Felting and other adventures

A while back I ran into my boss and his wife out shopping. She was wearing a gorgeous felt hat. I told her that I liked her hat. She told me how much she loved it and that she wished she had thought to buy more in different colours. I told her that I could make a very similar hat and asked what colour she would like. 

I’ve worked for this man and his family for over 20 years now and no one has ever asked me to knit anything. I was happy to make something for his wife (it helps that she’s a total sweetheart and really appreciates hand knitting). 

I finished the knitting. The hat was huge but thankfully it felted down to the correct size. I’m always pleased and surprised when I get such great results using my front loading washer. But looking at the plain grey hat, I realized that it needed something. Needles felting was the answer! 

I’m very happy with the final result!! My bosses wife was thrilled. And now I’m debating making one for myself   

Carol Feller KAL

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I'm so excited to be participating in a KAL hosted by knitwear designer Carol Feller. I bought a book of hers last summer called "Short Rows" and I fell in love with her esthetic then and there.

Here is the sweater that I'm currently knitting. It's called Santa Rosa and it's beyond gorgeous. I've ordered a lot from Bluemoon Fibrearts. Check out their blog post about the KAL here. http://blog.bluemoonfiberarts.com/2016/05/03/carol-feller-santa-rosa-kal/

While waiting for my yarn to arrive I started knitting a different Carol Feller design called Traveller. Not as feminine as the Santa Rosa Cardi but still gorgeous and so wearable. As are all her designs. 

I think the yarn in the Santa Rosa cardigan is the big appeal. I'm all about gradients right now and Man! This kit does not disappoint. Just look at how these colours transition in my chosen colour way - scarlet begonias. 

 
 

So stunning. I'm past the yoke now and I'm hoping to do a lot on this sweater this weekend. We shall see. 

 

Top Down Icelandic Cardigan Part 2

Here we are in September already. The weather here in this part of the world has taken a definite turn. Fall comes quickly when you are this far north. The leaves of the birches are turning yellow already. The dogberry trees are almost void of leaves altogether, though I suspect a beetle or disease if doing that, not really due to fall. 

I've been making slow but steady progress on my topdown Icelandic cardigan. I'm determined that this will be a sweater that I wear. I'm determined to knit it perfectly. I'm determined that the fit will be amazing and that I'll be so happy with my cardigan that I'll never want to take it off. 

I've knit many sweaters for myself. Sadly, I don't wear too many of them. There are many reasons for this. Fit is a big one. I've knit one that's too small, another that's too large, another that for the life of me will not stay on my shoulders. (I think this is a design issue - others on Ravelry have complained of the same). There is one sweater that fits fine but looks ridiculous. It has a long peplum and elbow length sleeves. My daughter says it resembles a bathrobe when I wear it. Not a good look for me. 

Then there is this asymmetric sweater that I modified to make it fit symmetric. I really didn't think this one through. The original pattern had a button closure at the neck.  The left front was thin while  the right front was wider. In the original form it was really quite a pretty pattern. I'm not sure what possessed me to try to modify the pattern so that the opening of the cardigan was in the center. I ended up knitting to thin fronts instead of two wider fronts. The result is a cardigan that resembles a cape with sleeves. Not a very fetching look for me.

The final issue that I've had with handknit sweaters is one of sensibility.  I've knit three short sleeved 100% wool sweaters. Let me tell from living in Labrador I've learned that if it's cold enough to be wearing a wool sweater it's cold enough to require sleeves.  It took three sweaters to realize this. That is a sad reflection upon my powers of observation.

So for this sweater I think I finally got it. It's going to be that perfect combination of fit and style and sensibility. That is unless I run out of yarn. 

Crazy about Crochet

When Kev was in Montreal earlier this month, he brought me back a new book. 101 One Skein Crochet Wonders by Judith Durant. I haven't been crocheting in a long while. And for some reason, my knitting mojo has reached an all time low. So this was just the thing I needed. There are so many really cute things in this book and I'm sure its one I'll turn to time and again when the mood to crochet strikes me. One thing I noticed about this book is that it seems to make use of yarns like Noro that utitlize long repeats of colour. Those are some of my favorite yarns, and I have a lot of them in my stash - single skeins that I'm not sure what to do with.

I couldn't resist crocheting up this cute bunny. He seemed to progress so quickly. I couldn't stop crocheting the little pieces. They came together so nicely. And notice how the colours line up so perfectly on the different parts. This was a happy accident! They yarn is acrylic - Bernat Mosaic. Not a yarn, I'd normally chose but for a toy, I think it works perfectly.










And in other news I finally finished the Leaflet sweater that I started back in November. I like it a lot and I'm not sure why it went into the 'hibernation' pile.





And I'm still plugging away on these Hope Springs Eternal Socks. I'm enjoying the pattern and the yarn. These will be finished soon! I just love how the colours are pooling and swirling around the leg of the socks!

A New Beginning

Its the New Year already. I swear time seems to speed up the older that I get. I had every intention of posting a list of fiber resolutions of sorts, but I just couldn't get around to it. I don't know what it is, but ever since the fire, I seem to have lost my knitting ambitions. I guess its because the majority of my stash is stored in the shed (still not washed) about 5 miles from where we are currently living. And the place that we are living is so small that its really hard to organize the stash. So, there will be no fiber resolutions for me. I honestly think it will take until I'm back in the new house for me to feel the same way about knitting and my stash.

Now, that didn't stop me from acquiring new yarn...no. See this stuff? Its Veronique Avery's yarn. I bought this in Montreal!!

Amy has moved there and is taking some phycology courses from Concordia. I'm really happy for her, because she was getting pretty miserable living in a small town after being a city girl for the duration of her first degree. But, I miss my girl!!

This darling little cardigan was my New Year's Eve cast on. Its for a coworkers baby who showed up a few weeks early

It needs buttons yet, but I plan on picking some up today. The pattern is from Hannah Fettig's newly released booklet called Mabel's Closet. This little book is so sweet and the patterns are completely charming. I've also knit a little striped beret from the booklet to go with the cardigan, but haven't taken any real photos yet.

I knit the cardigan out of Quince and Company's Chickadee. Its my first time using this yarn, and I must say, I really liked it. The yarn is reasonably priced, though by the time duty was charged, I'm not sure that it was that reasonable. I did like the yarn. It was very soft and almost doughy. I also have a sweaters worth for myself. I haven't knit myself a sweater in a lightweight yarn before, so we'll see how that pans out. Seeing as I still have an aran weight sweater languishing on the needles I won't be holding m breath. Lol.

Well, happy knitting and happy New Year!

Its not so bad

I cannot figure out why this post is placed in 2015. This post was originally written on November 2012. 

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am an optimist. Yes, the glass is always half full and yes things could have been worse. I've put off writing this post until I was in such a frame of mind whereby I didn't sound sorry for myself.
You see, we had a house fire! A bad one. It seems my beautiful house is condemned. We are now living in an apartment over the pharmacy where I work. Things could be worse....I could be totally homeless!
My tenants too, are without a home and I feel so bad for them. They didn't have insurance. See, things could definitely be worse.
The fire started in the day - when no one was home - not even my little dog Spencer! If it had been in the night time, if Amy had been home (it started outside her bedroom door!) I shudder to contemplate how worse things would have been then.
The first firefighter on the scene was our son in law, Blair. Because he knew the layout of the house, he was able to get the fire out quick enough so that the house didn't burn to the ground. I am now able to sort through the belongings and list the contents of our home for the insurance. The adjuster tells me this is much harder to do from memory. Again, something to be grateful for.
I'm handwashing some of my more precious skeins by hand to try to get the soot and smell of smoke off of them. I've bought more Soak this past week than I have in my entire knitting career! Others, I'm replacing as I need them. Because, they are replaceable!! The things that we lost in the fire are only material things. And this fire has made me realize (I kind of knew this anyway) what a wonderful community we live in and what wonderful friends and family we have.
This weekend, we are moving out of the drugstore apartment and into a mini home - complete with craft room! I'll try to post some pictures when we get more settled. Until then, I'll have to show off pictures of my recently completed Gemini!

Knit with Classic Elite yarn Classic Silk that I purchase years ago from Webs. This yarn has been languishing in my stash forever. This little sweater was a quick easy knit. Great first sweater, if you've never knit a sweater before. If I were to knit this again, I would start the neckline with 4 rows of garter stitch first because as written the neckline has a tendency to roll. I avoided this, by crocheting a single crochet edge entirely around the neckline. It works, but I think the garter stitch would work better. I've already worn this sweater a couple of times and I must admit to liking it a lot. Kind of surprising given the colour of the sweater. Its definitely not something I would normally chose. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I bought it years ago.

Two Wrongs Make a Right

I've never believed that two wrongs make a right. I'm not sure where that expression came from, but it always felt kind of dumb. Until now that is. I just finished (finally) my Rocky Coast Cardigan. And it turned out perfectly! But I think the reason it did so, is because of 'Two Wrongs'. Both 'Wrongs' happened at the beginning of knitting this sweater, and I kind of liked how it looked, so I just went with it. The first wrong was casting on for the wrong size. Initially, I cast on for my bust size and knit several inches. Then I check out the finished objects on Ravelry and found that since this pattern is meant to be worn with several inches of positive ease, you should cast on for a size that is several inches larger than your bust size. Rather than tink back, I decided to keep the cast on as I originally had done, but increase up to the size to give me the easement I wanted. This turned out to be perfect because the other thing that I read about the FOs was that the neckline tended to run large and hence slipped off people's shoulders. The second wrong, was miss crossing my cables. My cables are lined up - snake like - meandering down the length of the garment. I knew I had made a mistake right from the get go, but I kind of liked it and decided to keep going. Since the yarn I chose is sort of self striping these cable lines help to break up the self striping. So, here it is. I love it. The yarn is Cascade Eco Duo - a blend of wool and alpaca. Its a single and its oh so soft and squishy.

I'm sure it'll pill like nobody's business, but I don't really care. I have a good sweater shaver. I predict this sweater will get lots of wear. It is so comfy and the amount of ease is perfect. Its not falling off my shoulders. And I like the little clasp that I've used too.

So, in this case, I think two wrongs did make a right....well, a right sweater in any case. Next up....I've got some Madelinetosh chunky I've been dieing to try!!

Slog Sweater

I cast on for this sweater back in September. Its from the book New England Knits which I really, really like. There are a number of other sweaters in this book that I want to knit, but this one really caught my eye, and I cast on right away.

Well, here I am 6 months later and I'm just now finishing it.

I'm very happy with the finished cardigan. Its very wearable. It fits well, and I like it a lot. Why it took me so long to finish is anyone's guess. I think it was the endless amount of garter stitch. And when I got to the sleeves it was even worse. Garter stitch in the round is not for the faint of heart. It was beyond monotonous. So, I opted to knit them flat. I love knitting flat garter in front of the TV. The down side to knitting flat sleeves is seaming. But it appears I hate seaming less than I hate garter stitch in the round.

I promised myself that I would not cast on for another sweater until I finished this one. I was so happy to finish this sweater that I immediately cast on for Lady of the Lake Cardigan by Fleece Artist. This kit has been in my stash for quite some time - lets hope it doesn't take me as long to finish this sweater. Here is my progress so far

This is magical yarn for sure. I just love the resulting fabric. I'll keep you posted as to how quickly this one knits up.

Self Striping Yarn - My True Love

The yarn is Zauberball Crazy and it is just that.  There is no repeating of any colours.  If you knit socks from this yarn, they would definitely be fraternal twins as there is no way to make the colours line up.  Up close, the yarn is like a barber poled handspun.  I love the result.  I would have kept crocheting but I ran out of the contrasting black yarn.  It took two skeins of Knitpicks Palette.  

I have countless other images that I wanted to put up as well, but I chose these.  I love the close ups.  This is from a free pattern that can be gotten here.

In other news, I cast on for a baby sweater four days ago, and finished it.  I used Spud and Chloe Sweater yarn.  Its a blend of wool and cotton and is supposed to be easy care.  I really enjoyed the yarn.  This sweater is for Heather's new baby, not yet born, and it had to be easy care.  No care would be great, but I'll settle for easy care.  I bought this yarn from A Good Yarn.  Its a new yarn shop that opened up in St John's.   While I've never been there in person, I can attest to the great customer service.  I hope to visit it real soon.

OWLs sweater finished

I'm super happy with the way that this baby turned out. I'm also glad that I changed the pattern to a cardigan because a pullover would not have been too flattering. In interest of mending issues, I've omitted the button eyes as if they became hooked in anything there is no way that Amy will repair this on her own. She is heading back to Montreal today. I finished the sweater just in time. Yes, she is trying it on at the airport.

Spencer

On New Year's Day Spencer got sick. Stones in his bladder it turns out. 3 of them that made peeing very difficult. He had to have surgery and was not a happy puppy for about 1 week after.

Over on Ravelry, the Harry Potter - Knit and Crochet House Cup group have a class on the care of magical creatures. People who signed up for the class had to knit something for a magical creature in their life. Spencer is very magical to me. Hence I knit him this cute lil argyle sweater. Pattern is my own - not that it was difficult. I think I'm starting to get into intarsia...well, maybe just a little.


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In other knitting news, Amy has requested a knit sweater for her birthday. This from the girl who 'hates knit sweaters'. I am secretly thrilled at this request, so of course I'm obliging her. However, there is no way in hell that I will finish the sweater in time for her birthday. Considering I've had to order the yarn from Elann.com which is based in BC, Amy's birthday is less than 1 month away, and Amy is in Quebec. So, even if I get the yarn in a week, and if I can knit this sweater in 2 weeks (yeah, right), I would still have to mail it to Quebec. My goal is to have this sweater finished by the end of March. By then of course it will have warmed up to the point that a sweater knit in a chunky weight yarn will be too warm to wear anyway. Such is my life as a knitter.

February's Sweater

I may not have spoken it aloud, but my New Years goal was to knit a sweater (or some other larger garment) per month. Two months in and I'm doing well. This is my sweater for February.

Everybody (and their dog) is knitting this sweater it seems. Its a freebie from drops studio. There are two different versions for different weight yarn. It can be knit with full or 3/4 length sleeves. My version is the worsted weight version with the full length (and then some) sleeves.

I need to find the right buttons (or toggles) for this. The ones shown are just laid on and probably mismatched.