Mer Knits!

I've been back from vacation for a while, but have felt a bit overwhelmed with catching up at work and at home.  Luckily the husband is back in town too!

We went to Seattle for a few days to enjoy the cool weather and meet up with some friends from college.  We had gorgeous weather and especially enjoyed a day trip to Mt. Rainier.  I finished a new hat just in time for our hike - it was much too hot to wear it, but I got some good FO pictures!

Pattern: Slouch for All Seasons
Yarn: Louisa Harding Grace Silk and Wool (1.5 balls)
Notes: I couldn't resist the beautiful color of the yarn, especially since it was on sale.  It's so nice and soft and worked perfectly for the hat.  The pattern made a great traveling project!

We also went to Bainbridge Island and stopped by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas where they had some great yarns and patterns on sale.  Here's what I picked up:

My current project (Catriona) is a bit slow going, so perhaps I'll save pictures of that for next time.  Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Wow, two new FOs in just a little over a week!

Lucky for me my husband/FO photographer will be back soon, so I'll hopefully have not so crooked pictures in the near future! But you get the idea...

Pattern:Phyllo Yoked Pullover from Knitting Nature
Yarn: Rowan Calmer in Laurel, 8 balls for the smallest size at a tighter gauge
Notes: This one was another lesson in yarn buying - I kind of forgot that knitting something at a different gauge will require a different amount of yarn.  And it didn't help that I purchased a discontinued color of Calmer online and didn't start the sweater until about a year later.  So I ended up with this, but luckily Sarah came to my rescue with the right dye lot! 

Good thing that I persevered - I really love the sweater!  It fits great, and the yarn is so soft and comfortable.  The yoke pattern was a bit confusing to me, but with the help of the picture in the book I was able to figure it out.  I highly recommend this knit!

It's been a while since I had a knitted FO to share - luckily I took the day off today and was able to finish up Cherry and take a few photos:

I tried to take a few pictures outside, but was getting eaten by mosquitoes and had to abandon that plan.  A few notes on the pattern:

Pattern: Cherry
Yarn:Dale of Norway Svale (8 balls)
Notes:I absolutely love the way this turned out!  It fits well and is very comfortable (I love the Svale yarn too!) and was a fairly easy knit.  I accidentally added some length, which turned out to be a good thing.  But that meant that I underestimated the amount of yarn I needed.  Luckily, Susan came to my rescue and picked up some of the same dye lot for me when she was up at Twisted Yarns (and they were able to look up my last purchase to see what the dye lot was - nifty!).  I think I've learned my lesson with my last few projects.  Always buy some extra yarn!

Remember my Rene purse?  Probably not.  I started it so long ago, and although the knitting didn't take long, I put off sewing the lining until today. 

A lot of work and some secret knitting has made it difficult to blog much, but I have an FO for you!

Don't mind the laundry behind me!

 

I thought that instead of only posting when I have something done, I should probably let you in on my current projects.  Makes things a little more interesting, I hope!  First, the Phyllo Yoked Pullover from Knitting Nature:

Not much to see so far, but I'm enjoying my new Knit Picks wooden needles  and nifty chart holder.  They're both making the pattern so much easier!

 

I guess this post can't all be about WIPs, because I have a finished object!

Pattern: Kim's Hats from Last Minute Knitted Gifts

Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool

Notes:  Someone in my husband's family, who shall remain nameless, has been bugging me for a hat.  Constantly.  So I caved and whipped this one up in just a little over a day.  Cute, huh?  If I were to do it again, I would move the checkerboard pattern down farther, but I had already ripped out the whole hat once and wasn't about to do it again!  And I don't feel bad giving this away as a gift, because it makes me look like I don't have any hair:

After being sick nearly the whole month of January and helping to coordinate a big event for work that took place last night, I feel like I can now finally get back into normal life.  Which includes returning to my knitting, of course.  Even though I didn't knit much in the past month, I was still able to finish a bulky sweater:

(sorry about the pictures, my usual photographer is out of town and I'm not so good at self-portraits)

 

Pattern: A combination of the Ballet Wrap Cardigan from Interweave Knits Winter 2005 and the Wrap Jacket with Hood (#40) from Rebecca 32.

Yarn: Merino Bulky from handpaintedyarn.com in Pagoda, 6 balls (size 10 1/2 needles)

Notes:  Even after frogging the entire body, this was still a quick knit.  I used the Rebecca pattern for the edging/ties and the idea of knitting the body in one piece.  The rest of the pattern is the Ballet Wrap Cardigan.  I think the fact that the ties are on my hips rather than my waist and that my gauge was a little off created a little less coverage in the front than I'd like, but it still works.

 

The only major modification I made on the Ballet Wrap pattern was to create an edging for the back of the neck--the pattern has you leave it as a raw bind-off.  I continued the ribbing pattern from the front edges around to the back by not binding off the 5 neck stitches, continuing the two edges in pattern until they meet in the back, and sewing them down.  The seam is not so pretty, but I still think it's an improvement:

 

And the yarn is sooo soft and smooshy.  I always thought I wasn't a wool person, but I think I've just been using the wrong kind of wool.  I love this stuff!  I did have to alternate skeins to avoid pooling, but the resulting fabric full of subtle color changes is well worth it.  I hope that I can wear this sweater at least once before the Houston winter is over!

There was a lot of crafting this Christmas, though not so much by me.  I received some fabulous socks from my sister-in-law Stacey:

Then we received these beautiful embroidered pillowcases from my sister:

Things have been a bit hectic around here lately, but I've still managed to fit in some knitting:

Pattern: Flair from Knit and Tonic

Yarn: Rowan Summer Tweed in Rush, 6 balls

Notes:  This didn't turn out quite as planned.  I wanted to make it look like Wispy  so I decided to make the fronts smaller and only put two buttonholes at the top.  Well, I didn't really think it through well because I made the fronts so small that there's no way I can button it at all.  So I sewed the buttonholes closed and I suppose it sort of works as is. 

 

This sweater also took me forever, I think mostly because I didn't like knitting with Summer Tweed.  I absolutely love the way it looks and feels knit up, but it is very uncomfortable to knit with!  Regardless, I think I'll still get some wear out of this sweater.

Pattern: Fun Fur Kitschmas Tree 
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun and Yarn Bee Party Girl

Notes: Isn't this the cutest thing ever?  You can't tell too much from the picture, but the yarn is a bit sparkly and looks perfect for this tree.  The nice thing about "Party Girl" yarn (from Hobby Lobby) as opposed to the Fun Fur called for in the pattern is that it has much better yardage and is a lot cheaper.  Also, it has sparkles!  I knit the bottom part instead of crocheting it and added a plastic circle for support.  I have enough yarn over to make another, or maybe lots of tiny ones for next year!

And I finished another project in record time--I promised my husband felted slippers for our trip up to Illinois a while ago.  I cast on last Saturday and finished the knitting on Tuesday.  I didn't get a chance to felt them until today, so hopefully they dry by the time we leave!  No pictures at the moment, but it's the Fiber Trends Felted Clogs pattern.

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!  I'm off to enjoy a bit of cold weather and hopefully use some handknits.

1.  I finished more ornaments:

 

2.  I am tired of 80 degree weather in December.  As I was trying to take the picture above, I was being attacked by mosquitoes.  When it doesn't get cold, those things don't die!  That's my excuse for the picture being so bad. :)

 

3.  Entrelac is so fun!

Pattern: Quant from Knitty

Yarn: SWS in Natural Earth

Notes:  So much fun to make!  And it only took a couple of days.  I love the yarn, and it worked perfectly for this pattern.  Will make a good gift, since I certainly don't need it here.

 

4. Flair is finished!  It's blocking right now.  I'm afraid it will be a bit small, but I'm hopeful that Summer Tweed will stretch.