WIP: Song of the Sea

O HAI INTERNET.

I have a WIP! Well, I have several WIPs now, but one of them will be an FO by Friday (jinx) and one of them looks the same as it did last time I posted.

Behold the humble beginnings of Song of the Sea by Louise Zass-Bangham, in Malabrigo Sock.



The colourway is Aguas. It is absolutely perfect and I adore it. (A bit greener than it appears here.) Very water-y, appropriately enough.



I haven't got far, but so far I really like the pattern. Maybe that's predictable of me with my love of wave motifs. This one is quite intuitive and a welcome change from lace that requires all my attention.

The keen-eyed / good-memoried among you may recall that this skein of Malabrigo Sock is part of my Stash Match challenge wherein I attempt to assign a pattern to most yarns in my stash. 1 skein matched: lots to go!

WIP: Dragonflies

I'm in the unusual position of knitting-monogamy right now. One project on the needles! (That is going to change by tonight, though.)

Here is a progress photo of my Dragonflies sweater.



It's taking forever because I'm really slow at lace. Also long torso is long, so I think I've completed just over half of the body. Since I still can't manage the lace while out talking to people, (though it is getting easier), I started on one of the sleeves during knitting group. Judging from how the upper arm fits now, I think I will decrease more quickly for a while for a snugger fit.

In other news, summer arrived in Scotland, and though it has cooled down again a bit, it's still rather pleasant outside. I'm enjoying open windows and leaving the house without a cardigan.

Also, in case anyone wondered whatever happened to my Stash Match project, just wanted to say I'm still working on it. My indecision is my worst enemy, plus I may or may not have increased my stash since blog week, which means more skeins to allocate. Oh dear. It'll get there!

See more WIPs on Tami's blog for WIP Wednesday #200!

FO: Crystalline Socks

Remember these?



Pattern: Crystalline Socks by Cailyn Meyer

Yarn: 75% Wool, 25% Nylon hand-dyed with Wiltons Icing colours.

Mods: I crossed the cables on every quilted stitch row, rather than having the quilted pattern out of sync with the cable pattern.



Notes:
These socks were lots of fun to make. I really like the quilted lattice stitch pattern - a good choice for variegated yarns. I plan on using it again, or a variation on it, with some other variegated yarn I have. I actually thought this yarn was going to be more variegated than it ended up being. There is much more green in it than I thought when I dyed it. In any case, I loved watching the colours change as I knit and slipped stitches.



Slipped stitch rows went really quickly, as well. Had I not taken a long break to knit some gift socks (which I now remember I haven't shared on the blog yet), these would have been finished in short order, since they flew along.

5KCBWDAY2 - Introducing Stash Match

It's the second day of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, and I am already veering off-piste. Apologies to Eskimimi whose well-thought-out topics are about to get re-interpreted/ignored! Rather than write a dating profile for an FO as per today's topic prompt, I'm using today's post to launch a series of posts I've been pondering for quite a while. You see, it's my stash that needs some love, not my FOs. Hence, Stash Match.

Stash Match: What it is
(I didn't intentionally steal the phrase from anyone else, though some quick googling yields it on a quilting blog. I hope she doesn't mind.)

Over the course of an undetermined number of blog posts, I will attempt to allocate all (or most) of my stashed yarn to patterns / ideas for future knitting. I reserve the right to change my mind about these stash-pattern matches, but having a concrete list rather than a nebulous cluster of vague thoughts will make me feel a lot more organised.

Why I am stash-matching

In theory, I prefer to buy yarn with a pattern in mind. For sweater quantities of yarn, this works quite well in practice. For single skeins of pretty sock yarn, not so much - rather than a specific pattern, I end up telling myself "This could be a shawl(ette). Or it could be socks." That is not untrue; however, it is also not helpful! I end up with lots of beautiful yarn not allocated to a project, and when I need something for a particular project, I just buy more - invariably, nothing in my stash at the time seems right.

I try not to let it bother me too much, since pretty yarn sitting in stash is pretty yarn, but I think I have hit the point where I need to go through it all and at least tentatively allocate yarn for specific projects. After all, I have an extensive queue and favourites list to draw from - surely there are some perfect yarn to pattern pairings just waiting to be recognised! I can always change my mind if something even more awesome comes along.

The Candidates 

Most of my stash is in the photo below. Not included are sweater quantities of yarn, most leftovers from other projects, and handspun. (I have some handspun, but I didn't spin any of it myself, so don't get excited). And anything else I couldn't find or forgot about.



After much deliberation, I have grouped it into rough categories as follows:

Green: Too pretty for socks
Cyan: WTF yarn
Yellow: Destined for colourwork
Pink: Alpaca
Blue: Sock yarn
Orange: Laceweight

The Green section is the one that is taunting me the most right now. I have deemed these Too Pretty for Socks because from my perspective they are unsuitable for socks for at least one reason. Some of them aren't superwash, some of them are too delicate, and all of them are so beautifully dyed that I can't imagine hiding them in shoes.



From top to bottom, it includes the following:
Malabrigo Sock (402 m)
SweetGeorgia Cashluxe Fine (365 m)
Natural Born Dyers BFL-Nylon High Twist Sock (370 m)
Old Maiden Aunt Merino/Bamboo 4-ply (366 m)
Old Maiden Aunt Superwash Merino 4ply (366 m)
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock (411 m)
Fyberspates Sheila's Sock (365 m)
Shibui Sock (175 m)

So there it is. Team Too Pretty for Socks is up first for stash-matching. After blog week, I will be back with a post talking about the matches and how I came up with them. In the meantime, let me know if you have any brilliant ideas for the above yarn. Do you need to do a stash match, or is your stash already perfectly allocated to patterns/projects?

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, Day 1: A Day in the Life

Describe a day in the life of a project that you have made, or are in the process of making.

Sunday, 11 May 2014 - 9:30 am
The knitter awakes, goes through her morning ablutions, and emerges. The Dragonflies sweater in progress is resting on a chair in the living room. The knitter ignores the project and proceeds to eat breakfast and drink a cup of tea.



10:30 am
The knitter appears to decide to get some knitting in before going to work. Upon picking up the project, sitting down, and working a few stitches, the knitter realises that she is nearing the end of the ball of yarn. Lacking the motivation to wind the next skein into a ball, the knitter puts the project down again and reads her book instead until it is time for work.



12:00
The knitter leaves to go to work. As far as anyone can observe, the project spends the day inactive; perhaps it is plotting and waiting quietly before making its next move.

6:00 pm
The knitter returns from work, starving. She spends some time preparing and eating supper. The project is still stationed on the living room chair, having apparently not moved the entire afternoon.

7:30 pm
The knitter decides to wind a new ball of yarn to facilitate working on the project, using a primitive set-up involving two kitchen chairs.



7:45 pm
The knitter gets bored of winding and goes to play on the internet, continuing to ignore the project which remains on the chair, looking a bit lonely.

9:00 pm
The knitter finally finishes winding the yarn, which doesn't actually take that long once she gets going. She attaches it to the end of the old yarn with a spit-splice (but uses soap and water rather than spit, since she finds it works better) and sits down to knit.



The project has been dormant all day but finally achieves a small measure of progress before it is time for bed.

5KCBWDAY1

WIP: Crystalline Socks

I have a WIP to share!

These are Crystalline Socks by Cailyn Meyer. I cast on New Year's Day, according to Ravelry. They hibernated for a while since I needed the needles for a secret gift project. Now that the secret project is done (stay tuned), these are back on the needles.



I'm really excited about these socks. The stitch pattern is fun to knit - it holds my interest but isn't too complex, and I love watching it develop. It also feels like it goes very quickly. A great choice for variegated yarns, although I'm finding this yarn isn't as garishly variegated as I expected. The yarn is 75% wool / 25% nylon that I dyed using Wiltons icing colours a few years ago, so I'm glad I've finally found a project for it.



Check out more WIPs at Tami's Blog.

Some knitting and some baking

I've started my 2nd sweater of 2014: Dragonflies, by Joji Locatelli. My goal is to knit two sweaters this year, and I'm optimistic I'll manage it given my progress so far.



It's going well so far. The lace is more complicated than anything I've done recently, but I'm getting into a rhythm with it, so all is good. I still have to focus entirely on the charts, but I think it will get easier as I go.

Other than knitting, I've been baking. The other day I made pita / pitta for the first time, and it was so awesome.



Delicious, and surprisingly easy. Will make again. I used a recipe from How to Bake by Paul Hollywood. The pockets are magical. Or maybe it's just yeast that is magical. In any case. Eating fresh, warm pitta with store-bought hummus just made the hummus seem sad, so next time maybe I'll make the hummus as well. (I used to make hummus frequently, but laziness has taken over these days.)

First FO of 2014: Wethersfield Cardigan

My Wethersfield cardigan is my first FO of 2014!



Pattern: Wethersfield by Cecily Glowik MacDonald

Yarn: Cascade Eco+ in the Pacific colourway.

Mods: Knitted the body way longer than called for, used twisted rib instead of regular 1x1 rib for the hem and collar since I prefer how it looks.



Notes: Love it.

The pattern was a Ravelry-gift in a holiday pattern swap, and I wanted to start knitting straight away. Even though it is in reasonably thick yarn, the knitting still took a long time, though. My project page claims I started it January 13th and I didn't finish it until April 1st. I just need to accept that sweaters always take me a long time, even when I work on them almost exclusively. (In this case, I did have a few other projects going to distract me, so I certainly was not working on it exclusively. Never mind.)

I'm not used to open-fronted cardigans, and it's actually more open in the front than I was expecting - i.e. I can't really pull it closed at all. But I like it. I've been wearing it almost constantly since it dried. This sweater is very cozy and has been perfect for the particularly grim weather we have been having. Chilly and damp with thick fog - though it seems to be lifting now.



The cable on the back was lots of fun to knit. The only complaint I have about the pattern is that the cable chart is blurry. I haven't seen anyone else mentioning this on Ravelry, so maybe it's just me and my ancient computer? Some sort of resolution mismatch? In any case, it's blurry on screen and it printed out blurry, so it is difficult to read. I'm familiar enough with standard cable charts at this point that I could figure it out - plus the cables were easy to memorize, so it all worked out fine. I also think it's a bit odd that the pattern abbreviations use one style of abbreviation for the various kinds of cable twist, but the chart uses different abbreviations. I imagine this comes from whatever software was used to make the charts... but it's still a bit strange to see. Anyway, that is stupidly nitpicky and didn't affect my ability to follow the pattern, since I didn't really look at the written instructions for the cables and stuck to the charts. Still, I imagine it might be confusing to a beginner who is just learning how to follow charts. I know when I was learning charts I often referred to the written directions to make sure I understood what I was doing.

This was my first time knitting seamless set-in sleeves from the top down. The body of the sweater is done bottom-up, but then the sleeves are done top-down with short-rows. It is magical! I will do this kind of sleeve again, for sure. I'm really interested in trying some different seamless sleeve cap techniques in the future, since I'm not a huge fan of seaming (big surprise), but sleeve-cap type sleeves seem to fit me quite well.

WIP: Wethersfield Cardigan

Here is what I have on the needles at the moment, just in time for spring.

Please note: in reality, the yarn is a deep/bright teal. Not blue. Not turquoise.



Big, hulking, cozy cardigan. Since Scottish spring often requires coziness, I hope I'll get some use out of it before next year.

This is Wethersfield by Cecily Glowik MacDonald. Twice now, I've seen one of her patterns pop up on my ravelry feed and felt an immediate need to knit it as soon as possible. (First time was with Idlewood). I received the pattern as a Ravelry-gift from one of my internet friends in a holiday-time pattern swap, and cast on in January with Cascade Eco + yarn.

I've been reaching for my Vivian hoodie a lot this autumn/winter/spring, which is made out of Cascade Eco +, so I thought it would be handy to have another sweater in the same yarn. Shortly after I finished knitting Vivian, there was some speedy pilling, and I was a bit disappointed. After years of wear and occasional de-pillings with a razor, it has pretty much stopped pilling - and it has otherwise held up quite well! So I forgive it, and with Wethersfield I know to give it a chance to pill a bit without giving up on it.

I'll say more about the pattern once I've finished, but I just have to say seamless set-in sleeves are magical. Magical! Also, knitting these sleeves two at a time was probably a bad idea - unlike doing socks TAAT, there is no open end, so the yarn gets trapped and wound around and around the sleeve. Ugh. I did not think that one through at all. Unwrapping it is a bit cumbersome, so these sleeves are working up very slowly. Never mind. I'll be glad of it when I finish them both at once.

Check out some more WIPs at Tami's blog for WIP Wednesday.

Stashing UP: this month in yarn acquisition

I've never been on an official stash-down - mostly I am fairly restrained in my yarn purchasing, so I haven't felt the need to stop buying yarn entirely just to bring stash down to manageable size. Yet. The last few weeks have really been an exercise in stashing UP, though.

First, I went to the St Abbs Wool Festival at the beginning of March, in the picturesque seaside village of St Abbs in the Scottish Borders. I had never been to this festival before, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much awesomeness they managed to pack into the two small venues. It was fabulous. Not only was there yarn aplenty, but there were also loads of amazing buttons, weaving, spinning, and felting. It was also a very sunny, gorgeous day - I managed to forget my camera, but I wish I hadn't!

I came away with a skein of Natural Born Dyers BFL/Nylon High Twist Sock. (And some buttons, but button-stashing is for another post).



As the company name suggests, the yarn is dyed with natural dyes. I am always astounded to see the range of great colours people can get using this kind of dye. My photo doesn't do it justice at all, of course. It is a semi-solid with many different shades of green.

Then, I received some yarn as a fabulous birthday present. When I heard that SweetGeorgia was going to be at Unravel, a wool festival in Farnham, I made a special request to my mother-in-law, since I knew she would be attending the festival as an exhibitor. I've drooled over SweetGeorgia yarns on the internet for a long time without committing to purchasing any, and I'd never seen it in person - MIL got me a skein of Cashluxe Fine, which is Merino/Cashmere/Nylon sock yarn. It is quite possibly the softest thing I have ever touched. Amazing! For once, the colour (Wisteria) is pretty accurate in the photo:



As if that weren't enough yarn for a year, never mind a month, I went on a Yarn Crawl this past weekend with my knitting group. Edinburgh has had an explosion of independent yarn shops in the last couple of years, so why not try to visit them all in a day? Sounds like a plan! (I even brought my camera along to document the proceedings, and then got so distracted by the pretties that I didn't take any pictures. Oops.) We ended up visiting four shops, missing out the two department stores that have yarn, and one of the larger shops - otherwise we wouldn't have had enough time. We also feasted on delicious Malaysian food, ate gelato outside in the cold wind, and ended up in a pub. (As you do.) But! As may be expected, yarn came home with me.

Our first yarn stop was Be Inspired Fibres, a beautiful shop that opened last summer. Shamefully, I hadn't been to visit yet - however, I'm sure I will be back frequently. Despite vocally vowing to stick to my plan for the day, which was to buy yarn for a sweater and not random skeins of pretty sock yarn, I failed at the first shop. Some Malabrigo Sock called to me and I could not leave without it.


The colourway is Aguas - watery blue-gray-greens that are more complex than pictured. (Truly, it is very different than the Natural Born Dyers' skein pictured above, even if the photos deny it.) This may seem like blasphemy, but I've never worked with Malabrigo Sock before. It's obviously incredibly soft, but it seems more substantial than I was expecting, given Malabrigo's reputation for buttered-kitten-softness. (This substantialness is a very good thing, in my books.) Anyway. There is no way I am making socks out of something this soft and pretty, but more on that another time.

I didn't buy anything at the next two stops (K1 Yarns, and Kathy's Knits), although Kathy's Knits in particular is a favourite destination of mine for sweater yarn.

Then at our final stop, I finally got my sweater quantity that I had planned on:



Five skeins of Brigantia Luxury Double Knit, from Ginger Twist Studio, a shop that despite its small physical size manages to stock a huge range of fascinating yarns. (All of us on the yarn crawl fit in at once, but just barely!) I have never used this yarn before, but the colours are fantastic, and it feels sturdy enough for my sweater-knitting needs, so I have high hopes for it.

Phew. It has been a while since I acquired so much yarn in such a short period of time, and it's a bit overwhelming! I'm excited about all these things, and some of them I have immediate plans for, so they won't linger in the stash for too long. Still, these acquisitions have made me realise that a good portion of my stash is just stash without any plans attached. I might need to remedy that soon.

FO: Gnarled Oak Cardigan

I finished this back in December--my one sweater for 2013--and I've been wearing it a lot.

Pattern: Gnarled Oak Cardigan by Alana Dakos
Yarn: New Lanark Pure Wool DK in Woodland



Mods: Added length and waist-shaping using Little Red in the City as a guide. I still haven't knitted any of the patterns from that book, but the measuring guides and customization instructions are very useful. It worked! The fit through the waist is nearly perfect, and I am so pleased. (Sketchy notes on what I did are on my ravelry project page, but keep in mind they are based on my own idiosyncratic gauge and measurements.) If I did it again, I would add just a little bit more length in both the body and the sleeves, but I can live with it as is. The sleeves are also a bit weirdly room-y towards the shoulders for some reason, but oh well.



New Lanark is the ultimate sweater yarn for me. I have now used the Aran and DK weights, and I will certainly use both again. It's very hard-wearing, and the heathered/tweediness of it makes my knitting needles sing! The stitch definition isn't extremely crisp, since the yarn has a bit of fuzz to it. Thus, the oak leaves don't stand out as much as they might, but I still think it was a good choice for this project.



One thing I realized as I worked on this is that bottom-up sweaters with yoke details are really really boring for 85% of the project. Once I got to the leaf details I was happy, but I really got bogged down on the sleeves. I'm sure I will knit things with similar construction in the future, but hopefully this project will be a reminder to me that all the boringness can lead to brilliant results in the end.

Next up (eventually): what I am working on so far in 2014!

2013 FOs: stuff for me!

I received some gorgeous Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran weight for Christmas in 2012, alongside Saturday Treat by Ysolda Teague. As soon as I opened it up, I knew wanted to make Almond Comfit first, a cute beret with an interesting construction and a fun lace detail. I wasn't entirely sure I would use the Scrumptious yarn for the project, though it was the yarn specified in the pattern. I had reservations about it being too dark, since I had the Midnight shade - a deep, dark blue.

It sat in my stash for nearly a year when I remembered it and decided to match pattern with yarn as the pattern intended and just go for. So, in December I knocked out a dark blue Almond Comfit in just over a week.

I rather like it.



Pattern: Almond Comfit by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran in Midnight



Notes: I followed the pattern to the letter. This is one of those patterns that requires trust. The construction is very clever and at first I found it hard to visualize. All worked out in the end, though. I really like the reverse stockinette i-cord.

I find berets a bit difficult to wear - I always think the way they lump in the back looks a bit funny on me. I also don't wear hats too often these days, since the winter here hasn't been particularly cold. Still, right now my hair works very well with berets, since I can have the necessary bits sticking out the front so that I don't look bald. I am thinking about growing my hair long again, so I'd better wear the heck out of this hat while my hair cooperates.



One more catch-up FO post from 2013 to go - and then I'll get on with my 2014 WIPs.

FO catch-up: Gifts and Christmassy things

I didn't post much over the last few months of 2013, but if you saw my 2013 FO mosaic you'll have noticed that I did finish a few more projects. It doesn't feel like the new knitting year has started properly until I post about all my FOs, so I'm going to do a few posts to catch up with what I've made.

Today I'll summarize the holiday-related knitting I did.

First of all, I finished a scarf for my mom from a pattern she picked out when I visited over the summer.


(dirty mirror selfie snapped before I posted it off)

Pattern: Drachenswanz by Klangsonne

Yarn: Lioness Arts King of the Jungle Sock, in "Seeing other people"

Notes: Fabulous soft yarn in the most delicious, deep, semi-solid red. It was lovely to work with. The scarf took me months to complete because I got bored of garter stitch after a while. The pattern is originally written in German - I tried to follow the English translation, but it didn't really make sense to me, so I ended up working entirely off Amilouna's notes.

Next, we decided to buy a real Christmas tree this year, since we were staying home for the holidays. This necessitated buying ornaments. (Last time we stayed home for Christmas, we used hexipuffs for ornaments, but this year they were all sewn up!) I took the opportunity to make a tree-topper from a pattern I'd had on my radar for years.



Pattern: Celestine by Norah Gaughan

Yarn: Patons Diploma Gold DK

Notes:
Our tree was small, so the full-sized start would have looked silly. As such, I followed many helpful ravelry notes and made my celestine smaller. Each point began with 35 stitches, rather than 55. I didn't measure the final product, but it was a good size for the wee tree. So it would stay on top, I left the final point open at the bottom and inserted and stitched on a plastic tube that my husband cunningly fashioned and drilled holes into. It worked very well!

2013 - year in knitting

In 2013 I completed 12 projects - that's more than last year, although quantity isn't what counts! One more and I would have managed 13 in 2013... oops. Here they are in mosaic form.



Left to right, top to bottom: (All links are to my ravelry projects)

1. Almond Comfit by Ysolda Teague
2. Gnarled Oak Cardigan by Alana Dakos
3. Celestine by Norah Gaughan
4. Drachenswanz by Klangsonne
5. Annis by Susanna IC
6. Little Sister's Dress by Tora Froseth
7. Twilight socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes
8. Color Affection by Veera Valimaki
9. Magrathea by Matina Behm
10. Noro Striped Scarf
11. Pomatomus by Cookie A.
12. Beekeeper's Quilt by tiny owl knits

(Disclaimer: I didn't so much "finish" my beekeeper's quilt as decide I was never going to make it quilt sized, sew up what I had, and made a wee beekeeper's mat. Not sure what to do with it, but it's as done as it will ever be. eta - I don't even have a picture of the "finished" mat, but it has more puffs than the pic above!)

Before me I see much neckwear! Yikes. I had no idea I was making shawlettes and scarves to the exclusion of all else.

Last January I made some loose knitting goals. Did I accomplish them?

My knitting goals for next year aren't very focused, and are subject to change. I'd like to do some more lace, and make a few cardigans. I'd also like to make some gifts for my immediate family, since I haven't made them anything for the last two years.

Kind of. I made one cardigan--the only sweater I made all year--so that's a partial success. I did a bit of lace, though I didn't really stretch myself in that respect. Finally, I made socks for my brother and a scarf for my mother, so I count my gift quota as fulfilled.

In 2014, I have some more concrete goals, though I reserve the right to change them at any point. I would like to knit at least two sweaters for myself, and aim for 14 FOs in 2014. (I know the numbers don't matter, but I came so close to 13 last year without even realizing it, so I think I can manage 14 this time.)

Whahey! Bring on the New Year.

FO: Annis

I finished my Annis shawlette in time for a wedding we went to last month, but it was a near thing. A "rushing the shortrows, blocking at 1:00 am the night before" kind of near thing.



Pattern: Annis by Susanna IC
Yarn: Riverside Studio Superwash Merino Lace (Note: my skein was about half the size as the linked yarn, and I did not use the full skein.)



Notes: This was my first crescent-shaped shawlette, and my first experience with nupps. I have admired Susanna IC's crescent patterns for a long time, and now I know I will make more of them. The shape is excellent for scarf-wise wearing - it definitely helps it stay around my neck/shoulders. I quite liked starting from the longest edge of the piece and finishing with fewer stitches, since so many things I've knit were done the other way around! Doing a backwards loop cast-on for 363 stitches as recommended nearly made me lose my mind; or rather, having to knit into the backwards loop cast-on for 363 stitches practically did me in. I might try finding a suitably stretchy but less annoying cast-on method next time.



But, let's talk about nupps. I've heard horror stories about them, but I like to think I'm a relatively fearless knitter*, so taking the advice of my more experienced peers, I jumped right in. The main advice I came across was KEEP THEM LOOSE. So I did. I might have overdone it on the looseness, though. As a result of such loose loops, purling 7 together wasn't too difficult, but to be honest the finished nupps are a bit underwhelming. Mine definitely do not pop out as much as others I have seen on ravelry, and in fact they kind of disappear into the fabric. Hmm. Part of the disappearing could be from the variegated yarn, but I have a feeling tighter nupps would show up better. If I were to knit this pattern again, I might use beads instead of nupps, as many others have done.



As alluded to at the beginning of this post, this project was a race to the finish. The only modification I made was to skip the last few short rows because I was running out of time. As a result, the top edge is has more stitches than is written, but I think it looks fine. I did fudge in some extra decreases before binding off. Nupps or not, I love how it turned out and have been wearing it a lot.



It's pretty and fancy, but it works pretty well as a casual scarf, which is how I wear it most!

*More fearless about knitting than other parts of my life, anyway!

WIP: a real cardigan

I think every year I vow to make myself more sweaters, since there are still sweater-shaped-gaps in my wardrobe. Thus, I was annoyed to realise that this is my first sweater of 2013, and it's already September! The last sweater I made for myself was my purple classic raglan last November.

Anyway. Better late than never, a cardigan for me.



I'm making the Gnarled Oak Cardigan by Alana Dakos using New Lanark Pure Wool DK in "Woodland." The colour is a bit less grey than the photo shows. To me it says MEADOW. It is heathered and has an impressive depth of colour, like many New Lanark colourways. In addition to green, there is yellow, purple, blue, and even red. I can't even try to hope to capture it in a photo, so you'll just have to take my word for it.



At the moment it is all stockinette, but I have deviated from the pattern significantly in an attempt to add shaping using Little Red in the City as a guide. A new challenge! Haha. We'll see how it turns out.

FO: Little Sister Dress

A few weeks ago I finished knitting the dress for my littlest cousin-in-law. I made the 3 month size and it turned out super cute. I'll definitely make this pattern again!

Pattern: Little Sister's Dress by Tora Froseth

Yarn: Sandnes Garn Mandarin Petit



Mods:

I made i-cord button holes instead of crochet. It was somewhat time-consuming, but I really like the way it looks. I-cord is awesome and I will definitely use it for button holes again. These two youtube videos helped me figure out what I was doing, but mostly I just winged it.

Notes:

The dress grew a tiny bit in length when I blocked it, and the purl ridges have stretched out a little, due to the inelastic properties of cotton. That said, apparently I actually like knitting with cotton! Who knew? I used leftover yarn from my Decimal cardigan from years ago. I don't really remember having strong feelings about cotton then, but I seem to have internalised the knitting world's common complaints about it. It does emphasize my uneven stockinette, but never mind. Anyway, now that I've reminded myself I don't mind cotton, I'll probably knit with it more in the future.



One final cautionary note. Do not assume buttons are machine washable! Other than socks, I seldom machine wash my hand knits, and it had not occurred to me at all that plastic buttons might not last in the washing machine. But sure enough, as you can see from the photo above, the buttons I chose got rather scratched when I washed the dress. (The shop where I bought the buttons very kindly offered me a refund when they learned of it, though I didn't take it because I don't mind too much). In any case, I don't actually mind how it looks now, but I was a bit shocked to notice it. I sent it off without changing the buttons - does this make me a bad gifter? Haha. I hope the buttons don't disintegrate too quickly now that it is in the hands of the recipient, but oh well. Another good enough FO!

FO Week: manly socks

In July I finished some socks for my brother, the last member of my immediate family to receive a pair of handknitted socks.



Pattern: Twilight by Melissa Morgan-Oakes

Yarn: Regia 4 Ply sock yarn

Mods: I did a 1x1 rib cuff instead of p3 k1.

Notes:
As you can see from the photos, they turned out a little long. This despite the fact that I tried them on my brother before knitting the toes. Maybe he has shrinking feet, or maybe my row gauge was off so the toes turned out longer than they should have. Or maybe it has something to do with the horizonal ribbing issue, described below. Whatever. Brother says he doesn't mind, even when I offered to frog back and do the toes again. Hopefully they aren't uncomfortable in his shoes.



I won't be knitting this pattern again, mainly because the stitch pattern is not my friend. Especially for socks. There is nothing wrong with it objectively, but as it turns out this waffley stitch acts like horizontal ribbing. That may not be the technical term, but I am using it to refer to patterns with several rows of purl then several rows of knit repeating. Horizontal ribbing causes socks to contract vertically, whereas standard vertical rib (i.e. k2 p2 and the like) causes socks to contract horizontally to fit the ankles. As a result of contracting vertically, the socks always seem shorter than they are supposed to be, so knitting them seemed endless! So annoying. I didn't think of this at all before starting - I saw a relatively simple and manly stitch pattern that wasn't rib and jumped on it. Oh well. Lesson learned.

FO Week: Colour Affection

I have several FOs to share, so I've decided that it is FO Week at Good Enough Knits. First up: Colour Affection!



Pattern: Color Affection by Veera Valimaki

Yarn: Old Maiden Aunt Superwash Merino 4 Ply in Dreich, Jaded, and Bramble



Mods:
Added dropped YOs at the edges to keep them loose and did kfb increases instead of m1. I followed this description on ravelry here.

Notes:
This was great fun. Garter stitch goodness. I loved the yarn so much that I never got bored of it. I may have said this before, but I'll say it again: I want to knit EVERYTHING in Dreich. It is the most beautiful gray-blue semisolid I have ever seen.



I finished this in May, and I haven't worn it much since it is so warm and squooshy. We actually had an okay summer here by Scottish standards, so it wasn't usually cold enough for warm and squooshy scarves. It's also a bit difficult to wear, especially if I want to show off all parts of the lovely pattern. Oh well.



It's also really large. Picture below shows it blocking on a UK kingsize (US Queen) bed. It doesn't fit! If I'd had a larger space, I could have blocked it straight along the top - the dropped YO edge is quite flexible. As it is, it is slightly curved. I like it, though. If I make another CA I might do it as written and let the tighter top edge keep the curves. As you can see, there is a slight bump in the middle of the gray at the top edge - it mostly went straight with blocking, though.



Despite its current impracticalities, I love it and I've sure I'll use it a lot this winter. After all, it goes with pretty much everything I wear.