knitting Archives - Page 8 of 12

Lucinda November 14, 2011

Leaflet

Pattern: Leaflet by Cecily Glowik MacDonald

Yarn: Osprey by Quince and Co. in Nasturtium

Needles: US 11 circs

Size: Small

Last week we felt our first really “cold” day of autumn in Boston, which reminded me that I needed to block this sweater and wear it before it’s no longer in season. I love how this sweater turned out – it’s the perfect fall color, the short sleeves make it a great layering piece, and the leaf pattern on the back is a nice surprise.

I had some trouble starting this sweater, as I wrote about here, due to my initial yarn selection. But once I got over the hump, the sweater flew off my needles and was a quick knit. I probably would have posted this sweater earlier but I was just too darn lazy to pick up the stitches around the neck and knit the ribbing. So it sat in my knitting basket, waiting, until one of the girls in my knitting group asked me how my sweater was coming along and wanted to see it the following week at our knitting night. It was some good motivation to get me to pick up all of those stitches around the neck, which I dreaded doing.

The other nice thing about this cardigan is that there’s no buttons or buttonholes, hooray! Sometimes that can really ruin the look of the ribbing band around the front of a cardigan. I picked up a cute shawl pin at Webs in Northampton, MA that had a leaf decoration at the top, which seemed apropos for the sweater I was intending to use it for. Even more versatility with this sweater – easy to wear it open or closed.

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Lucinda October 31, 2011

Ooo Foxy Lady!

If there’s anything I’ve learned about me and Halloween this year, it’s that I can’t pick my costume six weeks ahead of time since I always seem to change my mind. Such is the case with this year: I originally decided to go as a zombie, and then at the last minute I got the idea that it would be cute to go as a fox instead. Here’s my pattern for quick, 2-hour fox ears in case you’re in the same predicament this Halloween.

Quick-as-a-Fox Ears

MATERIALS:

Yarn

A: 1 skein Quince and Co Osprey in Nasturtium

B: 1 skein Classic Elite Lush in Natural

Needles

US 10.5 DPNs

Notions

Yarn needle

Plastic headband

Gauge
4 sts = 1″

DIRECTIONS:

CO 20 sts with yarn A. Join to form round and place marker to indicate beginning of round.

K 3 rounds

Shaping

K 9 sts, k2tog, k 7 sts, k2tog

K 1 round

K 8 sts, k2tog, k 6 sts, k2tog

K 1 round

K 7 sts, k2tog, k 5 sts, k2tog

K 6 sts, k2tog, k 4 sts, k2tog

K 5 sts, k2tog, k 3 sts, k2tog

K 4 sts, k2tog, k 2 sts, k2tog

K 3 sts, k2tog, k 1 st, k2tog

K2tog for entire round. Break yarn, leaving a 5″ tail.

Thread tail through remaining stitches and pull to close opening. Weave in end.

Thread yarn needle with yarn B. Using duplicate stitch, start Inner Ear Pattern two stitches in from edge of ear.

Inner Ear Pattern

Repeat above steps for other ear

FINISHING:

Position ears on headband according to preference, making sure to wrap opening of ear over headband. Using a whip-stitch, sew ears to headband and close ear opening.

Happy Halloween!

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Lucinda October 5, 2011

Sweater Update

Knitting is not something that I can accomplish quickly – there are times that I think I’m the world’s slowest knitter. Part of this is due to the fact that two years ago I started getting an RSI, or a Repetitive Stress Injury, from an all-day knitting session. I didn’t knit for about eight months after it happened, and I had to gradually ease back into knitting when I picked it up again: 10 minutes here and there at the most. Now I knit for about 20 minutes and take a break, and am able to knit for longer periods of time. I can’t knit on any needles smaller than US 7 unfortunately, which is really a shame since so many sweaters with nice drape and detail are on smaller needles than that. The strain from me holding those tiny needles is just too much and causes my wrists to swell up. Bummer.

So I guess that’s my preamble for how I’ve been doing with my two on-going projects. I’ll first reintroduce my Debbie Bliss Cable Capelet, which I started in December 2010.

I was stuck trying to figure out how to work my Leaflet sweater properly and needed something to take with me to Knitting Night a few weeks ago, so I picked up this lovely and fuzzy capelet after a spring and summer hibernation to work on again. Boy, does the bunny in this angora blend shed like mad! It’s slow going with this one, but I love to work the cables, and I figured by the time I completed this it would be the appropriate time of year to wear it. I’m about 50% of the way complete with the body of the capelet since it wraps around my shoulders and is starting to cover my back. Hmm, possibly foreseeing some matching boot toppers to wear with this as well…

Leaflet is so close to being finished! I was hoping I’d make my October 1 deadline for the Sexy Knitters Knit-along on Ravelry, but I got stumped trying to figure out how to make the underarm stitch pickup look nice, plus this other thing called “work” and “extra hours” got in the way. Right now I’m picking up the stitches around the neck and knitting the ribbing. That’s it, I’ll be done then! I’m hoping that when I block it, the leaves will lay flatter than they do right now, since where the middle rib starts, a bubble forms and sticks out. Blocking does cure all ill-stitched stitches, so I’m hoping it will fix this as well.

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Lucinda August 20, 2011

I really should be packing, but…

I just can’t even begin to think about all the packing I have to do in preparation for moving at the end of the month. Granted I just have a bedroom in a Philadelphia style house and I’m only moving three minutes away to another apartment, but I have stuff.

Like, a lot of stuff.

I previously furnished a one bedroom apartment almost all by myself for my first two years in MA, but things happened and I’ve been subletting in the city for the past five months. I crammed just about all of my furniture in my room, my couch is down in the living room (the four boys I live with love it), and all of my pots, pans, dishes, and spices are in the kitchen. Not to mention I have all of my clothes, books, yarn, fabric…the list goes on. This will be my fourth move in the past three years, and I’m just tired of doing so. I guess you could say I’ve become an expert on moving.

So instead of packing, I’ve been making progress on my Leaflet. I brought it to work on at Pints and Purls at Gather Here in Cambridge the other night and knitted to the point where you divide for the sleeves. I’m right now just about half way through the second of three leaves, which are so fun to see materialize throughout the process. The Boyfriend is always watching me knit this when we’re on the couch in front of the TV and I think he likes to see the leaves form as I knit, too. He was even suggesting the other night on how I could have mixed up the leaves, making each one look different. How can you not love a guy who is actually interested in what you’re making?

One thing I’ve noticed about this sweater on Ravelry is that, in my opinion, the sweaters made in the Osprey yarn look better/nicer than sweaters made from other yarns. Like I said, just my opinion, but it’s almost as if this sweater was made for this yarn. I had difficulties getting gauge when I tried using a different yarn than the one recommended and when using this yarn I can see why – it’s a yarn between a worsted and a bulky, and I really can’t think of another yarn that looks like this. So when sweaters are made from worsted yarn on 10US needles, the look is much more open and loose. I’m so happy I went with this yarn and colorway, plus it’s a dream to knit with. Plus, I’m certain at the rate I’m knitting that this will be done just in time for cool weather to set in. Which is not that far off in New England…

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Lucinda August 8, 2011

Leaflet Progress So Far…

Let me tell you, I had a devil of a time trying to get gauge for this pattern. I first blogged about my plans for Leaflet last month after returning from vacation and acquiring Valley Yarns Berkshire from Webs in Northampton, MA thinking that the weight would be appropriate for the sweater. I swatched on 10s like the pattern called for; no dice. I got 8 sts/2″ instead of 7.5 sts/2″ or the 15 sts/4″ as the pattern called for. So I switched to 10.5 needles – same result as the 10s. Then I tried 11s, but got 6 sts/2″ and the fabric was way too loose and airy looking. I was convinced that there was no way I could use a worsted weight yarn like Berkshire to achieve the stitch gauge that the pattern called for, so I broke down and bought the Osprey yarn like the pattern called for from Quince and Co.

I’m glad I did – the yarn is a dream to work with. Sure, I wasn’t able to find a match to the wine colored yarn I originally planned on working with, but this Nasturtium color is a wonderfully rich red-orange color that I fell in love with as soon as I opened my package, perfect for fall and layering with thermal tees and boots. And orange is not a color that I’ve knitted with: when looking through my notebook on Ravelry, I knit predominately with reds and pinks and purples, so this is a nice change from my usual go-to colors. I think a bulkier weight yarn instead of a worsted would have worked better with this pattern when substituting for the yarn, and when I swatched with it, I did have to go up to 11s instead of the 10s that the pattern recommends. I’m cruising right along with the pattern now, which is knitting up quickly, and I love how fun the leaf motif is to knit on the back. Yes, I know hand knitting is all about the process, but I can’t wait to get this sweater off my needles so I can wear it in the coming months!