Knits in action

The little lace hats made it safely to the intended destination. As did the baby for the photoshoot they were meant for! Here's a shot of the sweet little girl in each one(I have permission from the photographer). It turned out perfect if I do say so myself. It's always nice to see my knits in action.

FO: Yoked Cardigan

Another one that is. :) I actually finished this up a few days ago, before the hats.

This one is a bit bigger than the first (as it's intended for a bigger baby) but not by much. I used the needle size the pattern calls for and made the 2nd size but the yarn is a thinner worsted so it's not quite gauge (not off by much...I think it was only one stitch).

I love the colors of this one about half the time. It was Lion Brand Amazing in Strawberry Fields. I expected more reds and greens than I got. I'm somewhat surprised by the amount of yellow/gold. If I really think about what strawberry plants look like I can see why they named the colorway that but it still doesn't scream that to me. Oh well. I'm not in charge of Lion Brand color names. :)

I was quite pleased with the way the colors played out. The total sweater took little more than one skein. The arms match up really well even though they were done from different spots of two different skeins (one was the remaining amount of the first and the second was a bit of that plus a bit of middle from the second skein). I wasn't intending to have them match but it played out taht way. Once again, I used some Hobby Lobby buttons. I was leaning towards natural colored ones but the majority of people I asked said to use the blue green you see there. I think they were perfect in the end.

And another....

To say that I am in love with this pattern is an understatement. A massive one. I whipped out another one last night and have plans for one more.

The yarn is a different blend I picked up around this time last year. There is less mohair in it than the Kidsilk and I think that allows for the pattern to pop a bit more. There is acrylic in it and while not a lot it's obvious when you block it. Sharp creases and an almost flat appearance to the color.



It worked out really well for it though. Next to the pink one and it seems so bright!



I love how, even though they are both the same the stitch definition is so different. On the Kidsilk one it's more a hazy hint. The white one is sturdy. I love them both equally. The one I have in the works is done with some handspun I did a couple years back. I can't wait to be done with it, just to see if my idea is/was as good as I imagined.

FO: Lace Pixie Hat

The other night I was browsing a forum I frequent when I noticed a post asking for a knitter. I clicked in to see what was needed and volunteered for the job. So happy I did.

I was being asked to make an Angel Lace Pix Hat. I got the pattern one night, went and picked up the yarn the following day, and whipped out the knitting portion in a matter of hours. I stopped by the store today and got instructiono n how to do the crochet portion (I can do a drawstring but nothing more than that...until today that is!), went home and finished it up.

The pattern, the yarn (Rowan KidSilk Have in color Grace), and tiny size (newborn only). It's all lovely and an enjoyable knit. I used my Addi Clicks (oh! Have I mentioned I have ADDI CLICKS!? No? They are are great.) and I have to say this is one time I wished I had opted for the lace tips. They worked fine and once I got past the first couple rows I didn't notice it as much but man, blunt tips make lace work in lace weight mohair a bit tricky!

Enough talking. You want pictures right?









(Yarn head is Manos Silk)

WIP: A first

I was asked not too long ago to make a shawl for a friend's wedding. I said sure and she sent me 4 or 5 links to ones she liked. I picked one that I liked the most, bought the yarn (Madeline Tosh Sock in Smokey Orchid) and went about my business. The pattern was in German. I don't speak German. I got some help translating but seeing as patterns can be hard enough in your native language and it was my first time ever doing a shawl (and lace to this extent) I opted for a second pattern.

It was a very pretty pattern but was porrly written. There were a total of 7 stitches uncharted (I can handle edge stitches not charted but center ones, even if they move and shift position, should be) and the directions were somewhat vauge. It wasn't a beginner pattern and really only because of the lack of details. It would be easy to make it more user friendly. Oh well. THat's neither here nor there.

I started a 3rd pattern last night. After severeal, probably 6 or 7 in all honesty, I got the pattern and yarn working together in a way that made me happy. I plugged through the first chart repeat (37 rows) despite blurry eyes (though I shouldn't have) and am quite happy that I ended up with this pattern. It looks much better in person than photograph I think. I made 2 mistakes and am one stitch short BUT (and this is a huge but) it's all in the last 2 rows so it is easily fixable. When I noticed my whoops! my first thought was about using a lifeline. I think it's simple enough I won't need one but I might put one in just in case. Given the luck I've seemed to have so far it might be a good idea. You know, don't tempt the fates. Hopefully I can finish this in a speedy fashion. You gain 80ish stitches each repeat so the others will take me longer obviously but it's a nice, simple pattern that doesn't require a lot of thinking.

Post Holiday FO's

Woah. I just sort of slunk away in the night there. Sorry about that. Between holidays and various colds blogging hasn't been high on my list.

First catch up:
The beekeeper- Unfinished. After some construction changes I got plugging along and have 4.5 strips complete. I did buy my second lot of yarn, not because I ran but because I wanted it already. I was aiming for it to become a birthday present but that isn't going to happen either. At this point it'll either be a Mother's Day gift or a random whenever it gets done gift. :)
Surprise sweater- undone and actually frogged. After a gauge check went wrong I started frogging intending to make the next size up. Then I realized I had measured wrong and that my gauge was actaully spot on. Frogging 3 strands (sometimes single and sometimes doubled) was actually a huge pain in the backside. I have a clump of yarn tangled beyond recognition sitting in a drawer now. I have found a different pattern and will start that soon enough.

Now on to the FO's! I have 2. One is a pair of basic kids socks (in fact I think the pattern is called exactly that) and the other is quite possibly my most faovrite small person sweater in the universe.

Socks: The yarn is Madeline Tosh but I cannot for the life of me remember the color. I did do these 2 at a time with magic loop and while I'm still not a lover of the technique, it did result in instant gratification.

Yoked Cardigan

I love this little thing more than words can say. I had some Lion Brand Amazing that was intended to be for another project but was perfect colors for this. The color here is Pink Sands. I used 5's since the yarn is thinner than the pattern calls for. Since I have had bad luck with gauge as of late I double checked it after a couple inches and ended up restarting in the 2nd size (this is intended for a tiny newborn). It came out perfectly if I do say so myself. THe pattern is quick and easy and clearly written. It also goes up to adult sizes! There are more in the works. :)

I wanted to share the bind off I did. All knitters, at one point or another, are going to fight with a tight bind off. I attempted to do the bottom (this is a top down pattern) 3 times. The first 2 were with my standard stretchy bind off and the 3rd was with a sewn bind off. None of them were working. I didn't need the bottom to be elastic but I knew the arms and button band would do me in if I couldn't even get the bottom working. I googled "stretchy bind off" and the first 5 or so results were for only one. I had never heard of it so I clicked the first video link. It was for a project worked in the round and not applicable for what I needed (ribbing). The next video was though so I sat and watched Cat Bordhi for 6 minutes show me how to do this.

The results are amazing. The amount of stretch is ridiculous. It leaves a nice clean (and almost picot like) edge. It's easy. It's fast. Most importantly it really is stretchy.

Try it today!

Watch the whole video. She gives a handy tip for the last stitch and how to tack it down AND she shows just how much stretch you can get.

Mostly notes...

because I know I will forget and likely loose tags. I'm up to 10 skeins for the beekeeper.

Lorna's Laces: Patina
Lorna's Laces: Monkeyshines
Malabrigo: Butter
Lorna's Laces: Magnificent Mile
Madeline Tosh Vintage: Ginger
Malabrigo: Rich Chocolate
Malabrigo: Applewood
Madeline Tosh Vintage: Dusk
Lorna's Laces: The Bean
Araucania Coliumo Solid: Color 24

I need to make a decision soon. Either just keep adding random colors (in my scheme obviously) or consider those a good amount of variety and go buy more skeins in each one. I'm not sure yet. I'm leaning towards that being plenty.