Nordic Pot Holders

The Norwegian yarn company Drops is always putting out great free knitting & crochet designs.  Over the years I have knit many of them (and have many more in my mental queue.)  Every winter they organize a little set of holiday themed designs, and this is one that I've been wanting to make since they first published it a few years ago.

The original design is in cotton yarn, but I think that's a bit crazy.  Cotton yarn is a fantastic conductor of heat when wet, which translates into burned hands from gripping hot pans (I've learned that lesson the hard way.)  Wool, on the other hand, is insulating when wet or dry, so you won't burn yourself even if these get damp.  I had intended to add a layer of quilt batting in the middle, to add some extra insulation, but it turns out that two layers of stranded DK weight wool are pretty thick already.  I washed and blocked them to tidy up the stitches a bit, and just like that, my holiday decorating has begun.

A Cabled Hat

When I was in the mood for a hat, last week, I found a couple of potential patterns that I really liked. One was the Brimmed Hat, which I had stash yarn for, and the other was a little cabled watch cap from Drops, for which I didn't have anything quite suitable.


As you know, I knit the lovely green brimmed hat, but I still couldn't get the Drops hat out of my head. Fortunately I still had one unused gift certificate from my birthday, so I made a trip to the yarn store the other day, and bought a couple of balls of Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK -- it is very nice round yarn, which makes it perfect for cables, and it's super-soft, which makes it perfect for a hat, and what a lovely cool grey colour, yes?

I started it the morning before I blew out my knee, and finished it the morning after. I haven't been out of the house much, so I haven't had much of a chance to wear it, but it feels lovely, and I do like the look of it, too.


The only thing I would change is that I would add two more stitches to the cast on: you can see on the right side of the cable in the photo (that is, if you click for a close-up, you might be able to make it out) that there is a little chunk of 7 purls in a row, without two knit stitches between to break them up. It didn't bother me enough to rip it back and add two stitches, once I'd begun, but if I did it again, I would add two more stitches in, so the ribbing would be balanced in that spot. Or at least recenter the cable so there is one knit on either side of it, instead of two knits on one side and none on the other. Or am I being too much of a perfectionist about this?

Hat With Braids

I decided to grow my hair long again. It's a cycle I go through every few years: get bored with it being short, grow it out, get bored with it being long, cut it short. Well, right now I'm in that awkward phase that makes it really hard for you to remember that you want it long, since you want so badly to get it cut so it doesn't look like a disaster all the time. The only thing to do is try not to think about it, and make yourself a cute Norwegian hat with braids, that will remind you how awesome it is to have long hair.


I've been craving one of these hats for months, since I first saw it on the Drops site. The other day I was searching for something in one of my storage boxes when I found some Woobu left over from my Jengu Woobu Aran. I immediately thought of how great it would be for this hat.

Turns out that the hat called for a heavier weight of yarn, so I held it double for the pattern, and ended up using a different gauge, which meant I had to recalculate all the numbers, and I didn't make it quite as long... but really, it's still essentially that hat. (Plus I used a lot more yarn than the pattern suggests, to make the braids, so they would be as thick as they are in the photo -- and as thick as they will be when I have finally grown my hair long.)

Don't you love it?

The Garter Stitch Cardigan

So I finally managed to snag my photographer for a few minutes, tonight, and get a few shots of the completed garter stitch cardigan.

This cardigan was a really simple knit -- not much for shaping or anything -- but is pretty satisfying once it's finished. The whole thing is garter stitch, so I didn't have to purl once the whole time: great tv and pub knitting. And it's a nice light weight, since it is made of sock yarn.


When I decided to make this cardigan, I went to my LYS and poked through their sock yarns for a while, trying to find the perfect one. They had the yarn called for in the pattern (Garnstudio Fabel) but not in a colour scheme that appealed to me. I found another one that I liked, but alas, not enough in stock. Then I fell in love with the colours in this Supersocke. The combo of greens with pinks has always been a favourite of mine, and these ones really pop. The repeat is nice and long, so I knew I would get beautiful stripes.


Turns out that the length of the repeat was a blessing and a curse. While it looks great on one half of the cardigan, and on the opposite sleeve, the body of the right side got a little funky. The repeat wasn't long enough to stripe there (since every row goes all the way from the front hem up over the shoulder and down to the back hem) so it started to pool. As I mentioned in a previous post, I started to alternate two balls at that point, to try to minimize the pooling. It worked well, but the stripes along that side still were very thin and random, rather than nicely defined like the rest of the sweater. I could obsess about this, but I'm choosing to look at it as a design element, instead.


The one alteration I made with this cardigan was to narrow the sleeves a bit. I mentioned somewhere along the way that they were way too wide and baggy, so I narrowed them by a bit on the first side I knit (right side.) Then I just revamped everything a bit to account for that, and measured twice (or three times) as I replicated my changes on the left side. Frankly, I made it a bit harder than it needed to be, but I like the sleeve as it is now: a bit loose but not hanging in my soup.

The sweater is finished off with a cute little crochet edging out of a double strand of bright pink alpaca. I am not much of a crocheter, but it still went fast, and I am really proud of how it turned out. I think it makes a nice finish (and of course is silky soft.)


Lastly, I thought of some sweet buttons I had in my sewing box, for a sewing project that I gave up on long ago. They were the perfect shade of green and really look fantastic on this. Blissful.

Obligatory Progress Post

I know I have been awfully quiet -- it's not because I have been idle, but because what I have to show isn't that interesting. My garter stitch cardigan has been progressing fairly quickly, but isn't very photogenic, yet:


And my Rockin' Sock Club socks are very Fraggley, but I am at the point where the second one looks much like what I've already shown you of the first:


The only exciting thing is that I finally put up my quilting frame (which takes up merely about half of the remaining floor space in my bedroom) and pulled the Fresh Squeezed Quilt out of oblivion. I had agonized long and hard over how to quilt this one (and am still not one hundred percent decided what I am going to do on some parts of it) but began with some little leaves. How cute are they.

Quiet Moments

I generally like my life to be calm and comfortable... what can I say: I'm a Taurus. Sometimes life can be crazy for a while (like if your noisy messy workplace renovations are coming to a middle, and your home is a maze of boxes because you're moving to a new bigger place...) but there is always sanctuary -- a quiet corner with a cup of tea and some knitting.

In the past few days I have turned this:


into this:


I'm pretty happy with the progress. This piece is the right side of the cardigan. The section at the bottom of the photo is the sleeve, and the sections jutting out either side are the front and back. (Yes, it's a bit of an unusual construction.) I am alternating two balls of yarn at this point because shortly after I did the increases to make the front and back sections, I noticed that the number of stitches was just enough to make the stripes start to pool. You can see on the top photo that I was getting most of the lighter colours on one end (the front?) and most of the darker colours on the other. I started another ball of yarn with the light/dark in opposite places, to try to minimize the contrast. Seems to be working. I have several more inches of brainless garter stitch before I need to worry about any sort of neck shaping. Thank goodness, because more complications are really unnecessary in my life right now.

Knit, Knit, and ReKnit

It's snowing outside. Can you believe it? I'm distracting myself with some good knitting.

Ever since the latest Drops patterns came out online, I've been coveting one sweater in particular. Unfortunately I have been on a yarn diet for a while, as I try to knit my stash down to a reasonable level, so I couldn't buy the yarn I need for the cardigan.


Then my birthday came. I got some cash (which will help me pay off my extravagant loom purchase) and some yarny gift certificates. Still waiting for yarn in the mail from one of them, but the other one was for my LYS, so I spent it forthwith, on the yarn I needed for this cardi. Instead of the Drops Fabel sock yarn the pattern calls for (they just didn't have any nice colours of that yarn) I went with some slightly pricier Supersocke yarn in a colour that is so me. You will also notice some alpaca for the edging of the sweater, and a Norah Gaughan pattern book and row counter bracelet in that pile of swag. It was a good trip to the store.


Having finished my socks in record time, I started swatching for the sweater. I did a generous swatch with US4s and frogged it, then did another generous swatch with US5s and got gauge. I frogged the second gauge swatch, cast on the sleeve and knit four or five inches, and realized that the pattern suffers from a common problem with large sized sweaters: the sleeves are voluminous well beyond necessary. I find that it is often the case with sweaters that are in multiple sizes -- the designer adds inches to the sleeve along with inches to the bust/body of the sweater, and big girls like me end up with sleeves that are unreasonably flappy (albeit good at camouflaging jiggly upper arms.) So I frogged the beginning of the sleeve, and cast on one last time with 14 fewer stitches, which seems to give me a more reasonable sleeve. Since the cardigan is knit in only two pieces, the right half from side-to-side and the left half from bottom front to bottom back, it will be more tricky than usual to make alterations, but I think I'm up for it.

Drops Hats: Trifecta

Ah, that little hat we've seen so much already. Here it is, one final time. This time, I actually followed the pattern and used the berry stitch for the body of the hat. The berry stitch (which used smaller needles than I used for the moss stitch on the first two hats) has a tighter tension and hand than the previous hats did. I also knitted it to the length specified (since I had enough yarn this time) and it has a different sort of slouch and sort of reminds me of the Smurfs.

I still like it.

In the meantime, I have several other things I'm working on... I'm sewing a top for my staff holiday party this weekend, making a baby gift, working on swatches for (what, another?) hat, and for some reason I decided it was a good time to cast on some knee-high socks. Not to mention the ongoing birthday and holiday shopping...

Need a gift for the girl who has everything? How about a knitted diaphragm?*

*Knitted diaphragm will not prevent pregnancy and has no practical use. It will cause snickering.

Drops Hat Part Deux

Somehow, despite having finished my few holiday knitting projects well ahead of time, I still feel deadlines looming over me. The funny thing is, they are all self-imposed artificial deadlines. They're projects that I told myself I would have finished very quickly (or at least by Xmas) and I'm starting to worry that I won't, as the calendar pages fall steadily away. Of course, there's nothing wrong with finishing them later. Maybe I should make a resolution this year to give up deadlines.


Here is the second version of the little Drops hat I made previously. This one is for a coworker, who is petite (so it's smaller than the one for my gargantuan head) and vegan (so it's bamboo instead of alpaca/mohair.) The drape of the heavy bamboo is pretty amazing and makes me want to knit some kind of cardigan or camisole from it. I knit the ribbing on tighter needles (US5) since bamboo doesn't have the memory of wool, and the whole thing will be likely to stretch out with wearing. It won't be as warm as the alpaca/mohair, either, but hopefully she'll like it anyway. I think I'm getting a batch of vegan peanut butter cups out of this deal, so it's totally worth the time and effort.

The New Hat

So among the many Drops patterns I was enamored with in the fall pattern collection, I found this hat and scarf combo. I had a couple of balls of their Alpaca yarn left over from my Fabel cardi, so I got a little ball of mohair on the cheap from elann and, over the last couple of days, knitted up this little hat.

Okay, so the pattern was really more of a loose guideline -- after making a swatch, I decided that I didn't really like the look (or the fussiness) of the berry pattern, so I did the body of the hat in moss stitch instead. I also realized I was running out of yarn, about five centimetres before it was the length it should have been, so I did the decreases early. I don't mind, really; I think it still looks pretty good.


So last night I was in Starbucks and a perfect stranger told me "I very much like your hat" which, as my HLM commented, only emboldened me. That's right, I'm even considering trying another one in different yarn (and maybe a different type of berry stitch? or slightly shorter ribbing before the stitch pattern?) and making it to the proper dimensions.

The Fabel-ous Cardigan

So here we are, at the finish line for the stripey little yoke cardigan from Drops Fabel and Alpaca yarns. I am totally enamored of it, and miss working on it, now that it's been completed. In fact, I've been toying with the idea of doing another one in the future, but with more colour. For now, let's just look at this one and enjoy it, in all its black & grey & white glory.


As I mentioned before, the construction of this cardigan was a bit consternating, at times, though ultimately it was actually quite simple, once you got on with it. When choosing the size to knit, I was planning for several inches of negative ease (i.e. for the finished garment to be several inches smaller around than I am) because I know how much garter stitch can stretch, and I wanted it to be somewhat fitted. I think the photos make it apparent that it is certainly fitted, in all the right places. The way it is knit also allows for a lot of trying-on-for-size, which is always great. I started out knitting the Large, but ended up adding a few repeats here and there, as I tried it on and thought it needed a bit more room.


In recognition that this sweater is described as an A-line sweater, I can see that it would have been more swingy if I had made perhaps the XL. Also, because the sweater is knitted side-to-side, the one thing I couldn't adjust for, along the way, was the length. I have considered adding a dark grey border with the Alpaca along the bottom hem, to lengthen it a bit, but in the end I decided that I like it as is. Nothing wrong with a short little sweater, sometimes.


The button band gapes a bit when I wear it buttoned up, although it gapes less after blocking the sweater with a steam iron. It does look great worn open, though, so I don't really have to worry about it. (Is it conceited of me to say that?)

Overall, the sweater is comfy and lightweight -- knitted from wool/nylon sock yarn and a fingering weight alpaca, it isn't very thick, so it will be perfect for cool mornings and evenings, as the weather begins to turn.

One last photo of a happy lady in a pretty sweater, and thanks to my HLM for the photography. (Please know that he is a much better photographer than a sweater shoot will allow him to display.)

Argh.

Seven rounds from being finished, people.

So I decided to make a little hat, for an Instant Gratification Project. This is an adorable little confection, again from Drops, which promised to be interesting enough to keep my attention, and quick enough that I will be able to wear it in no time. Okay, well I subbed the yarn to some alpaca/tencel from elann.com, and had to calculate yardage to make sure I ordered enough, and then I looked at some on Ravelry and decided to move up a needle size, since theirs looked like they fit snugly, like a watchcap, and I wanted mine to be looser, like the original design photo. Also, I have a big head. Somewhere in there, I should have realized that perhaps I might need more yarn.

So I'm seven little rounds from being finished my hat and I had to order another ball of yarn. A ball of yarn from which I won't need more than perhaps three yards... (And don't think for a moment that the thought didn't cross my mind that I could use a length of an entirely different yarn to finish the last seven rounds, and just call it a "design element.")

I tried it on and looked at it and wondered if maybe I should just frog the whole thing and do it again on a smaller needle because then maybe I could squeeze it out of the two balls I have. Ultimately I decided that, while I probably could, I'd rather finish it on the needles I've been doing it on and see how it looks in the end. Maybe after that I'll still frog it and redo it smaller and have an extra ball of yarn lying around.

I'm crazy that way.

A (Very) Short Update

The cardigan is complete, except for the buttons, which I have yet to buy. For the last couple of days, since finishing it, I have been on a very strict regimen of charity scarf knitting, waffle eating, and watching a marathon of Project Runway Australia online. Heaven.


Here, as evidence of my most recent impulse purchase, is a photo of some yummy Pumpkin Waffles I made the other day. They were not as perfectly pumpkinny as I had hoped, but still good. After all, how bad could waffles be? (Please don't answer that. I don't really want to know.)

What do you get when you cross a skunk and a porcupine?

Something like this?

I took a couple of days off from the stripey cardi (and started planning what I will knit after it's finished, believe it or not) and then had a problematic attempt to make the collar as written -- I was not really thrilled with how it was going, and then when my cast-off row was way (way) too tight, I decided it was a sign and frogged the whole collar. This will put my buttonholes in slightly wrong places, but I'll make do somehow. Worry not, faithful reader: this will turn out great anyway.

So if you didn't figure out what's going on in that photo (and I'm sure that it's hard to, if you're not actually in the process of making this sweater right now, and -- let's face it -- none of you are) I'm working on the sleeve cuffs now. Soon, soon... *rubbing hands together*

And hey, look:

Brownies!

And not just any brownies -- these are Black Russian Brownies, so they have a dash of Kahlua and Vodka in there. They're pretty darn good, though not quite the heavy fudge brownies I know and love. Maybe I'll adapt my regular recipe to incorporate some alcohol. (Note to self: that might just be a good all-around policy for cooking.) I will say that the one thing that really grabs me about these is that there is a bit of freshly ground black pepper in them -- You put it in with the melting butter and chocolate at the very beginning. The oils from the peppercorns really come out that way, and it gives the brownie a bit of a bite that is unexpected. Yum.

Ode to a Stitch Holder

Okay well I didn't really write a poem or anything, but this little silver stitch holder was such a pretty sight to me that I wanted to share it with you, tonight. You see, it has 71 silky soft alpaca stitches hanging onto it, which means that I have finished the back of my sweater and am ready to start the second sleeve.

I tried it on (despite the wiltingly oppressive heat) and even though it only goes three-quarters of the way around me, it looks so cute that I can't wait to be finished (and for autumn.)

So In Love

Has it only been two days? I have been knitting joyfully along on my cardigan (as you can see I am well into the first sleeve) and loving how it is developing. When I held up the left front to check for size, it seems absolutely perfect. Admittedly I had been a bit nervous about it, since I have chosen a size that is somewhat smaller than me. See, I have made garter stitch garments before, and I know that if you make the size you are, then it will hang on you like a stiff sack and not show off the bootylicious curves. When I looked over this pattern initially, I figured that the size Large (with a circumference 6 inches less than my own circumference) would give it just enough stretch to look good, but hopefully not so much that it will look like I am wearing a sweater borrowed from Kate Moss. I mean, if you look at the photo accompanying the pattern, I think it is pretty clearly snug over her bust and looser around the waistline. Since this pattern is shaped as an A-line, clearly I must choose a size that fits the waist, more or less, and is a bit smaller than my bust and my hips (see how it sits comfortably open at the hip, too?) Well, that's my theory, anyway. If I am wrong, then one of my slightly smaller friends might be inheriting a really adorable sweater in the fall.

Best. Pattern. Ever.

There is a Norwegian company called Drops which puts out free knitting patterns on the web a couple of times a year. It's a pretty exciting moment for nerdy knit bloggers, when the new crop of patterns show up. The designs tend to be a bit European trendy, but also somewhat classic. And sometimes the two come together for something truly inspired. When this year's Fall/Winter patterns came out, I immediately fell in love with three of them (dare you to guess which three.) The one that I was the most anxious to start is this cute little striped cardigan.

When I finished my Mystery Shawl the other night (sorry still no photos -- I haven't been able to block it yet) I immediately did a gauge swatch for the sweater. (Aside: I had to wait until I finished my shawl before I did the swatch, because they are on the same size needle. I realized at that moment that the last five or six projects I did have all been on that size (3.5 mm) needle. Baby sweaters, lacy shawls, grown-up cardigans... Weird.)

So yesterday morning I cast on for the sweater and started knitting the left front.


Recipe for knitting addiction:

• one part yarn that changes colour so you have to keep going to see what will happen next
• one part soft and silky alpaca so your hands want to keep stroking it and not put it down
• one part mindblowingly innovative pattern that you're not quite sure you understand even when you are in the midst of it, but it slowly begins to dawn on you what you're doing (a la Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket)
• one part knowledge that it will be a gorgeous FO that will almost make up for the fact that the project is over