fall is for foliage

I'm picking my friend Jaye up from the airport in a couple of hours, so this may be my last opportunity to blog for a week or so. She's coming in from San Diego so I don't know how she can't be freaking out about these crazy ass fires she's leaving behind.

But allow me to officially ring in fall anyway and leave you with a little "foliage"...



Pattern: Foliage from knitty.com
Yarn: Rowan Pure wool DK in spice
Needles: 6.5 mm



I wet-blocked it on a dinner plate so it could have more "slouch-like" dimensions.



And you may recognize the backdrop here from my last post...I actually finished knitting this very hat on the beach, so I did my best to tuck in all my non-woven ends so that we could do a little photo shoot. (I wasn't smart enough to bring scissors or a darning needle--I really didn't think I'd get that far on this!). These are all pre-blocking as well, so this hat in actuality is far slouchier than these pictures let on.



I also double-stranded the yarn and knit the "chunky" version on knitty (they offer two versions...) if anyone was interested in using a similar yarn. The pattern was super-well written, and this was a FAST knit. I think it took me two and a half hours max...and I'm wearing it lots.

And I didn't even need a wind machine!





Actually most of the photos were duds that had me with a face full of hair. (greasy hair that was full of sand, I might add.) ---More to come after a week's worth of martini hangovers...have a great week!

what's that? you like grey?

pattern: Le Slouch by Wendy Bernard
yarn: Patons Classic merino in dark grey
needles: 4.5 mm Addis Turbos

First off I have to assert that even though I am totally into (even as a little girl to which my mother can attest...) "matchy-matchy sets of things" (actually I think this may well be a family trait handed down from my Nana...) I still am obliged to tell you that I would in fact NEVER wear that grey seed stitch vest at the same time as what has turned out to be it's matching hat. It's not even the same yarn as said vest --though you'd never know it to look at those two things.



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I love this hat/pattern. I am all about the snoody/slouchy hats right now. I made this beret earlier this year in a less than stellar yarn choice so I'm much happier with the results this go round and have already gotten lots of wear out of it.

"hmmmmm, methinks I need something similar in orange...you know for the fall" Well that's what I think this tired 7am face is saying:
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Want a sneak preview? Well, you can't suckers because this photo is virtually in darkness.



So I'll save Snood #2 for another entry. Plus, give me a break, I need the blog fodder.

It's been an absolutely glorious fall here so we drove up to Prince Edward County on the weekend to enjoy the fall colours and a little knitting on the beach.

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As well as an impromptu slouch (and foliage to come) photoshoot (sorry, I know, photo overload!) But it was such a gorgeous day that we couldn't resist.





My BFF from California is here in a couple days, which means a week long vay-cay for me, and I am SO ready. Hopefully I'll have time to post again before she gets here because I don't think there will be much knitting happening while she's here...just drinking. And shopping. And eating out. And the giving of baby knits to my other BFF. Really it's all win-win.

Anouk of the north

free pattern: Anouk from knitty.com, 3 mos. size
yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in "taupe" and "terracotta"
needles: 3.5mm



Cute, huh? I absolutely love how this turned out. I want a grown up version for myself!

It's great because it's a pinafore, so when the baby is little it's basically a dress, but then as she gets older she can open the tabs on the side to the next button hole and wear it with jeans and it becomes more of a tunic.



It's actually still drying in these photos if the colour seems a little blobby. No real mods here apart from changing the "floral" theme altogether. The flowered pockets were cute but a bit loud I thought. I knit the heart from an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern --the heart hat. I had a hell of a time with that and trying to get the right size since she doesn't ever offer size options, but just leaves it to your yarn choice and needles. And given that I needed to use the same yarn that wasn't really helping me. On my SMALLEST needles the heart knit up twice that size. SO I painstakingly de-plyed the yarn. Thank-god I didn't have to de-ply an entire ball as that was no mean feat as it was. (Not to mention the cats thought it was play time through the whole process and were beyond annoying...) But in the end, success!

And then: I noticed at the end of the pattern she actually does give some size options. grrrrr. So the moral of this story is: always. read. ahead. Don't do what Billy Don't does.

I actually tried to make the matching bonnet with my leftover hearts, but they were just too small to be able to effectively pick up stitches all the way around. So, I may still do it. I feel like this little smock needs something to go with it.

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Or I can just ride around with it hanging off my bike basket all day.

all the way with B-S-J!

I rhymed it up a notch (actually I was trying to make my title an extremely specific Degrassi reference: "all the way with Stephanie K"--anybody get that?) anyway...



yarn: Patons Classic 100% merino in "Rosewood"
needles: 4.5 mm
pattern: Elizabeth Zimmerman's "baby surprise jacket" from Knitting Workshop (it can also be found in "the opinionated knitter" as well)

Such a fun knit! My first EZ pattern, and now I can't wait to try more of them. And par for the course for anyone who's knit a BSJ for the first time, I have to post the "before" (and after) folding photos. It knits up in one piece into kind of a misshapen rectangle, and then a little origami later and voila, un petit manteau:

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Only one seam that runs along the top...easy peasy. My biggest dilemma with this as usual, was what buttons to put on.

These were a close second:

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But in the end the little lambies one out (I took a poll at work). Yis. It's true. I did.



The only kinda weird thing about this was the varigated yarn I chose. Because the pattern is knit kind of on a bias, the colours began to pool at the bottom where it's a much shorter row that you're knitting. I suppose I could have kept breaking the yarn to mix it up a bit better, but who wants to weave in all those ends? In the end it almost looks deliberate, and kinda cool on the front with the purple on the bottom, but on the back it makes for a pink blob on baby Marnie's bum. Oh well, I still think it's totally cute! Want another pic?



And now I'm sure most of you have noticed that I also did the Saartje's booties to go with the jacket.



Those are such a great and fast little pattern. Evidenced if nothing else by the fact that about three thousand people (literally) on Ravelry appear to be doing them right now. They go really well with the BSJ, but again I was torn about what buttons to use (why does this plague me so?!)

In other baby BFF news, baby Marnie also has the Anouk pinafore to look forward to:



Though I am planning to change it a bit (no pockets...), but maybe a little heart in the corner. I saw a really similar one on ravelry that it so cute. You can find it through my favourites if you're interested. It's starting to make me think that I need my own pinafore!

Finally, after talking with Miss Muffy who was over for a 'lil visit on the weekend, I've decided to nix this idea. I'm SO drawn to those sleeves but am weirded out by the shawl collar. And she's right...that sweater will do my boobs no favours. God knows I've knit enough jackets of the "tent" variety lately. So thank-you miss J for making me see the light. Back to the drawing board though on what to do with all that yarn I bought to make the swing jacket. There is no getting ahead.

Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

givin' thanx!

Well, it's (Canadian) Thanksgiving this weekend, and I am SO excited that the season of turkey is officially underway. Even tofurkey. I'll take that too. Bring it all on!

Here's what I'm knittin' this weekend (particularly now that our TV has exploded...):



My first EVAH Elizabeth Zimmerman project. Naturally, the baby surprise jacket. Seriously I can't believe it's taken me this long to finally knit something from EZ. It's pretty much done, and I am on the hunt for some cute buttons tonight. Most of you are likely familiar with this super popular baby pattern from 1968...it's knit entirely in one piece, and then "magically" folded into an adorable little jacket. Like origami! (well, maybe not quite). I'm thinking about making the Saartjes booties to go along with them.

And then there's the Swiss Cheese scarf that I've also now cast on for.



And I'm just using up some leftover cotton for that. Now here is my question to all of you...what is your preferred method for casting on mid pattern/row? (for example let's say on one row you cast off three stitches and then on the following row you're asked to cast back on three stitches in the same spot in order to make the swiss cheese "holes"...). I pretty much always use what I think is called the "backward loop" method. Usually I just call it the thumb-loop, because that's what my mom calls it, and I've used it many times in different patterns with success, but I'm finding that in this particular pattern (look closely at the photo) it makes for one loose stitch at the sides of each hole.

Anyone know if there's a way around this? Maybe it's down to the fact that I'm using cotton, but I'm finding that all the tweaking and tightening in the world is not alleviating this problem. I'm fine with the way it looks, and I've noticed a few others on ravelry with the same look so maybe it's unavoidable, but I dunno, the perfectionist in me wants this to be a perfect circle. There's plenty of advice on the internet about different cast-on methods, but none of them really seem to specifically be about casting on mid-pattern. Help me, oh wise ones!

The last thing I'm thinking about right now is all that Paton's merino I bought for the Phildar Swing jacket that in the end I decided not to make. I am hell-bent on some serious stash busting lately (must be all those archived stash n burn podcasts I've been trying to catch up on!), and after the success of one Drops pattern, I may soon be attempting another. Even though I swore no more big projects for awhile!

Here's what I'm eyeing:



I'm hoping to swatch for it this weekend if I have the time.

And in the spirit of true Thanksgiving, I really wanted to give thanks to all of you out there in the knit blogosphere. Not a day goes by where one of you doesn't bring a smile to my face, and for that I am sincerely thankfully.

Now, go forth and bloat up on pumpkin pie!

Ahhhh-choooo!

sorry, I had some angora up my nose there.



yarn: L.U.P 100% angora, just under 5 balls (tho at 7 grams a ball...)
needles: 3.25mm bamboo DPNS
pattern: This was a photocopied freebie from my LYS

Well, well, angora is not the boss of me after all. After I finished the vest last weekend I FORCED myself to grab mitt #2 and just bust it out. And now it is done. And I sneezed a lot.

But I still give it a thumbs up.



As much as I love the feel of angora I will likely never knit with it again. It was like trying to knit with a bunny laying on my face. I should have realized this after a similar scarf situation as well. I love that scarf, but everytime I wear it it sheds all over me, gets up my nose and in my eyes...there's no winning. How did those sweater-girl women of the forties ever handle that?!

So there, take that little bunny frou-frou you are a U.F.O no more.
boo yeah.

I'm in luuuuuurveeeeee....

Yarn: King Cole Merino DK (100% merino wool) in grey
pattern: Gilet sans manches No 468-T6-636 from Phildar Tendances Spring 2007
needles: 3.75/4 mm bamboo straights

Phildar could really use some help in the old "creative naming" department, couldn't they? Gilet sans manches? What is that? sleeveless vest? duh. Never thought I'd see the day where I was finding French-Canadian French easier to understand than French-French -- if that makes any sense. Babelfish translates that as "waistcoat without handles". Note to self: never use babelfish again. Though it would explain some of the crazy Japanese emails we've been getting lately about certain ebay record purchases...but anyway. I am officially re-naming this here grey beauty my "old man vest". Because it does have that certain lived in/borrowed quality to it. Or maybe I should call it my "Kurt Cobain vest"?



And, I love it! This may be the first garment I'll actually get some wear out of.



For those of you complaining there aren't enough photos of yours truly, prepare for the onslaught these next couple posts! And what's this? A sneak peek of the finished angora mittens? Yeiss (said in mock flight-of-concords-kiwi-esque-style agreement):



Anyway, this was a totally easy knit. Boring, really. HOWEVER: seaming it together? a.n.n.o.y.i.n.g. Though, I must say I was pretty proud of my seaming job this round...I guess it gets easier. All the ribbed band around the armholes and the body was knit seperately and then seamed on. And is this weird?:

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Once you finished knitting the ribbing, you were then instructed to knit several more rows of stockinette in a different colour. Then after you've attached it all you just unravel it all out. Now, I haven't done a lot of seaming in my short knitting career, so maybe this is par for the course. It really did help it terms of being able to see the stitches I was seaming together, but I also found it a little bit unnecessary.

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SO much pinning! I think I stabbed myself about forty times.

Up next: the angora mittens and the joys of cross-border shopping now that the Canadian dollar is on par! woot woot---screw you amazon.ca and your pre-printed Canadian book prices...amazon.com our love affair is on again!