Happy Halloween!

GnomeAcres fall mini skeins + Susan Claudino's Patch pattern = adorable little pumpkin friend!

Pumpkin friend

The jewels of my stash

When I acquire a really precious yarn, I'm torn between hoarding it until one perfect pattern comes along, or knitting it up right away so I can enjoy it. But I do get anxious about my stash when things linger in there too long, so after about a year of marinating I'm ready to use even my most special yarn.

This summer, I made a Luna Viridis cowl from a skein of tosh sock in the Spectrum colorway that I had hidden away when my LYS stopped carrying yarn from madelinetosh:

I actually wasn't sure how I felt about this pattern before I started it, but I think it works perfectly with the Spectrum and I'm really happy with it - it does the yarn justice. And now I can take my Spectrum out and about instead of keeping it in a plastic bin.

Another special skein was some Habu Wrapped Merino that my boyfriend bought from Purl Soho on a business trip to New York. It was a thoughtful choice and beautiful yarn, so I wanted to make something to use it all up and show it off. I made a Clapo-Ktus:

This pattern uses the stitch pattern of the Clapotis scarf but the construction of the Baktus shawl, which has you increase until you've used about half your yarn, and then decrease, so in theory you have no leftovers. My shawl turned out really airy and pretty, and I basically have none of the yarn left, so my goals were accomplished.

I also had a one-of-a-kind skein of Serenity Silk Single from Zen Yarn Garden, in purples and oranges and blues - kind of a reddish-hued rainbow. It's a little outside my usual palette but it was such a pretty skein that I got it anyway. I wanted to find a pattern that would show off the colors but tone down any potential craziness, so I picked something simple but with an interesting construction: Pogona.

I like that it's not just a plain old triangle shawl, but it's still basic enough that the focus is on the yarn. And I think the panels of stockinette and reverse stockinette break up the colors just enough to keep the variegation from being too much.



Lunar Spectrum
Red Habu shawl
Pogona

Your own personal sweater

Earlier this year, the store where I work joined Amy Herzog's CustomFit LYS program, which means that we can set our customers up with a sweater pattern tailored exactly to their personal measurements, knitting gauge, yarn choice, and preferred style. When we announced the program, I still suffered from sweater anxiety, but I got to work right away on my own sweater. Here it is:

CustomFit offers several different choices for each of the elements of the sweater: neckline shape, sleeve length, hem length, edging style, and overall fit. The sweater I made is a close-fit, mid-hip length, scoop neck with elbow-length sleeves and 1x1 ribbing on all the edges. The yarn is Tor DK from Yarn Hollow, which I still squeeze longingly every time I pass it in the aisle.

As a novice sweater knitter, using CustomFit meant I didn't have to worry about whether my gauge was slightly off, or if there was any special tweaking I would know to do if I were more experienced, because it basically guaranteed me a sweater that would fit me. You need to be able to follow knitting instructions, not fear seaming, and know what kinds of garments you like, but those are not such huge hurdles.

CustomFit sweater #2 is still in the mental planning stages. I have a lot of conventional sweater patterns queued, and while it is possible to generate a CustomFit pattern and then add elements from another pattern, that is more adventurous than I want to be right now.

Oh, and did I mention that Amy Herzog herself stopped by our store to kick off our CustomFit program?

CustomFit sweater

Soft Like Kittens socks

In my ongoing effort to make sure everyone in my family has at least one pair of hand-knit socks, I made these for my sister:

The pattern is By the Seine River by Dona Knits, and the yarn is Soft Like Kittens Noodle Sock in a prototype colorway. The creator of this yarn, Annette of Gentle Ribbing, has decided to take an indefinite break from hand dyeing, which makes me very sad. She has understandable reasons for her hiatus, but selfishly I was hoping Soft Like Kittens would be around forever because her colors are my favorite.

Here's another pair of socks I made with the same yarn base, in the Sashiko colorway, this time for my mom:

The pattern is Bowties are Cool by Mandie Harrington, and the stitch pattern makes tiny bowtie or butterfly shapes - nice texture for a variegated yarn, or a good way to add patterning to a solid color yarn.

And of course, I had a skein of Soft Like Kittens set aside for myself, too, in the Double Helix Sock base:

I used Becca Compton's Vinnland pattern for these. The original pattern is toe-up, which I try to avoid, so I knit them top-down instead. To keep things simple, I just followed the chart as written, so the leaves on my sock point in a different direction than on the original pattern. I'm really happy with how these socks turned out, and they feel great... I'll miss you, Soft Like Kittens...

Seine socks
Sashiko socks
Vinnland

Dragon wings

This is the Dragon's Rest Shawl (pattern by Abigail Phelps), obligingly modeled by my coworker. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere, which feels just as good as it sounds.

I knit this shawl for a good friend who had some pretty serious surgery a few months before her birthday, so I thought she could use a special present this year. This was one of those projects where the pattern, the yarn (especially this colorway - Lucky Stone) and the recipient were clearly meant for each other, and I just had to bring them all together.

I like how this shawl is designed to be awesome dragon wings when you need them, but a pretty normal-looking, drapey shawl when you don't:

 Lillian's dragon wings

Twin blankets

Hello, blog! Long time no see! Since early April, I've acquired a pair of nephews, bought a house, and traveled a bit, and I've been knitting and crocheting the whole time, so there's a lot to catch up on.

But to resume with where I left off at my last post: baby boys! The twin nephews arrived in early April, ahead of schedule but mostly healthy (they're both doing fine now). I knitted them each a blanket:

I used the Walt Painted Chevron Baby Blanket pattern, by Danielle of fibre space, and Universal Yarn Cotton Supreme. The yarn is nice to work with, and it machine-washes wonderfully and feels amazingly soft afterwards. I used the same colors for each blanket, but varied the stripe order: one is blue and brown, with green at the opposite end, and the other is green and brown, with blue at the opposite end.

I was slightly worried that using so much white might make them seem to precious to actually use, but the blankets have made a few appearances in the twins' monthly photo sessions, so I'm happy their parents have found at least one use for them!

Twin blanket: green/brown/blue
Twin blanket: blue/brown/green

More winter gear

Despite how cold it's been this winter, since early February I've actually been pretty comfortable. Here is why:

I was craving something thick and smooshy to bundle up in, and Cristina Ghirlanda's Polonaise hat and cowl looked like they would do perfectly. I knit them in Cascade 220 Superwash Aran, a very affordable, wonderfully soft, and surprisingly non-pilly yarn. I've worn the hat and cowl nearly every day since I cast them off (and shoved them into bags and pockets in the mean time) and they have very little noticeable fuzz.

This project was speedy and enjoyable, and perfect for comforting myself in the middle of winter. I had fun with the cables but was glad to get both the hat and cowl finished within a week, because they have been even more satisfying to wear. Now I do not fear the cold!

First FO of 2014

And here is the first project I finished in the new year. I had them all finished early in January, but then I was so busy that I didn't get a chance to photograph them until the end of the month. Sometimes it's hard to get my free time to match up with sunlight hours, especially in winter.

The pattern for these is called Rye, by Hanna Katajamäki. I followed the pattern pretty closely, except that I narrowed the width of each "ribbon" by two stitches, and made the button loops from a crochet chain instead of casting off stitches.

The yarn is Performa Kiwi Fingering from Zealana, and it's a blend of merino, cotton, and possum, which is why I call these my "possum mitts." It was a little tricky to work with as it was very splitty, but I do like the way it feels. It's very soft and warm, and knit up in stockinette, it almost feels like sweatpants material - in a good way.

It's the buttons that really make this project for me, though. When I saw these at my LYS, I was inspired to find a pattern to use them.

For chilly fingers

You might have noticed that it's really, really cold. I'm pretty sure these are the coldest temperatures I can remember, and so I am inspired to wrap myself and everyone I know in yarn. In particular, I wanted to share my new-found appreciation of mittens with my boyfriend, who was complaining about cold fingers but was not sure mittens would be practical for him.

Solution: Chilly Podsters, by Glenna C. (or one of any number of convertible mitten/glove patterns on Ravelry, but I specifically wanted one with separate fingers). I knit them in Cascade 220, and stubbornly squeezed them out of a single skein, even though it meant shortening each mitten top by one row and spit-splicing my discarded ends together.

They turned out just like I wanted, though, and my boyfriend has been wearing them and said they are "awesome." Success!

Now I am knitting the thickest, wooliest things I can find for myself, because despite all my pretty shawls, I don't have any scarves or hats for me that are really, seriously, not-messing-around warm.

Socks That Rock

The LYS where I work is one of a few brick-and-mortar stores that carry yarns by Blue Moon Fiber Arts, including Socks that Rock. I had never tried StR before we brought it in, but many of my coworkers had, and I knew from Ravelry and the podcasts I follow that it has a big fan base.

I tend to be in the "sock yarn should have nylon" camp, so I was a little wary of StR's 100% superwash merino content, but my coworkers assured everyone with similar doubts that this yarn wears very well thanks to how tightly it's plied. So I bought a skein to try, and got around to knitting it this winter in between Christmas knitting.

I made Burning Rings of Fire by Kirsten Kapur, and it shows off the yarn beautifully (the colorway is Beach Glass). StR feels different than other sock yarns I've used - more dense and springy and almost rope-y - but I liked working with it and the finished socks feel very nice. They wear well, and they wash really well.

Frosty

Currier & Ives

So I bought some more. As you do. I'm intending this to be my winter sock knitting for next year, since I have a lot of other sock yarn to try in the meantime... but my LYS keeps bringing in more and more colorways from Blue Moon and I'm pretty sure that this will not be the extent of my StR stash.

Last FO of 2013

Once my Christmas knitting was done, I chose Crooked Cathedral by Marisa Hernandez as the special project that I would make just for me. I knit it in madelinetosh tosh merino light, in the Jasper colorway, which I'd had sitting in my stash and intended for this shawl since the summer.

This was an enjoyable knit, easy but not brainless. I went with the larger option for the shawl body, since I was hoping to use as much of my two skeins of TML as possible, but just made the normal lace border because I'm not a huge fan of lots and lots of lace. I still have almost one whole skein of the TML left, so in hindsight I might have stuck with the normal shawl body size, too, but I have no complaints.

While I was knitting this pattern, I wondered whether it would be my last FO of 2013, or my first of 2014 - but I finished it on the afternoon of New Year's Eve. As evidence of how busy 2014 has already been for me, I can't blog yet about my first FO of this year, because I haven't found time to get good photos of it yte.

Socks for dads

My dad's Christmas list this year included hand-knit "cozy socks." Of course I would never turn down a sock request, especially when the requested socks would be best knit in worsted weight. These are the first non-fingering weight socks that I've made, and it felt amazingly fast to be knitting rounds of only 48 stitches! 

The pattern I used for these is Thuja, available from Knitty, and the yarn is Malabrigo Rios. I really enjoyed working with the Rios, and I'm already planning to get some more to make cozy socks for myself once my LYS gets a restock in. (There wasn't much Rios left on the shelf when I bought this, which is why I had to get 2 skeins that came from different dye lots. The difference between the socks is obvious to me, but I hope my dad won't mind.)

My boyfriend's dad also got some cozy socks this year. These are also in worsted weight, Cascade 220 Superwash this time, and the pattern is one I made up myself. I cast on 52 stitches and did 2x2 ribbing all the way around, except for one column of faux cables, created by doing a left twist (or a right twist, for the other sock) every 4th row.

Christmas gifts

Remember that cowl I made for myself, using the leftovers from a secret project that I couldn't talk about yet? Here is the secret project, a Christmas present for my boyfriend's sister!

This is the Greyhaven Cowl and Greyhaven Hat by Robin Ulrich, knit out of Malabrigo Worsted in Polar Morn. As with her Amethiste, this is a well-designed and well-formatted pattern. The only modification I made was on the hat, which turned out a little too long and slouchy. I think that was due more to the way the Malabrigo Worsted was working up for me than the pattern, but I've seen other people make similar comments, so maybe keep that in mind if you make this in a heavy worsted. To reduce the slouch, I just did one pattern repeat before the decrease section, instead of two repeats as in the pattern.

And for my honorary brother-in-law (my boyfriend's brother-in-law), I also made a hat:

It's Turn A Square, a very popular pattern by Jared Flood, another designer whose patterns are not only well designed but so beautifully formatted! The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash - I already had the lighter one (Feather Gray), and the other color is called Jet, which is one of my favorite colors Cascade makes in the 220 line. It's a deep, slightly heathered gray that I have been wanting to use for a while. I changed the stripe pattern in the original pattern to something a little more minimalist, and I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Christmas feet!

From the moment I first touched a mini-skein of Fancy Gnome sock yarn, I decided that this year my feet would be getting a Christmas present, and that present would be socks in that wonderfully soft merino-cashmere-nylon blend from GnomeAcres.

I knitted these over Thanksgiving this year, and although my plan is to wear them only on Christmas and then put them away until next year, I've found lots of opportunities to try them on. Just to make sure the cashmere still feels amazing.

The pattern I used is called Ribbelmuster, available for free on Ravelry. It required a little more thinking than I expected, but was not difficult. Unfortunately - through my own fault, not the pattern's - I made the heel flaps a little too short. I don't know what I was thinking, but the upside is that the relationship between the length of the heel flap and the overall length and fit of the foot is now explicitly clear to me. It probably should have been obvious to me all along, but hey, at least now I know. And for indulgence socks that I'm only going to wear once a year, it's fine. And Juniper approves:

Handspun mittens

No, I have not yet become a spinner. But I am fortunate to have a few generous friends who do spin, and who occasionally find themselves with purple yarn that they don't especially want, because they prefer other colors. When I was offered this brown and purple handspun, I immediately started thinking of something warm and cozy to match my winter coat:

Perfect! I used Kris Percival's Warmest Mittens pattern as a guide (and I would like to note, also, that I competently and confidently used DPNs for this whole project). Although I haven't had mittens since I was very small, I've been wearing these every time I put on that coat, and they make me so happy (and warm). I like thinking of them as a joint effort between my friend who spun the yarn, and me who knitted them.

Dyade set

For my mom's birthday this year, I made her a matching cowl and mitts from Vanessa Smith's Dyade set. I had a full skein of tosh sock in Tart that I bought for my Amethiste shawl but didn't end up using, plus a bit extra. Tart is a glorious color, but not one that I wear often, so I wanted to use my extra skein to make a special project I could give to somebody else. I thought something warm and pretty that my mom can wear either inside or outside would be just right.

Quick projects to keep me warm

We moved to Pittsburgh last year, which finally motivated me to collect some serious cold-winter gear. Last year I got a warm and wonderful down jacket, and this year I have brand-new snow boots. And of course, I can never have enough knitted things.

This is Present, a free cowl pattern by Mademoiselle C. It was very quick to knit, and was a nice way to use up the leftovers from a project that I can't talk about yet. The yarn is Malabrigo Worsted in the Polar Morn colorway. As I was knitting the other secret project, I was already planning to buy more of this yarn for myself, because it's so soft and squishy and the color is beautiful. The other project took a little less yardage than I expected, so I used up every last bit making myself this cowl. Small cowls like this are nice to wear inside, when you could use a little warmth on your neck but don't need to wrap up in a shawl or scarf.

I wear a beret now. Berets are cool.

Although my neck is never cold these days, my head is not as fortunate. I don't really consider myself much of a wearer or maker of hats, but that is changing as I'm starting to look for more things to knit, and more things to keep me warm. This pattern is Alana Dakos's Autumn Vines Beret, knit in Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio Sport that I picked up at fibre space earlier this year. I am a bit bemused by this hat. Up until I finished it and put it on my head, I couldn't really picture myself either making or wearing a beret. I like the yarn pretty well, but it's surprisingly variegated, a little too much so for this pattern. The size of the hat is okay, I guess, except that the cast-on edge grew a lot when I blocked it - maybe I'm just an inexperienced beret wearer, but it feels looser than it should. But hey, it doesn't fall off or look stupid, and it's a pretty color, and it's warm. I think I like it?

Little pilgrim booties

Once upon a time, a coworker who was moving apartments kindly donated some of her yarn stash. She gave me a ball of super-soft Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, and suggested that I could crochet a little critter out of it, but to me it was too nice to become just another amigurumi. So it sat and waited, and I fussed occasionally about what to do with it.

Several years later, another coworker from the same job announced that she was pregnant. I don't work there anymore, but it's a baby that belongs to a friend so of course, I wanted to knit for it! And finally, that Baby Cashmerino found its destiny.

This baby's mother is a scholar who studies pilgrimage, and who went on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route the summer that she was pregnant. She was pretty pleased to have such a well-traveled pilgrim baby before she was even born, so I wanted to make her a fitting welcome-to-the-world gift. Footwear seems like the appropriate thing for a tiny globe-trotter, and the symbol of the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage is the scallop shell.

I combined Petits chaussons gris, a free pattern for baby booties (available in English), with these free instructions for knitting tiny scallop appliques. The booties are knit in the Baby Cashmerino with accents in Cascade 220 Superwash Sport, and the smaller of the scallop applique patterns turned out to be the perfect size. These booties are wonderfully soft and cute, and I hope that Pilgrim Baby (and Pilgrim Mama) like them.

Calligraphy shawl

My boyfriend's mom is a talented pottery artist. We're lucky to have quite a few of her pieces for everyday use and for special occasions, and some just for decoration. I thought it was time that I make something pretty for her, so I knitted this shawl as a birthday present.

The pattern is French Cancan by Mademoiselle C, available to purchase through Ravelry. I knit it in madelinetosh Tosh DK (wonderful wonderful yarn), in the Calligraphy colorway. Although the pattern recommends a silk/merino blend for added drape, I think the superwash merino makes a great fabric and has excellent stitch definition.



This pattern was so much fun to knit. It combines some of my favorite design elements - lacey mesh and braided cables - in a unique but balanced and beautiful way. I think it's eye-catching but not over-stated, especially in a nice neutral. I won't say that it lives up to its recipient's handiwork, but I'm very pleased with it!

Tiny cat! Tiny cat!

One Sunday at work (in between my other responsibilities, of course!) I got out Anna Hrachovec's Tiny Cat kit and, ta-da, then there was a tiny orange cat! He stayed at the yarn store for a few days to meet my coworkers, and then he came home with me.

Where he met Juniper. And realized what a very, very tiny cat he is.