by Ivete on January 12, 2010
in knitting
At the last minute last Thursday I decided to join my friend Shana for her weekly knit night in Astoria (the same one that Neoknits Melissa goes to!). The only problem was that I hadn’t brought any knitting with me to work that day! So Shana and I came up with the idea that she’d pick out a sock pattern, swing by her place to pick up yarn and needles, and I’d knit her the socks. She’s not a sock knitter but she does appreciate a good knitted sock, and I needed something to knit, so it seemed like the perfect plan.
She picked out the Nutkin Sock Pattern and some Koigu and came to meet me at the teahouse. When she produced the Koigu color I almost died laughing because I have the exact same color in my stash! What are the chances? I loved the yarn and pattern so I started knitting right away. After working the turned cuff I thought they looked a bit small, but I kept going. I knew Shana’s feet are bigger than mine, so my plan was to try them on myself a bit later and make sure they were roomy on me. As you probably guessed, they were TOO TIGHT on me! I couldn’t believe it.
What you see in the picture above is actually try #2 on these socks. I ripped everything out and cast on again, adding about 1/2 inch worth of stitches by adding purls to each purl section. Then I knit what you see above and brought it with me to dinner with Shana on Sunday night and had her try it on . . . and of course it’s still too small.
For try #3 I plan to add an entire pattern repeat to see if that works out . . . stay tuned!
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When Connie posted about her latest design for Twist Collective, Sabbatical, I clicked right over to learn more! What a gorgeous and wearable cardigan! I would probably never have noticed it since it’s a mid-season release by Twist and I don’t usually look at the site except when an issue goes live, so I was really happy to see that Connie brought it to our attention. Her designs are always do beautifully detailed and classic, yet totally interesting, too! What more can you ask for in a sweater?
Now to figure out what to knit it out of . . . preferably something from the stash . . .
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by Ivete on December 31, 2009
in knitting
Happy New Year to all! Hope you’re spending tonight with some of your favorite people and greeting the new decade in your preferred manner. Me? I’m spending it home alone, knitting on the couch and watching DVR’d episodes of Law & Order. And I couldn’t be happier about it!
I finished my new hat in time for today’s snow and it sure came in handy. It’s such a simple thing that it doesn’t even deserve “FO status” but there has been so little knitting to share on this blog lately, I figure I’ve got to take what I can get . . .
Knit with less than 1 skein of Classic Elite Stormy (sadly discontinued, like all CE yarns seem to be within short order), just a simple stockinette hat over 80 stitches. Knit flat and seamed up the back. Quick and dirty and serves its purpose! I took this picture with my iPhone while waiting at the bus stop this morning. The snow was still coming down then but it stopped about an hour later and is already melting all over the place . . . not that I’m complaining, I’ll take this anyway over yesterday’s freezing temperatures and fierce wind!
Project specs:
Pattern: None, just 80 stitches knit straight for about 6.5″, then decrease for the crown
Yarn: 1 skein Classic Elite Stormy
Needles: US size 9
Started: December 17, 2009
Finished: December 31, 2009
And with that last project of 2009, I say BUH-BYE! to a mostly crappy year and welcome 2010 with open arms! Here’s to a better decade for each of us, our country, and the world!
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by Ivete on December 24, 2009
in knitting
Last weekend I set out to make a dent in the “to be finished” pile of knits and tackled the Luluzinha shawl and shawlette. Here’s the shawlette, spread out on the back of the armchair:
The sun blew out the colors somewhat but you can get a good idea of what this looks like in this picture anyway. I really love how this little guy came out! I decided not to block the shawlette out “hard” to see how the stitches looked in a more relaxed state and I have to say they look pretty darn good. The points at the bottom lay flat on their own with no coaxing at all! As you can probably tell from all those ends, those points are knit individually and are formed by decreasing on either side. This technique results in significantly different-looking points than the ones that are on Leila, for example, and give the shawl a more unusual finished edge. I’m quite taken with the effect! If only it didn’t require so many ends to be woven in . . .
For the full-size shawl I did break out the blocking wires and pins because its unblocked state was more distorted than the shawlette’s. You can’t see it clearly in this shot but there are wires and pins along the straight edge of the shawl. I also pinned out each point as I stretched the shawl and left them pinned out for about an hour, then unpinned them so they’d relax more. The effect of blocking this shawl “hard” is not that noticeable but does result in a more open, drape-y, fabric and in slightly different angles for the lines. I think it’s a nice example of how blocking can change a piece!
I was surprised by how big this shawl came out after blocking, it just kept stretching and stretching as I pinned and pinned. It’s probably the largest triangle shawl I own and I love it! Now to weave in those ends so I can actually wear it and take FO shots . . .
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by Ivete on December 18, 2009
in knitting
My crazy holiday gifts are moving right along. Up there you see the cowl (the recipient does NOT read my blog thankfully) which is nearly done at this point. I’m a bit worried that it’s going to be more snug-fitting than I intended and hoping that a good blocking will make it the loose cowl I envisioned when I started it. I’m knitting it from Cascade 128 Superwash, a new-to-me yarn that has a much nicer hand than most superwash wools I’ve tried. While the fabric itself feels quite lovely, knitting this thing has been killing my hand. I can’t decide whether it’s the baby cables and twisted stitches or the yarn that’s doing it, or maybe it’s just the combination of the two? Who knows! Either way, I can’t knit on this too much at once or my hand starts throbbing. Considering that I had surgery almost a year ago I am really not enjoying the idea of still having pain in that hand . . . so I’m blaming the project, not my hand. Luckily the project’s already nearly finished!
I did take a little detour from the gift-knitting this morning though:
This is a simple stockinette hat I’m whipping out for myself because I just really NEED a hat now that the temperatures have dipped below freezing. I’m using a skein of the Classic Elite Stormy I bought years ago to make a cardigan that never materialized. Having started only this morning before work, I’ve already made significant progress. I’m aiming to finish this tonight so I can wear it ASAP because it’s much too cold to go out without a hat on! Oh and before anyone points out that I really should be knitting this in the round, hold your horses. I can’t find any of my DPNs right now so knitting it in the round isn’t happening. And yes, I know about magic loop and knitting with two circulars, but no, I don’t like either of those techniques more than seaming!
Hope you’re keeping warm wherever you are . . .
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by Ivete on December 14, 2009
in knitting
I can hardly believe I’m saying this but this year, I’m actually knitting for the holidays. Not only am I knitting, I didn’t even decide to gift any of these items until, like, last Friday! Not only did I decide this at the very last minute, but I’m also knitting multiple things: a hat, a scarf, a cowl, and two sweaters. This probably sounds absolutely insane, right?
In reality, one of the sweaters was already done but for the finishing and it’s now blocking. It just needs the ends woven in and to be mailed off to the recipient. The other sweater is almost-done except for the sleeves and finishing. The scarf was already more than 75% done. The cowl? Almost done after the weekend. And I know I can whip the hat out in just a day . . .
Oh and did I mention that I’m considering adding yet one or two more small gifts to the list?
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by Ivete on December 8, 2009
in knitting
One of the announcement lists I’m on sent this sweater in an email yesterday and I just had to post about it. It’s by Proenza Schouler and totally sold out at Net-a-Porter (not that I would be in the market for a $1,300 sweater anyway so the sold-out status doesn’t much matter to me!). I particularly like the lines on the top part of the yoke: the geometry and symmetry of them is quite appealing!
If you click through to the link on their site you’ll be able to look at closeup pictures of the sweater. If you do that and you’re a knitter like me, you may notice what I noticed: Seams! Click near where the raglan seams would be and you’ll see that the sweater is, in fact, knit flat and seamed up. It totally ruins the zigzag lines on my favorite part of the sweater! I may just sketch out those zigzags and see if I can’t figure out the right ratio to knit them in the round with a EZ-style shaped yoke . . . wouldn’t it be so much nicer if the lines continued uninterrupted all the way around?
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by Ivete on December 7, 2009
in knitting
by Ivete on November 21, 2009
in knitting
The pattern’s nearly ready folks! Went on a photo shoot a few weeks ago but I’m not completely happy with any of the pictures so will be trying again today at the farmer’s market. I actually did get to wear this cowl a few times when the weather dipped to seasonal temperatures last month, but for the last few weeks it’s been in the 60s here so there’s been absolutely no need for winter accessories. How is it possible that it’s 60+ degrees in New York City a few days before Thanksgiving?!?!
In any case, I’m confident the “real winter” will arrive at some point, and when it does I’ll be rocking this cowl. It came out just as I imagined and was so much fun to knit I’m considering making a second in a neutral solid! I love that I can smoosh it all up in different ways or pull it down over my shoulders or up over my head. It feels like a cross between a cowl and those infinity scarves that are everywhere this season, so I guess it makes sense that there are various ways to wear it!
Oh and the yarn? It’s incredible! This is Casbah 5, a limited-run yarn that Handmaiden is considering adding to its regular line and you can only get it from Colorsong yarn right now. They still have many colors available (including the one I used, Flagstone!) and if I weren’t on a spending freeze right now I would certainly be ordering more! The $19.95 price is incredibly reasonable for the amount of yarn in each skein, too, I kind of expect the price to go up if they do make it an official part of this line . . . but I hope not!
The Vimioso cowl pattern is nearly done and should be ready to go after one more read-through and some chart-making. Does anyone want to test-knit this one real quick? You’ll need size 7 circulars, a cable needle, and about 700 yards of Aran-weight yarn . . . you wouldn’t need to knit the whole thing, just the first cable repeat is enough. If you’re interested please leave a comment! Thanks!
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I think I’m at the point now where I get more excited for a new issue of Twist Collective than for a new issue of IK or VK. I guess that makes sense given the sheer talent included in those pages, but also from a practical perspective, Twist Collective is the perfect magazine for me because you only buy the patterns you’re interested in! I don’t knit from published patterns all that much anyway so it’s nice to be able to just buy the one I want instead of a whole print magazine I then have to store somehow . . .
In this issue my favorite thing is the article on double knitting (not that it really matters, but I’m constantly wierded out by what the Twist URLs look like. Check out that doozie!). I understand the basic concept of double knitting but haven’t really explored it much, and now I have all sorts of ideas I want to try out! The design that goes along with this article is a reversible hat named Four Winds by Alasdair Post-Quinn, which quite cute:
The fit on the hat seems kind of weird but that may just be because of the model’s hair, hard to tell. I totally love the idea of a double-knit hat though, it’s like having two hats instead of one! I plan to play with this concept using one solid color and one handpainted color (big surprise I’m sure) . . . I’m thinking of all my odd skeins of Koigu and already sketching out ideas!
Of all the patterns in this edition of Twist, the one I think I’m most likely to knit is the Veronik Avery mitten pattern called Mitaines & Moufles:
I love the simple-yet-gorgeous patterning of the outer mittens and the idea of knitting two layers like this is just brilliant! I would knit the inner mitten in something really luxurious like cashmere, and the outer mitten in something sturdy that really shows off the stitch pattern and that could put up with the grime of the NYC subways . . . this one may just end up on the short list!
Among my other likes were Ysolda’s dramatic gloves and Angela Hahn’s Plaited Tam beret. And the little Rover stuffie by Jennie Eveleigh Lamond is super-cute, too!
In truth I don’t have time to knit probably ANY of these patterns but I genuinely enjoyed browsing through them and letting them inspire me to my own design work. I’m about halfway done with the Chaya shawl sample and have started finalizing the pattern for the Vimioso Cowl . . . oh did I mention I decided on a name for that cabled cowl? More on that next time . . .
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