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!

hmmmm

I think this ALSO needs to go in the queue:



Found at Knitting Escapism, pattern here.

I just love it. The simplest patterns always seem to produce the most beautiful results. I think that's why I'm always drawn to the boring old stockinette patterns. They're dull to knit, but infinitely wearable.

And I had already mentionned this to miss Crimson Purl, but has everyone seen the new Fairisle Old Navy commercials they've been inundating us with lately? Now, I'm not a fan of fairisle to begin with, but Old Navy's version? blech, and more blech. I just feel like they've watered down the new knit-wear "craze" going on in the fashion world right now to the point of uber-bland.

See you on the sale rack.

cute! cute! cute!

Some CAH-YUTE new Phildar patterns!







I really like this next one, though it's kind of a bad photo (for some reason they sent the promo out with a much cuter shot of it that is sadly nowhere to be found on their website). That big neck/hood thing detaches altogether (I'd likely not even bother with it...). And I am SUCH a sucker for pom-poms! (Making them not so much, though my mom is good at them and I could likely enlist her to do them for me...muwahahah)



And more!









If they weren't so darn expensive to ship to Canada I'd be buying these catalogues a lot more (fortunately they often have sales on them...) but I've also just discovered that one of my LYS gets them in, so I may need to make a special trip. Mind you I have seriously been RESISTING going in there due to my famous lack of self control.



I may have to splurge out. Though flight tickets to both NYC and California are presently burnng a whole in my credit card. Must. resist.

In far thriftier news, but no less cute...these vintage Mary Maxim knitting needles I picked up over the weekend had packaging that was far to awesome to resist. And at 2 bucks, well who could really pass them up? You can see those here.

Did y'all know it was International talk like a pirate day?
arrrrrrrr. I should have held off posting that Sailor sweater of mine.

Mr. Balthazaar

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pattern: Balthazar vest from Twinkle's big city knits
yarn: Patons Shetland Chunky in "wine"
needles: U.S sized 17 & 19

Is it wrong to love an acrylic/wool blend yarn so much? maybeeeeee.



This was my second attempt at a Twinkle knit (the first being the Aspen Hat.

I don't really know what to say about her patterns that you likely haven't already read somewhere on the internet. They are definitely sized small. I did this one in the large and it actually fits really well. I do think it looks like crap on me though, particularly in the bazoom region. A bulky knit on me, maybe not the best idea, but I do like it. I particularly love the colour of this yarn, I don't think these photos do the richness of it justice. Her pattern instructions were terrible --incredibly vague, and I'm not a confident enough knitter to just be "assuming" things all over the place. Still I am now sufficiently interested to try out other patterns in the book, particularly since this vest only went up in a few days and there was very little finishing involved.

So, next up may be the skating sweater (if for no other reason than all those years of figure skating under my belt-hah!):



Though again, no boobs on that model AT ALL now is there? Much like high fashion there are so many things I love and hate about this book. There's great style here, but it's made for skinny, rich people which is endlessly frustrating and sadly, a fact of life.

Ok, so before the pessimist in me rears it's ugly head again, here's another photo:



I'm on a serious sugar high right now from all the cupcakes I've been baking...

how adorable are these?!!!

I found the link to this Vegan Yum Yum site via one of my usual blog haunts, Design Sponge, and thought maybe the 5 knitters who actually read my blog would appreciate drooling over them too!



They were also made with what may well be my favourite substance in the world...Marzipan.

These are just too adorable.



Anyone who knows me knows how much I love to make cupcakes as well, and am actually slated to make a few for a work "thing" on tuesday. The theme we've come up with is "Country Fair" and I'm in charge of 1) cupcakes that look like soft serve ice cream cones 2) operating the cotton candy machine and 3) old-timey country music (Dickel brothers and Carter family I will be burning you tonight!).

Now I just need to find me some overalls and cowboy boots...

blech

After the success of the drops jacket 103-1 (honestly, can they not name these things?), I am now ALL. ABOUT. the chunky knits. I had enough yarn leftover so I cast on for the Aspen hat from Twinkle's big city knits:

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I had originally abandoned that book altogether due to all the controversy over it about sizing (size large -28 inch bust whaaa?) but then was informed that *some* of those measurements were actually from the garment laid out flat. hmmm, so a 56 inch bust for a size large? That didn't seem right. She's got a bit at the front of the book about sizing that states her large bust as 36. Ok, slightly more reasonable I guess, tho still a stretch for MY girls... Anyway, given those instructions, why is there still such a discrepancy between all the patterns?

Nevertheless I clued in that maybe it wasn't as model-body specific as I'd originally thought. So I went hunting for her yarn. And surprise, surprise, it is incredibly expensive. Not to mention the colours I was looking for for the shopping tunic being completely unavailable. So at that point I really did abandon that book in frustration altogether. And speaking of which I notice she's got a new book slated to drop soon:



I am always so jealous of those girls who get to do the smallest size of ANY pattern. Man, that would cut my knitting time in half! So when this last sweater went up in about four days it was like the heaven's opened up and I pulled out Twinkle once again and cast on for the aspen hat for a bit of a Twinkle "trial run". (Two strands of that Shetland Chunky held together got me perfect gauge for anything requiring "twinkle soft chunky.").

Looks cute in a photo, right? (the Ponch-man is thrilled to be posing with me...)



Right, well, not so much up close:

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I seriously do not know how it came to pass that I was doing my decreases on the right side. And because it's such a chunky knit they are GLARINGLY obvious. Some of her pattern instructions are vague at.best.

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I should have realized this before also casting on for the balthazar vest:

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(howz that for some giant honkin' stitch markers?)

When I started knitting the vest I thought, hmmm, this doesn't look like it will fit over my HEAD let alone my hips, but I pressed on (the vest is done now-- photos to come...).

I think the hat would have come out really cute if I'd actually managed to do the decreases on the correct side. I quickly basted on a button just for the sake of those photos, but I actually plan to frog the whole thing. If there had been more work involved in it I might be more upset about it, but it seriously took less that and hour to knit. Dare I say even half an hour to 45 minutes---so for now I'm just considering it one big swatch. I think I will knit again again and throw it on the "fast-gifts-knit-pile", but this time I might actually be able to figure out the instructions.

The Phildar vest is also on the sticks now too (what is up with all the grey I'm doing?!) and after doing all this chunky stuff now feels agonizingly slow.

droppin' the drops!

needles: 8mm bamboo
pattern: Garnstudio Drops 103-1
yarn: Patons Shetland Chunky in Oxford Grey

This took FOUR DAYS to knit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the yarn cost me about $35 dollars! So based on that alone, this one's a winner. I did it on the cheap with an acrylic/wool blend, and I'm actually really happy with how it looks and feels, but if you wanted to pony up with some nicer yarn, who could blame you?

woot woot!


So anyway, I'm not sure what else to say other than "up with chunky knits!" This pattern has actually resulted in me picking up Twinkle's Big City Knits again and starting a couple things in there. I had previously put it aside in anger-- but more on that later.

In retrospect I really should have done a smaller size in this jacket. I did it in what I guess is the large (the third size I think?), but it's actually too big (and yes I got gauge...). The three-quarter sleeves on me are actually more like full length (actually a perfect length on my short arms so I can't totally complain...) and rather than "swingy" (and much like my OTHER swing jacket), more "box" than swing. So I blocked it out in an effort to narrow it and make it a bit longer. Now I think it seriously is almost a foot longer, which kinda makes it more of a coat for me now than anything else. No matter--I love it!

The pattern had a couple of weirdo hiccups as well, likely due to the translations. It drives me crazy when patterns are vague. Like when something says "cast on 52 stitches (incl. 2 edge stitches) do they mean that already includes the edge stitches, or that I should include them? The abbreviation page sited "incl." as both "include" and "including". Annoying. I basically included them in one spot and then not in the other. In the end it didn't matter much.

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(I need to get a tripod)

I did agonize a leeeeetle over the buttons. I seriously have a fear of buttons. Much like bangs it can really change the way EVERYTHING looks, so I have this fear of going too "dramatic" with the buttons (I am a plain jane after all...), so in the end I went with the least obtrusive I could find:

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though these were a serious contender:

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but again, too flash for me. Pathetic isn't it? When did I become such a wallflower? (likely when I started knitting -hah!)

Want another photo?

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AND as of yesterday I am officially on Raverly (and killing much time loadin' in the projects!). Expect to be stalked/friended/harassed by me soon...

what to do, what to do?

Well now that the sailor sweater is done, I'm finding myself in the happy position of deciding which projects to pick up next.

It's kind of a first in a way...usually there a couple items that I'm desperate to do, so I rush through what I'm working on to get to the next thing. Now, not so much, though there's no shortage of ideas out there.



That photo's from the weekend, and I've actually already begun seaming that sweater ---up with chunky yarn and 8mm needles -woot! I really thought that thing would take me a lot longer, so as it draws to a close, here's what I'm pondering:

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In keeping with the sailor theme: Hat Party Two, electric boogaloo! (did I mention I love hats? Yes, yes I did. Only a thousand times.) As well as the Odessa hat which I've seen all over the internet. Not sure how this whole "beading" thing's gonna work out, but at least it's something new for me to try.

Also next:

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(The vest on the left). I'm hoping to get gauge for it with some yarn from the stash. My new rule is *absolutely NO new yarn. Unless it is for a specific project READY to be started. I get way too sucked into the odd hank or skein because it's beautiful, but too expensive to buy more than one of. As a result I have all these (essentially useless) skeins of yarn. And I'm not a sock knitter, so why do I even bother with that stuff?

On the sticks? Well I still need to finish the angora mittens. I think I should just bite the bullet an DO IT this weekend. Also sort of on the sticks, this heinous lace-weight mess:

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I've got this ball of Lacey Lamb that I've had no idea what to do with. I think I bought it originally beacuse it felt so much like cashmere, but it literally is like trying to knit with a spool of thread. I figured there was no way that I'd ever actually do anything lacy with it, but then I got inspired by this Verona Shawl:

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So I thought maybe I'd try my hand at something similar just to use up all that lace weight. I figure it's just rows and rows of stockinette, so might be a good one to keep at work. Though knitting up that chunky sweater might have actually soured me towards doing anything that delicate right now.

Apart from that I do have a couple of other smaller ideas of the glove variety and MORE cowls. I got a lot of use out of those two I knit this past winter, so I think there will be at least two more of those in my future.

Hope everyone's enjoying the tail end of summer...

Phildar F.O

yarn: Patons Classic in Navy (100% wool)
needles: 4mm bamboo straights
pattern: Phildar Tendences Automne 06/07 (sweater # 456-T6-206)
Vintage bakelite peacoat buttons bought on ebay

The sailor sweater is done, and this one's a winner! I was even pretty proud of my seaming in the end, by the last bit I was starting to get the hang of it. (We'll see how that applies to the Drops sweater mind you...).

It's been done for a little while now and I was waiting on the hubby to snap some photos of me in it, but then as usual I finally just grew totally impatient so you get the usual boobs-up self shots. Sorry.



Well that gives you some idea of it on at any rate. As with most things I knit, it looks better on the hanger anyway!



The two things I'd change if I had to knit it again? The collar. It looks a lot longer on the model, though I'm not sure if that's down to how I've sewn it together or not. It was in two pieces, split at the back neck and I sewed them together cuz I didn't like it floppin' all over the place. It says nothing in the instructions about this, and it's impossible to tell from the photo whether or not they did in fact do this either. The other thing I'd change was my blocking. I think I blocked the sleeves a little wide so they are floppier than I'd like.

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Apart from that I'm quite happy with it. The BF commented that the last three sweaters in a row I've worked on have been 3/4 sleeves. Not sure why that is, I'm not even that much of a fan of shorter sleeves. Maybe I'm just assuming they'll be regular length on me since I'm so short? I dunno. Faster knitting gratification I guess.

In the end it took me exactly five balls of wool. Here's how much I had left:

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Scraps! I can't believe it --I thought for sure I'd have to buy another ball just for seaming.

I think I'm definitely jazzed to try some more Phildar patterns now though (although endless stockinette on 4mm needles maybe not so much...). Once you get past a couple of the wonky translations, they're actually very instructional. Some would say over-instructional, but as far as I'm concerned there can never be too much detail! Particularly as I work on this Drops jacket and have to "guess" at a lot of what they mean, I am beginning to appreciate Phildar even more! The drops jacket is going up FAST...it's nice to do a chunky knit for once.

Anyway, more to come!

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