Take a trip with me

I am extremely proud and happy to show you a sweater I designed for Tahki this spring.

 

The pattern is called Destinations Top Down Pullover.

 

 

It's featured in the Tahki Spring/Summer booklet, Intermix. 

It is what I would call a highly knitable and wearable sweater.  Knit from the top down means there  are no seams to be sewn.  There are now borders or edgings to add.  Just weave in your ends when you're done and it is ready to wear.  I really love this sweater (even if I do say so myself - and I do).

Oh!  What is the yarn, you may ask? Rosa (Aran: 100% thick/thin cotton, 93 yards).  The yarn does all the work in this sweater.  It's designed to be fitted, so if you want more ease, knit a size up.  I knit the medium.  

Considering that I can't leave well enough alone, I even modified my own design when I knit it for myself.  I made the sleeves 3/4 length by binding off after the final sleeve decrease and I knit the body length to be 2" longer than the pattern calls for.

The white sweater is on display at Westport Yarns, it will be a class this May. I plan on knitting another sweater in black.  It's a terrific three season sweater.

What's on my hooks and needles.

 

The past few days have been so beautiful, I've been sitting outside knitting.  There were no dog related yarn dramas this weekend.

I finished a second Summer Flies Shawl, this one in the Misti Alpaca Pima Silk Hand Paint.  I love this one, what a gorgeous yarn to work to with. The first one was a store sample in Pagewood Verano shades of green.   I'm very happy with how it came out.  I added a an extra repeat of one of the pattern stitches to make it a little bigger.  A knitter on Ravelry wrote up an addendum to the pattern to make it longer.

 I knit the Galaxy Capelet in Kollage Milky Whey yarn. This yarn is 50% Milk - 50% Soy, really!  It's incredibly soft and blocks out beautifully.  I would totally knit with this yarn again. It's very drapey.

 Earlier this spring I designed a vest in Tahki Ripple, 100% cotton. It's still in the testing phase.

 I really need to take time planning my photo "shoots" instead of doing them on the fly. 

This is a fun yarn with an interesting texture. There's no reason to do anything but stockinette or garter and the resulting fabric is really cool.  

Babette is going to be an ongoing project.  I'm crocheting it with assorted colors of Koigu and Claudia Hand Paints yarn.  Mostly I'm using left over bits since I don't throw anything away. It's set up in sections. To keep it manageable I'm weaving in ends and blocking/sewing each section as I complete them. This is my happy project.  Putting all the colors together is fun.

Right now I'm working Wingspan in Zauberball for a store sample. This color is actually much more wine colored than it appears in the picture.

This is an incredibly popular pattern on Ravelry and I decided to play along.  Knit all in garter with short rows, it creates a really cool shaded affect.  Click here to see other Wingspan projects knit with Zauberball.

I feel the need to make a garment coming on.  I'm considering knitting Cinnie a lace cardigan knit sideways, then top down in Bambool.  It looks very entertaining.

I'll leave you with one more strange puppy picture.  No, he did not slide off the pillow in his sleep.  This is how he set himself up.  Strange but true.

Addi Clicks

Yay! My Lace Addi Clicks are here!!! I ordered them in April.
They come in this nifty little case.

The needles are sized 4-11. The cables are stored in a outer zip pocket.

I'm a happy camper with my new needle case. Must go knit something with them.

A post with no name

Congrats to Lois who finished the Minnowknits China Doll Jacket knit in Debbie Bliss Luxury Tweed.  We added a single crocheted edge instead of a slipped st edge.  She has adorable heart buttons to sew on.  We have some new worsted weight yarns at Westport Yarns (formerly Knitting Central) that will work really well for this jacket (I plan on making one for baby.)

Her other project is a Noro Ribbed Shell that she's knitting in Zara.  She must've put her knitting down mid row and then picked it up and went the wrong way, so she worked a right side row on a wrong side and maintained that new set up for about an inch.  I didn't realize that she had made a wrong turn (at Albuquerque for all you Bugs Bunny fans-sorry it's late - makes me ramble) mid row until taking it out.  She had the pattern stitch memorized!  Now she's back on track and putting markers to separate each lace repeat is working wonders.

Elizabeth discovered the armholes on her Noro ribbed jacket are HUGE.  The pattern is written as "one size fits all" and she sized it down.  Given her sewing capabilities, she is going to steek the body and then we'll modify the sleeve directions to account for the change in the armhole.  This sweater is going to be gorgeous when done. 

 

Margarita finished her Ann Norling Top Down Poncho for Babies & Kids (#64), she knit it in Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton and used a novelty yarn for the bottom stripe.  We all fell in love with this cutie. (And yes, she's adding another pom-pom.) 

Elizabeth was planning her projects for tomorrows predicted snowstorm.  This is from String Direct and is called Trio of Curlicues.  The pattern calls for Superior yarn and is done with short rows.  Short rows kind of require a leap of faith until you see what it accomplishes.

 

Robin was finishing up her child's poncho, which is knit in 2 rectangles and sewn together.  The rectangles were kind of in between 2 sizes and needed to be an inch longer, so we took out the bind off and she knit them an inch longer.  Sewing a poncho based on 2 rectangles is a 3 dimensional event.  To borrow a phrase from another designer, "there is an origami moment".  

 

Lastly I have to share these stitch dots that Ann and I bought from Noble Knits.  The are split ring markers that go in this cute little purse (like the old fashioned change purses that you squeeze to open - my grandmother had one).  The are marked with handy things like RS/WS/Start/End, etc.  I love my gadgety tools. I must start something that will require their usage.

Signature Stilettos

Yes, there are sexy knitting needles. How's that for an opener? I'm sure my dh will have a comment for that one.

I'm talking about Signature Stiletto knitting needles, specifically the double pointed needles. Although I've never avoided knitting with double pointed needles, I've never particularly enjoyed it. Originally I asked Cynthia, at Knitting Central, to get them because I tend to snap size 0 and 1 wood dpns. She reminded me yesterday that she only got them because of me (Yay and thank you). Now we're both believers.

Let me tell you, with the stiletto dpns I look forward to knitting with dpns. Right now I've got 2 projects on them, Knit One Below "Seeing Double Gauntlets"

Fetching Fingerless Gloves

Now, I had an abundance of #3 dpns for the Fetching Gloves, but I knew the experience would be unsatisfying. The only phrase that come to mind is "clod-hopping". Which looks much weirder written than it did in my head. The points on the Stilettos is so awesome, that it makes getting into the stitches a cinch. They are a must (in my opinion for the smaller Knit One Below projects). I breezed through one fetching glove in an evening of mindless TV, except the thumb.

Signature Needles are "hand-crafted, hand-polished", and made in the USA. They are pricey and well worth it. When you buy your first set, it's a luxury and bought with a deep breath. After knitting with that first set, it becomes a serious addition to the tools of the trade. They have a full line of straight knitting needles, however, I only use circulars.

A verified rumor is that they are coming out with circular needles. THAT, is exciting. I love my lace addi's, so this will be a side by side consumer test - like the blind folded Coke/Pepsi tests a million years ago. Although a blind folded pointy knitting needle test has it's obvious drawbacks.

Okay, enough chatter, I want to finish that fetching thumb and get going on the next. The holiday knitting list beckons.

For more information on the Signature Needle Arts collections, click here. To purchase them, click here.

Mini Mochi

Laura brought in her Crystal Palace Mini Mochi Springy Ring Mittens (free pattern). They are so cute and happy.
She's also knitting the Fair Isle Hat (another free pattern) with color 107, Autumn Rainbow. She's working it with 2 balls of the same colorway. It is totally awesome. I want Laura to teach me Fair Isle using both hands. If you click here you can see swatches of the Mini Mochi yarn
Autumn Rainbow is the same color I'm using to knit my entrelac Dianna Shawl. Which by the way is on it's last full row of entrelac before the finishing row. Then with any luck, I'll have enough yarn left to crochet a border.
Here's another view of Autumn Rainbow. Below are nature's version of Autumn Rainbow. This is a great yarn to work with, lots of free patterns and vibrant colorways to choose from.

There's an App for that

Having just got an Iphone, I am obsessed with all the different applications available. There are a whole selection of fiber related apps too. Every time I meet someone with an IPhone, I discreetly (or not so discreetly) ask to see what apps they have. Some of them are really cool, like "around me" or "urban spoon" which help you find places near you for shopping/services or restaurants. Some of them are just plain entertaining like the moron test (don't have it, played it) or paper toss (apparently very popular - don't have it either).

So here is the fruit of my research so far, starting of course with the fiber related apps:
Stitchminder- stitch/row counter
knitminder lite-project/stash/needle inventory
ewe stash-stash/needle inventory
knittybag-needle/hook inventory
knitgauge-really cool, has 2 slidy things that you can use to measure gauge, small ruler too
iknit ndlszr-put a needle you don't know size of on the iphone/touch and you can tell the size
yardagecalc-pick a category and yarn weight and it spits out yardage required.

I haven't fully tried out all of these, I was just really excited that there were fiber related apps. And yes, some of them are redundant to each other, like I said I was attracted by the "sparkly things".

Other apps I learned about and promised to post are (some of them cost $.99):
drinks free
camera zoom
around me
text free
moron test
battery status
mover
paper toss
koi pond
fluid
smacktalk-played it, very funny
bump
shazam-here's a song and tags it artist/name of song
urban spoon
allrecipes
metronorth

If you find any you love, comment back!

Robin had 2 projects with her today. The baby blanket (above) knit in Berroco Comfort and the Bobbi Bear (below) knit in Blue Sky Organic Cotton. The blanket pattern is one we adapted to the gauge of the yarn. I love this denim colorway of Comfort. I think all of us have been enjoying knitting with it.
Her Bobbi Bear is in the home stretch. She decided she wants a knit dress to cover any anomalies in the fabric of the bear. It's going to be a cute little jumper knit in the Muench, My Family Yarn.
Linda was up to the fusing of the pocket of this (her 3rd) wallaby and nearly done with her 2nd wallaby. After she finishes the 2nd one, we're going to stick to 1 wallaby at a time. Doing them concurrently was a source of great confusion.
I'm making a set of Flap Happy Hats for a baby gift. Hats for the newborn and his twin big brothers. I'm knitting them all in different blues of Plymouth Jelli Beenz.


I finished my Soft & Drapey Shrug. I used 4 skeins of Loop d' Loop Quartz and 3 skeins of Berroco Bonsai. It was a great "mindless" knit during the past 2 weeks of family/holiday get togethers.






Michelle reknit the head of Mary's bear and realized the reason why her sizing was so off was because she was using different sized dpn's to knit it. That explains how she had 6 dpns.

Yeah! Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns has arrived

I am very proud and excited to announce that a pattern I designed has been published in Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn

The book is full of interesting tips and great patterns to get the most out of handpainted yarns.

Winter Knitty

The Winter Knitty is up and it's got a lot of great patterns and articles. To check it out, click here.

A Christmas Calendar of Quick Projects

My sister sent me this great link for quick holiday projects, a new project every day. Enjoy.

A Christmas Calendar by Garnstudios

It Itches

I just bought the book It Itches: A Stash of Knitting Cartoons by Franklin Habit. It's a charming collection of cartoons that my husband said he actually understood. That's a rave from a non-knitter. In between the cartoons are yarn related essays.

Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival~ Day 2

Before we went back to the festival, Nancy showed me her recently completed Rivendell Socks

by Janel Laidman from her book, The Eclectic Sole: Socks for Adventurous Knitters. They look really great. The yarn is from Plymouth and called Happy Feet.

Nancy, in her own inimitable fashion, finished knitting the neckline for this sweater in the hotel room and then wove (weaved?) in the ends in the car ride. That's my girl! The pattern, Cable Lace Cardigan by Svetlana Avrakh, was featured in Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2004. She's wearing one of her own shawl pin designs as a closure.

I had a great time in Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnet's booth. She has terrific colorways and textures. I totally lost track of time here. Nancy patiently waited me out. She's ready for variegated yarn, just not this bright. I found 3 skeins of the same colorway and one that played nicely with the rest. I'm thinking a shawl/scarf with them.



























I found the best assortments of bag straps/handles at the Homestead Heirlooms booth
Awesome selection of colors, lengths, hardware, etc. I bought a handle for the Noni Adventure bag I knit last year. The bag took little time to knit, I just procrastinated big time over lining it and putting in a zipper. Then of course, the straps had me stopped short until finding this brown strap.
I did end up buying 2 oz balls of roving for needle felting. I found the roving a pattern for a needle felted clutch (from Interweave Felt) at the Timbre Ridge Farm booth
Purple fleece, couldn't resist. It looks like cheese doodles though.

A final picture with our yarn and we were homeward bound.
The drive home was filled with more beautiful foliage. Photo courtesy of stop and go traffic on the way home.