Sunday, June 29, 2008

Walk in the Woods Cabled Baby Blanket

Finished!

Pattern: Walk in the Woods Cabled Baby Blanket
My own design, available soon

Needles: U.S. size 8

Yarn: Berocco Comfort in 'baby boy' colors

This was a wonderful chance for me to design a special heirloom baby blanket for some good friends who were expecting. The cables came together easily enough, with only a couple of changes. I really had wanted to put a roman numeral IV (the baby is a 4th!) in the middle panel, but couldn't get it to work out without looking weird, so I nixed it. I'm thrilled with the final outcome and excited to have something tangible that I designed. Even better, the parents love it!
I wanted to use more geometrical cables, as opposed to overly swirly ones, for a more masculine look. The cables are all pretty straightforward, the most challenging one for me time-wise was the argyle center panel, since you are constantly crossing. I would say this is an intermediate pattern, though you could do it as an adventuresome beginner! Also a good travel project, since its knit up in strips, no heavy blanket on your lap the whole time.
Of course, my only hope as a knitter now is that this blanket will share in teddy bear picnics, sleepovers and some good old-fashioned tent making! Now, that's a good wish.








Monday, June 16, 2008

WWKIP Day

And a good time was had by all….
Saturday, Sydney and I went Knitting In Public! We joined the legions of others across the world who decided to take their love of knitting out of doors on June 14th. Our gathering was small, in a sweet little park in North Asheville, NC. Sydney found a friend in a six-year-old girl named Charlotte and got soaking wet when we all got rained on, which helped with the heat for sure! I met some nice people that I hope to see again.
I brought my Everlasting Bagstopper, and finished it last night! This was a quick one for me, only took me two days of knitting, though I did have two movies worth of knitting time last night. I totally copied off of Jennifer, and had to run out and get the Araucania Ulmo with the gorgeous colors, just look how pretty the pooling is! This to me is a good example of pooling. I used only one skein, stopped an inch short of the 10 ½” the pattern called for, and had just enough yarn. Since I got two skeins, now I can make another! (The first bag is in the lighter colorway, #707.)

Made some zippy little vintage elephant fabric handles for my bag this morning, and off to the park we went! Oh, I’m such a convert now, I see lots of these in my future…too fun!!

Of course yesterday was Father's Day, here's a shot of my cute little family. Aren't they sweet? Sydney and I found this great Lego game at a yard sale on Saturday morning, and her and her daddy have been playing that a lot.

Have a great week everyone, stay cool out there.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Just in Time for the HOT weather....




















I’ve finished the Ruffled Jacket!!

Pattern: Ruffled Jacket, from Vogue Knitting Fall 2007 – 25th Anniversary

Yarn: Colrain from Webs (http://www.yarn.com/) in colorway Grape Jelly

This was a really fun one for me. A year ago I doubt I would have thought I could not only change a patterns gauge, but re-calculate and fix the sleeve caps, which on this pattern are way too small. But I did it!

I didn’t want to make the pattern in the bulky yarn it calls for, since I don’t have many opportunities in NC to wear a thick sweater. My brother gave me a Webs GC for Christmas and the Colrain is what I bought, I’ve been dying to try this since I love tencel.
Colrain is a 50% merino 50% tencel blend, and it is lovely. It has a very soft hand and drapes beautifully. I will use this yarn again. My first ball had a few knots, but that was only a problem with that ball. I use 13 balls for this jacket. I also wanted to mention the yarn does bleed a good bit when washing, but comes nicely back to gauge.

One warning about this pattern…it will test your patience with seaming. There is A LOT of seaming. The little cable on the front is a strip that gets sewn on all the way around. I found it easier to knit a little, seam a little, knit a little, seam a little, until it was the perfect length. The gorgeous ruffle that for me ‘makes’ this jacket is knit in 4 separate pieces and then sewn on. I had to adjust the last ruffle to size, since I had a smaller space left than I was supposed to.

After those warnings, I highly recommend this for an adventurous knitter! It will teach you a lot, it did for me. The last shot is my sad attempt at posing like Vanna White. Hmm, I don’t think she’s in any danger of losing her job =;)
Then I got to go on a button hunt. I went to my local fabric shop, Waechter’s Silk Shop in Asheville, NC. The ladies there are wonderful and know I’m the ‘button girl’, since I rarely buy fabric anymore. The two I found are gorgeous; I think they are a carved bone or shell. I got to wear this a couple times in the last couple of weeks, and it’s very flattering and pretty.
I’ve also finished this lacy scarf for a friend out of Berocco Seduce. This stuff is amazing. The texture of it is fabulous, the silky smell, the colors it comes in, this is a winner in my book.
I used a miniature leaf pattern that I found on Purl Bee’s blog. This was a pretty mindless project after the first couple of repeats, and I love the finished project! It was very well received by my friend.
I'll put the pattern here for your convenience. It tooks me 2 skeins of Seduce to get a nice sized scarf, over 60"(forgot to measure after blocking!)


MINIATURE LEAF LACE PATTERN, VERSION 1:

Cast on a multiple of 6 stitches, plus 1.
(I cast on 25 sts., for about a 6” scarf when blocked, using size 7 needles.)
Row 1 and all odd numbered rows: Purl.

Row 2: K1, *k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k1; repeat from * to end of row.

Row 4: K2tog, *yo, k3, yo, slip 2 knitwise-k1-p2sso; repeat from *, end last repeat ssk instead of sl 2-k1-p2sso.

Row 6: K1, *yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k1; repeat from * to end of row.

Row 8: K2, *yo, slip 2 knitwise-k1-p2sso, yo, k3; repeat from *, end last repeat k2.
Repeat Rows 1-8.
Lastly, I wanted to give you some shots of how Beryl looks when worn. I’ve decided I really love this one now since I sewed up the buttonband. The pink is great and the yarn is super soft.


I'll leave you with a shot of the view from my friend Martha's house. Ahh, the joys of living in the mountains! Have a great week and be well.