winter accessories

i’ve never liked knitting mittens. i don’t know what my aversion is to them, either. but, when i lost my pair of kate gilbert’s gifted mittens which were basically all pills anyway because of the yarn i used, i decided i needed to stop being a crybaby about mittens and just do it. i had a skein of beaverslide dry goods mctaggart tweed that i really wanted to use for something, so i took some measurements and cast on.

the mittens came out…well…functional. the yarn is beautiful but you can tell by looking at this project that i hate knitting mittens. i mean, they only took a few hours, but my gauge changes right in the middle because i realized i was so stressed by knitting them, i was an entire half-stitch off my swatch! seriously. you can see in this picture!

this week, i also knit a few hats. the first was a test-knit for melissa, who i’m lucky enough to work with at webs. she came in a few weeks ago with a really great bulky hat covered in a stitch pattern that looked like acorns! i was pretty impressed with it, and she generously agreed to let me test-knit the pattern. i whipped it up in a night and have hardly taken it off all week!

i can hear screams all the way from the next town over because i took this picture before i blocked the hat (just kidding! sort of…) but it is the best picture i have of it, which is just too bad! my camera refuses to photograph reds. sorry, internet. i promise that the pattern does not say “knit in totally uneven, messy-looking ribbing for x inches”, scout’s honor!

speaking of melissa, i’ve used a technique that i’m pretty sure she pioneered for my new hat pattern, sea nettle (that’s a ravelry link). about a year ago, i made a few hats resembling this pattern using her short-row shaping for slouchy hats, wrote up the pattern, and never really tested it. when we got twist in at webs, i knew i had to buy at least 50 skeins all at once! i kid, but i have bought 15, which is pretty upsetting. one of these skeins, in the “liquid ambar” colorway, i used to test the pattern i wrote for that series of hats.

i’m really proud of this pattern, if i do say so myself. i made up a symmetrical single decrease that i’m really happy with, and i’ll probably use it in other projects from here on out. as for the actual hat, the color is a little pink, but it’s been growing on me. i still might give it away to a family member or friend, though, it just doesn’t go with my winter wardrobe. oh, well, at least the pattern came out nicely!

first encounter

i’ve been really busy recently with work-related knitting and secret holiday projects, but i have an old pattern that i just published on ravelry. i was exploring other publication options that didn’t work out, which is why you now get to see some very old pictures of this hat from the vacation i took with my boyfriend in august!

a “hurricane” (scare quotes since i think it was downgraded by the time it got to cape cod) hit for the entire weekend we were out there, but that didn’t stop us from going to first encounter beach twice. it was definitely my favorite part of the trip, by far! it’s a tidepooling beach, and the tide goes waaaaaaayyyyyy out during low tide. it was a gorgeous spot. we were there as the tide was coming in – here’s a gratuitous, non-knitting-related shot of how pretty it was there!

i’d knit hats for both of us testing a new design of mine, and, since it started to get cold and rainy (serves us right for going to the beach during a weekend-long rainstorm), we put them on.

so, i’ve finally put the pattern up for sale on ravelry. click here for more information about what i used!

now, back to work! i’m only $600 away from my loom…

revision

if at first you don’t succeed…

…try until you rub off your fingerprints

(felted slippers: norwegian outside, rambouillet lining)

too busy for words

dishtowels

woolen spun, super bulky, thick/thin 2 ply

backlog

i’ve finally finished a large, secret project, on which i was working pretty exclusively for the past month! so now i actually have some stuff i can post. phew!

at the airport on my way to stitches midwest, i cast on for a sweater for my boyfriend in cascade 220. all summer, he’d been reaching over to whatever i was knitting at the time and saying things like, “i’d wear a sweater in something that felt like that” or, “you should make me something in those colors.” so, i picked out a few good colors, bought “knitting workshop,” and set about making him a seamless, set-in-sleeve hoodie.

it was pretty straightforward. i knit the whole thing in the round, so it was really quick. the finishing is what got me. i had about a million and a half ends to weave in!

and that is just about half of the total ends i had!

since i was using an elizabeth zimmerman pattern, i just had to “unvent” something – a lined hood knit in one piece. it came out exactly as i’d planned, except for the fact that my steek stitches were pretty bulky. but it’s definitely wearable and a good learning experience, and the construction just seems really intuitive to me.

i had to try it on before i finished the sides, just to make sure it worked out well.

and then i sewed the sides, practically invisibly!

also i thought the squeamish among you would appreciate this picture:

unfortunately, this sweater did not go off without a hitch. i swatched. i really did. i measured my stitch gauge and row gauge and determined, knowing both myself and cascade 220 very well, that i needed to go down a needle size and i would be absolutely fine. but somewhere along the line, cascade decided to up the quality of 220, switching from peruvian highland wool to merino. so even though i secretly measured about 5 of his sweatshirts and t-shirts (adding ease to the latter) and knit to that size, checking my gauge frequently, i was not prepared for the increased drape of the yarn. it came out much too long and a little too wide. so i felted it.

after felting, the sweater fits, in theory. or at least, it did, when it was wet. after he tried it on, i laid it flat to dry without pinning it out, and i guess it shrank a little because it was too small . so i reblocked it to measurements and am currently trying to overcome my fear of putting a zipper in the thing and get it done for our anniversary, which is in a little over a week! i think i can do it, right?

in other news i am totally and completely hooked on weaving. over the course of my class, i made three projects. dishtowels:

in 8/2 unmercerized cotton.

a twill sampler that is sort of pretty but also unphotogenic, and a scarf:

in 2/14 alpaca silk.

the best part is that the scarf totally matches most of my wardrobe:

i also finished a store hat and scarf, and made a really good dent in a lace shawl for the store. now that i’ve done a good amount of work on all of these projects for OTHER people, i’m ready to finally make something for myself. i can’t remember the last time i did that! i bought myself a few early birthday presents on my lunch break yesterday at stitches east, where i was working at webs.

i’m going to make an orenburg shawl for myself and there is nothing anyone can do about it! so there.

finished sweater!

wow, i finished something? i did! i finished something! it still counts if it’s bulky, right?

this is what it looks like when i spend a few days crunching numbers to make my yoke and sleeve patterning work out for 5 sizes. i’d say i’d call this “slightly harried”.

here’s the back!

theoretically this will have buttons and sewn button loops on both the split cuffs and the neckline, if webs gets some in that look good with it. it will also theoretically be a valley pattern! also exciting!

it’s basically the same pattern as a part-handspun sweater i never finished (but posted UFO pictures of)…now that i know what i want to do with it, maybe i should try to finish it before rhinebeck! i’ve never been before but isn’t that a thing people do, the proverbial “rhinebeck (or, insert your local fiber fest here) sweater”?

i had a time of it mapping out the stitch pattern. i’ve seen this before in one color, but i wanted to use two. it entails some fancy needle-work, but nothing impossible or too fiddly. and it’s totally worth it.

it even looks good unblocked! but that’s mostly the yarn; i used valley yarns’ northampton bulky, and it knits up REALLY nicely. and i don’t even like bulky yarn!

in other news i’ve decided to work on my spinning techniques. i know this doesn’t look so impressive, but i made this last night and i’m so proud of myself!

it’s a single and it DOESN’T TWIST BACK ON ITSELF. it is actually usable for knitting! it’s weird though, i can overspin things (which i usually fix in plying) and i now i can hardly spin things, but i can’t figure out how to do any of that fine-tuning in between. that might have to wait though because i have a new hobby!

this could be trouble.

stitches midwest

this past week i got to spend some time away from home, working at the webs booth at stitches midwest! it was pretty grueling but we did get little bits of time (about 10 minutes each day) to check out other vendors. it was a great experience but i’m super glad to be back in my own home tonight!

anyway here are some pictures of what i brought home with me, on the desk in my living room.

a huge skein of alpaca from cheryl oberle’s booth. i saw a woman walking around with one of these around her neck like a necklace on the first day and knew i needed one! taking my cues from the use of this yarn as a simple accessory, i’m going to turn it into a long stockinette tube, graft it to itself, and wrap it around my neck as many times as possible. it is SO soft.

two skeins of sunday knits’ 100% merino sportweight in colors “pickle” and “chocolate” (adorable names!) destined to be a double-knit cowl.

a bunch of isager yarn, all wool, for a sweater experiment. hopefully the sweater will be in focus, unlike the yarn in this picture. oops!

8 ounces of 70% wool, 30% seacell roving from creatively dyed fibers! there’s a funny story about this one. on the first day, after we had set up our booth and cara and i were peeking at everyone else’s, i saw this particular thing of roving from all the way down the aisle and said “i need that fiber. that exact one. i need it.” so i went back early before the market opened on the first day and made dianne sell it to me. as she was running my card through she said, “one of the girls at webs used this color for a sweater, sometimes she brings it with her, you should try to see it!” and i realized that i have been ADMIRING this sweater she was talking about (on my coworker, kirsten, the designer at webs) for MONTHS. i was a little embarrassed but kirsten assured me that our dyelots are completely different so we don’t have to worry about being twinsies by accident. phew!

i also recently purchased a jenkins turkish spindle, since we got them in at webs! i love it. if i were a quicker spinner i might do those 8 ounces of merino/seacell on it, it’s so much fun to use. meanwhile it’s just sitting around looking pretty.

anyway, maybe next post i will have done some actual KNITTING. hopefully. right?

vacation

after more work than i care to describe, i finally managed to complete all of my knitting and designing i wanted to do this past month. this didn’t serve any purpose other than to make the vacation i took this past weekend all the more necessary.

i brought a lot of knitting with me (the entirety of my skye tweed stash may or may not have come along for the ride) and my lendrum, but, sadly, i didn’t get much knitting done, only about a foot of a bulky cabled scarf for webs and some finishing work. i spent about ten minutes on some beautiful kangaroo dyer merino tencel roving before i got nervous about what i wanted to make with it and put it down, thus leading me to the realization that i have some serious performance anxiety about doing my fiber stash justice! time to stock up on some good old bfl and a few spinning books, i guess.

even though i didn’t get much work done on my vacation (probably for the best), an old, unblogged AND unphotographed FO came to the beach with me!

ok, so it was a PAIR of FO’s and it didn’t come with me, it came with my as-yet-similarly-unblogged boyfriend. say hi!

obviously well-worn, these socks were a holiday present. or something. i don’t really remember why i knit them, but i loved every second! i used berroco ultra alpaca fine and knit them on size 1s (i think…) with a size 0 for the heel and toe, using the helical stripe technique (thanks, grumperina!) with 2 ends of grey and one of red. for the cuff, i knit in 1×1 ribbing and then changed to 3×1 for the leg and the instep so these socks really stay put. yay, ribbing!

since then, berroco ultra alpaca fine has been one of my favorite yarns! it comes in great colors and feels awesome – usually i’m not a huge fan of yarns with man-made fibers in them, but the nylon in ultra alpaca fine seems only to have the effect of creating a drapier, silkier fabric. it’s awesome. i sort of want to steal those socks, but i won’t. don’t worry.

anyway still swatching away over here! and if anyone sees any size 7 circulars, they’re probably mine. there was a time when i felt like every needle i owned was a size 7, but of course now that i need them, they’re all missing. it’s so sad, i have so much worsted weight yarn to use, and i can’t even swatch it! oh well, time to get to work on something bulky instead of these great colors.

one down, one (and a quarter?) to go

of my three projects that needed to be finished by the end of the month, i have half of one, 3/4 of another, and no more work to do for one of them! what a relief! and look, i even have a sweet picture of the finished one!

this is a pretty teal version of my ivy day dress, published (!!!!!) by valley yarns and knit in their 10/2 bamboo. i am going to take a moment to say again how much i love where i work; without the support of my coworkers at webs (and the elkins too!), i probably wouldn’t have had the confidence to start this for myself, and i definitely wouldn’t have had the opportunity to publish it.

i keep joking with everyone that i started off “easy”; my first real garment design is just a lace dress, not a big deal at all. but i’m actually serious, the yarn and the simple, biasing stitch pattern do all the work for you. it’s easy to read your knitting in this, and there is absolutely no shaping to interfere with the stitch pattern, whatsoever. can you tell i’m really happy with it? see more information on the webs blog (thanks, kathy!).

that dress has gotten me a few valuable resources…i’m building up a library!

ok, so the two pamphlets on the right-hand side aren’t totally necessary for a knitting library. but i am absolutely in love with both the yarn and patterns from veronik avery’s line, saint denis. us webs employees got to see a bunch of the new classic elite garments in person, including the saint denis stuff, and there are like three sweaters i NEED from the saint denis booklet.

not to mention the brooklyn tweed book. my stash of $2 bin skye tweed (sadly discontinued) has somehow multiplied to sweater size, and i think that his redhook (ravelry link) will be amazing in this yarn. i might have to mess around to create a good garment, since skye tweed is a little bit bulkier than moorland…and of course i’m steeking it. jared said, when he spoke at webs last night, that he didn’t steek this garment because he didn’t want to cut ALL the sweaters in the collection, but i prefer cutting my sweaters to not cutting them. i’m sure you understand. as a sidenote, he was literally the most personable, friendly speaker i’ve met at webs, and i can see myself making and wearing all of his designs in this collection with minor adaptations…ok, it’s just that i can’t currently and have no desire to try to wear pullovers.

ok, that’s all for today. gail brought some mystery fiber into work…so i have some serious spinning to do.

predictability

so, i think i have a fiber stashing problem. ok, that’s fine, but more than just that, i have a color-predictability problem!

for example, i recently acquired some pigeonroof studios bluefaced leicester roving in saffron. i was so excited about it, and when it came i though to myself, “hey, this would look great with my OTHER pigeonroof fiber!” i put them next to each other and even took this cute family picture

before i realized that these colors looked familiar. yeah, guys, that’s pretty much identical to my malabrigo granny square. i might as well call these colors “vaa” and “sunset” instead of “agave” and “saffron”.

in other news, i’ve been knitting away over here! look, proof:

if that looks familiar, there’s probably a reason.

hey at least i’m branching out in color, right?

and finally, i had an idea today at work that i literally could not stop thinking about. so i bought yarn (eek!), came home, and swatched

that’s one of the tiny balls left over from my fight with my skein of malabrigo sock (in solis! so pretty). i’m using it to swatch out the increase locations.

evidently my brain thinks i should rip off melissa’s style.