Category Archives: Knitting

3:21 pm - December 27, 2014 - AngelaH

Return of the Moose (and the Brig!)

I totally made it. Three days before Christmas these puppies were off the needles, blocked, and had their ends woven in, and I’m still not sure how I managed to make up that much time — call it a cliché, but this felt like a (secular) Christmas miracle.

Because it’s basically impossible to secretly knit for the person you live with, and doubly so when you need them to try things on, L knew these were coming. I actually ended up giving them to him early since he hasn’t been able to wear the old ones and thus has had no gloves. They fit perfectly (like they were made for him!) and thanks to the denser yarn (Quince & Co. Chickadee), should be warmer than the last pair.

I made a few other changes this time around, the biggest one being completely re-creating the chart in Illustrator. The chart in the book is impossibly small and has no numbers for either rows or columns, making it easy to lose your place. Additionally, the chart for the moose pattern on the back of the hand has enormously long floats. There wasn’t really any way around it for the actual moose (I didn’t want to make it speckled, though that does seem to be the consensus in other designs), but for the area around the moose, long floats seemed unnecessary. I charted in some little specks (a friend called them snowflakes, which is a nice interpretation), which definitely gives these gloves a different look than the other ones, but luckily it’s one that L likes.

They go quite nicely with his Christmas hat too, which is a happy coincidence. He knew about the hat too, but I made him wait for it since he has others. This is a second attempt at Brig, and despite knitting it to almost exactly the same specifications as the previous one, it’s much smaller. L tried it on before I wove in the ends and said he liked it as it was (I offered to rip out the decreases and knit it long enough to have a fold-over brim), so I left it. It’s nice and tight around his ears, and the yarn (Swan’s Island Organic Washable DK) is lovely and soft, with really good recovery.

I think it’s very fair to say that L is happy with his new hat and gloves. We took these pictures on Christmas day and it was definitely his most enthusiastic posing yet! (This is doubly amazing because I just realized that both of these are second-timers for him. He just likes what he likes I guess.)

Details
Pattern: The Moose at Sundown by Annemor Sundbo
Yarn: Quince & Co. Chickadee in Winesap and Slate
Needles: 2.75mm, 3mm, 3.25mm
Notes: My main changes were to the chart — adding extra specks to keep the floats from being too long (you can see the insides here) and adding extra length to the hand, which I did last time as well. I also when up a needle size for the fingers. One other thing I did when I recharted these was to make it so the beginning of the round was in the same place for both gloves. As it’s written in the book, for the left glove you knit the palm and then then back of the hand, and for the right hand you knit the back of the hand and then the palm. It’s not a huge deal, but I did notice that the tension of my floats were different on the two different gloves, and I wondered if that was why, so this time I knit both of these with the palm first. I’d say it resulted in much better tension, especially at the edges. Anyway, these are ravelled here. (And the hat is here.)

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: Christmas, hat, moose gloves

12:56 pm - December 19, 2014 - AngelaH

Just about ready

It’s not like I don’t know that December is a crazy busy month, but it seems like every year it still catches me off guard. I think it’s because December is a month where I don’t want to say no to anything. There are holiday parties, craft shows, birthdays, and so much knitting, and I want to do it all, because it’s fun and it’s festive and it’s just nice.

Does this look familiar? Well, yes. L completely wore through the last pair I knit, and requested new ones. I’ve tweaked a few things this time around, which I’ll detail later, but basically, yeah, these are the same gloves.

Inevitably, though, that leads to a knitting crunch. We’re spending the holidays with L’s family this year, which means everything for my family needed to be done extra early so it could be mailed. Last Friday I delivered their parcel to the post office, feeling pretty good about how much of my holiday making I’d finished with two weeks to spare. Then I looked down at the gloves I’m knitting for L, and did a little math (amount of work divided by number of days in which to do it) and felt a whole lot less smug.

Why yes, I did sew that trim on by hand.

This time last week, the gloves consisted of one finished hand, with one finger, which I had to rip out and reknit, basically I had: no fingers, no thumb, no second glove even on the needles. I also realized that I had committed to making us stockings, and that I hadn’t even started (as in: no fabric, no pattern). I powered through on the second glove hand over the weekend (there’s nothing like a chart to motivate you through).

I took care of the stockings on Monday. I bought the fabric, I made up a pattern (yes, the toes are a little pointy, but that just adds character, right?) and I whipped them together. The fabric is upholstery weight that I got in the remnant bin at a fabric store downtown, so it was relatively inexpensive, but frayed like crazy, so these are French seamed. It seems a little fancy for something that will really only be used once a year, but I sure beat trying to line them.

I have since finished that last finger. Now on to the next hand! (The reason they look like slightly different sizes is because I blocked the right hand — through not the fingers — to check the fit. The left hand has’t been blocked or tried on, but I fully expect it to stretch to the same size. You can really see the difference blocking makes, though, eh? Wow.)

Now I’m just chugging away on the fingers. I’ve got four finished, which leaves me four more, plus two thumbs, and just under a week. We have some driving to do, so I’m hoping I can get a finger or two knit in the car (the chart is nice and straightforward, and now I’ve basically knit it four times, so I’m not worried), which leaves me with just a few more, and then blocking and weaving in the ends. It’ll be tight, but I think I might just make it.

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: Christmas, moose gloves

12:04 pm - December 7, 2014 - AngelaH

Sneaky Norby

Other than a couple of mild days, this winter is shaping up to be a cold one. November was cold and windy, and it became clear pretty quickly that this was not a year to go hatless. I have a lot of hats, but I really don’t like any of them (I have never been a hat person), so right in the middle of a frenzy of holiday knitting I took a minute to knit one for myself (that it took another three weeks to get photos is a whole other story).

I decided to knit Norby, which I bought the pattern for ages ago. It’s written for fingering weight yarn, but it was cold, so I decided to use DK for a little extra warmth. Despite having many excellent options in my stash, I figured that since I was breaking my holiday knitting rules* anyway, I might as well splurge. This is Shalimar Breathless DK, a merino, cashmere, silk blend, and it is deliciously soft and snuggly.

To make the pattern work for the heavier yarn, I cast on fewer stitches and worked one fewer repeat of the chart. The whole thing was a breeze to knit, and the tassels (which I wasn’t sure about at first) are the perfect finishing touch!

This is by far the most successful hat I’ve ever knit for myself. I’m not sure this will be warm enough if the weather gets as cold as last year, but for now, Norby is perfect.

Details
Pattern: Norby by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn: Shalimar Breathless DK in Scarab
Needles: 4.5mm
Notes: Followed the pattern exactly as written, but used a different stitch count. Ravelled here.

*As a general rule, once October rolls around, I focus on my holiday knitting until it’s finished. It’s the only way I know to get it all done without scrabbling around alone on Christmas Eve. So far, despite Norby sneaking in there, I’m still on track to finish with a healthy buffer.

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: hat

11:13 am - November 27, 2014 - AngelaH

A very good mail week

I don’t know how it happened, but somehow a whack of great mail all arrived in the last few days relatively unexpectedly (that is, I knew it was all coming, but I didn’t think it would all arrive at once).

It all started with the arrival of Gudrun Johnston’s new book Shetland Trader Book 2, which I had been thinking about buying for a while. After debating about whether I really needed it, I then decided all at once, on a whim (after a long day at work), that I should just get. I love the Northdale pullover and Belmont cardigan, and I think Balta will be a fantastic summer knit. The books itself is also gorgeous, and comes with pdfs of all the patterns which I love.

Then, at the beginning of this week, I left home to find a fun little package sitting on my doorstep: two skeins of Nomadic Yarns self-striping yarn. These are both Twisty Sock (superwash merino and nylon) and were also purchased in a fit of work stress (I’ve never thought of myself as going for retail therapy, but apparently being too busy to knit just makes me want to buy knitting-related things). I actually think I did quite well just buying these two — Grinchmas and Sweater Weather — especially since I was torn between five colourways and very nearly just threw my hands in the air and bought them all. Compared to that, two sounds like a measured approach, right?

Finally two days ago, I arrived home to find two exciting packages waiting. I won a giveaway for Carrie Bostick Hoge’s Madder Anthology 1 ages ago from Very Shannon, so it’s just a fluke that it arrived now. I’ve been looking forward to this book since Carrie first wrote about it on her blog, and I think the Sibella Cardigan will be my first make from it (I wear my Grace all the time, so another lightweight cardigan with some interesting yoke details would not go amiss in my wardrobe).

The second package contained the inaugural issue of Knit Wit magazine, which I backed on Kickstarter but is available for purchase at a few places now (including Fringe Supply Co). Yes, it costs more than your average magazine, but it really feels more like a journal or a book, and its definitely put together with the same care. Knit Wit is gorgeous, with heavy, matte pages, stunning photos, and really nice type faces. I haven’t had a ton of time to spend with it yet, but I’m really looking forward to reading thoughtful, varied pieces about lots of different fiber pursuits — from knitting to weaving to dyeing. There was no one-year subscription option for international backers, but I’ll definitely be sourcing Issue 2 of this one.

Category: Knitting

11:35 am - October 20, 2014 - AngelaH

Warm hands

Without fail, there are a few weeks every fall and every spring when I wish I had fingerless mitts. I kick myself for not knitting them sooner, I swear that next time it will be different, I plan for them to be the next article I cast on, and then the weather either gets cold enough for full-on mittens or warm enough to forego them entirely and they never get knit.

The pattern is mirrored on the other mitt, which is one of those design details I’ll always appreciate.

Last year I whipped up a speedy pair of Camp Out Fingerless Mitts, wore them camping, where they got very dirty and slightly felted, and swore to myself I’d replace them (I mean, the whole pair only took a few hours to knit, so no big deal, right?). Yeah, I never replaced them, even though I thought about it over the winter, and then again in the spring, and once or twice in the summer. A few weeks ago, though, the temperature here dropped and my hands were cold, and I was in a restless place with my knitting, and I decided it was was time. I looked through my many knitting books, and through my many (many) favourited patterns, trying to decide on a pair. It’s fall, so the weather is getting colder (unlike spring, when it’s getting warmer), so I decided that the mitts I’d been planning to knit probably weren’t the best choice right now (in March, though, I swear I’m going to knit them and be ready for spring!).

Then I remembered that last year, when I reviewed Audry’s book, I did so with the full intention of casting on the Motoring Madness mitts more-or-less immediately. I even had the right yarn (The Fibre Company’s Acadia) in my stash, all wound up and ready to go! That pretty much settled it. I finished the first mitt in an afternoon (minus the thumb), and even though it took me the rest of the week to knit the other mitt and two thumbs, they’ve been seeing lots of wear since finished them (a little over a week ago now).

Knit in The Fibre Company’s Acadia, in the Douglas Fir colourway.

I modified the pattern a little (you can see all the details here on Ravelry), but really only for length, since I wanted a longer cuff and I also have long hands (and, lets face it, probably knit these at a tighter gauge than written, despite going up a needle size). I love how well this colour goes with my array of navy blue jackets, and also that the pattern is interesting and pretty without being too loud/likely to snag on things. I’m also really impressed by how well the yarn is holding up. I thought the alpaca might cause pilling or fuzzing (you should see the state of my Hodgepodge mittens, which are very warm, but also absurdly fuzzy), but I haven’t had any problems at all, which makes me really want to knit something larger with Acadia. I have two more skeins in this colourway, so I was thinking of knitting a matching cowl or something — what to do you think?

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: fingerless mitts

10:48 am - October 11, 2014 - AngelaH

Hot pink socks

I finished these the same weekend as Stasis, but they are impossible to photograph! This colour (Espadrilles, by Madelinetosh) is definitely not what I usually go for, but it’s fun and bright and very well suited to this pattern — Betula Socks, by Rachel Coopey, whose designs are so reliably excellent and fun I will happily continue to knit them up as long as she continues to publish them.

These were on my needles for a while. I cast on before going to California, knit them on the plane there and during our time in San Francisco, before putting them down to finish my Skyp socks. I blame the lag for the reason they are not quite the same size: Despite knitting them with the same skein of yarn on the same pair of needles, one sock is slightly larger than the other, in both length and width. Maybe I knit one while relaxed and another while tense? Who knows. The difference isn’t enough to really bother me, but it is a little funny.

Details
Pattern: Betula Socks by Rachel Coopey
Yarn: Tosh Sock in Espadrilles
Needles: 2.5mm
Notes: I tend to choose my size based on the number of stitches cast-on. With these socks, though, the majority of the rounds actually have additional stitches (because of the stitch pattern), so they fit a little big. If I were to knit them again, I would probably go down a size. I’d also be tempted to mirror the charts across the socks, but it’s kind of fun that they’re designed to be matching-yet-fraternal. Ravelled here.

Since these were finished in September, they don’t count for Socktober, but I have big sock plans for this month. I have a pair of plain socks on my needles at the moment, which are likely to become background knitting as I dive into my holiday-related projects. But, since those include socks, if all goes according to plan I should get a couple of pairs knit this month — updates to come (promise!)

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: Rachel Coopey, socks, Socktober

3:21 pm - October 4, 2014 - AngelaH

Baby Boom

The last two winters have seen two separate friends have twin boys. This winter, there are two more babies coming, but to two different friends, and they’re both girls! My cousin is due with her first baby in January and then our good friends Sam and Carmen (for whom I knit these mittens way back when) are expecting their first baby in February. Both of those babies aren’t due for a while, but since Christmas is coming, starting some baby sweaters now just made sense.

First up, another Sunnyside! I’ve knit this twice now, and I’m pretty sure I’ll knit it again. I’m knitting this pretty much as written, but with all the cables mirrored — mirrored across the button bands and down the raglan lines. I also miscounted when I started doing the second cable, so these are a little tighter than written (every six rounds rather than every eight), which makes them a bit ropier.

I’m also knitting a wee Envelop, which is one of the most fun and clever patterns I’ve ever knit. It’s nothing crazy, but it’s fun to watch it all come together. I’m just about to knit the right arm, but I’m debating about the size. Despite going up in yarn weight (I’m using DK instead of sport-weight) and needle size, my gauge is smaller than the pattern’s. I added some extra rows to the yoke area, but right now, pre-blocking, the chest circumference is about 16 inches. I’m planning this for a newborn, so that seems like it should be big enough, but I’m not sure and don’t have a baby nearby to measure — what do you think? Keep going or rip back and reknit on a larger needle?

When I planned these projects, I didn’t know that both my cousin and our friends were expecting girls, so I planned for unisex garments. These are both first babies, so I think it makes sense to make things that can get used again. Really, though, I just love both of these colours for babies. They may not be traditional baby colours, but I like rich colours on babies, and that red is really gorgeous. The orange is for our friends, and it’s one of their favourite colours, so it was an easy choice.

I suspect there will be more little knits on my needles before these babies are born, so please let me know your favourite patterns for new babies.

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: baby knits

10:25 am - September 28, 2014 - AngelaH

St-st-st-Stasis!

Oh my, oh my, oh my, I am in finished-sweater heaven. I actually finished Stasis last weekend, but it has taken me a week to get proper photos (of course, the week after I finish a sweater has the warmest weather we’ve had in ages — not that I’m complaining: I loved it).

This was my Summer-Sweater KAL project this year (last year’s was Burrard — I can’t believe that was a year ago), and I am so glad that Shannon hosted the sskal again because it inspired me to pull out Stasis, which I’d started in February, and get it done. The pattern recommends knitting the sleeves first, so that’s where I started in the winter (I finished the colourwork portion on each and got maybe an inch further before putting them down). I knit each sleeve separately through the ribbing and colourwork, and then knit them two-at-a-time until they were about 18 inches long, at which point I put them aside and cast on for the body.

A little blown-out, but you get the idea.

I pretty quickly realized that the tubular cast-on I used for the sleeves wasn’t going to work for the body. I had used Ysolda’s technique, which I really like (so quick!), but there were too many body stitches to keep under control. I did some Googling and found this method, which worked very well indeed, and is absolutely identical. After that it was pretty much smooth sailing up to the yoke (my only mod was to add about an inch to the length). Although the yarn was pretty evenly dyed, I alternated skeins every two (or three) rows after the bottom colourwork, just to keep the colours blended.

Everything basically went fine until the yoke decrease portion. I read lots of project notes, many of which said they’d had to shorter the yoke section, so I knew it might be a problem area. I was getting row gauge, though, which seemed like such magic I assumed that I’d be okay, especially since I’d knit every other part of the pattern as written and it was turning out beautifully.

First attempt on the left, finished yoke on the right. I’d say there’s about two inches of difference (at least). (Photos are pre-blocking.)

I knit and knit and knit, and worked the ribbing and worked the tubular bind-off, and put it on and did not like it. It was wearable, don’t get me wrong, but the ribbing sat up on my neck like a mock turtleneck, and the yoke sat low around my shoulders, which made it feel strangely like it was falling off. It also made the armpits feel saggy and the arms too long, and I knew that if I left it it would never be a sweater I reached for. Looking at the way it fit, it seemed to me that I needed to be starting the collar ribbing more-or-less where the second decrease round was, and also that I needed to do fewer (and wider) short-rows across the back neck.

I used the needle end on my trusty plastic stitch-holder thing (no affiliate, so click away) and wove it through the right leg of each stitch in the row approximately five rows above the colourwork. Then I ripped without fear of going too far. I knit one row, to get everything even, and then worked decrease row 2, then knit five plain rows before starting the short rows. To make those work better, I used the numbers for the size up, and only knit four sets. After that I finished as written.

Even a freshly-blocked sweater manages to collect cat hair around here. Thanks for that, Ganymede.

The result is exactly what I was hoping for. It’s a fitted sweater, but still with plenty of space for layering once the weather gets cold. The yarn is soft enough that I can wear this with just a tank top underneath, and the main colour is a subtly variegated grey/white, which looks really nice over the all the plain stockinette. Now I have a reason to not bemoan the advent of cold weather — it was in the low-20s (high-60s) today when we took these and we had to seek out shade so I didn’t sweat too much!

Details
Pattern: Stasis by Leila Raabe
Yarn: The main is Kettle Yarn Co. Falkland (sadly discontinued) in Dusty Miller; the contrast is Plucky Feet in Pup Tent
Mods: I pretty much went over all of this, but to sum up: I added length to the body (about an inch) and then fussed around with the yoke until I was happy. Other than that, I knit the sleeves two-at-a-time (the first time I’ve ever tried that!) and, since I forgot the colourwork gauge needle when I went away last week, I just said to hell with it and knit the yoke entirely with the main gauge needle. It’s more fitted I guess, but I think it’s okay. I let the floats run a little long just to make sure it didn’t get tight. Ravelled here.

Let me leave you with one of L’s test shots. It’s a weird angle, but I like that it’s sort of an action shot.

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: sskal14, Stasis, sweater

10:08 am - September 5, 2014 - AngelaH

There’s something in the air

I’m not sure why, but even though neither L or I experience back-to-school anymore, this time of year is always hectic and disorganized, with a what feels like 80 things happening all in different places, all crammed into the same small window of time. I think we’re at the edge of it now, but wow.

Anyway, thank goodness for knitting, you know? It’s hardly a new observation to say that it really is soothing, but I definitely notice it most when my knitting feels like a calm little retreat. Of course, with so much on the go I didn’t feel like I’d been making much progress on anything, but then I pulled out my WIPs and things are looking okay.

Here’s what has been keeping me calm over the last two weeks.

Stasis, of course. I’m just about to start the body decreases, which means I’m about six inches from joining the arms and then working the yoke. I have this crazy plan that this weekend I can sew myself a skirt (this one) and knit this up to the armscye. We shall see.

After barely touching my Betula socks since we got back from California, I picked them up two weekends ago. They’re great travel knitting (as I said before) and were perfect for the long drives and train rides that characterized our last two weekends. I can only assume my ambitious plans from this weekend are due to my lack of at-home downtime this summer. (I don’t know about your summer weekends, but mine tend to book up pretty quickly. This will be my first weekend in ages that I get to spend at home with only my own whims to direct it. I can’t wait.)

Anyway. Betula remains totally enchanting. I’m half-way through the gusset decreases on the second sock, so once I get a chance to pick them back up they’ll fly right off the needles I’m sure. (I have another trip in a couple of weeks — details to come, but it’s fun — so if they aren’t done before that, they’ll for sure be finished after it).

Surprise! I cast on this hat a few weeks ago because every year I decide I’ll start my holiday knitting in the summer and every year I don’t (and then every holiday season I chastise myself for it). I could see that cycle was happening again this year, so I wound up the two skeins of Swans Island DK I picked up in Nova Scotia in the spring and cast on for L’s annual hat. This is Brig again, but I knit the smallest size this time, on a smaller needle, and the fit is perfect (he just tried it on so I’d know whether I needed to re-knit it, but it’s going to be tucked away now). The smaller needle meant my row gauge was tighter, so despite only starting the decreases 1/4 inch earlier, the overall hat is about 2.5 inches shorter, which means no fold-up brim. I offered to rip back the top and knit it longer, but L says he likes it as is, so I’m leaving it (perhaps there’s a third iteration of this pattern in my future?)

So there you have it. I’m slowly getting my routine back, and with that will come more regular posts (and, hopefully, more regular finished things to post about!)

Categories: finished, in progress, Knitting Tags: hat, socks, sskal14, Stasis

10:06 am - August 25, 2014 - AngelaH

Stasis

A month ago, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to participate in this year’s Summer Sweater KAL (sskal), but then Cassy signed on, and Shannon made a point of saying WIPs would count, and Stasis was sitting there sort of half-begun, and I caved. All my other August knitting plans got ~~shoved aside~~ modified and I picked Stasis back up.

I knit the sleeves two at a time, so they’re a perfect match. They’re also finished, which is a pretty nice feeling.

There were a few other factors behind my decision, of course. A big one (the biggest one?) was the weather. This has not been a very warm summer, and after the horrible cold of last winter, and the promise of another very cold winter this year, adding another sweater to my wardrobe is just smart. I also remember very keenly how much I wanted to cast on this yarn when it arrived last fall, and the thought of being able to wear it this fall is very appealing. Also, frankly, this KAL forces me to get my act together and focus. By the end of the summer, as life starts to fall back into routine, I find myself wanting to cast on all the things (despite having a pile of WIPs that ought to get some attention). Last year, despite a bunch of distraction, the KAL kept me from getting too side-tracked, and meant Burrard got finished before the cold weather moved in (and before my holiday knitting started).

I’m just a few rows into the waist decreases, but so far so good on the body portion.

I’m still working on a few other things in the background (a monogamous knitter I may never be), but Stasis is growing, and I am really excited to wear it. I guess that’s the other sskal bonus: not only will I end up with a finished sweater, but now there’s a reason to look forward to the cooler weather (I love fall as much as the next knitter, but the winter that follows? Definitely not as exciting).

Categories: in progress, Knitting, Uncategorized Tags: sskal14, Stasis, sweater