where the cables led smoothly into the decreases. I hope that you feel I’ve s
ucceeded!
Pattern: Cable Me Pink Yarn: Sportweight Mohair Blend I’m offering this pattern as a free PDF, so please take it and enjoy. Although it has been test knit by me and proofed by other knitters, it may still contain mistakes. Please let me know if you discover any errors!
24 Tuesday Feb 2009
I have a yarn problem. It’s not that I can’t decide which yarn to use. It’s not that it’s too itchy for me to knit with. It’s not even that I have too little to finish my project. It’s that I have too much right now and I can’t stop buying it. This is no thanks to L&B (my LYS) changing up their reward system. For a while now, every $5 I spent was marked on a card and once I got to $200 spent, I could cash in my card for 25% of my next purchase. A steal, right? Well, now I have been told that I have to use any cards I have by the end of December. I won’t say how many I happen to have, as I have been avoiding this fact because knowing would indicate how much I have spent there in the last year. I’m totally in denial about the amount.
But back to why I have so much yarn. I’ve decided that I think it would be awesome to design my own patterns and offer them here and on Ravelry. This means that something I want to make pops into my head and I have to go buy the yarn.
Oh, and then there’s Christmas. Yes, I have to make Christmas gifts because clearly I am super-knitter and can knit things for all 22 members of my family. No problem. Ok, so I’m not planning on making 22 gifts. But I am (for some reason) planning to make 11 gifts (and 5 of those gifts are double gifts – meaning I have to make two of them – knitters, you see the problem). The progress has been good so far, though. Four of the six single gifts complete. Four of the ten double gifts complete. I might make it. That’s not my problem.
Back to my problem. The yarn. So I have too much of it. Reasons: “Designing”, Christmas, forced yarn buying due to discount card expiration, and pretty green yarn addiction. I fear I might have to go on a yarn fast . . . help . . . me
I put designing in quotes above due to the abundance of ideas in my head, the abundance of yarn in my possession, but the lack of concrete evidence of designing (i.e. written patterns). I have made some progress, however. I’ve got one hat pattern ready to go, and I’m almost finished writing out my dream sweater pattern. I’ll be a designer on Ravelry yet!
Now for an update on my knitting projects:
The Jackson Wrap: finished a few days after I returned from Mississippi. I actually love how this turned out, now I just have to find a place to wear it.
Yarn: Miss Babs Yowza- Whatta Skein
Pattern: Dream Swatch Head Wrap by Wendy Bernard (I just made it much bigger)
I also made a Koolhaas hat and mitts for my friend Ryan. Now I just have to get them to him in Denver . . .
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted in Charrua Pattern: Koolhaas by Jared Flood
And socks . . .
Pattern- Universal Toe-Up Sock Formula by Amy Swenson Yarn – Miss Babs Yummy Hand Painted 
